Download Guo Xi, Early Spring, 1072 CE, China, Northern SOng Dynasty

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Guo Xi, Early Spring, 1072 CE, China, Northern SOng Dynasty,
Hanging Scroll
 Guo Xi was one of the best landscape painters in China
 The most important picture attributed to Guo
 Slight colour used
 elements of style are visibly derived from the painter Li Cheng
 Gnarled trees, topography of the dry and barren north country
 Distinctive rhythmical quality and complexity
 Was the envy of his contemporaries because of his mastering of these
elements
Proclaimed the greatest artist of his day and a rival of the giants of the past (was the highest
praise available for the Chinese)
Rational construction is evident despite the Baroque impression created by the abnormalities
of tree formations and twisted rocks
Picture is organized on a grid with the forms growing out from either side of a vertical
midline in a regular and rhythmical order
Separation of near and far which appears as a rule in these early paintings between the
valley up around the near hill and past the distant mountain
The separation leaves and empty area between the peaks; explanation can be found in what
Guo saw in nature when mist swirled around the mountains
Usually silk paintings let the silk represent the mist
Floating; a lot more washes
No visual or architectural details are lost: even the pine trees are extremely detailed
Emperor Hui Zong (?), Five-coloured Parakeet on the Branch
of a Blossoming Apricot Tree, 12th century, Northern Song
Dynasty, China (NOTE: picture is facing the wrong way)
 Has a poem written in the emperor's hand but perhaps is by a
court academic
 The emperor's primary interest was in the academics'
representation of what the CHinese call "fur and feathers"; the
literal depiction of animals or birds often in conjunction with
flowering tree branches (which is the hall mark of the literal mode)
The desire of realism is such that the bird's eyes are sometimes indicated with lacquer in
slight relief, creating an appropriately bright and beady look
Shapes, colours and textures and their translation into brushwork are carefully examined and
analyzed
Feather texture of the parakeet is contrasted with the silky appearance of the apricot
blossoms
The emperor's calligraphic style is distinctive because of his long spidery hand, much copied
but very difficult to imitate
Also has influence of Tang painters
Some details are enlarged to almost larger than life size and set against the abstract
background of the silk concentrate the spectators eye on the object in all its reality and are
essential characteristics of the literal style
Ma Yuan, Landscape in Rain, c. 1190-1225 CE, Southern Song Dynasty,
China
 Vertical composition in the traditional hanging ink scroll format recalls something
of the monumental style
 Two fragile pine trees with elongated and twisted branches, which in the earlier
style would have been a detail of the composition, are here projected dramatically
into the space
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Their prominence exemplifies the painter's new approach
Also called "One-corner Ma"
Ma was known to have epitomized the development and culmination of the lyric mode
Aesthetics, although considered less important in Japan and the west, were very important in
China
However, to later critics the southern Song style was considered unorthodox (because of
their disappearing mountain ends and truncated streams)
Contemporary: Xia Gui
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Liang Kai, Hui-Neng, the Sixth Chan Patriarch, Chopping Bamboo at
the Moment of Enlightenment, c. 1246 CE, Southern Song Dynasty,
China
 One of the great expressions of the spontaneous mode
 Unites Shakespeare’s conviction that much can be learned from a seeming
fool with the Chan esteem for roughness and meaningful ideologically
 The precise calligraphic brushwork indicates the joints and movements of
fingers and the long curves indicate the roundness of the arms
 The rope like brushwork shows the texture of the tree bark
 At the left is the artist's signature, not a signature we're used to but a
bold, almost illegible and powerfully conceived insignia
 Famous for painting Buddhist subjects
 this is the first active moment of enlightenment we have seen; we are
used to seated monks at piece
This moment reflect the spontaneous style and offer s a new perspective of enlightenment
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Zhao Mengfu, Autumn Colours on the Qiao and
Hua Mountains, 1296 CE, Yuan Dynasty, China
 Historical importance
 Invented the appearance of wen ren = scholarly
style
 Heavy reliance on open paper and superb
brushwork are the hallmark of wen ren style
 Zhao's artlessness is obviously deliberate, easily
seen by comparing this picture to his earli er
works
 Aim was to
produce a work with only the barest pictorial
existence with the emphasis transferred to the
writing of the brush
The style of wen ren appealed only to those in on the
method themselves
Hand scroll
Zhao Mengfu 1254-1322 CE; moved away initially
when the Mongols invaded but 8 years later when he
was 33, he was offered a position as an official in Beijing; you would have access to prior art
to view; gu yi = spirit of antiquity or looking back at old song works; created works for the
Mongols even though he was in Beijing; considered later by many to be the founder of Wen
Ren (Ming Dynasty critics)
includes a lot of calligraphy up at the top; poetry and dedications and signatures; crisp lines
and brushstrokes; use of colour
Also see "Bamboo, tree and Rock" for more information about the artist
Zhao Mengfu, Bamboo, tree and Rock, early 14th Century, Yuan Dynasty, China
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Hanging scroll, ink on silk
Zhao was a traditionalist because he gave up his loyalist reclusion and rose
high in the rank s of the Yuan government
still considered on the greatest calligraphists = ample proof of his abilities
Was known for horse paintings
This painting shows more of original intent rather than his conservative style
Dead tree with a rock and bamboo at its base
rock is outlined with rapid strokes of a dry brush
Bamboo leaves are not painted in the traditional style but rather with a wet,
heavy brush in an attempt to capture the warm, humid limpness of the plant
The tree is a "tour de force" created with a large brush that outlined only in part the exterior
edge of the trunk; also, there is a rough texture of ink scraped over the silk to simulate bark
This brushstroke is called "flying white" by the Chinese and is primarily associated with Zhao
 Takes great control of the brush and influenced many artists of later eras
Ni Zan, Bamboo, Rock and Tall Tree, 1374 CE, Yuan Dynasty, China (NOT
EXACT PICTURE… I can’t find one!)
 Also wen ren but 30 years later than Zhao
 showed the consistent manner of wen ren, considering its short time of
development
 title inscribed on the painting itself; lee has it wrong!
 stripped down the composition where the level extension is gone and there is
just a tree, a rock and some bamboo
different brushstrokes for different elements are evident
inscribed the poem as well
a great union of the three arts
Colour used in commissioned work of the ones who stayed or as a mode for capturing the
antique