31/08/2022
The history of Chinese painting can be compared to a symphony. The styles and traditions in figure, landscape, and bird-and-flower painting formed themes that have continued to blend into a single piece of music. Painters, who make up this "orchestra," have composed and performed many movements and variations.
In the Song dynasty (960-1279), landscape painters such as Fan Kuan, Guo Xi, and Li Tang created new manners based on previous models. Guided by artistically-inclined emperors, painting at the Song court academy reached new heights. Moreover, Song scholars expanded the realm of visual expression beyond "formal likeness," marking the beginnings of literati painting as a new trend in art. The goal of literati painters in the following Yuan dynasty (1279-1368), including Zhao Mengfu and the Four Yuan Masters (Huang Gongwang, Wu Zhen, Ni Zan, Wang Meng), was in part to revive antiquity as a starting point for personal expression, giving revivalism a wide range of styles. These old "melodies" transformed into new individual "tunes" gradually developed into important traditions in the Ming and Qing dynasties, and this gallery focuses on the tradition of painting from these two periods, with over 300 paintings by dozens of artists, supplemented by representative ceramic works of the periods.
Starting from the Ming dynasty (1368-1644), painting is often distinguished into local schools, forming important clusters in the history of art. The "Wu School" in the Suzhou area, for example, follows the cultivated approach of scholar painting by the Four Yuan Masters. The "Zhe School," on the other hand, consisted mostly of artists from the Zhejiang and Fujian areas inspired by academic painting, creating a bold form of ink painting based on Southern Song models. Finally, D**g Qichang of Songjiang and later the Four Wangs (Wang Shimin, Wang Jian, Wang Hui, Wang Yuanqi) adopted the lofty literati goal of unifying ancient styles into a "grand synthesis" to render landscapes of the mind with brush and ink, yielding the vastly influential "Orthodox School."
The emperors of the Qing dynasty (1644-1911) not only supported the "Orthodox School" but also took an interest in Western painting (brought by European missionaries) involving volume and perspective, which was used for new interpretations of old models. Outside the court, the commercial city of Yangzhou became home to a group of so-called "eccentric" yet professional painters active in the flourishing art market. The styles and forms of expression among these artists were based on "non-orthodox" manners, which in turn transformed them into models for change and innovation among later generations.
Almost every picture in these galleries is accompanied by comments -- either our own or culled from authoritative sources -- which give detailed background on the artist, work and period in question. Taken as a whole, they represent a valuable resource for those wishing to learn more about Chinese art, culture, and history. (You may need to click on "See More" to the right of the full-screen image to read these.)
See also the companion MWW gallery to this one which covers the earlier periods from the Qin Dynasty through the end of the Yuan Dynasty in 1368. Consult the introduction to that gallery for our strategy in displaying handscrolls, hanging scrolls and albums.
