Landscape Painting of the Song and Yuan Dynasties
2 min readWhen people talk about Chinese landscape painting, they never fail to mention the landscape paintings of the Song and Yuan (1206-1368) dynasties. This period witnessed the maturity of ink-and-wash painting, when the techniques of ink and wash were applied to landscape painting, and thus brought Chinese painting to a zenith of prosperity and splendor.
Master ink-and-wash landscape painters of this period include Dong Yuan(?-962), Ju Ran(birth and death dates unknown), FanKuan(birth and death dates unknown), Li Cheng, and Guo Xi(1023-c.1085), who helped develop the idea that a stretch of landscape represents a stretch of one’s spiritual world,a tradition that emphasizes the representation of the human mind.Ni Yunlin (1301-1374), Wu Zhen(1280-1354), Huang Gongwang(1269-1354), and Wang Meng(1308-1385) were the four foremost landscape painters of the Yuan Dynasty.Known as the”Four Masters of the Yuan,”they all led hermit lives, enjoying the free clouds and green mountains of nature. They all advocated a free, natural and ethereal style in their paintings, so as to express a feeling of detachment withtouches of indifference.
And Ni Yunlin isconsidered the most typical of the four.Ni’s The Rongxi Studio employs a design of”a river and its two banks”for the tableau. At the lower part are a few bizarrely shaped rocks and severalold withered trees. In the middle is an expanse of water; on the upper part, or the other side of the river, are mountainslooming in the distance. Everything in thepicture seems still: the water, the clouds, even the wind. There are no people strolling by, nor any fishing boats; only the lonely pavilion confronts the silent distant mountains; only the stagnant autumn river surrounds the secluded trees.It is a typical artistic conception of”cold mountains and thin waters.”In this painting, colors are completely abandoned and the”level and distant”method is applied to the composition of the painting, so as to achieve the effect of peace and detachment.
The world created here is the world in the artist’s mind: cold mountains and insignificant waters revealthe painter’s desire to leave the earthly world; withered trees convey the artist’s pursuit of freedom, though it means loneliness; the small pavilion under theseared trees is”Rongxi Studio,”the name meaning a studio big enough only to hold a knee-a reflection of a human being’s inferior position in the universe.The whole picture gives no sense of constriction but radiates with a peaceful atmosphere.
