Dates:October 10 ~ December 25, 1999 Galleries:202 and 212

The art of Li Ch'eng (916-967), Fan K'uan (10th c.),  and Kuo Hsi (11th c.) form the three pillars of landscape painting in the Northern Sung. In texts and records, Li Ch'eng stands out as the oldest and most renowned in terms of his refined use of ink and brush. Among the students of the Li Ch'eng style, Kuo Hsi was the one who was best able to follow in Li's footsteps. Kuo manipulated the contrast between solid and void as well as light and dark to suggest a landscape almost alive as it writhes in and out of the mist. His superb handling of atmosphere was unrivaled, allowing him to stand on equal footing with Li Ch'eng. Later artists took the styles of these two masters as models for emulation, and hence the birth of the Li-Kuo tradition. Such Yuan dynasty artists as Ts'ao Chih-po, Chu Te-jun, and T'ang Ti all studied the Li-Kuo style, but each had his own interpretation. Such Ming artists as Wu Wei, Hsieh Shih-ch'en, and Tung Ch'i-ch¡Šang, as well as the Four Wangs of the Early Ch'ing and Yun Shou-p'ing, were also versed in the Li-Kuo manner, establishing it as one of the hallmarks of Chinese landscape painting. ¡@