Painting critics in the late Yuan dynasty placed Huang Gongwang firmly in the tradition of Dong Yuan and Juran, even praising him as surpassing both of these Five Dynasties masters, placing him at the head of the ''Four Yuan Masters.'' By the Ming and Qing period, following the ''Theory of Northern and Southern Schools'' advocated by Dong Qichang (1555-1636), Huang Gongwang was confirmed as part of the Southern School tradition, becoming an important painter in the direct expression of the mind and emphasizing the spirit of brush and ink. Later, such artists as Lan Ying (1585-1664), Yun Xiang (1586-1655), and Wang Shimin (1592-1680), Wang Jian (1598-1677), Wang Hui (1632-1717), Yun Shouping (1633-1690), and Wang Yuanqi (1642-1715) of the early Qing all followed Huang Gongwang's style, pursuing his portrayal of a landscape of the mind in painting.
Dong Qichang and the Four Wangs traced back to the brush manners of Dong Yuan and Juran through Huang Gongwang, summing up his stylistic features as ''Peaks and ridges natural and powerful, grasses and trees lush and moist,'' ''Remote directness and hoary vagueness,'' and ''Ideas to channel energy, energy to achieve the spirit.'' Huang Gongwang was an important master and model for emulation on the path to the Great Synthesis of the Orthodox School in Chinese painting.
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LandscapeShen Zhou (1427-1509), Ming dynasty |
Shen Zhou (style name Qi'nan; sobriquets Shitian and Baishiweng) was a native of Changzhou in Jiangsu (modern Wuxian). He excelled at the arts of poetry, calligraphy, and painting, especially landscapes in the latter. Shen was also skilled at depicting flowers, fruits, and vegetables as well as animals, his use of brush and ink having an archaic simplicity. The foreground of this painting depicts a few scattered trees separated from two peaks behind with a ''V''-shaped depression concealing alum heads and forests of varying density for much life. The distant mountains were outlined with a few simple strokes of the brush and washes of ink. The texturing of the mountains and painting of the forests throughout are done with sparse brushwork. Shen's own inscription on the painting states, ''Mi but not Mi, Huang but not Huang; in the surplus of dripping ink is pure hoariness.'' The washes of ink for the mountain forms appear to derive from the misty style of cloudy mountains and enshrouded trees of the Mi Family (Mi Fu and Mi Youren). The painting of simple directness for the pure hoariness perhaps is in imitation of Huang Gongwang's type of work known for its ''extremely few texture strokes'' and ''brush manner exceptionally simple and remote.'' |
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Imitating Huang Gongwang's ''Fuchun Mountains''Lan Ying (1585-ca. 1644), Ming dynasty |
Lan Ying (style name Tianshu; sobriquets Jieshou, Xihu waishi, and later Shitoutuo) was a native of Qiantang in Zhejiang. Lan Ying was friends with such important late Ming literati as Dong Qichang and Chen Jiru, coming under the influence of literati painting and emphasizing the copying of ancient works. This painting depicts a precipitous peak with a serene valley in front as a stream flows down to the waters below. The mountain forms and alum heads are depicted using slightly angular brushwork, the brush manner astringent yet the ink pure and moist. The painting does not focus on rendering depth and distant mountain, but instead concentrates on the motifs of Huang Gongwang's works and his method of painting rocks and trees. The album from which this leaf comes was done in 1645, when Lan Ying was 61 by Chinese reckoning. |
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In Imitation of Huang Gongwang's ''Steep Valleys and Dense Forest''Wang Shimin (1592-1680), Qing dynasty |
Because the frontispiece page to this album of paintings has four characters for ''Within small, see large,'' the album is also known as ''To See Large Within the Small.'' There are a total of 22 leaves, and the painter is presumed to be Wang Shimin with inscriptions on opposing leaves by Dong Qichang. This album represents the understanding and grasp of ancient styles by Dong Qichang in the late Ming and their continuation in the Orthodox School of the early Qing. Ming and Qing dynasty texts record a painting by Huang Gongwang entitled ''Steep Valleys and Dense Forest'' with a mounted inscription by Huang Gongwang and a colophon by Dong Qichang, the contents of which correspond exactly to the Dong Qichang inscription for this album leaf. This painting on leaf 8 of the album depicts layers of mountains that encircle a water-filled valley. The surrounding mountains are densely connected, the peaks layered in connection and the interstices between them depicted with many short tree clusters, creating a very vibrant forest with lush vegetation. Using vertical lines to depict the mountain faces, horizontal ink dots were then added to create alum-head forms, all of which belong to the influence of the Dong-Ju (Dong Yuan and Juran) style. This reduced copy is able to effectively convey the particularities of Huang Gongwang's landscape composition, providing viewers with a grasp of the interactive relationship between different motifs in the painting. |
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In Imitation of Huang Gongwang's Copy of Dong Yuan's ''Summer Mountains''Wang Shimin (1592-1680), Qing dynasty |
There is presently no way to determine the original appearance of the painting which this leaf (the ninth in the album) purports to be a copy of. The main mountain chain depicted in the painting extends from the foreground scenery to the background, the gently sloping valleys on either side of the ridges rendered with several buildings. On the wooden bridge and winding path are traces of human activity in the form of travelers. In this landscape on silk done in blue-and-green coloring, the vertical line texturing of the mountain forms, the addition of short ink dots to the layering of the rocky forms, and even the expression of alum heads and tree clusters, although all originating with Huang Gongwang's style, exhibit a layered relationship to the dense mountain forms with brushwork that is also more regulated, revealing already a new style in the Jiangnan landscape tradition of the late Ming and early Qing. |
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Copying Huang Gongwang's Imitation of Dong Yuan's ''Summer Mountains''Wang Shimin (1592-1680), Qing dynasty |
Although the rounded layers of the mountain forms extend back on the right in this painting, the sixteenth in the album, the focus is still on the gently rolling valley in the middleground, creating an idyllic landscape of lush vegetation. The composition here is similar to Wang Jian's ''Autumn Landscape'' in the album In Imitation of Song and Yuan Landscapes (Shanghai Museum collection). The rounded rock shapes on the diagonal faces of the mountain forms clearly derive from the method of expression in Huang Gongwang's ''Dwelling in the Fuchun Mountains.'' However, compared to Huang's rich variation of brush and ink, the brushwork in this painting is slightly more uniform, which can be said to be a further variation on the landscape motifs of the Dong-Ju (Dong Yuan and Juran) landscape through the intermediary of Huang Gongwang's arrangement. |
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Floating Mists and Green MountainsWang Shimin (1592-1680), Qing dynasty |
Wang Shimin (style name Xunzhi; sobriquets Yanke, Xilu laoren, Xitian zhuren) was a native of Taicang in Jiangsu. Born into a family of scholars, both this father and grandfather served the Ming court as officials. At a young age he came under the instruction of the famous literatus Dong Qichang and was one of the ''Four Wangs'' of the Orthodox School in the early Qing dynasty. This painting depicts a lofty mountain and deep valley with a stream flowing though it along with scenery of dense forests and cloudy mists floating among the foothills. The groves, outcroppings, and foothills come together to form two ridges on the left and right. The brushwork is steady and the coloring bold, with mineral blues and greens set off against washes of ochre for the rocks and peaks. The motifs of Huang Gongwang's painting, such as the trees and rocks of the foothills, outcroppings of the mountaintops, arcing forms of the hills, and fluctuating heights of the distant trees, all express the scenery of summer mountains. This work was done by Wang Shimin at the Chinese age of 81. |
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In Imitation of Huang Gongwang's ''Drifting Mists and Distant Peaks''Wang Jian (1598-1677), Qing dynasty |
Wang Jian (style name Yuanzhao; sobriquets Xiangbi, Janxiang anzhu) was a native of Taicang in Jiangsu. A Provincial Graduate of 1633, he later went onto serve as Prefect of Lianzhou, which is why people called him ''Wang Lianzhou.'' The main scenery in this painting is on the left, consisting of twisting and towering mountain forms connecting the fore-, middle-, and background. The moist texture strokes and washes with ochre, cyanine blue, and vegetable green give the painting surface an elegantly pure and bright atmosphere. The continuous layering of mountain forms and dense forests emphasize a flourishing vitality to the land, harmonizing with Huang Gongwang's notion of the landscape as ''Mountains and rivers natural and powerful, grasses and trees lush and moist.'' |
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Imitating Huang Gongwang's ''Floating Mists and Green Mountains''Wang Hui (1632-1717), Qing dynasty |
Wang Hui (style name Shigu; sobriquets Gengyan sanren, Wumu shanren, Qinghui laoren) was a native of Changshu. In his early years he studied under the painter Zhang Ke from his hometown, and later he came under the personal instruction of the famous literati Wang Jian and Wang Shimin. Wang Hui's extensive viewing of ancient works greatly enhanced his art of painting. This painting depicts high mountains and lofty peaks with dense forests and village huts scattered throughout the hills. The composition goes from the foreground bank with dense trees up to the flying cascade behind and then to the main mountain enveloped in clouds and mists in the background, this small work expressing the vigor of a complete landscape. To the hemp-fiber texture strokes, alum heads, and moss dots commonly used by Huang Gongwang are added washes of ochre and vegetable green for the rocks and mountains, giving the painting a lively vigor and rich decoration. |
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Imitating Huang Gongwang's LandscapeWang Yuanqi (1642-1715), Qing dynasty |
Wang Yuanqi (style name Maojing, sobriquet Lutai) was a native of Taicang in Jiangsu. A Presented Scholar of 1670, he went on to serve as Vice Minister of Revenue. Along with Wang Shimin (his grandfather), Wang Jian, and Wang Hui, they were known as ''The Four Wangs.'' This painting depicts two banks, one near and the other far, separated by a river. The foreground bank extends from the lower right to a pointed peak at the left, which echoes the towering distant mountain in the upper right separated from it by a stretch of water. The outlines of the mountain forms are light, with much of their surfaces done in dry texturing to which moss dots in slanted brushwork appear on the mountaintops. The inscription reads, ''In Dachi's (Huang Gongwang's) painting, the arrangement can be studied, but the direct hoariness is not easy to learn. This is what Siweng (Dong Qichang) excelled at, and it is all here. In this painting I have imitated his brush idea.'' |
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Imitating Huang Gongwang's ''Autumn Mountains''Wang Yuanqi (1642-1715), Qing dynasty |
Wang Yuanqi (style name Maojing, sobriquet Lutai) was a native of Taicang, Jiangsu. A Presented Scholar of 1670, he went on to serve as Vice Minister of Revenue. Along with his grandfather Wang Shimin, Wang Jian, and Wang Hui, they were known as ''The Four Wangs.'' Coiling through the mountains are wispy clouds in scenery of scattered buildings dotted with alum heads and outcroppings. The foreground consists of a bank stretching into the water with trees on it extending upwards to connect with the diagonal extension of the main mountain in the middleground. The lower right is composed mostly of water that zigzags back through the valley before finally connecting with the white clouds of the distant mid-slopes. The trees and rocks as well as ridges echo the water and clouds, forming a reciprocal contrast of solid and void that interacts to create a visual force. |
