明 董其昌 山水圖 冊|Landscapes after old masters

Dong Qichang

dated 1630 · Album of eight leaves; ink on paper · Asian Art

This album demonstrates Dong Qichang's interpretation of the entire spectrum of Song and Yuan styles using a set of contrasting brushstroke methods, which could also be used for depicting actual landscapes. The great theorist and painter took as his point of departure the works of the Yuan master Ni Zan (1306–1374), whose paintings were regarded as calligraphic abstractions of earlier Song styles. In the first two leaves, Dong contrasts—in what he regards as the early and late styles of Ni Zan's art—an "earthen" landscape (round, parallel, "hemp-fiber" brushstrokes) with a "rocky" one (angular, oblique, "folded-ribbon" brushstrokes). In successive leaves, Dong juxtaposes various "earthen" and "rocky" themes in order to evoke different paradigmatic styles of the Northern Song period.

Artist

Dong Qichang

Date

dated 1630

Medium

Album of eight leaves; ink on paper

Culture

China

Department

Asian Art

Credit line

Edward Elliott Family Collection, Gift of Douglas Dillon, 1986