Queensland Art Gallery Presscuttings Book 8 : Pressclippings, 1977-1981

- --- -- ---------- ABOVE: The handscroll, dated 1657, by Fan 01 (1616-92) introduces us to a peaceful, leisurely river landscape which depicts the beautiful scenery of the Jiangnan region south of the Yangtze River. Hills and cliffs are surrounded by water and enveloped in mist. Scattered throughout the landscape are scenic spots and lookouts, such as temples, pagoda and an empty pavilion. Over light washes of ink and color, rocks are modelled by a graded accumulation of small flicks of diluted ink. As though illuminated by an Intense light, rocks are sharply delineated with l1ard e<fges and appear to have been carved amJ chiselled into smooth, round cullic forms. ABOVE: One of four album leaves, dated 1878, by Ren Bonlan (1840-18961. Awild duck swims peacefully, but with a certain awareness, past reeds and lotus leaves which oddly cut across I the Image of the duck. The broad wet washes of the· water seem absorbed by the paper as they gradually dissolve Into the background. 1surance 1 ins! t the Metropolitan ent Bu ilding LE (S12 DOUBLE)I RIGHT: "Earthen Wall with Butterfly Orchids", l dends. dated 1727, by Li Shan (1686-1762). A group s funds are of blue orchids, perched lightly In the lichen and age ing. moss on top of an earthen wall, are delicately I and naturally painted in light washes of blue which evoke a poetical mood. As part of the ' ~ Refuge in culture T11 E Ming dyn:1sty ( 1368- 1644) was a period of political instability. economic expansion, social changes, and cultural efnorcscence. Ruled by despotic and weak emperors, the court was plagued by contending politicnl factions and palace intri~ues. For most Confucian scholars, it wus 11 time of disi llusionment and alienation; service in the burea ucracy was a dilemma rather limn an opportunity. Many scholars withdrew from politics and took rcfui;e in the world of art and culture. Artists of the Ming dynasty inherited from the pa,1 11 rich repcrluire of forms and styles from which to select their artistic expression. The techniques for the representation of nature had been fully mastered by the court i\eadcmy pa inters of the Song dynasty (960-1 279) and the stylistic means of sel f ·,prcssion had been created by the scholur-umateur painters of the Yuan dynasty (1280-1]68). It was I herefore no longer necessary for the Ming artist to go dir~ctly to nature to rediscover what the ancient masters had already discovered. Con– templation of nature was replaced by the contemplation of the art of the past. "Strlc" and the history of the evolution of styles have become the central theme of Chinese painting of the Ming period. With the funding of the Ming dynasty in 1368, imperial patronage of the arts was reintroduced, after being neglected by the previous foreign Mongol dynasty. Painters with talent were summoned to court, given official titles, and commis– sioned by the emperor to paint. The courtly styles of painting that were practised in the Southern Song Academy at Hangzhou were revived in the court of the early Ming. Decorative paintings of birds and Oowers, figure paintings based on history or legend, and particularly landscape paintin'5 of the school of Ma Yuan and Xia Gu,, the two leading landscape artists of the Imperial Academy in t~1e 12th and 13th centuries. Dai Jin (1388-1462), who injected new life into this conservative stream of painting and who may have served in the court of Emperor Xuande (1426-36) at Peking, was credited by Chinese writers of later arcs with having founded the Zhe schoo of paintin$, named after his native province, Zhejiang province. ' compositional design, a calligraphic inscription I occupies the upper parts ol the painting, in 11 l_:_~_ic 0 -hr_i~_~_: __ r_tls_t_d_es-c-ri-be_s_h_ow_h_e-ca_m_e_a_c-ro_s_s___________________________ Zhe school became a loose term that was used to designate painters who followed the style of Dai Jin, and included court painters at Peking and professional painters working in Nank– mg, with Wu Wei (1459-1508), the most outstanding follower, CONTINUED NEXT- PAGE Sund•y M•II Co/or, M•y 24, 1981 5 hane. Ph: 221 297 7