Landscape After Huang Kung-wang by Wang Shimin

Landscape After Huang Kung-wang 1670

hanging-scroll, ink, color-on-paper

toned paper

light earthy tone

oil painting

hanging-scroll

ink

tile art

color-on-paper

acrylic on canvas

earthy tone

map art

earthy

china

mixed medium

watercolor

Wang Shimin’s “Landscape After Huang Kung-wang” (1670) is a hanging scroll that depicts a misty mountain landscape. This work exemplifies the "literati painting" style of the late Ming and early Qing periods, which emphasized the artist's personal expression and intellectual engagement with nature. Shimin, a scholar-official who admired the Yuan dynasty master Huang Kung-wang, pays homage to his predecessor with a composition reminiscent of Huang's famed "Dwelling in the Fuchun Mountains." The scroll features a winding river leading towards a prominent peak enveloped in mist, creating a serene and contemplative atmosphere. This work of Chinese brush painting showcases delicate brushstrokes, muted colors, and a focus on capturing the essence of the natural world rather than precise realism.

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minneapolisinstituteofart about 1 year ago

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Because of his father's meritorious service to the Ming court, Wang Shimin was admitted to government office in 1614 as a secretary. By 1636, he had risen to the position of vice-minister of the court of Imperial Sacrifices. Following the Manchu conquest in 1644, he retired to Taichang where he pursued artistic activities. His integrity and social stature insured his family's continued prominence and his son Wang Shan became grand secretary under the Kangxi emperor. Wang Shimin became the leader of the so-called Qing orthodox school of painting and, together with Wang Jian, Wang Hui, and Wang Yuanqi formed the mainstream literati group known as the Four Wangs. Under Wang's leadership, the stylistic reconstruction of Chinese landscape painting, formulated by Wang's teacher Dong Qichang (1555-1636), was now perceived as the orthodox (and politically safe) lineage for literati painting. Literati masters of the Yuan dynasty (14th century) were greatly admired by the Four Wangs, and it is not surprising that this bucolic mist-shrouded mountain scene by Wang was inspired by the Yuan master, Huang Gongwang (1269-1354). With its light, earth-toned washes and deliberate use of horizontal texture strokes, this classic landscape typifies Qing orthodox school painting.