Two album leaves from a landscape album by Li Liufang

Two album leaves from a landscape album 1621

ink-on-paper

water colours

ink paper printed

hand drawn type

leaf

ink-on-paper

fading type

china

sketchbook drawing

watercolour bleed

watercolour illustration

mixed medium

sketchbook art

watercolor

"Two album leaves from a landscape album" is a pair of ink-on-paper paintings by the renowned Chinese artist Li Liufang, dating back to 1621. This artwork, now housed in the Minneapolis Institute of Art, showcases Li's mastery of the literati style, capturing a serene landscape of mountains and trees with delicate brushstrokes and subtle washes. The album format, popular in Chinese art history, allowed artists to express their personal vision and aesthetic sensibilities through a series of smaller, intimate compositions. This pair of album leaves exemplifies Li Liufang's talent for evoking a sense of tranquility and poetic beauty within the natural world.

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minneapolisinstituteofart about 1 year ago

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Li Liufang was a painter of the late Ming dynasty. He painted mostly in small formats, playing with ink and trying to channel the creative essence of certain old painting masters rather than copying their formal patterns. Most of his works look like improvised sketches, executed with fresh spontaneity. This album contains examples of Li’s early style—spare, linear compositions, in which he used less ink for thinner, fainter lines—as well as his later style, with its rich, inky brushwork.