China: Notable Artists and Architects (and their Works, Contributions, and Notable Biographical Information) and Notable Art and Architecture Terms, Concepts, etc.

344 - 406 - Gu Kaizhi (All Facts)

• Chinese Painter during the Jin Dynasty

• He was admired at the court of Nanking for his

  • Figure painting

  • Landscape art 

  • Certainty of brushstrokes and his “fine wire line” 

344 - 406 - Gu Kaizhi: The Lessons of the Instructress to the Ladies of the Court (All Facts)

• Depicts a woman giving instructions on how to appear beautiful

• Released alongside a poem accompanying it that laments that, while many ladies know how to adorn their physical beauty, few know how to beautify their souls

600 - 673 - Yan Liben (All Facts)

• Chinese Painter during the Tang Dynasty

• He presided over the public works committee entrusted with the task of constructing the imperial palaces of the capital

600 - 673 - Yan Liben: Thirteen Emperors Scroll (All Facts)

Chinese Buddhist Sculpture (All Facts)

• Combined the traditional linear delicacy with the Indian sense of form, resulting un such superb statues such as the Seated Stone Buddha

711 - Seated Stone Buddha (All Facts)

685 - 759 - Wu Daozi (All Facts)

• Chinese Painter during the Tang Dynasty

772 - 846 - Po Chu-i (All Facts)

• Wrote didactic verse

900 - 960 - Ching Hao (All Facts)

• Wrote an essay on landscape painting that stressed the metaphysical implications of such art

Imperial Academy of Painting (All Facts)

• Founded in western China during the Ten Kingdoms period

1254 - 1322 - Zhao Mengfu (All Facts)

• Chinese Calligrapher and Painter during the Yuan Dynasty

  • He was a descendant of the founder of the Song Dynasty

  • He was the best calligrapher in China in his day

  • He was a prominent public figure and artist

  • He held a government position under Kublai Khan

• His work covers an extraordinary range of styles and subjects, as if in an effort to sum up all the traditional themes of Chinese painting, although his originality means his paintings are rarely merely archaic

  • His use of color and space is particularly effective in landscape painting, where he preferred clear brush strokes to washes, giving a realistic effect to scenery

1296 - Zhao Mengfu: Autumn Colors at the Qiao and Hua Mountains (All Facts)

1300 - Zhao Mengfu: Sheep and Goat (All Facts)

1302 - Zhao Mengfu: Water Village (All Facts)

1301 - 1374 - Ni Zan (All Facts)

• Chinese Painter during the Yuan Dynasty and Ming Dynasty

  • He was one of the most revered Chinese artists in his lifetime

  • He was born near Suzhou and his early life was prosperous and comfortable

  • He knew many artists and scholars

  • He gained a reputation for being precious and faintly eccentric, having washed himself constantly

  • He eventually gave this lifestyle up and left his home to live a simple life on a house-boat with his wife

  • He returned to his old home in old age after his wife’s death

• Nearly all his works

  • are

    • small

    • delicately-toned

    • intimate

    • bare of people

  • have

    • just a few thin trees

    • a lake

    • low barren hills

  • give off an effect of an understated and austere beauty

1372 - Ni Zan: Woods and Valleys of Mount Yu (All Facts)