Final Exam ARTH 206 Maddox - Chinese Art After 1280 study guide

Wang Hui's A Thousand Peaks and Myriad Ravines: range of subjects in Chinese landscape painting, the importance of the past artists Dong Yuan and Juran as a source for style, the scholars connection to Confucianism and Daoism, the delineation of that to which literati painting refers

Range of subjects: mountains, rivers, waterfalls, trees, rocks, temples, pavilions, houses, bridges, boats, wandering scholars, fishers.

Importance of past artists: embodies the ideals of the scholar in imperial China.

Scholars connection to Confucianism and Daoism: following Confucianism, they became officials to fulfill their obligation to the world; pulled by Daoism, they retreated form society in order to come to terms with nature and the universe - create gardens, write poetry, paint.

Delineation of that to which literati painting refers: a style that reflects the taste of the educated class.

What are the Confucian and Daoist elements in the Ronxi Studio?

Confucian elements: high degree of respect of self control, just using black ink & physical control.

Daoist elements: become one with emotion, chi = mist, emptiness/shunya, light brushstrokes, tri-part landscape.

Chinese gentlemen/literati, called Jinzu or Shi, pursued what three "leisure" activities? (Music should be added)

Music, calligraphy, poetry, and painting

Shen Zhou's Poet on a Mountaintop - shared qualities with Ronxi Studio

Style of calligraphy is informal, relaxed, and straightforward. Poet dominates the landscape. A poem hands in the air, as though projecting his thoughts.

Connection to Ronxi Studio: idea was not to satisfy others but to be executed freely and carelessly for the artist's own amusement (heart of the literati aesthetic).

In Poet on a Mountaintop one finds a visualization of what aspect of Ming philosophy?

That the mind was the basis for reality not the physical world.

How does Shen Zhou's Poet on a Mountaintop "represent the essence of the literati painting"?

Through the synthesis of poetry, calligraphy, and painting it evokes the harmony of mind and landscape.

Dong Qichang meant what by his famous statement: "Read ten thousand books and walk ten thousand miles"?

The proper training for literati painters was to study the works of the great masters and subsequently follow the world of nature.

Shitao intended each brushstroke to convey what?

The creative force of the cosmos, the qi.