Title:
Landscape with Figures (in the manner of Kuo Hsi (ca. 1000 - ca.1090))
Creator/Contributor:
Unknown
Date:
Late 13-mid 14 century A.D.
Identifier:
2002.2.4
Format:
Painting
Hanging scroll: ink on silk
China
h 29 -5/8 x w 15 -1/4 inches
Description:
The style associated with the Northern Sung painter and theoretician Kuo Hsi (eleventh century) can be seen clearly in this
monumental landscape painting. Landscape painting of the Northern Sung emphasized the enormity of nature and the smallness
of man. According to writings attributed to Kuo Hsi, the artist's state of mind played a significant role in his ability to
truly depict the essence of the natural world. His son Kuo Ssu wrote of his father's teachings that: "[The artist] must do
his work with his whole soul; if he does not work with his whole soul, the essential will not be clear. He must be severe
and respectful in his work, otherwise it will lack depth of thought. He must apply zeal and reverence to complete it, otherwise
the picture will not be properly finished." (Translation from Siren)
In the Northern Sung dynasty style, large symmetrical landscape forms are built up in layers and densely textured with a variety
of brush techniques. This Yüan version establishes a greater separation between the viewer and the scene, but closely follows
the Northern Sung methods of multipoint perspective and the tilting of the far peak, which distorts the central mountain.