Dong Qichang, the foremost landscape painter and theorist of the early seventeenth century, pursued artistic reform. Reacting against what he perceived as the decadent, perverse trends of contemporary landscape painting, Dong, following in the literati tradition, sought a creative reconstruction of the past through the critical study of ancient styles. In an attempt to restore simplicity and vitality to painting, Dong advocated a spiritual correspondence with the art of the old masters rather than a literal imitation of them and underscored the importance of self-expression. Approaching painting as though it were calligraphy, Dong alternated positive and negative patterns in his landscapes, which resulted in a radical new kinesthetic style.
Shaded Dwellings among Streams and Mountains, based on a work by the early master Dong Yuan (act. 930s–60s), is a complex calligraphic study of rock and tree forms conceived as an integration of abstract, cubic, and dynamically expressive masses that embody and are unified by the kinetic energy of the artist's physical movements.
#7317. Shaded Dwellings among Streams and Mountains
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Artwork Details
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明 董其昌 溪山樾館圖 軸
Title:Shaded Dwellings among Streams and Mountains
Artist:Dong Qichang (Chinese, 1555–1636)
Period:Ming dynasty (1368–1644)
Date:ca. 1622–25
Culture:China
Medium:Hanging scroll; ink on paper
Dimensions:Image: 62 3/8 x 28 3/8 in. (158.4 x 72.1 cm) Overall with mounting: 99 x 33 1/8 in. (251.5 x 84.1 cm) Overall with knobs: 99 x 37 in. (251.5 x 94 cm)
Classification:Paintings
Credit Line:Gift of Douglas Dillon, 1979
Object Number:1979.75.2
Inscription: Artist's inscription and signature (6 columns in bold, large, semi-cursive script)
I once saw Dong Beiyuan's [Dong Yuan, died 962] painting Shaded Dwellings among Streams and Mountains at the eunuch Zhu's place in the Imperial Academy. I made a sketch copy and kept it in my satchel, and have just now completed the [painting]. It shows quite some resemblance. Xuanzai
Kong Guangtao 孔廣陶 (1832–1890) Yuexue Lou 嶽雪樓 Nanhai Kong Guangtao shending jinshi shuhua yin 南海孔廣陶審定金石書畫印
Kong Guangyong 孔廣鏞 (act. mid-19th century) Guangyong siyin 廣鏞私印
Li Ziyun 李子雲 (20th c.) Li Wuben Tang cang shuhua zhi yin 李務本堂藏書畫之印 Li Ziyün shending zhang 李子雲審定章
Mu Si 穆思 (Earl Morse, 1908–1988) Mu Si shoucang mingji 穆思收藏名迹
Unidentified Huang shi Huaixuan Tang yin 黃氏懷蘐堂印
Marking:
Mr. and Mrs. Earl Morse , New York (by 1969–76; sold to Dillon);; Douglas Dillon American, New York (until 1979; donated to MMA)
New York. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "Chinese Paintings of the 15th–18th Century from the Collection of Earl Morse," November 19, 1970–January 4, 1971.
Kansas City. Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art. "The Century of Dong Qichang," April 19–June 14, 1992.
Los Angeles County Museum of Art. "The Century of Dong Qichang," July 6–September 20, 1992.
New York. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "The Century of Dong Qichang," October 15, 1992–January 3, 1993.
New York. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "The New Chinese Galleries: An Inaugural Installation," 1997.
New York. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "The World of Scholars' Rocks: Gardens, Studios, and Paintings," February 1–August 20, 2000.
New York. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "Great Waves: Chinese Themes in the Arts of Korea and Japan I," March 1–September 21, 2003.
New York. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "The Douglas Dillon Legacy: Chinese Painting for the Metropolitan Museum," March 12–August 8, 2004.
New York. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "The Four Seasons," January 28–August 13, 2006.
New York. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "Journeys: Mapping the Earth and Mind in Chinese Art," February 10–August 26, 2007.
New York. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "Landscapes Clear and Radiant: The Art of Wang Hui (1632–1717)," September 9, 2008–January 4, 2009.
New York. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "Arts of the Ming Dynasty: China's Age of Brilliance," January 23–September 13, 2009.
New York. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "The Art of the Chinese Album," September 6, 2014–March 29, 2015.
New York. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "Masterpieces of Chinese Painting from the Metropolitan Collection (Rotation Two)," May 7–October 11, 2016.
Shanghai Museum. "丹青寶筏： 董其昌书画艺术大展," December 7, 2018–March 10, 2019.
New York. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "Learning to Paint in Premodern China," February 18, 2023–January 7, 2024 on view February 18–July 16, 2023.
Fong Chow. "Chinese Paintings of the 15th–18th Centuries from the Collection of Earl Morse." The Metropolitan Museum of Art Bulletin, n.s., 29, no. 3, November 1970. pp. 151–55 (p. 153).
Theodore Rousseau Jr. "Masterpieces from Fifty Centuries." The Metropolitan Museum of Art Bulletin, n.s., 29, no. 3, November 1970. p. 153.
Loehr, Max. The Great Painters of China. New York: Harper & Row, 1980, pp. 290–91, fig. 158.
Toda Teisuke 戶田禎佑, and Ogawa Hiromitsu 小川祐充, eds. Chûgoku kaiga sogo zuroku: Daiikan, Amerika-Kanada Hen (Comprehensive Illustrated Catalog of Chinese Paintings: vol.1: American and Canadian Collections) 中國繪畫總合圖錄: 第一卷 アメリカ - カナダ 編. Tokyo: University of Tokyo Press, 1998, p. 65, cat. no. A1-291.
Hearn, Maxwell K. "Modern Chinese Painting, 1860–1980: Selections from the Robert H. Ellsworth Collection in the Metropolitan Museum of Art." The Metropolitan Museum of Art Bulletin, n.s., 58, no. 3 (Winter 2001). p. 8, fig. 4.
Kong Guangtao 孔廣陶. Yuexue Lou shuhua lu 嶽雪樓書畫錄 (Catalogue of calligraphies and paintings at the Yuexue Lou Studio). Preface dated 1861. Reprinted in Gudai shuhua zhuzuo xuankan 古代書畫著作選刊 (Select publications on classical calligraphy and painting) Shanghai: Shanghai guji chubanshe, 2011, p. 501.
Dan qing bao fa: Dong Qichang shu hua yi shu guo ji yan tao hui lun wen gao (The Ferryman of the ink world: Proceedings of the International Symposium on Dong Qichang's painting and calligraphy art) 丹青宝筏：董其昌书画艺术国际研讨会论文稿. vol. 1, Shanghai: Shanghai Museum, 2019, pp. 102–103, cat. no. 100.
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