Landscapes of the Four Seasons

Shitao (Zhu Ruoji) Chinese

Qing dynasty (1644–1911)

Not on view

Shitao frequently employed the album format to give full play to his imaginative use of brush techniques and compositional designs. In this series of eight leaves, datable stylistically to the last decade of the artist's life, he explores the theme of landscape. Working in a free, wet-ink manner, Shitao reveals his independence from conventional models and methods in these highly personal images. As he observed in his Recorded Sayings on Painting of about 1700:

Even if my brush does not resemble brush and my ink does not resemble ink and my painting does not resemble painting, I make sure that my self is always present in my work.

(Wen Fong, trans.)

Landscapes of the Four Seasons, Shitao (Zhu Ruoji) (Chinese, 1642–1707), Album of eight leaves; ink and color on paper, China

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Landscapes of the Four Seasons, Shitao (Zhu Ruoji) (Chinese, 1642–1707), Album of eight leaves; ink and color on paper, China
Landscapes of the Four Seasons, Shitao (Zhu Ruoji) (Chinese, 1642–1707), Album of eight leaves; ink and color on paper, China
Landscapes of the Four Seasons, Shitao (Zhu Ruoji) (Chinese, 1642–1707), Album of eight leaves; ink and color on paper, China
Landscapes of the Four Seasons, Shitao (Zhu Ruoji) (Chinese, 1642–1707), Album of eight leaves; ink and color on paper, China
Landscapes of the Four Seasons, Shitao (Zhu Ruoji) (Chinese, 1642–1707), Album of eight leaves; ink and color on paper, China
Landscapes of the Four Seasons, Shitao (Zhu Ruoji) (Chinese, 1642–1707), Album of eight leaves; ink and color on paper, China
Landscapes of the Four Seasons, Shitao (Zhu Ruoji) (Chinese, 1642–1707), Album of eight leaves; ink and color on paper, China
Landscapes of the Four Seasons, Shitao (Zhu Ruoji) (Chinese, 1642–1707), Album of eight leaves; ink and color on paper, China
Landscapes of the Four Seasons, Shitao (Zhu Ruoji) (Chinese, 1642–1707), Album of eight leaves; ink and color on paper, China
Landscapes of the Four Seasons, Shitao (Zhu Ruoji) (Chinese, 1642–1707), Album of eight leaves; ink and color on paper, China
Landscapes of the Four Seasons, Shitao (Zhu Ruoji) (Chinese, 1642–1707), Album of eight leaves; ink and color on paper, China
Landscapes of the Four Seasons, Shitao (Zhu Ruoji) (Chinese, 1642–1707), Album of eight leaves; ink and color on paper, China
Landscapes of the Four Seasons, Shitao (Zhu Ruoji) (Chinese, 1642–1707), Album of eight leaves; ink and color on paper, China

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