Landscape in the Style of Dong Qichang
Huang Binhong Chinese
Not on view
A simple dwelling nestles at the foot of a small mountain by a grove of towering trees. Nearby, a traveler crosses a humble wooden bridge. The hills that rise above the scene are rendered in layers of looping, wet strokes of ink, blue, and sienna. Here and there, dots of red are applied to indicate autumn foliage.
The artist’s inscription at upper right offers an insightful comment about the artist, Dong Qiquang (1555–1636) and two of his close followers and sometimes “substitute brushes”, Zhao Zuo (ca. 1570–after 1630) and Shen Shichong (act. ca. 1607–40):
Dong Xuanzai’s [Dong Qichang] paintings are vigorous and moist due to his way of applying texture strokes and washes. Zhao Wendu [Zhao Zuo] and Shen Ziju [Shen Shichong] were trivial and weak. They brought about many of the bad habits of the Yunjian School. Because their brush strength was insufficient, they concealed [their strokes] with ink. Binhong.
-Translation after Keita Itoh and Lawrence Wu
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