The Four Wangs () were four
Chinese landscape
A landscape is the visible features of an area of land, its landforms, and how they integrate with natural or man-made features, often considered in terms of their aesthetic appeal.''New Oxford American Dictionary''. A landscape includes th ...
painters in the 17th century, all with the surname
Wang
Wang may refer to:
Names
* Wang (surname) (王), a common Chinese surname
* Wāng (汪), a less common Chinese surname
* Titles in Chinese nobility
* A title in Korean nobility
* A title in Mongolian nobility
Places
* Wang River in Thai ...
. They are best known for their accomplishments in ''
shan shui
''Shan shui'' (; pronounced ) refers to a style of traditional Chinese painting that involves or depicts scenery or natural landscapes, using a brush and ink rather than more conventional paints. Mountains, rivers and waterfalls are commo ...
'' painting.
The painters
They were
Wang Shimin (1592–1680),
Wang Jian (1598–1677),
Wang Hui (1632–1717) and
Wang Yuanqi (1642–1715).
[Cihai: Ci hai bian ji wei yuan hui (辞海编辑委员会）. Ci hai （辞海）. Shanghai: Shanghai ci shu chu ban she （上海辞书出版社）, 1979 Page 757.] They were members of the group known as the
Six Masters of the early Qing period.
Philosophy
The Four Wangs represented the so-called "orthodox school" of painting at the time. The school was based on the teachings of
Dong Qichang (1555–1636). It was “orthodox” in the Confucian sense that it had continuing traditional modes, as they were in contrast to the "Individualist" painters such as
Bada Shanren and
Shitao.
See also
*
Four Masters of the Yuan Dynasty
*
Four Masters of the Ming Dynasty
References
Further reading
*
External links
Four Wangs' Painting Galleriesat China Online Museum
{{Qing dynasty topics
Wang
Wang may refer to:
Names
* Wang (surname) (王), a common Chinese surname
* Wāng (汪), a less common Chinese surname
* Titles in Chinese nobility
* A title in Korean nobility
* A title in Mongolian nobility
Places
* Wang River in Thai ...
Quartets