The Four Masters of the Yuan dynasty () is a name used to collectively describe the four
Chinese painters:
Huang Gongwang,
Wu Zhen,
Ni Zan, and
Wang Meng, who were active during the
Yuan dynasty
The Yuan dynasty (), officially the Great Yuan (; xng, , , literally "Great Yuan State"), was a Mongol-led imperial dynasty of China and a successor state to the Mongol Empire after its division. It was established by Kublai, the fif ...
(1271–1368). They were revered during the
Ming dynasty
The Ming dynasty (), officially the Great Ming, was an Dynasties in Chinese history, imperial dynasty of China, ruling from 1368 to 1644 following the collapse of the Mongol Empire, Mongol-led Yuan dynasty. The Ming dynasty was the last ort ...
and later periods as major
exponent
Exponentiation is a mathematical operation, written as , involving two numbers, the '' base'' and the ''exponent'' or ''power'' , and pronounced as " (raised) to the (power of) ". When is a positive integer, exponentiation corresponds to r ...
s of the tradition of “
literati painting
Ink wash painting ( zh, t=水墨畫, s=水墨画, p=shuǐmòhuà; ja, 水墨画, translit=suiboku-ga or ja, 墨絵, translit=sumi-e; ko, 수묵화, translit=sumukhwa) is a type of Chinese ink brush painting which uses black ink, such as tha ...
” (''
wenrenhua''), which was concerned more with individual expression and learning than with outward representation and immediate visual appeal.
Huang Gongwang and Wu Zhen belonged to the earlier generation of artists in the Yuan period and consciously emulated the work of ancient masters, especially the pioneering artists of the
Five Dynasties
The Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms period (), from 907 to 979, was an era of political upheaval and division in 10th-century Imperial China. Five dynastic states quickly succeeded one another in the Central Plain, and more than a dozen conc ...
period, such as
Dong Yuan and
Juran, who rendered landscape in a broad, almost
Impressionistic manner, with coarse brushstrokes and wet ink washes. While these painters were also respected by the two younger Yuan masters, the restrained thinness of Ni Zan and the almost embroidered richness of Wang Meng distinguished their work from that of their immediate predecessors.
The work of the Four Masters spurred experimentation with novel brushstroke techniques, with a new attention to the vocabulary of brush manipulation.
See also
*
Four Masters of the Ming dynasty
The Four Masters of the Ming dynasty () are a traditional grouping in Chinese art history of four famous Chinese painters that lived during the Ming dynasty. The group consists of Shen Zhou (1427–1509), Wen Zhengming (1470–1559), Tang Yin (1 ...
*
Six Masters of the early Qing period
The Six Masters of the early Qing period () were a group of major Chinese artists who worked in the 17th and early 18th centuries during the Qing dynasty. Also known as orthodox masters, they continued the tradition of the scholar-painter, follow ...
(
Four Wangs
The Four Wangs () were four Chinese landscape painters in the 17th century, all with the surname Wang. They are best known for their accomplishments in '' shan shui'' painting.
The painters
They were Wang Shimin (1592–1680), Wang Jian (1 ...
)
Notes
References
*Farrer, Anne, in
Rawson, Jessica (ed). ''The British Museum Book of Chinese Art'', 2007 (2nd edn), British Museum Press,
{{DEFAULTSORT:Four Masters Of The Yuan dynasty
Yuan dynasty painters
Quartets