Liu Guandao or Liu Kuan-tao (; 1258 1336),

courtesy name A courtesy name (), also known as a style name, is a name bestowed upon one at adulthood in addition to one's given name. This practice is a tradition in the East Asian cultural sphere, including China, Japan, Korea, and Vietnam.Ulrich Theob ...

Zhong Xian (), was a Chinese court artist 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 fift ...

. A native of Zhongshan (now

Dingxian Dingzhou, or Tingchow in Postal Map Romanization, and formerly called Ding County or Dingxian, is a county-level city in the prefecture-level city of Baoding, Hebei Province. As of 2009, Dingzhou had a population of 1.2 million. Dingzhou has 3 ...

Hebei Hebei or , (; alternately Hopeh) is a northern province of China. Hebei is China's sixth most populous province, with over 75 million people. Shijiazhuang is the capital city. The province is 96% Han Chinese, 3% Manchu, 0.8% Hui, and 0 ...

, much of his work is in a realist style, and in 1279 he rose to prominence with a well-received painting of Kublai Khan's son

Zhenjin Zhenjin ( , ; 1240 – 1285 or January 5, 1286), also rendered as Jingim, Chinkim, or Chingkim, was a crown prince of the Yuan dynasty of China. He was the son of Kublai Khan and grandson of Tolui. Life He was born as second son to Kublai Khan ...

Career

Liu Guandao was born around 1258 in Zhongshan (now

. Excelling in

realism Realism, Realistic, or Realists may refer to: In the arts *Realism (arts), the general attempt to depict subjects truthfully in different forms of the arts Arts movements related to realism include: *Classical Realism *Literary realism, a move ...

, he was said to be a self-taught painter and worked as one of the "very few" court artists at the Yuan court. In 1279, Liu was praised for his painting of Emperor Kublai Khan's son

and was promoted to "Commissioner of the Imperial Wardrobe Bureau"; a year later, he was commissioned by Kublai to produce a painting of Kublai on a hunting expedition in the Gobi Desert; the painting, ''Kublai Khan Hunting'', features Kublai, Empress

Chabi Empress Chabi (, ; , c. 1216 –1281) was a Khongirad empress consort of the Yuan dynasty of Mongol, married to Kublai Khan (Emperor Shizu). Life She was born around 1216 to Alchi Noyan's son Anchen Noyan . Nephew of Börte from Khongirad tribe an ...

, and a few servants, amidst "a barren scene of loess ... and a few hills". One of Liu's more famous works, ''Kublai Khan Hunting'' is housed in the National Palace Museum in Taipei, Taiwan. The museum writes of the painting, "the figures are meticulously rendered and the animals are all life-like in a naturalistic scene". Liu's depiction of Kublai Khan also confirms Marco Polo account of the ruler as an "aging and obese man". A hand scroll titled ''Whiling Away the Summer'' was erroneously believed to be a

Song A song is a musical composition intended to be performed by the human voice. This is often done at distinct and fixed pitches (melodies) using patterns of sound and silence. Songs contain various forms, such as those including the repetit ...

-era work by Liu Songnian until 1935, when its owner Wu Hufan discovered "a tiny signature" belonging to Liu Guandao. ''Whiling Away the Summer'' is described as unorthodox, and not characteristic of typical Yuan artworks. In ''Whiling'', Liu "developed comparable designs, playing repeated straight lines off of crisp angles and fluid curves." Liu Guandao also painted a number of landscapes in the style of

Guo Xi Guo Xi () ( 1020 – c. 1090)Barnhart: Page 372. Guo Xi's style name was Chunfu (淳夫） was a Chinese landscape painter from Henan ProvinceCi hai: Page 452 who lived during the Northern Song dynasty. One text entitled "The Lofty Message of ...

. ''Snow Landscape'' is attributed to Liu but is dated 1349, which is after his death in 1336. Liu is described as an "

eclectic Eclectic may refer to: Music * ''Eclectic'' (Eric Johnson and Mike Stern album), 2014 * ''Eclectic'' (Big Country album), 1996 * Eclectic Method, name of an audio-visual remix act * Eclecticism in music, the conscious use of styles alien to th ...

who studied a variety of old styles and combined their best points". A profile of Liu Guandao by the New York art gallery Kaikodo hails his

figure painting A figure painting is a work of fine art in any of the Painting#Painting media, painting media with the primary subject being the human figure, whether clothed or Nude (art), nude. Figure painting may also refer to the activity of creating such ...

as "truly the brushwork of an immortal".

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Liu, Guandao 1258 births 1336 deaths 13th-century Chinese people 14th-century Chinese people Artists from Baoding Yuan dynasty painters Painters from Hebei