The Six Masters of the early Qing period () were a group of major

Chinese Chinese may refer to: * Something related to China * Chinese people, people identified with China, through nationality, citizenship, and/or ethnicity **Han Chinese, East Asian ethnic group native to China. **'' Zhonghua minzu'', the supra-ethnic ...

artists who worked in the 17th and early 18th centuries during the

Qing dynasty The Qing dynasty ( ), officially the Great Qing, was a Manchu-led Dynasties of China, imperial dynasty of China and an early modern empire in East Asia. The last imperial dynasty in Chinese history, the Qing dynasty was preceded by the ...

. Also known as orthodox masters, they continued the tradition of the scholar-painter, following the injunctions of the artist-critic

Dong Qichang Dong Qichang (; courtesy name Xuanzai (玄宰); 1555–1636) was a Chinese art theorist, Calligraphy, calligrapher, Painting, painter, and politician of the later period of the Ming dynasty. Life as a scholar and calligrapher Dong Qichang was a ...

late in the

Ming dynasty The Ming dynasty, officially the Great Ming, was an Dynasties of China, imperial dynasty of China that ruled from 1368 to 1644, following the collapse of the Mongol Empire, Mongol-led Yuan dynasty. The Ming was the last imperial dynasty of ...

. The Six Masters included the flower painter

Yun Shouping Yun Shouping (; 1633 – 1690), also known as Nantian (), was a Chinese calligrapher and painter. He was a major artist of the early Chinese Qing dynasty. Along with the Four Wangs and Wú Lì, he was regarded as one of the " Six Masters" of th ...

and the landscapists Wu Li as well as the

Four Wangs The Four Wangs () were four Chinese landscape painters during the Qing dynasty 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 ...

: Wang Shimin, Wang Jian,

Wang Yuanqi Wang Yuanqi (; pinyin: Wáng Yuánqí; 1642–1715) was a Chinese painter of the Qing dynasty. Wang was born in Taicang in the Jiangsu province and tutored in painting by his grandfather Wang Shimin (1592–1680). His style name was 'Mao-chin ...

, and Wang Hui.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 958. The works of the Six Masters are generally conservative, cautious, subtle, and complex, in contrast to the vigorous and vivid painting of their "individualist" contemporaries. One of the most famous works produced by a member of the group is the ''White Clouds over Xiao and Xiang'', a

hanging scroll A hanging scroll is one of the many traditional ways to display and exhibit East Asian painting and calligraphy. They are different from handscrolls, which are narrower and designed to be viewed flat on a table. Hanging scrolls are generally i ...

after

Zhao Mengfu Zhao Mengfu (; courtesy name Zi'ang (子昂); pseudonyms Songxue (松雪, "Pine Snow"), Oubo (鷗波, "Gull Waves"), and Shuijing-gong Dao-ren (水精宮道人, "Master of the Water Spirits Palace"); 1254–1322), was a Chinese calligrapher, p ...

by Wang Jian, made in ink and colour on paper, 1668, which is exhibited in the

Freer Gallery of Art The Freer Gallery of Art is an art museum of the Smithsonian Institution in Washington, D.C. focusing on Asian art. The Freer and the Arthur M. Sackler Gallery together form the National Museum of Asian Art in the United States. The Freer and ...

Washington, D.C. Washington, D.C., formally the District of Columbia and commonly known as Washington or D.C., is the capital city and federal district of the United States. The city is on the Potomac River, across from Virginia, and shares land borders with ...

References

{{reflist Qing dynasty landscape painters Qing dynasty artists Sextets

See also

References