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Ming Landscape Painting Tradition

Type Object Region China Time 1368–1644

Ming landscape painting carried on Song-Yuan literati traditions, maturing around the fifteenth century with Suzhou's Wu School, emphasizing ink text…

Timeline

  1. 1368–1400Jiangnan region · JiangnanEarly Ming painters, disciples of Wang Meng and others, continued the ink landscape traditions of Huang Gongwang and Wu Zhen of the Yuan, with vigorous moist brushwork and profound composition, laying technical and aesthetic foundations for the rise of the Wu School.
  2. 1427–1509Suzhou · Suzhou CityShen Zhou lived in seclusion at Xiangcheng, renowned for both bold and fine landscape brushwork, combining Yuan brush-and-ink with Jiangnan scenery to pioneer the Wu School landscape style; his disciple Wen Zhengming and others carried on his legacy.
  3. 1441–1450Suzhou · Suzhou CityDuring this period Shen Zhou was in his forties and his landscape creation entered maturity; Jiangnan scholars socialized and exchanged poems, deepening inscriptions and the unity of poetry, calligraphy and painting, making landscape painting the core medium of literati identity expression.
  4. 1470–1559Suzhou · Suzhou CityWen Zhengming, Wen Jia, Tang Yin and others extended Wu School landscape into an elegant and refined style, standing alongside the Academy and Zhe School; mid-Ming landscape painting showed a pluralistic pattern with growing influence of scholar painting.

Sources