Chinese Painters: A Critical StudyPetrucci, Raphaël
History
Chinese Painters: A Critical Study
Petrucci, Raphaël
Painting -- China -- History; Painting, Chinese
As a landscape painter he seems to have worked in the style of the
Southern School, with a fine, simple line in which may still be seen
traces of the ancient tradition that extends back to Ku K'ai-chih. This
characteristic line is found in the paintings of men and horses where the
hand of Chao Mêng-fu is distinguishable. He bequeaths it to the large
school which he founded, and, through his pupils, it becomes the
inheritance of his imitators in the Ming period. It is more than probable
that almost all of the paintings by his pupils, bearing the signature
Tzŭ-ang, are attributed to the master, while his own paintings are
ascribed to Han Kan, painter of horses in the T'ang period. However, among
the numerous works attributed to Chao Mêng-fu, there are a few in which we
recognize the vibrant and flexible line which is seen in his landscapes.
These paintings bear the signature of Tzŭ-ang, in all probability a
false one, but the work of art itself will always be of greater value in
determining its authenticity than the most impressive of inscriptions. If
the technique and the quality of the line are sufficiently similar to
warrant attributing to the same hand the landscape in the British Museum,
and any particular painting of horses, this may be regarded as sufficient
evidence on which to base our own opinion as to his style.
Amongst his grooms and mounted soldiers, Chao Mêng-fu painted the
different races which the wave of Mongolian invasion had swept into China:
Chinese from the central provinces, Tartars, Mongols with fur caps,
Moslems of a Semitic type from Turkestan, with white turbans and heavy
earrings. Whether his subject was the little Tartar horse from the
Mongolian plains or the beautiful steeds of ancient Transoxiana, always
brought as tribute by way of Khotan to the Chinese court, he gave the life
of the horse a singular beauty, portraying him in an equally happy manner
whether in the act of racing or in the attitudes of repose. In his mind
still dwelt the vision of Sung ideals, which proclaimed the hidden soul of
things and valued spirituality and life in a painting. Although we see
marked evidence of the Southern style in his work, his paintings are more
strongly colored than are those of that school. The influence of the Yüan
period begins to make itself felt. It brings out values in colored
pigment, emphasizes its violence and paves the way for a new tradition.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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