Mountain landscape with a figure in a boat
Wu Qingyun was from Nanjing, but lived and worked mostly in Shanghai, and also spent some time in Japan. He is considered by some to have developed Western stylistic features in his paintings, most evident in his use of chiaroscuro. This, however, might instead be the influence of the early Qing dynasty (1644-1911) painter Gong Xian (1618-1689) from Nanjing.
Wu Qingyun is known for imitating the works of Mi Fu (1051-1107), the master calligrapher and landscape painter from the Song dynasty (AD 960-1279). Mi Fu's landscapes always depict the cloudy and misty hills of the Jiangnan region in South China through large wet dots of ink. In this painting, the artist inscribes how he is ‘Imitating the brushwork of Mi Fu’.
Details
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Title
Mountain landscape with a figure in a boat
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Artist/maker
style of Mi Fu (1051 - 1107)Wu Qingyun (before 1857 - 1916) -
Associated people
possibly Li Dianlin (1842 - 1917) (recipient) -
Associated place
China (place of creation) -
Date
August - November 1904 -
Material and technique
ink and slight colour on paper
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Material index
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Technique index
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Object type
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Dimensions
132.08 x 63.5 cm (height x width) -
No. of items
1
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Credit line
Purchased, 1963.
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Museum location
Museum department
Eastern Art
Accession no.
EA1963.2
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Catalogue text
The year of Wu Qingyun's birth is unknown, though his earliest dated work is from 1857. He was from Nanjing, but lived and worked mostly in Shanghai. He spent some time in Japan and is considered by some to have developed Western stylistic features in his paintings. This is evident more in his use of chiaroscuro, in which he may anwyay be indebted to the earlier Qing Nanjing painter Gong Xian, than in any use of perspective.
In: Vainker, Shelagh, Chinese Paintings in the Ashmolean Museum, Oxford (Oxford: Ashmolean Museum, 2000)
Further reading
Vainker, Shelagh, Chinese Paintings in the Ashmolean Museum, Oxford (Oxford: Ashmolean Museum, 2000), no. 140 on p. 164, illus. p. 165 fig. 140
Reference URL
