China Popular Itineraries |
|
|
|
|
Fan Kuan (in the Song Dynasty) : The Snow-Covered Woods |
Fan Kuan, a painter of the North Song Dynasty, was born in the late Five Dynasties. He was a native of Yao county, Shanxi province. He was a master of landscape painting. He imitated the style of Jing Hao arad Li Cheng in his early studies, later realized that nature was a better teacher and that he should base his painting on observation of nature and first-hand experience. In order to put this into effect, he stayed for long periods of time in Huashan Mountain, Zhongnan Mountain and so on in Shanxi, carefully observing the pale color of the passing clouds and the natural changes of the weather. His landscapes were characterized by their strength and vigor. The mountains, drawn in his bold and forceful strokes, appear high and imposing. The trees look verdant and luxuriant. Even when one looks at this painting from a dis-tance, one feels as if it were right in front of us. Some of his works existing today are Travel in the Xishan Mountains, The Snow-Covered Woods, etc.
The Snow-Covered Woods (picture No. 10, see p. 681), 193.5cm¡Á169.3cm, is a huge landscape painting in ink and wash. The main peak stands lofty; the ranges in the distance look vast and hazy, vigorous and ma-jestic in all their variety. The trees appear desolate in the cold; the foot of the mountain is overgrown with bushes, suggesting a deep remoteness. In the midst of the misty mountains and trees loom the well-arranged temples and houses with standing figures. The stream is as clear and calm as mirror in the foreground of the picture but in the far distance, one can see the river banks and sand shoal zigzaging toward us from the trees. The trees and mountain peak, centered and rendered in dark ink are the focus of this painting, where-as the mountains in the distance, the village, the water and bridge all serve as the foil. Thus, in setting off the high and the imposing against the low and in-distinct the artist forms a spectacular panorama, providing the viewer with much admiration and meditation. The dense shading dots, the branches to-gether with the water, sky, snow, fog.., constitute the solidity, the bright-ness and the rhythm of changes and reinforce the effect of space of the picture. This picture is regarded as a model of the combination of the two methods-high distance and deep distance in traditional landscape painting. |
|
