Eyes of Many; Landscape in Hanging scrolls
Hanging scrolls can be said to be the antithesis of a hand scroll, having the specific purpose of being displayed, viewed, and pondered on by others. The act of painting, by nature, is both individual and communal. The painter must translate into brush stroke what is meant to be understood by others.
Intellectuals, nobles and the wealthy in China often participated in the communal viewing of paintings from previous masters. By the time of the Ming dynasty, the simple act of viewing a painting was culturally considered an appropriate leisure activity for the gentleman. Many of these paintings, subject of the eyes of intellectuals, were landscape paintings.
A true artist is also an intellectual, educated in the historical significance of their traditions. But the essence and feeling they seek to capture in landscape is of human nature in our surroundings; it is the nature of their human soul.
Peach Village, Qiu Ying.
The thematic use of great, tall mountains among a cloudy horizon, well used by Qiu Ying, is also common in landscape paintings. The flow and energy in a landscape is of higher value in this tradition than of realistic interpretation. It is what allows the landscape to breathe; it is what brings that breath to us, the viewer.
The Emperor Guangwu Fording a River, Qiu Ying.
Qiu Ying often tells historical fables in his works. The title speaks for the story itself; the height and the clouds surrounding the mountains speak for the perseverance of this journey. The lower quadrant shows the emperor and his subjects wading through the river. This piece reaches nearly 5.6 feet tall, but they travel to the distance outside of the viewer’s eye, unaware of what lies ahead.
Jade Cave Fairy Land, Qiu Ying.
‘Qin, qi, shu, hu’ is the term of what came to be the “four arts of the gentleman.” It is playing the guqin, playing chess, calligraphy, and painting. This painting, at a great height of 5.5 feet, shows a man playing the guqin with listeners around. Our eyes trail upwards, and this gentleman seems smaller. But we imagine how the chords must feel, how the rocks and the trees might listen, too.
A Thousand Cliffs Contend in Splendor, Wen Zhengming.
Wen Zhengming uses a narrower frame of silk reaching almost 4.5 feet tall. This leaves the mountains and the cliffs visually fighting for space. Each stylized brush stroke threads the viewers eye through the density and cluster of the cliffs. It may feel uneasy, but a couple sits contently in the bottom of the painting.