Literati painting has a history in Chinese art and culture. Although the term “literati” was

not used until the Ming Dynasty, it remains a significant genre of Chinese art up to this day.

Some characteristics and functions of literati painting have remained throughout its existence.

However, many characteristics of literati painting have shifted over time. These alterations were

influenced by changes in the political, economic and social climates of various periods in China.

Literati in a section of China’s history took a self-conscious turn to their own past. This painting

about painting was done in order to establish the members of the literati as their own group with

a separate status from the rest of society. I will examine a literati painting from this period, the

Qing Dynasty, and compare it to the work of an earlier Yuan master which the later painting was

based off, examining why and how literati painting changed between these two periods.

The first image is ink on paper. Called Nine Pearly Peaks by Huang Gongwang, it was

created in 1350 during the Yuan Dynasty. (Figure 1) The viewer of this literati painting looks

out at the landscape from a moderately elevated position. A river intersects the bottom middle

picture plane. It moves back a short distance until it disappears into the mountains. These

mountains are on either side of the river, with the mountains on the right extending diagonally to

the upper left corner of the landscape. In the distance are mountains along the horizon line.

Huang used diminution of scale, lessening of detail and atmospheric perspective to give the

illusion of these mountains being far away. The mountains in the foreground are interspersed

with small buildings, pathways, and many trees.

The composition follows diagonals and leads to the poem. This is a hallmark of literati

paintings. When the eye moves up the river, through the mist and mountains, and finally up to

the sky, the poem suddenly brings to attention that the painting is just a painting. This sudden

text flattens the image and reminds the viewer that this is not a real space.

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Huang uses wash and calligraphic line to create forms and variation in the mountains and

rocks. The varied trees in the foreground become smaller and less individualized towards the

background. The river, mist, and sky are blank, white space. Areas of water have diagonal lines

at the edges of the land. The buildings have little detail, and are depicted using simple outlines.

The second image, Landscape in the Style of Huang Gongwang by Wang You,

expectedly shares much in common with Nine Pearly Peaks. (Figure 2) It was created in 1752,

during the Qing Dynasty. The composition of You’s piece is similar to Huang’s; a river begins

in the center of the foreground and moves diagonally up to the right. On either side of the river

are mountains with trees, rocks, pathways, and buildings. Mist appears where the river ends,

eventually leading to the poetry at the top of the landscape. The painting has wash and

calligraphic strokes. The river and mist are white, although the sky contains grey gradations.

Trees are more individual in the front and become more stylized and repetitious in the

background. You uses atmospheric perspective and diminution of scale, although to a lesser

extent than Huang.

Despite these similarities, the two paintings have some differences. The viewpoint of

You’s piece is higher; therefore, the viewer can see the river extend back farther. The rocks and

mountains have sharper detail and are more pointed. They appear more stylized and abstracted.

Because of the higher viewpoint and the less noticeable shift in sharpness of detail from the front

to the back of the painting, the You landscape appears flatter than the Huang work. Huang’s

painting is monochrome, whereas the You painting contains colors. The brushstrokes are darker

and heavier. Human elements have color and sharper detail. The You piece has less white sky

space and more meandering landforms. Waterfalls appear in the You painting.

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Most of these differences are due to political and social shifts between the Yuan

and the Qing Dynasties. The role of artists and literati in society changed, as well as theories on

art and shifts in aesthetic taste. During the Yuan Dynasty, the Mongols took control of China.

As a result, many Chinese scholars and educated members of prominent families either remained

loyal to the Chinese Song or were discriminated against by the Mongol rulers. Although the

Mongols allowed the Chinese to become officials, many Chinese were ousted out of this position

because Mongols held a number of official positions. The literati used painting as a way to band

together to reassert their social status, and to reject the court taste. Therefore, government status

was not a characteristic for literati during the Yuan. These paintings were not done solely for

profit; these painters were consciously amateur and did not want to be known as professional, as

most of them did not have training in technical skill. These paintings were exchanged among

friends and family to solidify social relationships, therefore this art was socially important.

The literati during this time generally looked back at historical literati style; however,

they did not consciously copy styles of specific, approved periods, styles or painters. Instead,

they were highly concerned with personal expression. The manipulation of brush and ink was

important for conveying sentiment, as opposed to the careful representation of forms. Locales of

paintings were usually significant to the painter.

Huang displays literati style in his painting in a number of ways. He pays much attention

to the brushstroke and the use of wash over forms. The locale he chose for his paintings were

personally significant to him. He focused on the painting as a process, rather than having a set

goal in mind. Compositional and formal elements were used to create balances, for example,

dark mountains in combination with white rivers. Huang lived in seclusion; his alienation

translates in the small, overpowered human elements within the looming mountainous landscape.

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The Qing dynasty was a time of foreign rule for the Chinese, as was the case during the

Yuan. However, the Chinese were much more content to be under Manchu rule than under

Mongol rule. This was partially due to the Manchurians consciously being open to Chinese

culture. The Manchurians paid much attention to ethnic divisions within society. Although

official positions were given to the Chinese, some Chinese scholars still felt resentment towards

foreign rule. This was due to their relation to Ming rulers, or to increased competition for and

decreased appeal of official jobs.

Despite this, many literati during this time had positions as officials, and government

rank was not important once again. The literati painters during the preceding Ming Dynasty

were no longer concerned with personal expression; rather, they were interested in art-historical

painting and ‘paintings about paintings.’ Writers on art history during this time artificially

created two categories of ‘correct’ and ‘incorrect’ painting styles, with the Southern style being

the right school to draw from. The literati not only disapproved of certain historical styles; they

also attacked contemporary professional and court painters. During the Qing, there was

increased education to a wider section of non-elite people. The Chinese historical elite needed a

way to distinguish themselves and to assert their class status. They followed those painters in

history who had the correct status and literati aesthetic.

The turn toward antiquarianism was also due to the collapse of the social order in the late

Ming. The Chinese attempted to find social and moral models by looking at the past. Society

under the Qing dynasty was conservative; self expression and great variation in the arts was not

looked upon well. However, there was still some alteration in creative expression. Literati

painters sought to mimic previous literati painters in a way that they could creatively alter the

original style by changing compositional and stylistic elements. When considering You’s

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landscape, his composition is similar to the Huang landscape, yet he added more mass to the land

forms and made that section larger. You was mimicking the Yuan master but also playing with

compositional elements. Many differences between the landscapes over these periods are often

due to the individual artist’s intent.

The Qing society was geared toward systemization. This can be seen in Qing literati

painting. You’s stylized rocks and trees show how imitating a certain style can lead to almost

formulaic elements. Sections of the painting, for example, different mountain groups, are set

apart from each other more than in Huang’s painting. The overall feeling of this painting is

flatter and map-like. This is a result of systematizing Huang’s style and the more aerial

viewpoint. It is also important to consider that, many times, painters would title a work as “in

the style of” a literati master; however, they were not predominately concerned with actually

depicting the landscape in that particular style. The naming of a painting with a few of the

original elements put the painter in the elite social circle and signified him as a literati in good

taste. This encouraged the process of systemization and abstraction, as the artists were less

concerned with rendering forms and individual elements and more concerned with making the

painting close enough to the master’s original that they would be considered elite.

Overall, these two paintings reflect the values of literati painting of the time. Differences

between them can be explained by the political and social climates of the time periods. The case

of the Qing literati imitating the Yuan dynasty and other periods is an attempt to define a certain

taste that places a person as a member of a socially significant group. When looking at past

literati, this is a central feature; literati isolate themselves from the status quo and seclude

themselves from a large portion of societal thought in order to live under an alternative

viewpoint or to assert status.

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Figure 1 : Nine Pearly Peaks by Huang Gongwang Figure 2 : Landscape in the Style of Huang Gongwang by Wang You