Wang Yuanqi (“Wahng Yoo-en-chee”), 1642–1715
Landscape of Yushan, 1689
Hanging scroll, ink on paper; 50.59 x 22.44 in.
Collection of Roy and Marilyn Papp, courtesy of Phoenix Art Museum

Description
Wang Yuanqi was one of the most influential masters of the Qing period. He was called to court by the emperor Kangxi, a great patron of the arts, and helped establish the orthodox style a mode of landscape painting developed after the influential teachings of Dong Qichang that applied different tones of ink in a refined manner at the Manchu court. Kangxi appointed Wang a Companion for the Heir Apparent and an Academician Reader-in-Waiting at the Emperor’s Southern Study. According to court records, the Manchu emperor would spend hours watching the Chinese artist paint landscapes.

Community Response by Joshua Liang
“In this drawing, the artist portrays the face of a mountain in a forest. Although the artist uses the simple medium of ink on paper, he uses a variety of different strokes to add depth to this composition. There are also some hidden traditional houses, as people may have lived in these in the past. Although this was drawn long ago, it is ironic In the sense that the black and whiteness of this work seems to emphasize that this is a scene from the past as it is certainly hard to find houses like these, much less people living in these houses currently.”