Mi Yunshan In The History Of Chinese Painting

In the Song Dynasty when a series of artistic heights in landscape painting(also referred to as the "Chinese mountains-and-waters painting")were reached,the "cloud and mountain of Mi family" provides a creative feature pointing to a more diversified development for landscape painting.Based on historical documents,this paper provides a comparative study on existing landscape paintings created by Mi Youren.The scrolls of "The Spectacular Views of the Xiao and Xiang Rivers" and the "Cloud-capped Mountain“are examined as typical works to reveal the following characteristics:First,the painter exhibited a great capability and uniqueness in chirographically depicting nature beings,as revealed by the”cloud capped mountain“and”mist surrounded trees" captured and portrayed in these works.Second,Mi Youren carried on the aesthetic philosophy of“strong brush strokes contrasted with light ink washes"initially employed by Wang Wei to allow the medium of brush and ink to play out their own functions,which was completely different from the previous techniques encompassing outlining,texturing and washing.Third,the cloud and mountain theme had not been exclusively adopted as a theme in landscape painting before Mi Fu and his son,and thus the "cloud and mountain of Mi family" is unprecedented creativity.Instead of solely imitating the nature,Mi Youren had also incorporated the constantly shifting natural landscapes of mist and cloud as a reference into his sensitive perception as a scholar official.While breaking through the constraints of realistic image,he emphasized the important roles of brush and ink,which,despite their blurred and moist nature,had created depictions with high clarity.The natural environment of southern China was fully presented in his work,including the dense states of atmosphere,space,drizzling and dark whiteness which are particularly difficult to capture.Such lively brushworks are exceptionally random and contingent in terms of chirographical creations.It can be seen from an intuitive experience of "The Spectacular Views of the Xiao and Xiang Rivers" and the "Cloud-capped Mountain" that Mi Youren didn’t intend to use "dots" to replace all other techniques in his painting practices.After a comparative analysis of multiple works created by him that have passed down to date,we can generally categorize the techniques of the "cloud and mountain of Mi family"into those pertaining to the "Manual of the Mustard Seed Garden".Throughout the painting history,there have been different development and interpretations for these techniques,further conventionalizing and symbolizing the paintings of Mi family.Therefore,from the perspective of an art practitioner,this study analyzes specific works and draws on historical documentation to examine the direction of brush and ink practices,with an attempt to draw on rational judgement and conclusion about the"cloud and mountain of Mi family".