The meaning of the 'Eight Views of Hsiao-Hsiang': Poetry and painting in Sung China

This dissertation traces the development of the painting theme the Eight Views of Hsiao-Hsiang from its inception about 1080 through the thirteenth century. Special consideration is given to its possible meanings within the culture of the educated elite.; Sung Ti, the theme's creator, followed his family's history of service in the civil bureaucracy. Traditionally viewed as exercises in atmospheric landscape, his eight painting seem to have been inspired by exile literature and were probably created after his 1074 dismissal from court, a punishment that he considered unjust. His paintings may have constituted visual allusions to poetry that proclaimed loyalty and expressed moral outrage.; Chapter one provides cultural and political background. Chapter two summarizes the authors who shaped the literary image of the Hsiao-Hsiang region. Chapters three through five examine poetic archetypes and possible textual allusions for the eight titles, arguing that the poetry of Tu Fu may have had disproportionate influence. Chapter six presents the twelfth-century Buddhist monk Hui-hung who wrote poems to the Eight Views' titles, creating new poetic associations.; Sung Ti's paintings do not survive. The only complete Sung dynasty Eight Views of Hsiao-Hsiang is a mid-twelfth century set by Wang Hung (chapter seven). His paintings incorporate a variety of Northern Sung landscape styles with compositions that seem to imitate the structure of regulated verse. The analysis considers factors of syntactic parallelism as well as the influence of tonal pattern. The compositional principles observed in Wang Hung's paintings may help to account for the diagonal structure characteristic of many Southern Sung landscapes.; Chapter eight questions the assumption that the Eight Views was a theme at the Imperial Painting Academy. The tenacity of the original exile allusions, even within the Buddhist community, as well as a political agenda for Academy painters argues against the Eight Views having been adopted as an imperial painting theme. Meanings, however, varied with the audience; some regarded the Eight Views of Hsiao-Hsiang as no more than outstanding scenery.