Early Spring: detail

Creator:
Guo Xi 郭熙, 1001-1090
Notes:
Artist's name also spelled Kuo Hsi (in Wade-Giles romanization). This work was signed and dated 1072. Early Spring is a visual representation of the ideal landscape described in Guo's commentaries. It continues the early Northern Song (960-1127) theme of the domination of landscape over human activity, but also exemplifies Guo's individual manner of modifying the heroic images of that period. Rock and mountain masses coil and twist and set up surface tensions throughout the composition. The limited depth to the right is countered on the left by an angled, but level, view of a valley disappearing towards an undefined horizon. The foreground is placed at the level of the observer. As a whole, the landscape represents the technique, new to the mid-11th century, of juxtaposing the 'three distances' (sanyuan): high (gao), deep (shen) and level (ping). The scroll is executed in a painterly style, with broad, wet outlines, varied textural strokes and misty transitional areas rendered in sensitive washes.
Topics:
Painting -- China -- Song dynasty, 960-1279 -- (YVRC)
Culture:
Northern Song, 960-1127
Accession Number:
297854
Genre:
paintings: hanging scrolls (AAT)
Format:
Image
Content Type:
Paintings & Drawings
Rights:
The use of this image may be subject to the copyright law of the United States (Title 17, United States Code) or to site license or other rights management terms and conditions. The person using the image is liable for any infringement.
Access Restrictions:
Yale Community Only
Source Note:
Metropolitan Museum Journal v. 35, 2000
Yale Collection:
Visual Resources Collection, Asian Collection
Digital Collection:
Visual Resources Collection
Original Repository:
Taipei, Taiwan: National Palace Museum
Local Record Number:
Portfolio Item ID: 18451
OID:
316893
PID:
digcoll:2305097