Li Cheng (; 919–967),

Courtesy name A courtesy name (), also known as a style name, is a name bestowed upon one at adulthood in addition to one's given name. This practice is a tradition in the East Asian cultural sphere, including China, Japan, Korea, and Vietnam.Ulrich Theob ...

Xiánxī (咸熙), was a Chinese painter of the

Song dynasty The Song dynasty (; ; 960–1279) was an imperial dynasty of China that began in 960 and lasted until 1279. The dynasty was founded by Emperor Taizu of Song following his usurpation of the throne of the Later Zhou. The Song conquered the rest ...

. He was influenced by Jing Hao, Juran.

Life

He is from

Qingzhou Qingzhou () Wade–Giles: Tsing-chou, sometimes written as Ching-chow-fu, formerly Yidu County (Yitu) (), is a county-level city, which is located in the west of the prefecture-level city of Weifang, in the central part of Shandong Province, Chin ...

(now part of

Weifang Weifang () is a prefecture-level city in central Shandong province, People's Republic of China. The city borders Dongying to the northwest, Zibo to the west, Linyi to the southwest, Rizhao to the south, Qingdao to the east, and looks out to the ...

, Shandong) during the

Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms The Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms period (), from 907 to 979, was an era of political upheaval and division in 10th-century Imperial China. Five dynastic states quickly succeeded one another in the Central Plain, and more than a dozen concu ...

and early

Song Dynasty The Song dynasty (; ; 960–1279) was an imperial dynasty of China that began in 960 and lasted until 1279. The dynasty was founded by Emperor Taizu of Song following his usurpation of the throne of the Later Zhou. The Song conquered the rest ...

. His ancestral lineage was with the

Tang Dynasty The Tang dynasty (, ; zh, t= ), or Tang Empire, was an imperial dynasty of China that ruled from 618 to 907 AD, with an interregnum between 690 and 705. It was preceded by the Sui dynasty and followed by the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdom ...

imperial family, the Li (李) family, which had fallen out of power in 907 with the collapse of the Tang Empire. Li Cheng learned painting style from Jing Hao and Guan Tong at first but turned to focus on nature and developing his own style. He was also good at poetry and articles; but he did not pay much attention to that. He was not interested in working for the government. Many nobles wanted Li Cheng to work for them, but Li Cheng never accepted. An official named Sun Anzhi, who always wanted to get a painting from Li Cheng, offered Li a job in exchange for his painting. However, Li Cheng refused the offer. Sun then paid money to someone who knew Li Cheng and helped him to steal a painting. Sometime later, Li Cheng saw his work hanging on Sun's wall; he was very angry and never spoke to the person who stole his painting again. During his later years, he traveled around and died in

Huaiyang County Huaiyang District () is a district in the prefecture-level city of Zhoukou in the east of Henan province, People's Republic of China. During the Spring and Autumn period the capital of the state of Chen was located there. The Chinese Ma cliq ...

. Li Cheng, Fan Kuan, and Guan Tong together became known as the "three great rival artists". He did many landscape paintings with diluted ink, known as "treating ink like gold", which gives the appearance of being in a foggy dream. At that time, he was considered the best landscape painter of all time. He was known to have carried on an artistic dialogue with Wu Daoxuan through their respective paintings. Li Cheng primarily portrayed Shandong area landscapes in his paintings. Artists of later generations, such as Guo Xi, modeled their teaching on his painting style and methods. His works include “Jigger", "Joy in Fishing", "Cold crow", and "Landscape". One extant painting, "Reading Stele Nest Stone", was a collaboration with Wang Xiao.

Art

Li Cheng, Luxuriant Forest among Distant Peaks

References

Reading

*Sullivan, Michael. ''The Arts of China''. Berkeley: University of California Press, 2008 *Chinese painting - Five Dynasties (907-960) and Ten Kingdoms (902-978) *宣和画谱 - Chinese Text Project

External links

Landscapes Clear and Radiant: The Art of Wang Hui (1632-1717)
an exhibition catalog from The Metropolitan Museum of Art (fully available online as PDF), which contains material on Li Cheng (see index) *http://ctext.org/wiki.pl?if=en&res=668529&searchu=李成&remap=g 919 births 967 deaths Song dynasty landscape painters People from Weifang Painters from Shandong Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms landscape painters 10th-century Chinese painters {{China-painter-stub

Life

Art

See also

References

Reading

External links