Untitled
ClassificationsPaintings-ink
Date2000-2011
Made AtChina, Asia
MediumInk on rice paper
DimensionsFramed: 82 × 159 in. (208.3 × 403.9 cm)
Credit LineGift of the Artist
Object number2011.20.1
DescriptionThere is no style of painting in which the depiction of fog is more pervasive than in sprawling traditional Chinese landscape paintings. This is a contemporary work by Cai Liqun, a Chinese artist born in 1955, but the broader style of ink wash in which it is done dates to at least the Song dynasty (960-1279) when it would have been practiced by members of the literati class.With ink wash, different values of primarily black ink are used to create evocative grayscale paintings. It is common to see subjects become lighter as they get further towards the background of a composition. Painted on white or near white paper, this gives the effect of distant subjects being swallowed by mist. Landscapes often rely on the depiction of mountainous outcroppings with darkened peaks and bases disappearing into the whiteness of the paper. In the painting of Cai Liqun, he uses the color of the paper to punctuate valleys with meandering rivers of fog.
On View
On view
