Huang Gongwang

Huang Gongwang
Dwelling in the Fuchun Mountains, Huang Gongwang, c. 1350
Traditional Chinese	黃公望
Simplified Chinese	黃公望
Transcriptions Standard Mandarin Hanyu Pinyin Huáng Gōngwàng Wade–Giles Huang2 Kung1-wang4 IPA [xwǎŋ kʊ́ŋwâŋ]
Style name
Traditional Chinese	子久
Simplified Chinese	子久
Transcriptions Standard Mandarin Hanyu Pinyin Zǐ Jiǔ Wade–Giles Tzu3 Chiu3
Sobriquet
Traditional Chinese	大癡道人
Simplified Chinese	大痴道人
Literal meaning	A Silly Daoist
Transcriptions Standard Mandarin Hanyu Pinyin Dàchī Dàorén Wade–Giles Ta4-ch'ih1 Tao4-jen2
Alternate sobriquet
Traditional Chinese	一峰道人
Simplified Chinese	一峰道人
Literal meaning	Daoist of One Peak
Transcriptions Standard Mandarin Hanyu Pinyin Yīfēng Dàorén Wade–Giles I1-feng1 Tao4-jen2

Huang Gongwang (1269–1354) was a painter born during the late Song Dynasty in Changshu, Jiangsu. He is the oldest of the "four great masters of the Yuan." Huang was born Lu Jian (Chinese: 陸堅; pinyin: Lù Jiān), and after serving as an official he acted as a Taoist priest. He spent his last years in the Fu-ch'un mountains near Hangzhou devoting himself to Taoism. It was here that in ca. 1350 he completed one of his most famous, and arguably greatest works, "Dwelling in the Fuchun Mountains".

In art he rejected the landscape conventions of his era's Academy, but is regarded as one of the great literati painters. He had two styles. One was dependent on the use of purple and the other preferred black ink. Like all other Chinese scholar-officials of his era he was also a poet. Lastly he had some talent for music.

He wrote a treatise on landscape painting, Secrets of Landscape Painting (寫山水訣, Xiě Shānshuǐ Jué).

References

• Masterpieces of Chinese Art (pages 87–90), by Rhonda and Jeffrey Cooper, Todtri Productions, 1997. ISBN 1-57717-060-1

External links

• Huang Gongwang and "Dwelling in the Fuchun Mountains" at the National Palace Museum