- Provenance
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To?
Zhang Daqian (1899-1983). [1]To 1987
Arthur M. Sackler (1913-1987), New York. [2]From 1987
Arthur M. Sackler Gallery, gift of Arthur M. Sackler, New York. [3]Notes:
[1] See object record.
[2] See note 1.
[3] See note 1.
- Previous Owner(s) and Custodian(s)
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Zhang Daqian China, 1899-1983
Dr. Arthur M. Sackler 1913-1987
- Label
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This image belongs to an album that Shitao created the last year of his life as he reflected on experiences of the 1680s. The moonlit mountain is located in Anhui Province, in southeast China, and according to the artist's inscription he left Anhui in 1680 to move to Nanjing, where he served as a monk in a Buddhist temple. By the time he painted this scene, however, he was devoting himself full-time to artistic exploration. Unlike most painters of his era, Shitao had always avoided imitating earlier masters, and in old age his artistic style became increasingly unorthodox. Here Shitao's use of a radical degree of asymmetry is typical of how he was developing new forms of visuality. The extreme brevity of his brushwork, including the single-stroke mountains on the horizon, foreshadows abstraction in modern Chinese painting.
- Published References
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- Chang Wanli. Shitao shuhua ji [Selected Painting and Calligraphy of Shih-Tao]. multi-volumed, Hong Kong. vol. 4, pl. 95.
- Richard Edwards. The Paintings of Tao-chi 1641-ca 1720: Catalogue of an Exhibition Held at the Museum of Art, University of Michigan, August 13-September 17, 1967. Exh. cat. Ann Arbor. pp. 44, 94, fig. 19.
- Richard M. Barnhart. Wintry Forests, Old Trees: Some Landscape Themes in Chinese Painting. Exh. cat. New York. p. 63.
- Marilyn Fu, Fu Shen. Studies in Connoisseurship: Chinese Paintings from the Arthur M. Sackler Collections in New York, Princeton, and Washington, D.C., 3rd ed. Princeton, 1973. pp. 302-313.
- et al. Asian Art in the Arthur M. Sackler Gallery: The Inaugural Gift. Washington, 1987. cat. 206, p. 310.
- Collection Area(s)
- Chinese Art
- Web Resources
- Google Cultural Institute
- SI Usage Statement
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Usage Conditions Apply
There are restrictions for re-using this image. For more information, visit the Smithsonian's Terms of Use page.
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CC0 - Creative Commons (CC0 1.0)
This image is in the public domain (free of copyright restrictions). You can copy, modify, and distribute this work without contacting the Smithsonian. For more information, visit the Smithsonian's Terms of Use page.
Usage Conditions Apply
There are restrictions for re-using this image. For more information, visit the Smithsonian's Terms of Use page.
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International Image Interoperability Framework
FS-8132_24