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Travelers Among Mountains and Streams (Fan K'uan)

Fan K'uan, a native of Hua-yüan (modern Yao-hsien) in Shensi province, often traveled the area between the capital and Loyang. Although he was known for his magnanimous character, straightforward personality, and fondness of drink and the Tao, he is famous now for his landscape painting. In his early study of painting, he followed the style of the Shantung artist Li Ch'eng (919-967). Later, however, he came to realize that if he really wanted to portray the land, he had to take Nature as his teacher rather than other artists or their works. After all, a personal landscape exists in nature and in the mind. Fan K'uan thereupon went to Mt. Hua and secluded himself among the forests and mountains, devoting himself to observing the effects of atmospheric, weather, and seasonal changes on the scenery. Contemporaries thereupon praised him for being able to commune with the mountains. This masterpiece is a testament to his skills and ideas in landscape painting.

Wind in Pines Among a Myriad Valleys (Li T'ang )

Li T'ang (style name Hsi-ku), a native of San-ch'eng in Ho-yang, served in the Han-lin Academy of Painting under Emperor Hui-tsung (1082-1135; reigned 1101-1125) of the Northern Sung. Sometime between 1127 and 1130, after the fall of the Northern Sung in 1126, Li escaped to the south, where the government had re-established as the Southern Sung (1127-1279). There he re-entered the Painting Academy, which was set up during the period from 1131 and 1162. He went on to receive the title of Gentleman of Complete Loyalty and the prestigious Gold Belt. He also became a Painter-in-Attendance and one of the most dominant figures in Southern Sung court painting.

Early Spring (Kuo Hsi )

Kuo Hsi, a native of Wen-hsien in Honan province, served as a court painter under Emperor Shen-tsung (reigned 1068-1085). Early in his career as an artist, Kuo Hsi painted large screens and walls for major palaces and halls in the capital that had caught the attention of the emperor. Kuo was later promoted to the highest position of Painter-in-Attendance in the court Han-lin Academy of Painting. He produced many monumental landscape paintings and specialized in painting large pine trees and scenery enveloped in mist and clouds. He employed "curled cloud" texture strokes for mountain slopes, while he did trees in "crab claw" forms to create a style of his own.