| Guan Tong | |
|---|---|
Chang Dai-chien's forgery of Guan Tong's Drinking and singing at the foot of a precipitous mountain. Inks on silk. Enhanced for clarity. |
|
| Nationality | Chinese |
| Field | Painting |
| Movement | Northern Landscape style |
| Influenced by | Jing Hao |
| Influenced | Li Cheng, Fan Kuan |
Guan Tong (simplified Chinese: 关仝; traditional Chinese: 關仝; pinyin: Guān Tóng; Wade–Giles: Kuan T'ung); (c. 906-960), was a Chinese landscape painter of the Northern Landscape style during the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms Period and early Song dynasty from the city of Chang'an.[1] He was a pupil of Jing Hao, and known as a critical figure in the development of the era's monumental landscape painting.[2][3][4] His depictions achieve a believable and compelling portrayal of landscape, an achievement that typifies the tenth century artists drive in the portrayal of nature. The popularity of landscape is spoken to by the great popularity his distinctive style achieved.[5]
Guan Tong Autumn Mountain Shadow is one of the paintings attributed to Guan Tong, event hough there are several works attributed to him there are no extant works bearing his signature. In this picture a barely visible steep path climbs through the rugged mountains. It appears to be the visual equivalent of poems describing hard journeys such as Li Bai's The Road to Shu is Hard (Shudao nan).[5] his works focus as well on the representation of the cyclical seasons of nature; a concept central to Chinese medicine and many schools of Chinese philosophy.[2]
Guan Tong favored the use of 'axe chopped' brush strokes, Fu Pi Cun, to depict the angular rocky forms of the northern mountains. His strong peaks and densely compacted composition represents the northern tradition in its most likely form as scholars understand it today. His works along with certain pieces by Jing Hao are advanced and impressive pieces, they are not works that should be counted as inferior or preliminary to the mature landscape art of the Song.[5]
Twentieth century artist Chang Dai-chien forged a painting which was successfully passed off as an original by Guan Tong; the painting was purchased by the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston in 1957 and was assumed, at the time, to be a work by Guan Tong. The painting is considered one of Chang's most ambitious and audacious forgeries.[6]