Huang Gongwang

1269-1354 Chinese

Views: 2 Artworks: 28
Huang Gongwang

Yuan landscape master, majestic and elegant

Huang Gongwang(黄公望) (September 12, 1269 – November 10, 1354) was a painter during the Yuan Dynasty. He was from Pingyang, Zhejiang. According to Tao Zongyi in "Chuo Geng Lu," his original surname was Lu. He was adopted by the Huang family of Pingyang, Wenzhou, and hence changed his surname to Huang. His given name was Gongwang, his courtesy name Ziji, and he also went by the pseudonyms Yifeng and Dachidao Ren. Huang Gongwang once worked as a clerk in the Zhongtai Censorate and was imprisoned for a time. Later, he joined the Quanzhen Daoist sect and traveled to places like Hangzhou and Songjiang selling divinations. In his later years, he lived in Shaojiquan, Hangzhou, and passed away on October 25, 1354 (the 14th year of Zhizheng during Emperor Shun of Yuan), aged 85. Huang Gongwang was skilled in calligraphy, music, and poetry. He excelled particularly in landscape painting, having received instruction from Zhao Mengfu and following the styles of Dong Yuan, Juran, Jing Hao, Guan Tong, and Li Cheng. He worked in both ink and light-colored paints, incorporating unusual characters from cursive and ancient scripts into his art. His work was both majestic and elegant, simple yet spiritually complete, forming a unique style praised for its "majestic mountains and lush vegetation." He is ranked at the top of the "Four Masters of the Yuan" alongside Wu Zhen, Ni Zan, and Wang Meng. Some of his surviving works include "Dwelling in the Fuchun Mountains," "Quiet Water Pavilion," "Tianchi Stone Cliff," "Nine Peaks in Snow," and "Fuchun Great Ridge." He also wrote a treatise on painting called "The Secret of Capturing Landscapes."

Artworks by this artist (28 total)