Jiang Song
Bold Ming ink wash painter
Jiang Song(蒋嵩), style name Sansong(三松), also known as Culai Shanren(徂来山人) and Sansong Jushi(三松居士), was from Jiangning (now Nanjing, Jiangsu). His birth year is unknown, and he probably died in the early years of the Jiajing period. He was a Ming dynasty painter, an important painter in the late Zhejiang school, and also a renowned figure in the Jiangxia school. Jiang Song was active as an artist roughly during the Chenghua and Jiajing periods. He initially studied landscapes following the methods of Yuan dynasty painters Wu Zhen and Ni Zan, later following Wu Wei’s style, excelling in using burnt ink and dry brush with bold and unrestrained strokes. He was also good at painting figures, and his style was uninhibited and free. Because of his bold brushwork that often broke conventions, he was once mocked by painters of the Wu school as a follower of 'wild and deviant learning.' One of his representative works is the hanging scroll 'Fishermen Reading on a Boat,' which is housed in the Palace Museum in Beijing.