Liang Kai
Pioneer of simplified ink wash figure painting
Liang Kai (1150 – unknown) was a painter of the Southern Song Dynasty from Dongping, Shandong. After moving south, he lived in Qiantang (modern-day Hangzhou, Zhejiang) and was nicknamed 'Crazy Liang.' During the Jiatai era of Emperor Ningzong’s reign, he worked at the Imperial Painting Academy but resigned in protest of the academy's restrictions by hanging up his official belt. A student of Jia Shigu, Liang Kai excelled in landscapes, Buddhist and Daoist subjects, and ghost themes. His brushwork was simple and concise, and he pioneered the sketch-style figure painting. He is revered as the 'founder of simplified brushwork' and a pioneer of bold, expressive figure painting in China. His representative works include *Splash-Ink Immortal*, *Li Bai Traveling and Chanting*, *Sixth Patriarch Cutting Bamboo*, *Sixth Patriarch Tearing Scriptures*, *Stories of Eight Eminent Monks*, *Śākyamuni Leaving the Mountain*, and *Budai the Monk*.