Find a peaceful sojourn in rivers and mountains inviting a spiritual encounter with nature.
Looking to get away from it all? This selection of idyllic landscapes by famed Chinese ink painters, past and present, offers a perfect opportunity to escape the hectic pace of city life in the digital age.
The selection on view offers a rare opportunity to enjoy a masterpiece by Ni Zan (1301-1374), a cultural icon in Chinese history, whose dry, spare brushwork evokes lyrical tranquility and a world cleansed of turmoil during the chaotic period of dynastic transition.
Following the ancient Chinese tradition of mountain worship, many of these landscapes use the contours of sacred mountains and the movements of waters and clouds to embody Daoist philosophy, beckoning the viewer to engage in a personal, cultural, and spiritual communion. As mountains are personified as venerable deities, rivers become their veins; mists are their breath; foliage is their hair; and rocks are their bones.
Image: Lofty Torrents, 1980. by Ying Yeping (Chinese, 1910 – 1990). Ink and colors on paper. Asian Art Museum, Gift of the Jack Anderson Collection, 1994.113. Photograph © Asian Art Museum of San Francisco.
