JING TING MOUNTAIN / 敬亭山 BY SHITAO / 石濤

SHITAO / 石濤 (1642-1707) 

Jing Ting Mountain / 敬亭山) (300m - 980ft)

China 

 In Paysage à la cascade, Les monts Jingting  en automne, rouleau, 1671, Musée Guimet, Paris


About this roll 
This roll, faithful to the traditional Chinese perspective rendered in successive plan layouts, presents a landscape of wooded rocky massifs, in the center, a waterfall flows into a stream. Drowned in the abundance of foliage, a man near a pavilion contemplates the spectacle. In a colophon the painter relates the circumstances of the creation: "There I saw in turn authentic paintings of Nizan and Huang Gongwang. My days, from then on, were according to the impressions that I preserved ". The strangeness of this landscape with the dark mountain cluttered with white clouds, is reinforced by the rapid and nervous brush stroke. This painting depends on Chinese aesthetics essentially concerned with "the natural" and whose appreciation is not about the finished result of the plot but the quality of the gesture that made it, enhancing the simplicity.
Constructed by firm rings that are endowed with an infinity of touches and ink values, this landscape uses a technique with brush and ink on paper.

The mountain 
The Jing Ting Mountain / 敬亭山) (300m - 980ft) is in the northern suburbs of Xuancheng City, Anhui province, China. Before the Jin Dynasty, the mountain was known as Zhao Ting Mountain. In 266 AD, its name was changed to Jing Ting Mountain (Jingting shan) to avoid the name taboo of the emperor, Sima Zhao.
Jing Ting Mountain and the scenery therein has been the frequent subject of poetry and artwork. The poems written by Xie Tiao (464–499) of the Southern Qi Dynasty brought it a widespread reputation. From then on, the area was visited frequently by many poets. The famous Chinese ancient poet Li Bai (699-762) said that "only Jing Ting Mountain can keep attracting you without boredom." 
Over 1,000 poems were written about Jing Ting Mountain and, therefore, it is regarded as the "Mountain of Poetry" in China.

The artist 
The chinese landscape painter Shitao or Shi Tao ( 石濤), was a descendant of the Ming imperial family born into the Ming dynasty imperial clan as Zhu Ruoji (朱若極), in the early Qing Dynasty (1644–1911).
Shitao is one of the most famous individualist painters of the early Qing years. The art he created was revolutionary in its transgressions of the rigidly codified techniques and styles that dictated what was considered beautiful. Imitation was valued over innovation, and although Shitao was clearly influenced by his predecessors (namely Ni Zan and Li Yong), his art breaks with theirs in several new and fascinating ways.
His formal innovations in depiction include drawing attention to the act of painting itself through his use of washes and bold, impressionistic brushstrokes, as well as an interest in subjective perspective and the use of negative or white space to suggest distance. Shi Tao's stylistic innovations are difficult to place in the context of the period. In a colophon dated 1686, Shitao wrote: "In painting, there are the Southern and the Northern schools, and in calligraphy, the methods of the Two Wangs (Wang Xizhi and his son Wang Xianzhi). Zhang Rong (443–497) once remarked, 'I regret not that I do not share the Two Wangs' methods, but that the Two Wangs did not share my methods.' If someone asks whether I [Shitao] follow the Southern or the Northern School, or whether either school follows me, I hold my belly laughing and reply, 'I always use my own method!'"
The poetry and calligraphy that accompany his landscapes are just as beautiful, irreverent, and vivid as the paintings they complement. His paintings exemplify the internal contradictions and tensions of the literati or scholar-amateur artist, and they have been interpreted as an invective against art-historical canonization.

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2019 - Wandering Vertexes...
by Francis Rousseau 

MOUNT HUANGSHAN PAINTED BY SHITAO

SHITAO  - 石涛 (1641-1707)

Mount Huangshan (1,864 m - 6,115 ft) 

China

painted in 1670

The mountain

Huangshan -  黄山 is a mountain range in southern Anhui province in eastern China. Vegetation on the range is thickest below 1,100 meters -3,600 ft), with trees growing up to the treeline at 1,800 meters -5,900 ft).   The Huangshan mountain range has many peaks, some more than 1,000 meters (3,250 feet) high. The three tallest and best-known peaks are Lotus Peak (Lian Hua Feng, 1,864 m), Bright Summit Peak (Guang Ming Ding, 1,840 m), and Celestial Peak (Tian Du Feng, literally Capital of Heaven Peak, 1,829 m). 

The area is well known for its scenery, sunsets, peculiarly-shaped granite peaks, Huangshan pine trees, hot springs, winter snow, and views of the clouds from above. Much of Huangshan's reputation derives from its significance in Chinese arts and literature. In addition to inspiring poets such as Li Bai, Huangshan and the scenery therein has been the frequent subject of poetry and artwork, especially Chinese ink painting and, more recently, photography. Overall, from the Tang Dynasty to the end of the Qing Dynasty, more than 20,000 poems were written about Huangshan, and a school of painting named after it. The mountains also have appeared in modern works. James Cameron, director of the 2009 film Avatar, cited Huangshan as one of his influences in designing the fictional world of that film.  The area also has been a location for scientific research because of its diversity of flora and wildlife. In the early part of the twentieth century, the geology and vegetation of Huangshan were the subjects of multiple studies by both Chinese and foreign scientists. The mountain is still a subject of research. For example, in the late twentieth century a team of researchers used the area for a field study of Tibetan macaques, a local species of monkey.

Huangshan is a UNESCO World Heritage Site, and one of China's major tourist destinations.  The World Heritage Site covers a core area of 154 square kilometres and a buffer zone of 142 square kilometres. In 2002, Huangshan was named the "sister mountain" of Jungfrau in the Swiss Alps.

The painter 

Shitao - 石涛 -  was a Chinese landscape painter and poet during the early part of the Qing Dynasty (1644–1911).  Shitao was a member of the Ming royal house. He narrowly avoided catastrophe in 1644 when the Ming Dynasty fell to invading Manchurians and civil rebellion. Having escaped by chance from the fate to which his lineage would have assigned him, Shitao assumed the name Yuanji Shitao no later than 1651 when he became a Buddhist monk. He moved from Wuchang, where he began his religious instruction, to Anhui in the 1660s. Throughout the 1680s he lived in Nanjing and Yangzhou, and in 1690 he moved to Beijing to find patronage for his promotion within the monastic system. Frustrated by his failure to find a patron, Shitao converted to Daoism in 1693 and returned to Yangzhou where he remained until his death in 1707.

Shitao is one of the most famous individualist painters of the early Qing dynasty. The art he created was revolutionary in its transgressions of the rigidly codified techniques and styles that dictated what was considered beautiful.  Imitation was valued over innovation, and although Shitao was clearly influenced by his predecessors (namely Ni Zan and Li Yong), his art breaks with theirs in several new and fascinating ways. His formal innovations in depiction include drawing attention to the act of painting itself through his use of washes and bold, impressionistic brushstrokes, as well as an interest in subjective perspective and the use of negative or white space to suggest distance.  Shi Tao's stylistic innovations are difficult to place in the context of the period.  In a colophon dated 1686, Shitao wrote: "In painting, there are the Southern and the Northern schools, and in calligraphy, the methods of the Two Wangs (Wang Xizhi and his son Wang Xianzhi). Zhang Rong (443–497) once remarked, 'I regret not that I do not share the Two Wangs' methods, but that the Two Wangs did not share my methods.' If someone asks whether I [Shitao] follow the Southern or the Northern School, or whether either school follows me, I hold my belly laughing and reply, 'I always use my own method!'"

The poetry and calligraphy that accompany his landscapes are just as beautiful, irreverent, and vivid as the paintings they complement. His paintings exemplify the internal contradictions and tensions of the literati or scholar-amateur artist, and they have been interpreted as an invective against art-historical canonization.

Reference: 

- Shitao Biography in China on line Museum