Historical background of landscape painting school

The North-South School of Painting was formed in the Five Dynasties after the Tang Dynasty. During this period, due to the existence of a large number of local separatist regimes, the northern and southern regions were isolated, and this period happened to be the rising period of China landscape painting, which continued the prosperous Tang Dynasty. Therefore, under this condition, the Central Plains and the north and south of the Yangtze River began to form their own unique landscape painting schools, which was the earliest formation period of the North-South Painting School. Although the Northern Song Dynasty unified the whole country, a large number of painters from the Southern School went northward, and the North-South School began to communicate and form new innovations. The independent characteristics of the North-South School were preserved, and its influence continued to modern China painting circles.

From the Five Dynasties to the Song Dynasty, landscape painters came forth in large numbers, and the schools of landscape painting overlapped. These painters inherited and developed the excellent traditions of landscape painters in the Southern and Northern Dynasties, Sui and Tang Dynasties, and pushed China's landscape painting to an unprecedented peak, forming the landscape paintings of the Northern School and the Southern School in the Five Dynasties, the Central Plains Painting School and the Courtyard Landscape Painting in the Northern Song Dynasty, the Midian Landscape and the Green Landscape in the Late Northern Song Dynasty, and the Courtyard Landscape Painting in the Southern Song Dynasty.

During the Five Dynasties, Hao Jing and his student Guan Tong were representatives of northern landscape painting. Hao Jing, a northerner, once lived in seclusion in Taihang Mountain and was exposed to the magnificent scenery of the mountains in the north and Taihang Mountain. The painted landscape "starts from the peak and overlooks the poor valley" is mostly a huge valley with a panoramic layout centered on the regular layout, while the main peak is the center and the white clouds are used to set off the overall layout of the middle and foreground. The scene is grand, magnificent and has a strong sense of space. It is said that Kuang Lu Tu is his masterpiece. His disciple Guan Tong is from Chang 'an, who studied under Hao Jing, but he has the reputation of "taking care of you" and is a family of his own. He likes the scenery around Guanhe Shaanxi, where the autumn mountains are cold and the villages are desolate. His masterpiece "Travel Map of Guanshan" has been handed down from generation to generation, with towering peaks and far-reaching charm. The painted trees are flourishing and idle, giving people the impression that they are "messy and whole, simple and interesting".

Corresponding to the Northern Landscape Painting School represented by Hao Jing and Guan Tong, there is the Jiangnan Painting School represented by Dong Yuan and his disciple Ju Ran in the south, also known as the "Southern Landscape Painting School". Dong Yuan and Ju Ran were both painters who were active in the south in the second half of the 20th century. They live in the middle and lower reaches of the Yangtze River, different from the lonely, rich and cold north, but in a mild, sunny, warm and humid area. They observe nature and describe it with unique artistic language. In Dong Yuan's works, it is difficult to see steep peaks. What he saw were gentle and continuous mountains, endless streams at the foot of trees, fishing houses in mountain villages, and moving scenery in the mountains and rivers of the south of the Yangtze River. Dong Yuan's representative works include Xiaoxiang Map, which depicts the scenery of Xiaoxiang area, and Summer Mountain Map, which depicts the scenery of Jiangnan in summer. Ju Ran, a disciple of Dong Yuan, became the best successor of his painting style, and his masterpiece is Tween in Autumn Mountain. In this painting, three hermits are talking about Buddhist scriptures in a hut beside a stream in a deep valley jungle, surrounded by autumn scenery in Gao Shuang, which can also reflect the identity and intention of the painter.

During the Northern Song Dynasty, the Central Plains Painting School and Academy Landscape Painting appeared. The Central Plains Painting School is represented by Li Cheng and Fan Kuan. Li Chuangshi lives in Yingqiu County, Shandong Province, so he often describes the natural environment of Qilu and Yuan Ye. Fan Kuan has lived in Zhong Nanshan and Dahuashan for a long time. His paintings are rich in mountains, abrupt in stones and lush in trees. After Li Cheng and Fan Kuan, landscape painters followed. Under the influence of Li and Fan, there is a tendency that "the people of Qilu only imitate Li Cheng, and the land of Guanshan only imitates Fan Kuan".

After the unification of the Northern Song Dynasty, painters from the south of the Yangtze River went north one after another and were treated by the Northern Song Dynasty Painting Academy, which impacted the Northern Song Dynasty landscape painting with the Central Plains painting school as the mainstream, and the northern and southern painting schools began to merge, forming a courtyard landscape painting represented by Guo.