A Study On Guo Xi

Guo Xi was considered the greatest landscape painter of the Northern Song Dynasty, after Li Cheng (10th century artist) and Fan Kuan (990 - 1030 A.D.), which were both greatest landscape painters of that time. Guo Xi's influence on the creation of landscape paintings in the Song Imperial Painting Academy and his contribution to the development and thriving of landscape painting of his time were profound. His painting theory, The Elegance of the Bamboo and Spring (Linquan Gaozhi), had far-reaching influence on later landscape artists.Guo Xi's landscape paintings and his theory of landscape painting established his noticeable role in the Chinese art history, earned him the honorable titles, the Orthodox School of Painting, and the Saint of Painting; however, Guo was once for a long time confronted with unthinkable indifferent treatment. His life experience and artistic achievement made him a rather controversial figure in the history of Chinese arts. Nevertheless, thus far, due to the lack of relevant literature on Guo Xi and his works, most scholars'knowledge about him goes no more than the elaboration of his ideas about landscape painting presented in his above-mentioned book. As a result, little is known about Guo Xi and his works.This paper, on the basis of analyzing relevant written records and examining paintings, studies Guo Xi from multi-dimensions and different perspectives, with emphasis put on the evolution of technique of Chinese landscape painting, the principles of creation and the history of Chinese landscape painting. It focuses on the role that Guo played in the history of Chinese landscape painting, aiming to present the master landscape painter as he was.It is argued that the controversy about Guo Xi's role in the history of Chinese landscape painting can be accounted for mainly in the following aspects. First, his membership of the Imperial Painting Academy made scholars have prejudice against him, though his accomplishment in the art of landscape painting was magnificent. Second, Guo surpassed many other members of the Academy as well as many of those painters who did belong to the Academy, by his attainments in poetry and his painting theory. Third, though Guo's paintings inherited the techniques of the North School of Landscape Painting that developed from the Five Dynasties and the North Song Dynasty, especially that of Li Cheng, they got the distinctive features that were embodied in the paintings of the South School of Landscape Painting, which made his paintings unique in both technique and style.