Dong Qichang

Wanluan Thatched Hall (婉娈草堂图), Dong Qichang, 1597. Private collection, Taipei.

Dong Qichang (Chinese: 董其昌; pinyin: Dǒng Qíchāng; Wade-Giles: Tung Ch'ich'ang, 1555–1636), courtesy name Xuanzai (玄宰), was a Chinese painter, scholar, calligrapher, and art theorist of the later period of the Ming Dynasty.

Painter

His work favored expression over formal likeness. He also avoided anything he deemed to be slick or sentimental. This led him to create landscapes with intentionally distorted spatial features. Still his work was in no way abstract as it took elements from earlier Yuan masters. His views on expression had importance to later "individualist" painters.

Art theory

He considered there to be a Northern school, represented by Zhe, and a Southern school represented by literati painters. This name is misleading as it refers to Northern and Southern schools of Chan Buddhism thought rather than geography. Hence a Northern painter could be geographically from the south and a Southern painter geographically from the north. In any event he strongly favored the Southern school and dismissed the Northern school as superficial or merely decorative.

Scholar and calligrapher

Dong Qichang was the son of a teacher and somewhat precocious as a child. At 12 he passed the prefectural civil service examination and won a coveted spot at the prefectural Government school. He first took the imperial civil service exam at seventeen, but placed second to a cousin because his calligraphy was clumsy. This led him to train until he became a noted calligrapher. Once this occurred he rose up the ranks of the imperial service passing the highest level at the age of 35.

His positions in the bureaucracy were not without controversy. In 1605 he was giving the exam when the candidates demonstrated against him causing his temporary retirement. In other cases he insulted and beat women who came to his home with grievances. That led to his house being burned down by an angry mob. He also had the tense relations with the eunuchs common to the scholar bureaucracy. Dong's tomb was vandalized during the Cultural Revolution, and his body dressed in official Ming court robes, was desecrated by Red Guards.

Gallery

Dong Qichang, Autumn Landscape, private collection

Seeking Ancient in Fengjing (葑泾访古图), ink on paper, height 80 cm, width 29.8 cm, National Palace Museum, Taipei

Dong Qichang, calligraphy of cursive and semi-cursive style, Tokyo National Museum, 1603

Dong Qichang, Tree in Summer with the Shadow, National Palace Museum, Taipei

References

This article contains Chinese text. Without proper rendering support, you may see question marks, boxes, or other symbols instead of Chinese characters.

• Xiao, Yanyi, "Dong Qichang". Encyclopedia of China, 1st ed.
• Masterpieces of Chinese Art (pages 106 and 109), by Rhonda and Jeffrey Cooper, Todtri Productions, 1997. ISBN 1-57717-060-1
• WWU article

External links

• Calligraphy Gallery of Dong Qichang at China Online Museum
• Painting Gallery of Dong Qichang at China Online Museum
• Calligraphy by Dong Qichang at Chinapage
• Paintings at the site of the Museum of Fine Arts Boston's online collection