Song Dynasty Landscape Painting

big idea

Neo-Confucianism was an important philosophical influence on northern Song landscape painting.

1. Time Period and Location: Song Dynasty Landscape Painting

China was ruled by a succession of dynasties throughout the Common Era. The Common Era was the period of time from 0 AD to the early 20th century. This lesson covers the Song dynasty, which was weak militarily, but extremely progressive technologically, politically, and philosophically. The artwork that we’ll be looking at all comes from China.

The timeline below highlights many of the dynasties that ruled during the Common Era. Notice that the Song dynasty, covered in this lesson, is blue.

2. Neo-Confucianism

Confucianism dates back to the sixth and fifth centuries BC. Neo-Confucianism, or New-Confucianism, is a form of Confucianism that revived Confucianist thought and became ingrained in the sociopolitical context of China.

The idea of li and ji are a fundamental part New-Confucianism. Li is viewed as an underlying reason and order to nature, or connection between nature and living beings, while ji is spirit, that is, life energy or life force. This belief was very influential on the way that landscape painters created their images and depicted nature in their artwork. Artists of this time sought to represent the idea of nature rather than specific places.

terms to know

Confucianism

A belief system based on the teachings of Confucius that emphasizes love and respect for human beings, the value of learning, and the value of family, including ancestors

Neo-Confucianism

A moral and ethical Chinese philosophy that revived Confucianism, but added influences from Daoism and Buddhism and emphasized the importance of nature and a sense of spiritual connection with nature

Li (idea)

The underlying reason and order of nature, as seen in its living forms

Ji (spirit)

Life energy or life force

3. Landscape Painting

The Chinese landscape painting of the Song dynasty is different than landscape paintings we see in, for example, 15th or 16th century Italy. Chinese landscape paintings do not depict specific places, but ideas of features within nature.

Below is an example of a painting that is not an image of a specific mountain scene, like a photograph; rather, this piece of work evokes the idea or sense of the concept of a mountain scene. It also makes use of shifting perspective.

Shifting perspective is a way of visually moving the viewer through the painting in a number of directions. This is done by having no fixed vanishing point like there is in linear perspective. Rather, objects appear closer and farther away, detailed or less detailed, depending on the way the artist is intending to pull the viewer through the landscape. It’s a different way of viewing a painting than what is typical in Western landscape paintings and arguably a more organic way of looking at the landscape.

The use of shifting perspective was better suited to the long horizontal scrolls on which these Chinese landscapes are painted. The painting wasn’t intended to be framed, but extended indefinitely in all directions.

You can also think about the Neo-Confucianist ideas, along with those relating to feng shui, and the idea that the land is alive and filled with energy.

terms to know

Shifting Perspective

A characteristic of traditional Chinese paintings as a way to break time and space

Feng Shui

A Chinese practice in which elements of space are arranged in a way that maximizes the flow of energy

3a. “Travelers Among Mountains and Streams"

The scene below is just a small detail from a much larger—almost seven feet long—scroll.

Even though the title references the travelers, nature is obviously the subject of this painting, dominating the scroll and relegating the travelers to tiny figures that are almost hidden within the painting. Again, there isn’t a single vanishing point in this example, but rather a use of shifting perspective to visually move you across the width of the landscape.

3b. “Fishing on a Mountain Stream”

The image below gives you a better idea of the use of shifting perspective.

While it is titled “Fishing on a Mountain Stream,” the idea in the title is not very evident from this image. Nature is clearly the focus, rather than a specific place. It could be any place. It’s an idea of nature. Linear perspective would be too limiting in this kind of landscape.

3c. “Streams and Mountains with a Clear Distant View”

This final example, titled “Streams and Mountains with a Clear Distant View,” is an example of the southern Song dynasty landscape style.

Here the artist uses a sharper contrast between light and dark, as well as more simplified forms than what we’ve seen previously. It’s essentially a different application of the same stylistic elements of Chinese landscape painting. It evokes a sense of a human connection in nature, but in a more reserved way than that of the northern Song style. In either case, Song dynasty landscape paintings embody our connection to nature, and they achieve more than just the depiction of nature to create a state of mind.