Scholar-recluse in blue-green landscape

Scholar-recluse in blue-green landscape

Chen Hongshou

An item at Metropolitan Museum of Art

Between the ages of ten and twenty, Chen Hongshou studied painting in Hangzhou with the professional artist Lan Ying (1585–1664), with whom he must have trained by copying Song and Song-style pictures in the local Zhejiang tradition. In his mature years, however, Chen played on the mannerisms and formal distortions of contemporary Song imitations, turning the debased features of this worn-out tradition into elements of a new archaism infused with a highly personal sense of ironic melancholy. In this monumental landscape Chen alludes to the antique blue-and-green style in his use of flat planes of color, patterned foliage, and boldly contoured trees and rocks. Yet the exaggerated landscape forms and stylized banks of mist accentuate the unreality of the archaic conventions, emphasizing the isolation of the sensitively drawn gentleman and his attendant, whose presence gives the scene a troubling psychological edge.

Asian Art

An exhibit at Metropolitan Museum of Art

Scholar-recluse in blue-green landscapeScholar-recluse in blue-green landscapeScholar-recluse in blue-green landscapeScholar-recluse in blue-green landscapeScholar-recluse in blue-green landscape

The Met's collection of Asian art—more than 35,000 objects, ranging in date from the third millennium B.C. to the twenty-first century—is one of the largest and most comprehensive in the world. Each of the many civilizations of Asia is represented by outstanding works, providing an unrivaled experience of the artistic traditions of nearly half the world.