Remote Valleys, Sounds of Waterfalls, Deep Forests

Remote Valleys, Sounds of Waterfalls, Deep Forests

Liu Yu

An item at Metropolitan Museum of Art

Liu Yu, a Nanjing native, is not listed among the Eight Masters of Jinling (Nanjing), but he belonged to the same circle of leading collectors and artists active in the city during the late seventeenth century, when it was a vital center for the arts. Liu developed an eclectic style that combined the dry, linear brushwork of the Nanjing individualist Gong Xian (1619–1689) with the landscape forms and brush idioms of the Orthodox master Wang Hui (1632–1717). Liu further enlivened his integration of stylistic sources with playful shifts in scale and spatial distortions—visual effects intended to convey his "scholarly amateurism." Like other Nanjing masters of the time, Liu balanced his commitment to calligraphic abstraction with the desire to make his pictures visually appealing. Here, alternating familiar scenes of human habitation with dramatic depictions of natural scenery, he created a landscape that engages viewers and transports them to another world.

Asian Art

An exhibit at Metropolitan Museum of Art

Remote Valleys, Sounds of Waterfalls, Deep ForestsRemote Valleys, Sounds of Waterfalls, Deep ForestsRemote Valleys, Sounds of Waterfalls, Deep ForestsRemote Valleys, Sounds of Waterfalls, Deep ForestsRemote Valleys, Sounds of Waterfalls, Deep Forests

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.