梁楷 - Liang Kai
Some time ago I wrote about Bada Shanren (八大山人) a seventeenth century Chinese painter that I love and admire. This time we will go even further back in time to one of the zen-paintings great-grandfathers Liang Kai (梁楷) of the [song-dynasty](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Song_dynasty) (960–1279).
As always in Chinese culture there was strict rules to obey and great wonder and admiration to those who broke the rules. Just like Bada Shanren, Liang Kai had (or rather took) the reputation of madness. Turning his back on the fine career at the imperial court, he left for a life as a Chan (Chinese for Zen) Buddhist priest.
The paintings from this period on are characterised by vivid brushwork, and great simplicity, often it seems that he found the motives in the random first strokes.
His paintings were later a great inspiration for the Japanese Zen-painters of the seventeenth and eighteens century, while his art in the more Confucian (ordered) China was less appreciated.
There is so much comic-characters in these portraits, and there actually are a red line all the way back to these early playful experiments with randomness and simplicity, to modern line-based drawings. But I do admit that it is seldom that you see something as beautiful and simple as this.
All images from chinaonlinemuseum.come
So beautiful!
:)
wonderful artworks, full of atmosphere! I love the shades of colors and the focus on the subject on the paper. Really beutiful! Thanks for share ^_^
You're welcome! I always love to see how fresh art can be even though it is centuries old. Sometimes I get depressed when I see a newly made, boring, cowardly artwork. This is the exact opposite.
I totally agree with you