Dwelling in the Fuchun Mountains (first half)

Dwelling in the Fuchun Mountains was painted by Huang Gongwang in circa 1350 during the Yuan dynasty, depicting the Fuchun mountains in the mode of an idealised panoramic view. The artwork encompasses Huang’s masterful brushwork, using a range of techniques to create the experience of the scenery. Through the meticulous combination of wet and dry, sparse and dense, Huang captures various textures found in the scenery, from the leaves of the trees to the ridges of the mountains. The different ink concentrations used gives the mountains a three dimensional quality, creating a sense of depth as the further mountains are illustrated with lighter tones and less details. The artwork above is part of the first section of the whole painting, titled “Leftover Mountain”. The original scroll consists of 6 joint pieces of paper, but after being burnt by fire, it was separated into two parts. The first section, cut off from the rest of the scroll, is currently in the Zhejiang Provincial Museum in Hangzhou, China. Originally painted as a gift for master alchemist Wuyong, Dwelling in the Fuchun Mountains is considered to be the greatest surviving of Huang Gongwang, as well as one of the ten masterpieces in Chinese painting. The artist, Huang, is considered as one of the great masters of Chinese landscape painting, as well as the leader of Yuan dynasty’s Four Masters. His works are frequently copied and imitated by artists who came after him.