Wind among the Trees on the Riverbank

Wind among the Trees on the Riverbank is a Chinese ink on paper painting created during the Yuan dynasty. The artist, Ni Zan, is regarded as one of the Four Great Masters of the Yuan Dynasty (painting), as well as an adept poet. He is known for his basic compositions and minimal brushwork with dry ink. The painting was created when Ni Zan was living a refugee’s life with his family in a hut southwest of Suzhou city. During this period, his painting style became more laid-back and assured, as Ni aimed to develop a sketch-like characteristic to his work by being more spontaneous and following his feelings and ideas during painting. In the inscription of this painting, the artist writes about a desolate and cold scenery as evening sets in the riverbank, conveying a sense of solitude and expressing the feeling of missing a friend, ending with a description of a fading light from the direction of the hills. As this artwork was painted within the same year the artist’s wife passed away, the inscription evokes a sense of isolation, and expresses Ni’s feelings of loneliness. Wind among the Trees on the Riverbank is an exemplar of Ni Zan’s paintings. It employs Ni Zan’s signature landscape composition – a cluster of barren trees on rocky banks with mountains set in the distance. Ni Zan’s typical painting style is also apparent in the painting, using dry and sketchy brushstrokes for generalised outlines, with little to no use of ink washes.