Ke Jiusi (1290-1343) and Ink Bamboo Painting in the Yuan Dynasty (1271-1368)

Ke Jiusi (1290-1343) and Ink Bamboo Painting in the Yuan Dynasty (1271-1368)

Date: 26 February 2014 (Wednesday)
Time: 5:00pm
Venue: Room 7.58, Run Run Shaw Tower, Centennial Campus

In the Yuan dynasty, ink bamboo painting was already a well-established genre. While it is a short-live dynasty, we find a great increase in references to artists who painted bamboo. Ke Jiusi is one of the most famous bamboo painters who has left behind a number paintings and texts on bamboo. My analysis of the activities of Ke Jiusi and his circle of bamboo painters, indicate that ink bamboo painting in the Yuan dynasty played a role different to what established scholarship has suggested in at least two ways. Frist, prior to the Yuan, men who painted ink bamaboo were thought of as belonging to the scholar-official class. During the Yuan, many historians believe that ink bamboo was painted in order to maintain independence from the Mongols and their court. It is not recognized that renowned ink bamboo painters were high officials who served the Mongol Yuan court. The second conclusion I address about Yuan ink bamboo painting concerns style. Artists strove to revitalize established schools of styles associated with painting masters of the eleventh and twelfth centuries. To me this seems to be a visual debate on what style best represents the authentic scholar-official style. Ke Jiusiwas regarded as a faithful follower of the artist Wen Tong (1019-1079). My research suggests that Ke Juisi was competing with the reputation of Zhao Mengfu (1254-1322), a highly talented artist and scholar-official, who was identified with the literatus painting Su Shi (1037-1101). The historical circumstances and the appeal of ink bamboo painting form the bass of my thesis.

Speaker: Ruby Leung (PhD Candidate, Department of Fine Arts, HKU)