GUO XI

 

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SUNDAY Feature on ART of Architecture -by Gautam Shah

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Guo Xi (1020-1090) was a Chinese landscape painter of Northern Song Dynasty, from Henan Province. His works cover a wide variety of themes, like forests, mists, mountains, skies, seasons, rocks. He also painted large screens, walls and scrolls. He was a well-educated courtier.

Guo Xi developed a style of brushstrokes and manner of presenting the details. He used multiple layers (as many as 8) of ink, to create soft blended areas in his paintings. His style is characterized by curled impressionistic strokes for clouds, rocks, trees and mountains. Guo Xi painted three types of trees, lesser-bending trees, crouching, gnarled trees and vertical tall trees, each representing a trait of human personality.

Guo Xi’s major contribution, to Art of Landscape painting was to depict multiple view points in the same scene. This technique, called ‘the angle of totality’ produced a blend of multiple perspectives or floating perspective.

Guo xi’s work inspired many later artists and even had landscapes dedicated to him.

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