20 Gu Linshi (1865-1930)
Landscape after Xu Ben
1910
hanging scroll, ink and color on paper
57.4 x 29.4 cm
Shanghai Museum
The Suzhou traditionalist, Gu Linshi, wrote on this elegant landscape that
it was modeled on the work of Xu Ben, a scholar-official of the fourteenth
century. Painted the year before the collapse of the Qing dynasty, the subtle
brushwork and exquisitely varied ink tones of this quiet painting capture
the most elevated qualities of classical literati painting. The tranquil
landscape does not directly copy any old painting, but is a natural product
of the learned artist's selective absorption of trends from China's great
tradition of landscape painting.
Gu Linshi grew up with the painting collection of his grandfather, one of
the most important in Suzhou, which he later inherited. He built a beautiful
garden, Yiyuan, which was known for its arrangement of rocks, and
which served as a gathering place for Suzhou and Shanghai friends, including
Wu Dacheng, Lu Hui, Gu Yun, and Wu Changshi. This painting bears colophons
dated 1910 by Wu Changshi, Lu Hui, and Jin Erzhen, as well as a later one
by Wu Dacheng's grandson, the painter Wu Hufan.