Autumn Mountains 秋山圖

The eminent scholar-painter Wen Zhengming mastered disciplined but unassertive brushwork to create subtly powerful and often poignant compositions. Ascending a steep mountain path, a man with a walking staff is the solitary inhabitant of this landscape; desolate huts and clustered groves of thin trees are his only neighbors. Horizontal strokes accent the densely layered and partially shadowed mountain contours – an intriguing blend or representational form and surface texture. A poetic colophon by Shao Bao (1460-1527) is inscribed after the painting:In the Dao of painting, spring mountains are admired,But one can sympathize even more with autumn mountains.High winds overwhelm strong trees,Heavy rains - one can really see the springs.Tallow and plum trees are thin,Maple groves and apricot [trees] fade and groan.Yet when winter follows this,The pine and cypress are just as before."(translation by Stephen Little)