Autumn Mountains 秋山圖

<p>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.</p> <p>A poetic colophon by Shao Bao (1460-1527) is inscribed after the painting:<br><q>In the Dao of painting, spring mountains are admired,<br>But one can sympathize even more with autumn mountains.<br>High winds overwhelm strong trees,<br>Heavy rains - one can really see the springs.<br>Tallow and plum trees are thin,<br>Maple groves and apricot [trees] fade and groan.<br>Yet when winter follows this,<br>The pine and cypress are just as before.&quot;<br>(translation by Stephen Little)</q></p>