Landscape

Sheer jagged cliffs and weathered rocks are juxtaposed with a vista of archipelagos receding deeply into space. Ink blotted onto the paper offers density and texture, while brushstrokes describe impossibly steep pathways and tiny cottages nestled at the foot of the rough peaks. Wang Jiqian’s landscapes have been termed “mountains of the mind” for their inventiveness and power. The modern look of his paintings results in part from his practice of applying ink with auxiliary papers or implements other than brushes. Yet his work also has classical references, seen here in the composition, which contrasts verticals on one side with horizontals on the other, a device used at least as early as the eighth century in Chinese landscape painting. Wang Jiqian was known throughout his career as a connoisseur and collector of classical Chinese paintings. Wang studied traditional landscape painting in Shangahi under Wu Hufan (1894–1968), but in the late 1940s he moved to New York, where he pursued Western drawing techniques. He developed a style that, while strikingly new, maintained its moorings in tradition.