Daoist and Confucianist Motfis in On a Mountain Path in Spring Many of the significant themes of Chinese landscape painting can find their origins within the various schools of thought that were dominant during the rise of this fascinating style. In an article published in The Art Bulletin in June of 1941, Alexander Soper created a rigorously detailed timeline of this phenomenon and attached to each artistic movement the particular belief system it could be identified with it. While the contents of the article, “Early Chinese Landscape Painting”, are vast and extremely knowledgeable about the chosen subject matter, for the sake of this essay I have riveted my attention primarily on the points the author makes upon Daoism and the important role it played in the budding scene of China’s landscape painting. Particularly, in the art of Ma Yuan and his painting On a Mountain Path in Spring, which exhibits a fairly conspicuous Daoist influence.
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As Soper’s words suggest, these two beliefs were very much at odds with each other, not only in art, but in daily practice as well. Daoism, or the “Way”, was a philosophy that put great emphasis on one’s relationship with nature and the universe. In attuning to the “Way” by focusing on the sights and sounds of nature, individuals could free themselves from the burden of human society and find spiritual
As Soper’s words suggest, these two beliefs were very much at odds with each other, not only in art, but in daily practice as well. Daoism, or the “Way”, was a philosophy that put great emphasis on one’s relationship with nature and the universe. In attuning to the “Way” by focusing on the sights and sounds of nature, individuals could free themselves from the burden of human society and find spiritual