Chinese Landscape Painting
960–1350The great tradition of shanshui (mountain-water) painting, where empty space is as important as ink. Color is the absence of color; the void speaks as loud as the mountain.
Ink on silk or paper with a pointed brush. The medium is water-based — gradations are achieved by diluting ink. Occasionally mineral pigments (azurite, malachite) are added, but the primary palette is ink + void.
Ma Yuan
1160–1225Chinese (Southern Song)
Called 'One-Corner Ma' because he composed landscapes in one corner of the painting, leaving vast areas of empty space. The void IS the painting.
Ma Yuan's technique combines firm, angular brushstrokes for rocks and trees with luminous washes for atmosphere. The empty silk represents mist, water, and infinity.
Ni Zan
1301–1374Chinese (Yuan Dynasty)
The master of emptiness. Ni Zan's landscapes are the sparest in Chinese art — a few trees, a small pavilion, vast water, distant mountains. Nothing is superfluous.
Ni Zan used dry brush almost exclusively — minimal ink, maximum control. His style was called 'bland' (dan) — the highest compliment in Chinese aesthetics, meaning refined beyond flavor.