The Significance of Landscape Guo Xi (after 1000-c.1090) In what does a gentleman’s love of landscape consist? The cultivation of his fundamental nature in rural retreats is his frequent occupation. The careftee abandon of mountain streams is his frequent delight. The secluded freedom of fishermen and woodsmen is his frequent enjoyment. The flight of cranes and the calling of apes are his frequent intimacies. ‘The bridles and fetters of the everyday world are what human nature constantly abhors. Immortals and sages in mists and vapors are what human nature constantly longs for and yet is unable to see. Tt is simply that, in a time of peace and plenty, when the intentions of ruler and Parents are high-minded, purifying oneself is of little significance and office- holding is allied to honor, Can anyone of humanitarian instinet then tread aloof oo retire afar in order to practice a retreat from worldly affairs? And, if so, will he necessarily share the fundamental simplicity of [legendary] recluscs such as Xu You [associated with] Mount Ji and the River Ying, or participate in the lingering, 290Guo Xi’s Writings on Landscape Painting renown of [the Han Dynasty’s] Four Old Men of Mount Shang?! Their songs, such as the “Ode to the White Pony” and the “Hymn to the Purple Fungus,”” are of what has passed away and is unattainable. But, are the longing for forests and streams, and the companionship of mists and vapors, then to be experienced only in dreams and denied to the waking senses? tis now possible for subtle hands to reproduce them in all their rich splendor. Without leaving your room you may sit to your heart’s content among streams and salleys. The voices of apes and the calls of birds will fall on your ears faintly. The glow ofthe mountain and the color of the waters will dazzle your eyes glitteringly. Could this fail to quicken your interest and thoroughly capture your heart? This is the ‘ultimate meaning behind the honor which the world accords to landscape painting, If this aim is notprincipal and the landscape isapproached with a trivial attitude, itis no different from desecrating.a divine vista ard polluting the clear wind. "There is a proper way to paint a landscap>. When spread out on an ambitious scale it should still have nothing superfluous. Restricted to a small view it should still lack nothing. There is also a proper way to look at landscapes. Look with a heart in tune with forest and stream, then you will value them highly. Approach with the eyes of arrogance and extravagance, then you will value them but litte Landscapes are vast things. You should look at them from a distance. Only then. will you see on one screen the sweep and atmosphere of mountain and water Figure paintings of gentlemen and ladies done on a miniature scale, ifheld in the hand or put on the table, may be taken in at one glance as soon as they are opened. These are the methods of looking at paintings I is generally accepted opinion that in landscapes there are those through which you may travel, those in which you may sightsee, those through which you may wander, and those in which you may live, Any paintings attaining these effects are to be considered excellent, but taose suitable for traveling and sight seeing are not as successful in achievement as those suitable for wandering and living. Why is this? Ifyou survey present-day scenery, in a hundred miles of land to be settled, only about one out of three places will be suitable for wandering or living, yer they will certainly be selected as such. A gentleman’s thirst for forests and streams is duc precisely to such places of beauty. Therefore, it is with this in mind that a painter should create and a critic should examine. This is what we mean by not losing the ultimate meaning... Someone learning to paint flowers puts a plant into a deep hole to look at it from above. This shows the flowers fully in the round. Someone learning to paint ‘bamboos selects one branch as the moonlight reflects its shadow on a plain white wall. This brings out its characteristic form. Is there any difference in learning to paint a landscape? You must go in person to the countryside to discover it. The significant aspects of the landscape will ther be apparent. To discover the overall layout of rivers and valleys in a real landscape, you look at them from a distance. ‘To discover their individual characteristics, you look at them from nearby. ‘Clouds and vapors in a real landscape différ through the four seasons. They are genial in spring, profuse in summer, sparse in autumn, and somber in winter, Ifa 2917 (Guo Xi’s Writings on Landscape Painting §—§ painting shows the major aspect and does not create overly detailed forms, then the prevailing attitude of clouds and vapors will appear alive. Mists and haze [on ‘mountains] in a real landscape differ through the seasons. Spring mountains are gently seductive and seem to smile, Summer mountains seem moist in their verdant hues. Autumn mountains are bright and clear, arrayed in colorful gar. ments. Winter mountains are withdrawn in melancholy, apparently asleep, If 3 painting shows the major idea without distracting signs of technique, then the atmospheric conditions will seem correct. Wind and rain in a real landscape can be grasped when seen from a distance Near to, you may be fascinated by the motion but will be unable to examine the overall pater in the confused flow. Shade and light in a real landscape can be comprehended if seen from a distance. From nearby your grasp will be narrowed and you will not obtain a picture of what is hidden and what revealed by light and dark, On mountains, figures indicate paths and roads; look-out pavilions indicate scenic spots. On hills, vegetation is light or dark to differentiate respective dlstancess streams and valleys are cut short or continuous to differentiate depths of recession. On the water, fords, ferries, and various bridges hint at human, activity; fishing skiffs and tackle hint at human interests. A great mountain is dominating as chief over the assembled hills, thereby ranking in an ordered arrangement the ridges and peaks, forests and valleys as suzerains of varying degrees and distances. The general appearance is of a great lord glorious on his throne and a hundred princes hastening to pay him court, without any effect of arrogance or withdrawal (on either part). A tall pine stands erect as the mark of all other trees, thereby ranking in an ordered arrangement the subsidiary trees and plants as numerous admiring assistants. The gencral effect is of a nobleman dazzling in his prime with all lesser mortals in his service, without insolent or oppressed attitudes [on either part] A mountain nearby has one aspect. Several miles away it has another aspect, and some tens of miles away yet another. Each distance has its particularity. This is called “the form of the mountain changing with each step.” The front face of a ‘mountain has one appearance. The side face has another appearance, and the rear face yet another. Each angle has its particularity. This is called “the form of a mountain viewed on every face.” Thus can one mountain combine in itself the forms of several thousand mountains. Should you not explore this? Mountains look different in the spring and summer, the autumn and winter. This is called “the scenery of the four seasons is not the same.”” A mountain in the morning has a different appearance from in the evening. Bright and dull days give further mutations. This is called “the changing aspects of different times are not same.”” ‘Thus can one mountain combine in itself the significant aspects of several thou- sand mountains, Should you not investigate this? In spring mountains, mists and clouds stretch out unbroken and people are fill of joy. In summer mountains, fine trees offer profuse shade and people are full of satisfaction, In autumn mountains, bright and clear leaves flutter and fall, and men are full of melancholy. In winter mountains, dark fogs dim and choke the 292Guo Xi's Writings on Landscape Painting scene, and men are full of loneliness. To look at a particular painting puts you in the corresponding mood. You seem in fact to be in those mountains. This is the ‘mood of a painting beyond its mere scenery. You see a white path disappearing, jnto the blue and think of traveling on it. You sce the glow of setting sua over fevel waters and dream of gazing on it. You sce hermits and mountain dwellers, and think of lodging with them. You see cliff by lucid water or streams over rocks, and long to wander there. To look at a particular painting puts you in the ‘corresponding frame of mind, as though you were really on the point of going there. This is the wonderful power ofa painting beyond its mere mood. Linquan gaochi(i) (The Lofty Message of Forest and Streams, LCKCC), “Advice on Landscape Painting,” Zhongguo hualun lsibian (Classified Compilation of Chinese Theories of Painting), ed. Yu Jian bua (Beijing: Zhongguo Gudian Yishu Chubanishe, 1957). Atmosphere and Spatial Recession Kuo Hsi (after 1000-c.1090) ‘A mountain without haze and clouds is like spring without flowers and grass. Tf ‘mountain is without clouds, itis not refined; without water itis not charming. Without paths it is not living; without forests itis not growing. Without deep distance it seems shallow; without level distance it does not recede and without high distance it stays low. ‘Mountains have three types of distance. Looking up to the mountain’s peak from its foot is called the high distance. From in front of the mountain looking past it to beyond is called deep distance. Looking from a nearby mountain at those more distant is called the level distance. High distance appears clear and bright; deep distance becomes steadily more obscure; level distance combines both qualities. The appearance of high distance is of lofty grandness. The idea of deep distance is of repeated layering. The idea of level distance is of spreading, forth to merge into mistiness and indistinctness. Figures in the three distances appear as follows. Those in the high distance are clear and distinct; in the deep distance they are fine and tiny; in the level distance they are remote and undisturbed. If they are clear and distinct then they cannot be short, If they are tiny then they cannot be tall. If they are remote then they cannot be large. Such are the three distances. ‘Mountains have three degrees ofsize. A mountain appears larger than 2 tree and atree larger than a man. [fa mountain is not greatly larger than a tree then it is not large at all, The tree which is not greatly larger than a man is not large at all. In comparing the size of a tree against the size of a human figure you begin with the eaves. [n comparing the size of a human figure against a tree you begin with the 293Guo Xi’s Writings on Landscape Painting head. A number ofleaves can be approximated to a human head. A human head ean bbe made in the size of a bunch of leaves. The sizes of figures, trees, and mountains, all acquire their standard in this manner, Such are the three degrees of size. ‘You may wish to make a mountain high, but if it is visible throughout its entirety it will not appear high. If mists enlock its waist, then ie will seem high You may wish the tiver to flow afar, but if its visible throughout its entirety, then it will not appear long, If hidden sections interrupt its course, then it will appear long. If a mountain is visible in its entirety, not only will it no longer reach its height through soaring aloft, but you might as well paint a giant pestle. Ifa rivers visible in its entirety, not only will it no longer go afar through twisting and bending, but you might as well paint an earthworm. ‘The streams and hills and woods and trees in the center twist and wind and are arranged to come forward from the distance. If you do not avoid these details, they will satisfy the viewer's nearby scrutiny. The level plains and lofty ranges to the sides arc linked together in successive layers and disappear into misty obscur- ity. If you do not overlook these distances, they will stretch to the utmost the beholder’s far vision. [According to Wang Wei:] “Distant mountains have no texture strokes; distant water has no waves; distant figures have no eyes.” They do. not really lack them, but mezely seem to do so. LCKCC, “Advice on Landscape Painting,” pp. 639-640. Notes 1. Xu You refused the throne when offered ie by the mythical emperor Yao; sce Bernard Karlgren, Legends and Cults in Ancient China, Bulletin of the Marcum of Far Eastern Antiquities, 18 (1946), 292. The “Four Old Men” or “Four Greybeards” retired from the world in protest against the Qin Dynasty, but re-emerged to support the rightful Han heir. See Burton Watson, Records of the Grand Historian of China (New York: Columbia University Press, 1961), 1, 146-149. 2. For the “Ode to the White Pony of the Shijing (Book of Poetry),” see James Legge, ‘The Chinese Clasics (Hong Kong: Hong Kong University Press, 1960), IV, 299-300. ‘The “Hymn to the Purple Fungus” is said to have been composed by the “Four Old Men” when in retirement. 204