Landscapes with Poems (album leaf)

Gong Xian lived through the fall of China’s Ming dynasty and spent his later years in Nanjing, painting and teaching. His style is unlike almost anyone else’s. He built his landscapes from many layers of ink dots and washes, darkening the mountains and trees until they look heavy and rich, and then he left the mist and water almost white. That contrast makes the light seem to come from inside the paper. This leaf is from an album he made of landscapes paired with his poems, written in an energetic hand beside the scene. Here the mountains fold around a valley that seems full of quiet, as if everything in it has stopped to rest.

Look closely

1. Find the darkest place in the picture and the lightest one.
2. Look closely at the dots. How many layers of them can you see?
3. Find the poem. Where is it placed?

While you sit

Dark mountains, white mist and a few lines of a poem. Let the light come up slowly from the page.

Your seat in the galleries: a bench of ink-black wood with a pale paper-colored cushion.