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How did Ma-Xia school paintings create a feeling of vast space?

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Pure and Remote View of Streams and Mountains, detail of hand scroll in ink and paper by Xia Gui, early 13th century (Southern Song); in the National Palace Museum, Taipei, Taiwan. — Xia Gui *Pure and Remote View of Streams and Mountains*, detail of hand scroll in ink and paper by Xia Gui, early 13th century (Southern Song); in the National Palace Museum, Taipei, Taiwan.

The Ma-Xia school, named for the Southern Song academy painters Ma Yuan and Xia Gui, created a feeling of vast, limitless space through several deliberate compositional and technical strategies.12

"One-Corner" Composition: Artists utilized an asymmetrical design where the visual weight is concentrated in one corner of the silk or paper, leaving the remaining area bare or only slightly tinted. This creates a dramatic juxtaposition between solid foreground elements—such as promontories, buildings, or trees—and a vast, empty void.13
Atmospheric Perspective: To suggest depth and distance, painters used dimmer ink for background elements, a technique known as atmospheric perspective. This effectively separates foreground details from the silhouettes of distant peaks, emphasizing the sense of a misty, expansive terrain.23
Positive Use of the Void: In these works, the empty space is not merely an absence of detail but functions as a positive, active element of the composition. By balancing solid masses against this "atmospheric void," the artists successfully conveyed a sense of quietude and romantic, limitless space.213