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How did Xia Gui use empty space in his paintings?

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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.

Xia Gui, a master of Chinese landscape painting and cofounder of the Ma-Xia school, utilized empty space to evoke a sense of limitless, atmospheric vastness.12

Rather than filling the entire canvas, his compositions often employed an asymmetrical "one-corner" design. In this approach, the visual weight is concentrated on one side of the paper or silk, while the remaining area is left bare or only lightly tinted. This technique allows specific elements—such as mountain peaks or twisted trees—to emerge from the void with dramatic effect.2

Furthermore, Xia Gui enhanced this sense of space and distance through his mastery of ink washes. By using subtle tones to render atmosphere and obscuring transitions with mist, he effectively reduced fine-drawn detail, creating a simplified, evocative style that emphasized depth and nature over cluttered representation.3