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How did the Ma-Xia school influence Japanese ink landscape painting?
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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 dynasty painters Ma Yuan and Xia Gui, exerted a profound influence on Japanese ink landscape painting, particularly during the Muromachi period (1338ā1573).123
This influence was primarily transmitted through Ming dynasty professional painters of the Zhe school, whose decorative variations of the Ma-Xia style were imported into Japan. These Chinese models served as the foundational basis for the development of Japanese ink-monochrome painting, known as suiboku-ga.2345
Key aspects of this influence include:
- Compositional Style: The "one-corner" compositionācharacterized by asymmetrical designs with weight shifted to one side and vast areas of empty spaceābecame a hallmark of the Japanese tradition.13
- Brushwork: The use of the "ax-cut" stroke, developed by Li Tang and refined by the Ma-Xia school, was adopted by Japanese masters.136
- Key Practitioners: Major Japanese artists, including Sesshū, Shūbun, and early masters of the KanŠschool, were heavily influenced by these Chinese techniques, often modeling their own work on paintings by Xia Gui.243