Why was Ma Yuan’s landscape style easier for later artists to imitate than Xia Gui’s style?

Ma Yuan’s landscape style was considered easier to imitate than that of Xia Gui because it relied on a more conventionalized and structured approach to composition and technique. Ma’s signature "one-corner" compositions—characterized by a jutting pine tree silhouetted against empty space and a meditating scholar—along with his brilliant, powerful brush technique, provided a clear, repeatable formula that many followers could adopt.12

In contrast, Xia Gui’s style was far more difficult to replicate successfully. While Xia also utilized the "one-corner" composition and the "ax-cut" stroke common to the Ma-Xia school, his work relied on subtle ink washes to render atmosphere, the reduction of fine-drawn detail, and the strategic hiding of transitions in mist. These elements required a master’s touch to achieve their intended dramatic effect; consequently, direct attempts at imitation by lesser painters often resulted in works that were described as pallid, uninteresting, or lacking in both pictorial and expressive depth.13