Discussants: Elizabeth Brotherton, State University of New York, New Paltz; Susan E. Nelson, Indiana University

In the West, an increase in theoretical writings on aesthetics in the eighteenth century brought with it a general discrediting of the poetry-painting correlation that had long been a staple of earlier discussion of the arts, and attention turned to identifying the distinctive characteristics thought to define the two art forms. In pre-modern China’s long history of theorizing on painting, on the other hand, few writings after the eleventh century did not propound the commonality of painting and poetry. This credo’s survival cannot be wholly attributed to the momentum of tradition, or to the importance of calligraphy as visual and physical intermediary between word and image. A theory of the unity of the arts, to those who embraced a Confucian world view as revitalized in the eleventh century, could imply a larger ideal whereby all realms of human endeavor find cohesion. If the aesthetic and the political had once existed together as part of a seamless whole, perhaps they could do so again through the agency of the individual artist. Thus the poetry-painting correlation in premodern Chinese art theory can be related to a utopian vision that also encompasses the political.

The panel papers show how instances of poetry-painting linkage in later Chinese history have been infused with political intention. In suggesting background for the Song canonization of Wang Wei’s poetry, Gao Jin relates Su Shi’s correlation of painting with poetry to the contemporary political strife. Elizabeth Owen examines Qian Xuan’s motivations for reenvisioning the popular old theme of Ming-huang and Yang Guifei. Finally, Alfreda Murck surveys the changing political meaning that has been assigned to the literary and pictorial motif of falling leaves from early times to the present. Susan Nelson will provide commentary.

Jin Gao, Yale University

This paper examines the interrelation between the canonization of Wang Wei’s (701–761) poetry and the development of theories on painting in the sociopolitical context of the Song dynasty (960–1279) in China. Specifically, I will discuss how the political strife in the Northern Song (960–1127) between Su Shi (1036–1101) and Wang Anshi (1021–1086) and their contrasting views of painting influenced the anthologization of Wang Wei’s poetry.

A scrutinization of anthologies of Tang poetry from the Tang to the Song dynasties reveals a significant change in the perception of Wang Wei’s poems. In the Tang, it is mostly yuefu and zengbie poems of Wang that were selected. The landscape poems for which Wang later came to be the most famous begin to be seen only in anthologies compiled by Southern Song (1127–1279) anthologists, such as Hong Mai (1123–1202), Zhao Shixiu (active 1190–1214), and Zhou Bi (active 1220s).

I argue that such a change not only reflects the changing uses of poetry but also reveals the influence of Su Shi’s theory on the relationship between painting and poetry. The growing reputation of landscape painting gradually elevated Wang’s poems related to landscape. Through analyzing Su Shi’s statements on Wang Wei’s painting and poetry, I suggest that it is Su’s theory on painting and poetry that influenced Southern Song anthologists’ selection of Wang Wei’s poems.

Elizabeth M. Owen, Yale University

Shortly after the fall of the Southern Song, during the early days of the Yuan dynasty, the respected Confucian scholar and admired loyalist Qian Xuan returned to a theme centuries old when he painted Yang Guifei Mounting a Horse now in the Freer Gallery of Art. This painting and its poetic inscription recall what is perhaps the most famous story of romantic love and violent destruction in Chinese history. Mid-eighth-century events subsequently inspired historians, playwrights, and painters, and captivated audiences throughout history. Poetry, such as Bai Juyi’s (772–846) romantic account, "Song of Everlasting Sorrow," and Chen Hong’s (9th c.) more critical and historically accurate prose account, also recorded the love affair. Centuries later, however, to the painter and his audience during the early days of Mongol rule, the archetypal love story connoted something quite different. Qian Xuan was preceded by a popular tradition of words and images that recalled a love affair closely linked with imperial loss of power and threat to dynastic continuity. In his unprecedented tableau, however, Qian Xuan rejected the traditional imagery of the imperial entourage’s travels through romantic and decorative blue-and-green mountains as well as visions of courtly amusements. Instead, he created a revolutionary image.

This paper will address the issue of why artists revived old themes for new audiences. Attempting to unravel overt and covert meanings, my study seeks to establish how and why Qian Xuan transformed this popular subject into a multivalent reflection of his time. To this end, the painter’s possible models, his social and artistic milieu, potential motivations, and, most of all, his creativity during life under Mongol domination will be considered. After these issues are examined, perhaps Yang Guifiei Mounting a Horse may be seen in a new light.

Alfreda J. Murck, Peking University

The image of leaves falling is a familiar metaphor for aging people’s hope to return to their roots. An additional, more politicized explanation for the popularity of the subject in painting and poetry derives from an annotation to the third-century b.c. poem "Lady of the Xiang," one of the Nine Songs. A second-century commentator dramatized the image of autumnal leaves, writing that they signified troubled times and great talent being cast aside. Admittedly hyperbolic, the allusion became popular in exile poetry before it appeared as a painting theme in the eleventh century. Paintings of falling leaves are sometimes accompanied by poems that empathize with unjust political punishment. The theme also appears in a canonical painting topic, The Odes of Bin.