Li Tang

Li Tang

 or Li T'ang

(born c. 1050—died c. 1130) Chinese painter. He earned the highest rank in the academy of painting of Emperor Huizong, and after the North fell to the Mongols he went to the South and entered the academy of Emperor Song Gaozong. His landscapes serve as a vital link between the earlier, and essentially Northern, variety of monumental landscape, and the more lyrical Southern style of the Ma-Xia school (based on the work of Ma Yuan and Xia Gui). Li perfected the brushstroke texture known as the “ax stroke,” which gives a tactile sense to painted rocks and suggests the precise and comprehensive reality that Southern Song artists sought to give their landscapes.

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Li T’ang 

Born in 1050; died circa 1130. Chinese painter. Leading figure in the K’aifeng and Hangchou academies of art.

Li T’ang’s work was marked by transitions from severe monochromatic landscapes, full of strength and epic grandeur, to modest lyrical landscapes with scenes from everyday life. He also did historical and genre paintings. His works A Temple by the River in Summertime, An Evening Ripple on an Autumn River, and Country Doctor are all in the Ku-kung Museum in Peking.

REFERENCE

Sirén, O. Chinese Paintings: Leading Masters and Principles, vol. 2. London-New York, 1956.