TY - CHAP
T1 - A Venerated Ghost: Social Life of the Snowy Stream attributed to Wang Wei
AU - Zhao, Yi
PY - 2019/10
Y1 - 2019/10
N2 - The handscroll fragment Snowy Stream (Xuexitu) is an important picture in the history of Chinese art because it has often been used to represent the style of major Tang Dynasty poet and painter Wang Wei (701-761). However, in fact, we know relatively little about this painting because it has been lost and can be studied only in a low-quality photo. Since this rules out traditional art historical methodology, I instead attempt to expand our knowledge of this work by examining its “social life”, borrowing from Arjun Appadurai in the The Social Life of Things. More specifically, using the searchable Sikuquanshu database, I have gathered considerable traces of this painting’s existence in traditional Chinese writings to reestablish a general circulation history of it. Along with this process, my study also sheds light on Dong Qichang’s (1555-1636) interest-driven motives in establishing the canonical status of this painting in conjunction with his construction of Wang Wei and the Southern School. This is particularly embodied by his highly contradictory attitudes towards this painting before and after his acquisition of it. In addition, I propose that the title “Wang Wei Xuexitu” written in the manner of Emperor Huizong was actually the result of a fabrication project conspired by Dong Qichang in order to increase the monetary value of the painting. It was part of a larger repairing and remounting project conducted by Dong Qichang when he got this then-damaged painting cheaply from his former student: the heir of collector Xiang Yuanbian.
AB - The handscroll fragment Snowy Stream (Xuexitu) is an important picture in the history of Chinese art because it has often been used to represent the style of major Tang Dynasty poet and painter Wang Wei (701-761). However, in fact, we know relatively little about this painting because it has been lost and can be studied only in a low-quality photo. Since this rules out traditional art historical methodology, I instead attempt to expand our knowledge of this work by examining its “social life”, borrowing from Arjun Appadurai in the The Social Life of Things. More specifically, using the searchable Sikuquanshu database, I have gathered considerable traces of this painting’s existence in traditional Chinese writings to reestablish a general circulation history of it. Along with this process, my study also sheds light on Dong Qichang’s (1555-1636) interest-driven motives in establishing the canonical status of this painting in conjunction with his construction of Wang Wei and the Southern School. This is particularly embodied by his highly contradictory attitudes towards this painting before and after his acquisition of it. In addition, I propose that the title “Wang Wei Xuexitu” written in the manner of Emperor Huizong was actually the result of a fabrication project conspired by Dong Qichang in order to increase the monetary value of the painting. It was part of a larger repairing and remounting project conducted by Dong Qichang when he got this then-damaged painting cheaply from his former student: the heir of collector Xiang Yuanbian.
M3 - Chapter in an edited book (as author)
T3 - Meishu shi yu guannian shi
SP - 353
BT - 美术史与观念史
ER -