Beijing

Dong Qichang is probably one of the most dominant and influential authorities in the history of Chinese Painting. It is hard to over emphasis his importance in shaping theory and style of later generations. Active in the late Ming, Dong was influenced by the Four Great Masters of the Yuan Dynasty and was highly instrumental in consolidating the Literati painting tradition as the leading and most popular trend in landscape painting. As will be mentioned later, his imposing clout over generations of painters which followed him in theory and practice was not only necessarily  positive. His strict and elaborate instructions concerning style, practice and theory brought forth a conservative trend of followers that during the Qing Dynasty became highly dogmatic and lacked real ground breaking creativity, therefore losing the freshness, audacity and unique flavor the Literati School was initially admired for.

 Dong Qichang passed the difficult Jin Shi imperial exams in 1589 and embarked on a prosperous political career. Naturally, he became involved with the imperial Hanlin painting academy and art circles, he also founded the Song Jiang school of painting. Being a great calligrapher Dong used vigorous calligraphic brush strokes in his landscapes. In his early years after entering the Hanlin imperial painting academy, Dong focused on laboriously studying ancient styles. It was only around his fifties when he started developing a unique style of his own. His landscapes are  Naive and mellow, stressing gentle tones of color and an aura of simplicity. His smooth and harmonious combination of painting, calligraphy and poetry have been recognized as one of the most successful attempts in the tradition. 

Dong Qichang's most influential theory of painting is undoubtedly his Northern Southern School Theory where he said: "there are two types of paintings which started forming since the Tang Dynasty, one is the northern style the other is the southern style but the members of these different schools are not necessarily selected according to the area in which they worked." Dong pointed out the essential differences between the vigorous and imposing style of the north and the subtle lyrical ambient of the south. He classified painters from the Tang all the way to his times into northern and southern styles according to technique, composition and general atmosphere in a somewhat perplexing way. Dong's classification was sometimes a source of confusion but it is beyond any doubt that his theory helped systemize and crystallize a long tradition. Dong used his theory as a tool for comparison between the carefree crude and spontaneous Literati style and the more ornamental colorful professional styles. His theory discusses the evolution of landscape painting through diverse angles and perspectives, supplying painters with a better understanding where they belong and the ideas their predecessors represent.

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