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Chinese painting has started as a tradition of professional painters. Artists would specialize in painting images and themes that were accepted and customary at the time. There were different schools and preferences for a number of different themes but there was a general uniformity in style and attitude towards how art is done and what purpose it serves. During the late Tang and Northern Song period however, important changes took place. Scholar officials such as Su shi, Mi Fu advocated a more relaxed and unrestricted attitude towards art. These intellectuals who had no background in painting as a profession, promoted the importance of self expression and casualness. They regarded meticulous technique and the ornamental function of art as secondary to the intuitive expression of the artists' inner feelings. For them the need to resemble reality by using special technical effects was considered to be a rather shallow concept of painting. The Literati School of painting, as these artists became to be known, were actually amateur artists who painted for pleasure and spiritual fulfillment, not as a profession. Although considered to be unskilled painters, the Literati’s’ were highly educated, had refined manners and haughty taste and most importantly, had high skills in handling the brush. They soon became the leading trend In Chinese painting, taking over the predominance of professional artists and the 'Blue-and-green Landscape' style. The appearance of the Four Masters of the Yuan Dynasty and later Dong Qichang during the Ming, helped consolidate the Literati school position as the leading artistic style of expression in landscape, and Flower-and-Bird Painting. However, like anything that lasts for too long also the literati school, which initially advocated freedom and casualness and the importance of individualism, started to become dogmatic and lose its early vigor. Dong Qichang of the late Ming dynasty and one of China’s greatest Landscape painters, calligraphers and art theorists, introduced a comprehensive system of theory and practice into painting. This rather rigid systemization turned the once rebellious Literati Style into the Dogma of the day. Being an extremely influential figure in the art world of his time, Dong Qichang advocated “restoring the ancient” by meticulous copying of the early masters of the Liretati School, especially the works of the pioneer Song masters and the Four Masters of the Yuan Dynasty. Dong gave instructions concerning technique, composition, style and the process of copying, he stressed a clear-cut and refined style. By the time of the late Ming and early Qing Dynasty we see the beginning of a new phase in art. The professional schools of painting stagnated to the extent that the Literati School completely took over the art scene. In turn, this school split into two major trends, namely the “Orthodox” and the “Individualist” schools. Once the real orthodox school of professional painting finally died out, the less individualistic trend of the Literati school became the new “orthodoxy”. Although much more progressive than professional painters, the four Wangs still represented a conservative trend which focused on the re-interpretations of old formats and masters in highly stylized manners. Professional painters continued to work all over China but never represented any major or influential force on the art scene. The Four Wangs were Wang Shimin (1592-1680), Wang jian (1598-1677), Wang Hui (1632-1717)and Wang Yuanqi (1642-1715). Sometimes two other artists, Wu Li and Yun Shouping, are added to this group to be called “The Six Masters of the Early Qing”. All these artists were landscapists except Yun Shouping who painted landscapes but was better known for his flower paintings
As mentioned above, the Four Wangs were fervent followers of Dong Qichang of the late Ming. When Wang Yuanqi praised Wang Hui’s painting he said: “I was lucky enough to see Wang Hui’s painting at an old age, but what a shame that Dong Qichang hasn’t had this pleasure”, from Wang Yuanqi’s words we can see that one of the reasons for the admiration of a landscape painting was the work’s adherence to Dong Qichang’s uncompromising artistic criteria. Although not a conservative himself, Dong Qichang was very strict in his judgment of art. He set forth a dogmatic system of evaluating art in which he stated what is good and what is bad in brush technique, composition, style and even attitude.
The Four Wangs, together with Wu Li and Yun Shouping are grouped together for two main reasons. They were all related by blood or in student-teacher relations, working in the same period at the end of the Ming and beginning of the Qing. The second reason is their artistic tendencies and the fact that they belonged to the same tradition and shared the same beliefs concerning art. The two leaders of this school were the older of the Wangs, namely Wang Shimin and Wang Jian. Their art was very similar and more conservative while the younger generation Wang Hui, Wang Yuanqi, Wu Li and Yun Shouping had more individualistic tendencies. In General it can be said that the Four Wangs stressed the importance of technique of brush and ink application and meticulous copying of ancient forms. But it is crucial to stress that they were far from being mere imitators of their predecessors. Although relaying on the masters of the past, they gave these old forms new and fresh interpretations. Each one of the Four Wangs left a unique and characteristic mark in his works. They used the façade of the old formats they based their art on but the content is still full of emotion and feelings. They usually painted indoors without a need to directly observe nature. For them nature was a traditional visual image they used to express things that dwell deep in the heart. The main difference between the Orthodox Wangs and the more individualistic trend in the early Qing such as the The Four Great Monk Painters and the Eight eccentrics was that the Wangs expressed their individuality within the boundaries of a well formalized system, while the latter two groups broke all conventions and rules, disregarding the interaction with the past. It can also be said that the Four Wangs were less extreme in their sentiments against the new Manchu invaders and didn’t go as far as retiring to the mountains and becoming monks alienated from society and the ruling class. Instead they preferred to live in comparative seclusion at their homes and indeed in their art and minds. The different attitudes towards the political situation of the time are important factors that can reflect the difference in temperament between different artistic trends at the beginning of the Qing, it can be said that the art of the Four Wangs shows signs of a need to escape from the reality they confronted but this statement of dissatisfaction is rather subtle in their art.
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