Ming-dynasty theorist of literati painting, author of the "Southern and Northern Schools"
A Ming-dynasty painter, calligrapher, and art theorist of far-reaching influence on later Chinese literati painting. He put forward the famous theory of "Southern and Northern Schools," dividing painting into the literati "Southern School" prizing brush-and-ink feeling and the professional "Northern School" prizing technique and realism — and exalted the former; this theory deeply shaped the values of Chinese painting for centuries. His own landscapes are subtle and understated, prizing the savor of brush and ink itself — the great synthesizer of literati aesthetics.
Dong Qichang held that a painting’s merit lay not in how lifelike it was, but in whether it carried a scholar’s "literary air" and cultivation of brush and ink. He raised painting from "craft" to "the Way," making Chinese painting wholly a means for the literatus to express the untrammeled spirit within — what is painted is landscape, what is seen is character and learning.
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