THE WALL STREET JOURNAL. Thursday, March 12, 2020 |A
Los Angeles
SOME 40 PAINTINGSand one
letter currently on view at the Los
Angeles County Museum of Art
are guaranteed to create a stir.
They are the core of “Where the
Truth Lies: The Art of Qiu Ying,”
the first exhibition outside Asia
devoted to a 16th-century Chinese
painter recognized as one of the
Four Great Masters of the Ming
dynasty (1368-1644) and ac-
claimed by the influential Dong
Qichang (1555-1636) as “the finest
hand of recent times.” Bookended
with sections highlighting his in-
fluential predecessors and legacy,
the show is also the first to pro-
pose a timeline for Qiu Ying (c.
1494-c. 1552): groups of early (c.
1504-15 and c. 1515-25), midcareer
(c. 1525-33 and c. 1534-42), and
late (1542-52) works.
The immediate reward is its
rich variety, for Qiu is prized for
his treatment of figures, his blue
and green landscapes, his meticu-
lous architectural renderings, and
his unsurpassed ability to re-cre-
ate the brushstrokes and styles of
ancient masters.
“Viewing the Pass List” (c.
1504-15) depicts the high stakes
involved in thejinshicivil service
exam, where success brought ac-underscores how daunting and
bold an undertaking this is. Qiu
left no known records of his out-
put, did not date his works, and
his first biography was brief and
posthumous. Nor was he dis-
cussed in exchanges among
scholar artists. This is probably
because Qiu was not of their lite-
rati class; he painted for a living.
While their paths crossed in Su-
zhou society and many literati
added admiring colophons to
Qiu’s work, it seems that Qiu was
not asked to leave his on theirs.
A renowned center of art, Su-
zhou was also known for its pro-
liferation of fakes. A 2018 exhibi-
tion at the National Palace
Museum in Taiwan vividly illus-
trated just how much Qiu’s versa-
tility and popularity made him a
favorite target. Over two rota-
tions, “Fineries of Forgeries” dis-
played one to three “Suzhou
fakes” per artist. For Qiu, they
showed 19.
Stephen Little, LACMA’s cura-
tor of Chinese art, leads off with
this issue through two painted
fans with identical compositions
of “The Queen Mother of the West
Flying on a Crane.” One is by Qiu;
the other, a copy—and the label
invites us to ferret out differences
and take a guess.
The answer is provided near
the end of the show, but getting it
right isn’t as much the point as
looking closely. “The Jiucheng
Palace” handscroll (c. 1525-33),
for instance, features a tree that,
a closer inspection reveals, was
trained and pruned to emulate a
phoenix. A jab at the extrava-
gance of the emperor who built
this palace? An oblique reference
to the elixir of immortality associ-
ated with this site?
There are also recurring fea-
tures, like the way Qiu mixed tonal
values in foliage, to almost sizzling
effect in “Fisherman’s Flute Heard
Over a Lake” (c. 1545-52). Or the
way people’s robes fall in smooth
curves with rounded folds—until,
in a work like “A Donkey for Mr.
Zhu” (c. 1534-42), the treatment is
suddenly crisp and angular as he
emulates the 11th-century artist Li
Gonglin.
Earlier studies have cited such
variations as evidence of fakery,
but the show argues that Qiu
tuned in so completely to a mas-
ter’s style and stroke that no “Qiu
Ying” hallmarks remained. An-
other argument—also implicit inthe show, explicit in the catalog—
is that scholars have in the past
used Qiu’s mature works as the
benchmark against which to judge
a painting’s authenticity. The
timeline Mr. Little has created
with the assistance of Wan Kong,
assistant curator of Chinese art,
and Einor K. Cervone, curatorial
fellow in Chinese art, allows for
growth, positing that Qiu was
painting by his teens and, over
time, his work, signature and
seals evolved.
Settling the issue between the
“Queen Mother of the West” fan
paintings is simple by comparison
to the show’s underlying scholar-
ship. The phoenix escorting thegoddess is faint in one, defined in
the other. And (spoiler alert) the
treatment of the pine trees is re-
markably more sophisticated in
one. Spotting this same treatment
in “Harp Player in a Pavilion” (c.
1530-35) is thrilling. Whether
scholars ultimately uphold, upend,
or amend this show’s conclusions,
we leave excited by its quest for
the truth. Wherever it may lie.Where the Truth Lies: The Art of
Qiu Ying
Los Angeles County Museum of
Art, through May 17Ms. Lawrence writes about Asian
and Islamic art for the Journal.Clockwise from above: Qiu Ying’s ‘The Emperor Guangwu Fording a River’
(c. 1534-42); ‘Crab Apple and Mountain Birds’ (c. 1534-42); detail of ‘The
Jiucheng Palace’ (c. 1525-33); ‘Fisherman’s Flute Heard Over a Lake’ (c.
1545-52); ‘Parting Under a Willow Tree,’ from ‘Romance of the Western
Chamber’ (c. 1545–52)BYLEELAWRENCE cess to the imperial palace. In
“The Emperor Guangwu Fording a
River” (c. 1534-42), diminutive fig-
ures make their way against a
backdrop of ever rising, mist-
strewn mountains painted with
azurite and malachite pigments in
a style created during the Tang
dynasty (618-907). While in a
handscroll (c. 1545-52) inspired by
the 10th-century artist Guanxi, thesure-handed lines of ink found in
baimiao(plain outline) paintings
capture the eccentricities of Daoist
immortals. The show’s lively mix
of genres and styles also includes
popular items like a gold-flecked
paper fan sporting birds on a flow-
ering branch, such classics as a
scholar savoring the distant music
of a flute, and scenes plucked from
history and literature.
These and almost all others are
new datings, and the rarity of a
letter—here displayed to quash
the myth that Qiu was illiterate—An exhibition demystifies
the 16th-century artist
long considered
something of an enigmaLIFE & ARTS
CLOCKWISE FROM TOP LEFT: ASIAN ART MUSEUM OF SAN FRANCISCO; NATIONAL GALLERY OF CANADA, OTTAWA; SHANGHAI MUSEUM; OSAKA CITY MUSEUM OF FINE ARTS; NELSO
N-ATKINS MUSEUM OF ART, KANSAS CITY
ART REVIEW
Qiu Ying: Copying the
Masters to Become One
The first show outside Asia devoted to a Chinese painter recognized as
one of the Four Great Masters of the Ming dynasty