Ali Mountain Based on Sketches - 4 / Chang Ku-nien
About this Item
Record Details
- Accession Number
- 2006/1.139
- Title
- Ali Mountain Based on Sketches - 4
- Artist
- Chang Ku-nien
- Artist Nationality
- Chinese
- Artist Life Dates
- (Shanghai, China, 1906 - 1987, Flint, Michigan)
- Medium and Support
- hanging scroll, ink on paper
- Object Creation Date
- 1965
- Object Creation Place
- Asia (continent)
- Taiwan (nation)
- Creation Place 1
- Asia (continent)
- Creation Place 2
- Taiwan (nation)
- Credit Line
- Gift of Ted and Syauchen Baker
- Dimensions
- 173.2 cm x 94 cm (68 3/16 in. x 37 in.)
- Century
- 20th century
- Primary Object Classification
- Painting
- Primary Object Type
- hanging scroll
- Secondary Object Classification
- Painting
- Secondary Object Type
- landscape
- Physical Description
- One of six hanging scrolls in a series depicting the landscape of Ali Mountain, trees and hillside are shown below calligraphic text. The artist uses alternating wet ink washes for the misty clouds and dry flying-brushes for the large pine trees
- Subject Matter
- Located in middle-Taiwan, the Ali Mountain is one of the most famous scenic landmarks among Taiwan’s National Parks. Ali Mountain is best known for the beauty of the vast “cloud sea” surrounding the mountain peaks and the towering “divine giant trees” found amid the ridges and valley of the mountain.
- The painting’s format, a traditional mounting style called “the screen of connected scenes” or “sea curtain”, gives the artist the advantage of representing a panoramic view of monumental landscapes. Each of six individual pieces was first painted on the ground in the artist’s studio with an overall composition envisioned in the artist’s mind. Then, the inscriptions were added on the top, (inscribed by the artist himself in this case), and finally the six paintings were mounted into the current format.
- Inscribed is a piece of classic Song lyrics (the most popular in the Song dynasty), written in calligraphy style running script. The poetic lines describe a forested mountain filled with vigorous energies. Yet the atmosphere is melancholic. The vast landscape appears dream-like, symbolically representing the lost homeland of Chang and his peer generation-- mainland China-- that awaits its recovery from the Chinese Communists. The inscription thus connects the painting’s otherwise natural scenery to the advocated political theme of the Nationalist government’s rule in Taiwan in 1960s.
- Secondary Keywords
- upward
- associated concepts
- buildings and the land
- coating (material)
- coating by form
- descriptors
- earth sciences concepts
- image-making processes and techniques
- landforms
- landforms and landform components
- landforms by shape or position
- landscapes (environments)
- materials
- materials by function
- natural landscapes
- objects we use
- paintings
- paintings by form
- people and culture
- physical sciences concepts
- processes and techniques
- processes and techniques by specific type
- scientific concepts
- scroll paintings
- settlements and landscapes
- visual works
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- weather and related phenomena
- weather-related phenomena
- writing (processes)
- Rights
- If you are interested in using an image for a publication, please visit https://umma.umich.edu/about/services/request-image/ for more information and to fill out the online Image Rights and Reproductions Request Form.
Technical Details
- Collection
- University of Michigan Museum of Art
- Record
- 2006/1.139
- Link to this Item
-
https://quod.lib.umich.edu/m/musart/x-2006-sl-1.139/2006_1_139.jpg
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Related Links
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- In public portfolios
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- Full citation
-
"Ali Mountain Based on Sketches - 4; Chang Ku-nien." In the digital collection University of Michigan Museum of Art. https://quod.lib.umich.edu/m/musart/x-2006-sl-1.139/2006_1_139.jpg. University of Michigan Library Digital Collections. Accessed April 18, 2024.