The Emergence of Composite Text-Image Art in Ming-Qing Period Painting

The Mr. Simon Suen and Mrs. Mary Suen Sino-Humanitas Institute is very honoured to invite Professor Ronald Egan, renowned American Sinologist and Stanford W. Ascherman, M.D. Professor of Sinology at Stanford University, to visit HKBU this March in the capacity of IoC Distinguished Visitor of HKBU. He will conduct two public lectures, to share his insights on the studies of classical Chinese literature and culture. Faculties, students and those who are interested in Chinese literature and culture are all welcome to register and participate. 

The long history of inscribing texts (poems or prose) on Chinese painting reached a new stage in the hands of Ming-Qing period artists. Painters exploited the potential of the two media (visual and literary) have to enhance each other when combined, creating a new kind of “composite” art in which text and image are both essential and their interplay is featured. This talk looks at examples of such works from the seventeenth century, showing the range of expression that explored. Special attention is given to what happens when ancient poems (e.g., from the Tang) are superimposed by the artists themselves on their newly created paintings.