Paintings of the Ming Dynasty (1368–1644)

Ming was a period where a great number of diverse styles, theories and schools emerged and flourished in various parts of China at different times. The art scene was generally divided into two main streams: professional painting and literati painting. The Court Academy shared the limelight with the Che School of Painting (浙派) in the early Ming period. Since the middle Ming period, the art arena was marked by the rise of literati painting. As the scholar-officials felt alienated by the turmoil in the Royal Court, painting became their way to evade. To them, painting was a means of self-expression, providing an outlet for their thoughts and feelings. There were quite a number of significant artists during the middle and late Ming period, such as the literati masters Shen Chou (沈周), his student Wen Cheng-ming (文徵明) and other famous members of the Wu School (吳派) in middle Ming as well as the art theorist Tung Ch’i-ch’ang (董其昌) in late Ming. They were renowned for their painting, calligraphy and also the poetry on their own paintings. Their artistic achievements in this respect had contributed much to the consolidation of this particular tradition in the future development of Chinese painting.