Two album leaves from a landscape album

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Artist: Li Liufang (Chinese, 1575–1629)
Medium: Ink on paper
Size: 7 1/8 x 6 1/4 in. (18.1 x 15.88 cm) (image, each)
Museum: Minneapolis Institute of Art
Rights: Public Domain Mark

Li Liufang was a painter of the late Ming dynasty. He painted mostly in small formats, playing with ink and trying to channel the creative essence of certain old painting masters rather than copying their formal patterns. Most of his works look like improvised sketches, executed with fresh spontaneity. This album contains examples of Li’s early style—spare, linear compositions, in which he used less ink for thinner, fainter lines—as well as his later style, with its rich, inky brushwork.

Text: Minneapolis Institute of Art (Mia), CC BY 4.0.