Wang Yuanqi’s Archaistic Practices and the Cultural Transmission of Ming-Qing Landscape Painting

DOI

10.2991/978-2-38476-577-5_3How to use a DOI?

Keywords

Ming-Qing Archaistic Landscape Painting; Wang Yuanqi; Artistic Lineage; Innovation Logic

Abstract

The archaism in Ming-Qing landscape painting is a key topic in art historical research, with literati painters viewing it as a crucial pathway for both artistic creation and technical refinement. This study clarifies that archaism, as a systematic artistic approach, is driven by the goals of learning, inheritance, and innovation, and thus fundamentally differs from forgery. It primarily focuses on the Southern School of painting, emerging from diverse needs related to cultural transmission, technical development, aesthetic expression, and social recognition. Utilizing a methodology that integrates literature review, iconographic analysis, and comparative study, this paper categorizes archaism into three types: “literal imitation”, focusing on the faithful reproduction of ancient techniques and forms; “interpretive imitation”, which blends the essence of ancient masters with the artist’s personal expression; and “appropriative imitation”, where imitation serves as a medium to express emotions and ideals. In the context of Ming-Qing archaistic landscape painting, Wang Yuanqi’s artistic theories and practices are exemplary, offering significant contributions to both the theory and execution of the art form. The archaistic approach to landscape painting in the Ming and Qing dynasties established a systematic creative framework that played a key role in preserving the lineage of landscape painting while drawing from the past to create the new through the adaptation of ancient techniques. However, this collective archaism also had its drawbacks, including a tendency toward uniformity and lack of innovation. By reassessing the value of archaistic painting and vindicating artists like Wang Yuanqi, this study sheds light on the traditional Chinese painting principle of “learning from the past without being bound by it”, offering crucial insights into the inheritance-innovation logic. These insights hold significant relevance for the future development of contemporary traditional Chinese painting.

Copyright

© 2026 The Author(s)

Open Access

Open Access This chapter is licensed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/), which permits any noncommercial use, sharing, adaptation, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, as long as you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons license and indicate if changes were made.

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TY  - CONF
AU  - Chengjun Jiang
AU  - Xin Luo
PY  - 2026
DA  - 2026/05/15
TI  - Wang Yuanqi’s Archaistic Practices and the Cultural Transmission of Ming-Qing Landscape Painting
BT  - Proceedings of the 2026 5th International Conference on Social Sciences and Humanities and Arts (SSHA 2026)
PB  - Atlantis Press
SP  - 16
EP  - 30
SN  - 2352-5398
UR  - https://doi.org/10.2991/978-2-38476-577-5_3
DO  - 10.2991/978-2-38476-577-5_3
ID  - Jiang2026
ER  -