The peak of imagination

There's a saying that claims Huangshan exhausts people's expectations of a mountain. Through the ages, it's a special place for hermits, monks, poets and painters, who have left behind voluminous art and literary works about the mountain.

Among them were Hongren (1610-63), Mei Qing (1623-97) and Shitao (1642-1708), the three representatives of the "Huangshan school of painting".

The three ink painters of the late Ming (1368-1644) and early Qing (1644-1911) dynasties devoted most of their artistic life to the mountain and, in return, the mountain made them who they were.

Mei said that since his visit to Huangshan, most of his strokes were about the mountain. Shitao said: "Huangshan is my teacher, and I'm a friend to Huangshan."

Wang Tao, director of Huangshan city's calligraphy and painting academy, says that Hongren's work presented the static, austere side of the mountain by showing its "muscles and bones" with clear lines, whereas Mei depicted its unpredictable, illusory motions, and Shitao's drawings conveyed a sense of ease.

According to Wang, Hongren sketched Huangshan Mountain for what it was, rather than picturing it with established impression of a mountain that bore a projection of human emotions.