Although early Chinese painting concentrated on the depiction of figures, by the Five Dynasties period and the Northern Song Dynasty landscape painting had really come into its own. The finest examples of landscape paintings from this period were extremely influential on later eras, and the artist Fan Kuan (c. 950-1031 AD) was an exemplar of this tradition.
The central mountain dominating Fan Kuan’s Travelers Among Mountains and Streams occupies a full two-thirds of the silk, and is painted from the perspective of a viewer looking up to the far distance from a point at the foot of the mountain. The lower third depicts two hills in the middle ground of the composition, separated by a stream, with two rocky outcrops in the near distance. The foreground, middle ground and background are rendered by combining pingyuan (level) perspective, gaoyuan (high) perspective and shenyuan (deep) perspective within a single composition.
Walking on a path between the hills and rocky outcrops, entering the composition from the right, is a train of four pack donkeys and a pair of travelers, one at the front leading the train, the other bringing up the rear.
Photo: Wikimedia Commons
照片：維基共享資源
The sheer massive scale of the mountain creates a visual tension with the slender white tendril of a waterfall cascading down the right side of the main peak, and enhances the perception of insignificance and vulnerability of the figures traveling through the scene. The narrow path traversing horizontally across the composition at the base of the imposing verticality creates the sense of the passage of time, with the travelers being tiny, insignificant passersby. At the same time, we are privy to the details of their aspect and their gestures. Despite the size of the painting, the layering of so much exquisite detail, still manages to draw the viewer in.
Painters at the time worked solely for the emperor and their works were the exclusive possessions of the emperor. For this reason, artists would not leave their signatures on their paintings. Although this painting was long thought to be the work of Fan Kuan, there was no evidence to support this until 1958, when a researcher at the National Palace Museum in Taipei discovered Fan Kuan’s signature hidden among the leaves of the tree behind the travelers. Following a gap of 1,000 years, the artist Fan Kuan can finally look straight back at admirers of his painting.
(Translated by Paul Cooper)
Photo: Wikimedia Commons
照片：維基共享資源
相較於早期偏重於人物的繪畫，山水畫到了五代和北宋達到了巔峰，其典範影響後世極深，范寬（約西元九五○～一○三一年）即為代表。
范寬的《谿山行旅圖》中，聳立在畫面正中央的巨大山峰，占了三分之二的畫幅，是自山下仰望山巔的「高遠」形式。底下三分之一則是中景的兩座山丘，隔溪相對，以及近景兩塊巨岩。前景、中景、後景分別以「平遠」（平視角）、「高遠」（仰視角）、「深遠」（俯視角）同時並存於同一畫面中。
山丘與巨岩間有一條貫通左右的小徑，一列行旅──包括四匹駝著貨物的驢子，以及領路和押後的兩個人──由右方走入畫面。
Photo: Wikimedia Commons
照片：維基共享資源
山體肅穆龐大的視覺重量，與主峰右側以留白方式形成的細長瀑布形成對比的張力，也讓行旅中的人物動物更顯渺小脆弱。巨大垂直的空間底下，水平的小徑如時間之流，行旅都是渺小的過客，但他們仍是充滿姿勢與表情。如此大的畫幅，卻是由無數精緻的細節累積而成，引人入勝。
當時畫家的作品是為皇帝所作而為皇帝所擁有，因此畫家不在作品上署名。雖傳此畫為范寬所作，但總無實據，直到一九五八年，台北故宮學者發現了范寬的落款──藏在行旅後方的樹葉中。作者范寬終於在千年後，正面與觀者凝視。
（台北時報林俐凱）
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