A renegade who used the past to envision the future
China DailyA page from the Mustard Seed Garden Manual of Painting, first printed in 1679. Yet unlike many pioneering artists who were dismissed or even rejected during their time, Dong, thanks in part to his "savvy, powerful personality" to quote Scheier-Dolberg, was able to rise very high in the government as a scholar-official, which in turn allowed him to "operate in the elitist circles in Beijing and then back in Songjiang, his base in eastern China". These standards were avidly taken up by his disciples and their disciples, among whom Wang Shimin, dubbed by Scheier-Dolberg as Dong's "chosen student", and his student Wang Hui. In fact, according to Scheier-Dolberg, Dong, although "quite hard on professional painters", had generally stayed open-minded when it came to judging a specific painting — done by a professional painter or not — on its own merit. In 1679, 43 years after Dong's death, a professional painter named Wang Gai published Mustard Seed Garden Manual of Painting, which was to become the Bible for those who were simply not fortunate enough to be trained the way Dong advocated.
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A renegade who used the past to envision the future
China Daily
A renegade who used the past to envision the future
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