Gong Xian

Gong Xian (born c. 1618, Kunshan, Jiangsu province, China—died 1689) was the most important artist of the group known as the Eight Masters of Nanjing. He spent most of his life in Nanjing and was regarded by his contemporaries as aloof and eccentric.

Short, broad vertical strokes characterize Gong’s paintings, which, like those of Ni Zan in the Yuan dynasty (1206–1368), typically contain no human figures; yet in contrast to that earlier artist, his paintings are rich with ink that produces unusually dense and even forbidding landscapes. While he knew well traditional Chinese painting and revealed such knowledge in his art, it has been suggested that his darkly contrasting surfaces owe something to Western illusionistic techniques, which were seen in Nanjing in engravings brought by Western missionaries. He died in poverty.