HUANG T'ING-CHIEN

born 1045, Kiangsi province, China died 1105 Pinyin Huang Tingjian Chinese painter and calligrapher, one of the Four Masters of the Sung dynasty. Huang T'ing-chien was a student of Su Shih and his school of literati painting. The two are frequently mentioned together not only for their similar approach to art but for the similar political misfortunes each experienced. They are frequently grouped with Mi Fei and Ts'ai Hsiang as the Four Great Sung Calligraphers. Huang was a more scholarly and introverted person than Su Shih, and, at the same time, his approach to creativity was more mystical. His wild cursive script, deriving from the 8th-century T'ang priest Huai-su, is notable.