LI SSU-HSN

born 651 died 716 Pinyin Li Sixun Chinese painter who was later seen as the chief exponent of a decoratively coloured landscape style of the T'ang dynasty and as the founder of the so-called Northern school of professional painters, in contrast to the scholar-painters of the Southern school, of which Wang Wei was the first. Li Ssu-hsn was related to the T'ang Imperial family, led an active political life including exile and restoration, and was given the honorary rank of general. His son, Li Chao-tao, was also a famous painter, and thus the father is sometimes called Big General Li and the son Little General Li. While no genuine works survive, both Li Ssu-hsn and Li Chao-tao are known to have painted in a highly decorative and meticulous fashion, employing especially the colours blue and green (ch'ing-l), often together with white and gold. While the later division (by Tung Ch'i-ch'ang) into the decorative tradition begun by Li Ssu-hsn and the scholar's tradition of Wang Wei certainly overstated the original situation, it undoubtedly reflected the expressive range of landscape art in the T'ang period.