Yang Weizhen (1296-1370) and the Social Art of Painting Inscriptions

Abstract

The dissertation explores the text-image relationship in late Yuan literati painting and the social dimension of painting inscriptions. Each of the first three chapters is devoted to the discussion of one painting and its inscriptions by the poet-calligrapher Yang Weizhen (1296-1370) and his contemporaries. By tracing the distinct assembling process of each work, the dissertation investigates the social conventions of painting inscriptions. The fourth chapter recounts the history of painting inscriptions from the fourth to the fourteenth century, with an emphasis on the social dimension, in order to place the late-Yuan practice in a historical context. Furthermore, the dissertation addresses the fluidity of meaning in Chinese painting and the role the audience (inscribers) played in the process of meaning-making. By bringing to light the social dimensions of painting inscriptions, this dissertation prompts a reevaluation of the use of inscriptions in the studies of Chinese painting.