Two album leaves from a landscape album

Li Liufang was a painter of the late Ming dynasty. He painted mostly in small formats, playing with ink and trying to channel the creative essence of certain old painting masters rather than copying their formal patterns. Most of his works look like improvised sketches, executed with fresh spontaneity. This album contains examples of Li's early style-spare, linear compositions, in which he used less ink for thinner, fainter lines-as well as his later style, with its rich, inky brushwork.

Credit: Gift of Ruth and Bruce Dayton