School of Humanities and Social Science Division of Humanities 222 Eccentricity Behind Beauty: Psychopathology and Artistic Expression in Chinese Painting Supervisor: FU Li-tsui / HUMA Student: TONG Yvonne Chung Sze / GCS Course: UROP2100, Fall Over the past decades, the examination of psychopathology has evolved from an esoteric theme into a well-recognised, even common, approach to understanding stupendous works of art. As psychiatric analysis grew increasingly prevalent, rising from the breakthrough beyond iconographic interpretation, so did the enrichment for aesthetic appreciation among artistry and artwork, Regarded as one of the four Great Masters of the Yuan dynasty, the fourteenth-century Chinese literati painter Ni Zan (1301-1374) provides an excellent case study for exploring the intricate relationship between the psychiatric wellness of the artist and the development of his artistry and the creation of his artworks. Some art historians, such as Fong Wen, describe Ni Zan as “a humanistic manifestation of united conflicts; an individual with both tameness and absurdity”. Such assertion, however, was not adequately explored and justified through detailed inspections of his paintings. On this premise, this research seeks to focus on uncovering the significance of psychological state on influencing and paralleling the artistic imagery and pictorial depiction of reality as presented in the paintings by Ni Zan. In placing the psychiatric wellness of Ni Zan the centre of this research, as well as taking into consideration his familial circumstances and the historical background of dynastic rivalry between the Yuan and Ming administrations, this research attempts to bring a deeper meaning to Ni Zan’s paintings as not only mere symbolism for Chinese literati paintings, but also manifestations of the influence of psychosis on artistic expressiveness in a Chinese artistic and cultural context.
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