Painting in Yuan Dynasty

   The styles of wen-jen painters differ considerably, but generally they used bolder and more assertive brushwork than the Southern Sung artists. Rocks and trees, downplayed in the Ma-Hsia tradition, are powerfully presented by the Yuan painters. Mists are no longer used to suggest distance and an interest in infinity, and spaciousness yields to a more dramatic concern with form. The group known as the Four Great Masters of the Yuan-Huang Kung-wang, Ni Tsan, Wu Chen, and Wang Meng-represent the diversity that characterizes this period. Landscape painting continued as the primary subject matter; areas of color and variations of brushwork were introduced that recall the earliest landscapists of the Tang era.