Kao K'o-kung

Kao K'o-kung's (1248-1310) style name was Yen-ching and sobriquet Fang-shan (as well as Fang-shan tao-jen and Fang-shan lao-jen). Kao was of Uighur descent and he relocated to Ta-t'ung in Shansi during early Yuan dynasty (1279-1368). He subsequently moved to Yen-ching (modern Peking) and later in life resided in Ch'ien-t'ang (modern Hangchow). Kao had a mostly uneventful career in government office, serving as a supervisor at the Ministry of Occupations at the age of twenty-eight to becoming the head of the Ministry of Justice when he passed away at the age of sixty-two. It is said that he rarely painted and when he did, he was usually in the presence of wine or close friends. Only under such circumstances did he improvise on a subject. Kao K'o-kung also rarely signed his paintings. He and Chao Meng-fu (1254-1322), Shang Ch'i (first half of the fourteenth century), and Li K'an are considered the Four Masters of the Early Yuan.

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Kao K'o-kung specialized in painting landscapes and bamboo in monochrome ink. His early landscape paintings begat the influence of Mi Fu and Mi Yu-jen (father and son), and from his later works one can trace the impact of Li Ch'eng, Tung Yuan, Chu-jan, and Wang T'ing-yun and Wang Wan-ch'ing (father and son). He held several governmental positions in Kiangnan and traveled extensively throughout the region. He specialized in painting mountains enshrouded in fog and rain, and he was noted for "his brush and ink being moist and mature with an aura of order and freedom."

The style of Kao K'o-kung's paintings in monochrome ink was close to that of Wen T'ung. He once wrote in one of his inscriptions that "The bamboo of Chao Meng-fu are closer in spirit than in form, and those of Li K'an are closer in form than in spirit. I, on the other hand, have been able to achieve both spirit and form." Kao was also gifted in verse, which are found in "Selections of Yuan Verse", "Classified Literature of the Yuan", and "Poetry and Sayings of Minister of Rites Wu".

His paintings were highly praised by such Yuan dynasty masters as Chao Meng-fu and Chang Yu. It was Chang Yu who wrote: "Who are the best contemporary painters? There is Chao Wei (Meng-fu) in the south and Kao (K'o-kung) in the north." His praise places Kao in the same rank as that of the esteemed master Chao Meng-fu (1254-1322).