Landscapes and Calligraphy

Unlike many of the great Chinese painters, Gao Fenghan had very little exposure to the work of the masters who preceded him. As such, this one time low-level bureaucrat saw his heroes in his contemporaries: painters such as Lan Ying (1585-after1664), Gong Xian (1619?-1689), and Dai Benxiao (1621-1698). After ten years in his government job, Gong lost not only his employment, but the use of his right hand to severe rheumatism. Not to be discouraged, Gao took up painting with his left, eventually making the choppier brushstrokes an important element of his style. He would then move to the Buddhist monastery where he would befriend and collaborate with an eclectic group of artists known as The Eight Eccentrics of Yangzhou.