Ni Zan
early life and background ni zan, a renowned chinese painter, was born in 1301 into a wealthy family in wuxi. his courtesy name was yuan zhen (元鎮), and his art names were yun lin zi (雲林子), huan xia sheng (幻霞生), and jing man min (荊蠻民). despite being born after the death of kublai khan, ni zan's family could afford a rigorous confucian education for him. artistic style and contributions ni zan is considered one of the four masters of the yuan dynasty, alongside huang gongwang, wu zhen, and wang meng. his paintings, characterized by ink-monochrome landscapes with widely separated riverbanks, for…
The Subject Atlas
A chart of Ni Zan's corpus mapped not by date but by subject. Spokes are what they painted; rings are when; and the threads between stars reveal the patrons and places that secretly connect them.
Spokes — Subject
Each arm of the atlas gathers works by what they depict: portraits, sacred scenes, mythologies, and the scientific studies. Click a spoke to swing that cluster to the top.
Rings — Career Period
Distance from the center marks time. The innermost ring is the earliest period; the outermost, the final years. Style matures as you move outward.
Threads — Shared Context
Coloured lines link works bound by the same patron, commission, or theme. Trace a context to watch related clusters light up across subjects.
