Li Que

CHINA; Southern Song dynasty

Li Que was a painter who, according to Evaluation of Painters, worked in the Imperial Painting Academy during the rule of Emperor Duzong (reigned 1265–1274) of the Southern Song dynasty. Learning from Liang Kai, he was well-versed in figure painting, and his landscape paintings assumed the styles of Xia Gui and Ma Yuanzhi. Li was known to be a lay Buddhist who followed the Chan school teachings. In his paintings, he employed simple yet bold and unrestrained brushstrokes, which varied freely with contrasting ink tones and thickness to evoke carefree and vivid portraits that imparted Chan subtleties. In addition, Li’s landscapes were rendered with uninhibited ink, and appear natural and lucid.
Li’s extant paintings, Bodhidharma, Fenggan, and Budai, are listed Important Cultural Property of Japan and kept at Myoshinji Temple in Kyoto.