e evening light, the feeling of seclusion and
silence, such are the things in which this poetic spirit finds its joy,
true heir of the master mind whose genius found expression in the wild
aspects of nature.

The school of Ma dominated the entire subsequent period and his influence
extended as far as Korea, where traces of it were still to be found as
late as the fifteenth century. As the history of Korean painting becomes
better known, we shall be able to say with more accuracy what it owes to
other Chinese masters; but in so far as those mentioned are concerned,
their influence appears to have been sufficiently strong to impress a
certain type on fragmentary works from Korea which have become known to us
recently.

We are far from being as well informed regarding Hsia Kuei, but we have
that which is worth more than written records, a few paintings preserved
in Japanese collections, which it seems legitimate to attribute to him
without reservation. It is readily seen why his name is always linked with
that of Ma Yuean. His work shows the same energy and power and discloses an
ideal which is similar to that of his confrere. He seems to have
penetrated even further than Ma Yuean along the path of daring
simplifications, and to have approached at times the calligraphic style.
He painted both landscape and figures and was skilled in obtaining strange
effects, as if of color, through his use of monochrome.

Another painter whose name dominates the history of this time and whose
work serves to characterize a special aspect is Li Lung-mien. It is
naturally difficult to prove that all the works attributed to him are
authentic. However, collections in Japanese temples or privately owned,
possess paintings which passed as his at a very early date and in which at
least we can recognize his style. In reviewing the centuries of history,
it is interesting to note that the work of Li Lung-mien is not without
similarity, in certain of its elements, to the paintings of Ku K'ai-chih.
His line is delicate and flexible and he draws his outlines with the same
subtlety, the same grace and the same instinct for harmonious curves and
an extraordinary rhythm.

The tradition which arose in a period antedating the T'ang epoch was
therefore still unbroken in the Sung period, and I am sure that proofs of
this will increase in number as our information becomes more accurate. New
evidence furnished by the paintings found at Tun-huang and certain