On the Artistic Characteristics of the Landscape Paintings by the Four Artists in the Yuan Dynasty and Their Aesthetic Ideology

In the Yuan Dynasty,conflicts among nationalities are familiar sights everywhere because of the ruling of the foreign rulers,and the literati and painters are politically looked down upon and their official careers are full of frustrations.Therefore,literati and painters are seeking their peace of minds in traveling among mountains and rivers,and in drawing landscape paintings.Among them,four painters,who are called the Four Artists in the Yuan Dynasty,are the representatives.They changed the painting style from the court style which was popular in the South Song Dynasty to express their feelings by combing painting with calligraphy of Chinese characters,which makes the landscape paintings be literati paintings.Because of such a style and its aesthetics thoughts,Chinese paintings since then till the later Ming and Qing Dynasties have been greatly influenced.Therefore,the research on the paintings by the Four Artists in the Yuan Dynasty is of help for us to carry on the essence of Chinese traditional paintings and to promote its development at present.