Ting Yun-p'eng (1547-ca. 1621), an artist of the late Ming dynasty, has received little attention in modern sources; this is the first study of his life and work other than a few summary notices in surveys or in catalogues. Ting's career coincides with an important period in the development of Chinese painting. He travelled widely and knew most of the important artists and aesthetes of his day, and was on particularly close terms with Tung Ch'i-ch'ang, the most important of these men. Ting's circle of acquaintances is defined in terms of the conservative faction centered around Wang Shih-chen and then later, after the early 1590s, the more liberal group led by Chiao Hung in Nanking. An important change in his approach to figure painting can be linked to ideas circulating in Chiao Hung's camp. One of the most important contributions made by Ting Yun-p'eng was in the craft of the illustrated woodblock. He was active in four publications and he can be identified as the most important artist in the genre during the Wan-li era. It was under his direction that woodblock illustrations progressed from a naive craft to a highly sophisticated art form. The woodblock styles developed by Ting affected his paintings, and his later l and scapes are executed in a more summary manner than his carefully painted early works. In the course of the discussion of Ting's figure paintings, three terms are used that describe the different approaches to the figure found in past styles; these are the classical, the expressive and the manneristic. The first two, associated with the styles of Ku K'ai-chih and Wu Tao-tzu respectively, have been described elsewhere. The third is less understood, and it was in this type of figure painting, characterized by a me and ering and non-descriptive line in the clothing of figures, that Ting developed a new series of stylistic modes. This same approach was used by a group of figure painters active in the late Ming; the list would include Wu Pin, Ch'en Hung-shou, Sheng Mao-yeh and Ts'ui Tzu-chung. Ting's position in relation to these artists is established, and it becomes clear that it was Ting who first revived the importance and significance of the figure. The recognition of Ting's accomplishments and the clarification of his dates make a clear case for his influence on their art.Ph.D.Asian historyUniversity of Michiganhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/157967/1/8025740.pd
