Qiu Ying and the Playfulness of Painting

Abstract

This paper is a speculation – one that claims Qiu Ying to be a painter who created works that were playful and arguably “fun.” Through a close reading of one of Qiu Ying’s well-known works Spring Morning in the Han Palace, this lecture examines his different pictorial strategies and consider them within the broaden spectrum of playfulness in Ming China. Of important is how Qiu engages with the experience of looking at paintings – turning the act of viewing into a game of social privileges and knowledge. As such, this lecture makes a bold claim for Qiu Ying as an artist who commanded pictorial wit, offering an alternative way of looking at one of the most elusive artists in Chinese art history.