Ma Yuan

Date of birth and death unknown. A painter at the Painting Academy during the Southern Song Dynasty in China. His courtesy name was Qinshan. He was from Hezhong (Yongji County, Shanxi Province). Along with Xia Gui, he is one of the leading painters of the latter half of the Southern Song Dynasty in the style of landscape painting in the style of the Court. He was from the prestigious Ma family, which produced seven Court painters over five generations from the end of the Northern Song Dynasty through to his son Ma Lin. He served both Emperor Guangzong (reigned 1189-1194) and Emperor Ningzong (reigned 1194-1224) and became a Taisho (attendee) of the Painting Academy. He excelled in landscape paintings, landscape portraits, and floral paintings. He studied the Li Tang style of landscape painting, and mainly depicted landscapes that were part of nature, known as "remaining mountains and excess water." He used a diagonal composition technique in which the scene was placed diagonally below the canvas, leaving a blank space above. His composition technique was described as "a corner of a horse" and "a cornered view," and had a great influence on the establishment of Japanese Muromachi landscape painting. His representative works include "Portrait of Seiryo Hougen" and "Portrait of Master Unmon" (both at Tenryu-ji Temple, Kyoto), "Crossing the River at Dongshan" (Tokyo National Museum), "Elegant Collection of Western Gardens" (Nelson Museum of Art, Kansas City), and "Scroll of the Twelve Waters" (Palace Museum, Beijing).

[Shinya Hoshiyama]

Source: Shogakukan Encyclopedia Nipponica About Encyclopedia Nipponica Information | Legend

生没年不詳。中国、南宋(なんそう)時代の画院画家。字(あざな)は欽山(きんざん)。河中（山西省永済県）の人。夏珪(かけい)とともに南宋後半期の院体山水画を代表する画家である。北宋末から子の馬麟(ばりん)に至るまで5世7人の画院画家を出した画壇の名門馬氏の出身で、光宗（在位1189～1194）、寧宗（在位1194～1224）両朝に仕えて画院の待詔(たいしょう)となった。山水図、山水人物図、花卉(かき)図に優れ、山水は李唐(りとう)画風を学び、大自然の一部分、「残山剰水(ざんざんじょうすい)」とよばれた景観描写を主とし、その景を画面対角線下に配し、上に余白をつくる対角線構図法によった。その構図法は「馬(ば)の一角(いっかく)」「辺角(へんかく)の景」などと評されたが、日本の室町山水画の成立に大きな影響を与えている。代表作に『清凉法眼(せいりょうほうげん)像』『雲門(うんもん)大師像』（ともに京都・天竜寺）、『洞山渡水(どうざんとすい)図』（東京国立博物館）、『西園雅集図巻』（カンザス・シティ、ネルソン美術館）、『十二水図巻』（北京(ペキン)・故宮博物院）などがある。

［星山晋也］

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