The Formation of the Ming Painting Academy

Questions concerning the Ming Painting Academy, its birth, and subsequent growth, have long troubled researchers. Vanderstappen was the first to study this issue in 1956. He concluded that there was no painting academy in the Ming court until the seventeenth century. This conclusion stems in part from his search for a “painting academy” based on the Sung definition. Indeed, the Ming Painting Academy had neither the same organization nor the testing and grading system of the Sung dynasty, especially when compared with the prosperous Academy of Hui-tsung's reign. Yet Vanderstappen did not distinguish the scholar painters, such as Wang Fu and Hsia Ch'ang, from the court painters, such as Pien Wen-chin, Hsieh Huan, and Kuo Ch'un. Both groups were considered as court painters. In fact, the two groups of painters had completely different qualifications and duties. The titles received by men of these two groups were also of quite a different nature, as discussed in another article. Suzuki Kei further clarified some aspects of this issue by confirming the existence of the Ming Painting Academy in the Jen-chih-tien (Hall of Benevolence and Wisdom) sometime after the Hsüan-te era. He also pointed out the significant roles of the Wenssu-yüan (Crafts Institute) and Yü-yung-chien (Directorate for Imperial Accouterments) in the Ming Painting Academy. Acknowledging a great debt to these scholars, this author would like to continue the discussion of the formation of the Ming Painting Academy by focusing on the early Ming period from the Hung-wu (1368–1398) to the Hsuan-te (1425–1434) era.