生平

生於嘉靖三十四年（1555年）一月十九日，生於南直隸鬆江府上海縣（今屬上海市）董傢匯，早年在平湖城西門馮大參傢坐館當過塾師，愛好參禪曹洞宗，與新埭鎮泖口陸兆芳友好。

隆慶五年（1571年），十七歲參加鬆江府會考，因鬆江知府衷貞吉認為董寫字太差，衹得第二名，從此發憤臨池，從學於陸樹聲、莫如忠等，得益不少。萬歷七年（1579年）參加應天鄉試，見王羲之《官奴帖》唐摹本，驚嘆不已。

萬歷十六年（1588年）參加戊子科順天鄉試第三名舉人。萬歷十七年（1589年）己醜科第二甲第一名進士，授翰林院庶吉士，入翰林院學習，禮部左侍郎田一俊病故，護喪到田氏的家乡福建，萬歷二十年（1592年）春，獲授翰林院編修。萬歷二十二年（1594年）皇長子朱常洛出閣講學，充任講官。萬歷二十六年（1598年）任湖廣按察司副使。萬歷三十二年（1604年）出任湖廣提學副使。

泰昌元年（1620年）明光宗即位，為太常寺少卿、掌國子司業事。

天啓二年（1622年）參修《泰昌實錄》。天啓五年（1625年）官至南京禮部尚書。天啓六年（1626年）辭官。

崇禎四年（1631年）任禮部尚書、掌詹事府事，同閹黨阮大鋮過從甚密。

崇禎九年（1636年）九月二十八日戌時病逝於鬆江居所，享壽八十二歲。謚文敏。

著作

著有《容臺集》、《容臺別集》、《畫禪室隨筆》。

書畫

董其昌繪畫擅長山水，師法董源、倪瓚等人，喜純用水墨。書法初學顔真卿的《多寶塔帖》，之後改學虞世南，又溯及魏、晉，臨摹鍾繇、王羲之，參以李邕和柳公權，特色“平淡天真”。其山水畫如《關山雪霽圖》、《秋興八景册》、《江幹三樹圖》、《山川出雲圖》、《山居圖》屬明朝的巔峰之作。傳世書法作品以行書最多，代表作品有小楷書《月賦》，繼祝枝山、文徵明後對後世極有影響，康熙帝就酷愛董其昌書法，一生臨寫董字甚豐，曾遍搜董氏真跡。唯董其昌生前索畫者多，董其昌往往請人代筆。

• 

  《夏木垂陰》，高321.9cm，寬102.3cm，藏於臺灣臺北國立故宮博物院

 
• 

  《婉孌草堂圖》，1597年

 
• 

  《仿範寬谿山行旅圖》，約1600年

家庭

• 長子董祖源，娶內閣大學士申時行的外甥女
• 次子董祖常

佚事

崇禎七年自畫像

董其昌之父董漢儒，少年諸生，早故。萬歷己醜，董其昌夢見與其父同榜中式，自以為不吉。榜發，董其昌中第二名。而同榜真有名董漢儒之人。

萬歷三十二年（1604年）鼕，董其昌受命出任湖廣提學副使，將“明日不考文”當作了考試題，以愚弄學生為樂。

董其昌與其子董祖常豢養陳明、施心旭、吳竜、朱觀等惡痞，放債霸産、誘姦民女，萬歷四十三年（1615年）九月陸兆芳傢的使女緑英被董其昌姦淫得逞，藏嬌於白竜潭“護珠閣”。緑英乘隙逃回泖口，其昌唆使其子祖權帶領傢奴一百多人前往陸傢莊，劫走緑英，地方官府不敢辦案。有華亭縣學學生範昶將其惡行編撰《黑白傳》，有“白公子夜襲陸傢莊，黑秀纔怒斥竜門裏”的書目（陸秀纔膚色較黑，董其昌別號思白），說書人錢二到處說唱，結果範昶被痛毆，不日暴死。董氏又對范氏傢屬加以凌逼，終於激起民憤。

萬歷四十四年三月十五爆發“民抄董宦”一案，兒童婦女競相傳播“若要柴米強（強，方言，指廉價），先殺董其昌”的民謠，當地鄉民以至上海、青浦、金山等處的報怨者將董傢200餘間畫棟雕梁、朱欄麯檻燒成灰燼，董其昌搜集的古今珍貴書畫篆刻收藏，全付之一炬。

參考文獻

引用

書籍

• 任道斌《董其昌係年》
• 《民抄董宦事實》
• 《明通鑒》
• 張子寧：〈董其昌畫山水的歷程〉。
• 方聞：〈董其昌與正統畫論〉。
• 董其昌；井土霊山日譯“畫眼”‘書道及畫道第三巻第九號’
• 董其昌；井土霊山日譯“畫眼（二）”‘書道及畫道第二巻第十號’

Painter

His work favored expression over formal likeness. He also avoided anything he deemed to be slick or sentimental. This led him to create landscapes with intentionally distorted spatial features. Still his work was in no way abstract as it took elements from earlier Yuan masters. His views on expression had importance to later "individualist" painters.

Art theory

Dong Qichang, In the silence of a mountain lake, c. 1602. National Museum, Warsaw.

He considered there to be a Northern school, represented by Zhe, and a Southern school represented by literati painters. These names are misleading as they refer to Northern and Southern schools of Chan Buddhism thought rather than geographic areas. Hence a Northern painter could be geographically from the south and a Southern painter geographically from the north. In any event he strongly favored the Southern school and dismissed the Northern school as superficial or merely decorative.

His ideal of Southern school painting was one where the artist forms a new style of individualistic painting by building on and transforming the style of traditional masters. This was to correspond with sudden enlightenment, as favored by Southern Chan Buddhism. He was a great admirer of Mi Fu and Ni Zan. By relating to the ancient masters' style, artists are to create a place for themselves within the tradition, not by mere imitation, but by extending and even surpassing the art of the past. Dong's theories, combining veneration of past masters with a creative forward looking spark, would be very influential on Qing Dynasty artists as well as collectors, "especially some of the newly rich collectors of Sungchiang, Huichou in Southern Anhui, Yangchou, and other places where wealth was concentrated in this period". Together with other early self-appointed arbiters of taste known as the Nine Friends, he helped determine which painters were to be considered collectible (or not). As Cahill points out, such men were the forerunners of today's art historians. His classifications were quite perceptive and he is credited with being "the first art historian to do more than list and grade artists."

Scholar and calligrapher

Dong Qichang was a native of Hua Ting (located in modern day Shanghai), the son of a teacher and somewhat precocious as a child. At 12 he passed the prefectural Civil service entrance examination and won a coveted spot at the prefectural Government school. He first took the imperial civil service exam at seventeen, but placed second to a cousin because his calligraphy was clumsy. This led him to train until he became a noted calligrapher. Once this occurred he rose up the ranks of the imperial service passing the highest level at the age of 35. He rose to an official position with the Ministry of Rites.

His positions in the bureaucracy were not without controversy. In 1605 he was giving the exam when the candidates demonstrated against him causing his temporary retirement. In other cases he insulted and beat women who came to his home with grievances. That led to his house being burned down by an angry mob. He also had the tense relations with the eunuchs common to the scholar bureaucracy. Dong's tomb in Songjiang District was vandalized during the Cultural Revolution, and his body dressed in official Ming court robes, was desecrated by Red Guards.

Gallery

References

• Xiao, Yanyi, "Dong Qichang". Encyclopedia of China, 1st ed.
• Masterpieces of Chinese Art (pages 106 and 109), by Rhonda and Jeffrey Cooper, Todtri Productions, 1997. ISBN 1-57717-060-1
• WWU article
• Bryant, Shelly. The Classical Gardens of Shanghai. Hong Kong University Press, 2016. p. 26-40.

Notes

External links

• Calligraphy Gallery of Dong Qichang at China Online Museum
• Painting Gallery of Dong Qichang at China Online Museum
• Calligraphy by Dong Qichang at Chinapage
• The Biography of Dong Qichang and His Achievements in Calligraphy and Painting - Mild China
• Paintings at the site of the Museum of Fine Arts Boston's online collection
• Landscapes Clear and Radiant: The Art of Wang Hui (1632-1717), an exhibition catalog from The Metropolitan Museum of Art (fully available online as PDF), which contains material on Dong Qichang (see index)