Artists › Painters and Calligraphers
Liang Kai
Southern Song academy painter who hung up his gold belt and walked out, remembered as Madman Liang for his abbreviated ink figures
A desk holds an unrolled sheet bearing three bold black ink strokes, with a rack of many brushes above it, a stone ink slab and ink stick, a porcelain bowl, a red lacquer box, a dish of red seal paste and a paperweight; a small seated figure shows through a round window onto bamboo.
Also known as Liang the Madman
Liang Kai's family came from Dongping in Shandong and he lived in Hangzhou. The Precious Mirror of Painting says he painted figures, landscapes, Buddhist and Daoist subjects and spirits, learned from Jia Shigu, and was made painter-in-attendance at the academy in the Jiatai era; offered a gold belt by the emperor, he hung it up in the academy and left. Fond of wine, he was called Madman Liang. His figures are caught in a few quick strokes or in splashed ink. The Immortal in Splashed Ink is in the National Palace Museum, Taipei, and Shakyamuni Coming Down from the Mountain and Li Bai Chanting a Poem are in the Tokyo National Museum.
Life and times
Dates Dates unknown; painter-in-attendance at the academy in the Jiatai era (1201–1204)