Ma Yuan (painter)

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"Walking on a Mountain Path in Spring" by Ma Yuan

For other uses, see Ma Yuan.

Ma Yuan (Chinese: 马远; Pinyin: Mǎ Yuǎn (1160–1165 to 1225) was an influential Chinese landscape painter whose work, together with that of Xia Gui, formed the basis of the Ma-Xia school of painting.

Ma Yuan was born in Qiantang (now Hangzhou, Zhejiang). He occasionally painted flowers, but is best known for landscape painting, his lyrical and romantic interpretation becoming the model for later painters. He was a master of “one-corner” composition, to the extent that he was nicknamed "One-Corner Ma." This type of landscaping style is defined as being an asymmetrical compositions that are split on the diagonal. His most famous painting is On a Mountain Path in Spring. Ma Yuan was one of the Ma family of painters.

In the history of science and technology in China, Ma Yuan is remembered as being the first to depict a fishing reel in artwork (i.e. in his painting "Angler on a Wintry Lake").