Leaf & Spine

Cover art · mountains

Mt. Qingbian

Dong Qichang (Chinese, 1555–1636), 1617.

Mt. Qingbian
Mt. Qingbian — Cleveland Museum of Art

Using it on a cover

The print file prints up to 3.9 x 11.3 in at 300 ppi — fine for smaller trims or inset artwork, but too small to fill a 6 x 9 in cover at 300 ppi. Taller than a 6 x 9 cover: crop about 48% of the height.

About the work

Dong Qichang radically transforms the landscape composition into a purely abstract design. He organizes the mountain forms to achieve an overall sense of structure, activating the flow of energy ( qi ) and the momentum of force ( shi ) throughout the pictorial design. In his art, brush and ink assume life independent of the depicted forms, so that the painting can be appreciated for “the sheer marvels of brush and ink.”

More mountains art

Cloudy Mountains Cloudy Mountains Mi Youren (Chinese, 1072–1151)1130 Streams and Mountains without End Streams and Mountains without End Unknown artist1100–1150 An October Day in the White Mountains An October Day in the White Mountains John Frederick Kensett (American, 1816–1872)1854 Shakyamuni Emerging from the Mountains Shakyamuni Emerging from the Mountains Unknown artist1244 Streams and Mountains Streams and Mountains Xu Ben (Chinese, 1335–1380)1372 Buddhist Retreat by Stream and Mountains Buddhist Retreat by Stream and Mountains Juran (Chinese, active 960–985)960–85

Sources & data