王时敏、王鑑、王翚、王原祁四位生活于清代前期的画家，史称“四王”。“四王”包括两代画家，王时敏和王鑑为一代，他们共同的学生王翚及王时敏之孙王原祁为第二代。以山水画为主的“四王”绘画，画风较为接近，又各有侧重，总体而言继承自宋元发展而来的文人画传统，并直接受到明末董其昌绘画思想的影响。他们通过仿古,熟练掌握前人笔墨技巧与图式，以适应自身发挥笔墨情趣的需要，所谓“集其大成，自出机杼”。这种以精湛笔墨构成的抽象山水，是中国传统文人画合规律发展的结果，契合了一批文人士大夫“寄乐于画”的审美需求，故 “四王”山水画艺术在清代被奉为“正宗”。四位画家不仅生前名驰画坛，且身后对清代山水画坛也产生了巨大影响。
    此次展览，遴選天津博物馆、上海博物馆、天津文物公司收藏的七十余件颇具代表性的“四王”绘画作品，集中展现了“四王”山水画纯熟、丰富的笔墨艺术，对于观众全面了解清代绘画，以及对中国传统绘画的继承与发展，都具有重要的现实意义。
Taste Presented through Brush and Ink: Paintings of the "Four Wang-Surnamed Artists" in the Qing Dynasty
（笔墨真趣——清代四王绘画作品特展）
Wang Shimin, Wang Jian, Wang Hui and Wang Yuanqi who all lived in the early Qing Dynasty were collectively known as the “Four Wang-surnamed Artists” to the history. Wang Shimin and Wang Jian were contemporary painters while Wang Hui, their student and Wang Yuanqi, the grandson of Wang Shimin, were the younger generation. Their paintings mainly of the landscape subject generally inherited the tradition of literati painting evolved since the Song and Yuan dynasties, and were directly influenced with the ideology of Dong Qichang, a noted artist in the late Ming Dynasty. They perfected themselves in applying the predecessor masters’ techniques and developed their own thus presented unique artistic tastes. The landscape paintings of these four artists were regarded to be orthodox in the Qing Dynasty for being in line with the laws of traditional Chinese literati painting and fitting in the aesthetic demands of a huge group of scholar-gentry. They four had been being resounded and even remained exerting tremendous influence on the landscape painting of the Qing Dynasty posthumously. The exhibition groups rich landscape words of these four artists to show their skilled painting manner of this aesthetic art, in hoping to introduce to the public a panorama of the paintings of the Qing Dynasty and their evolution as a part of traditional chinese painting.

Many thanks to Shanghai Museum and Tianjin antiques Corporation who give great support to the exhibition.