This is the caption of image number 1Guo Xu (1456-1532), Ming dynasty (1368-1644)
Undated, hanging scroll, ink on paper, 154 × 46.6 cm

A native of Taihe, Jiangxi Province, Guo Xu spent his early years studying the Confucian classics but later turned to poetry and painting. For many years he roamed around the country. As a painter, he enjoyed equal fame with his contemporaries such as Wu Wei (1459-1508), Du Jin (act. 15th c.), and Shen Zhou (1427-1509). During the Hongzhi reign (1488-1505), the emperor heard of his reputation as a proficient painter and summoned him to the capital to give him an official title. He declined the offer. Guo Xu painted a wide range of themes, among which he showed the best talent in landscape and figures. His works feature both meticulous delineation and freehand style, both well executed. The veiled strength and vigor in his brush strokes render his painting elegant and graceful. He liked to inscribe poems that complemented the content of the painting, poems that are both meaningful and thought-provoking. 
  With freehand figures Guo Xu illustrated the poem The Ballad of the Pipa Lute by Tang-dynasty poet Bai Juyi (772-846). The painter used simple and straightforward line-drawing technique to depict the two figures. The singer is facing inward, with tall coiffure and long, elegant garments. In spite of the beauty, her face shows signs of melancholy. In her arms she carries a pipa lute (the name of a musical instrument that is generally known as "balloon-guitar" in English); her figure is both gentle and graceful. The poet is portrayed sitting beside the lady, with both hands resting on his knees. He faces her in a very attentive manner, as if he is listening carefully to the recounting of her misfortune in a chaotic age. The painter applies fine brush lines to delineate the figures, achieving excellent proportion and a simple, elegant style. Although among Guo Xu's works, it can be categorized with paintings of the meticulous style, it reveals Guo's pursuit of minimalism. Using the imagery as a narrative medium, the painter focused on the two protagonists in the story, while omitting all other background objects and environment described in the original poem. It illustrates perfectly the lines in the poem: "A thousand pleas, ten thousand calls, and at last she appeared/but even then she held the lute so it half hid her face." (Trans. modified by Burton Watson in John Minford & Joseph S.M. Lau ed. An Anthology of Translations: Classical Chinese Literature, vol. I: From Antiquity to the Tang Dynasty. [New York: Columbia University Press, 2000], pp. 890-891.) The inscribed poem is rendered in running cursive script, the characters are executed with modulated brush strokes and cleverly arranged to achieve a kind of visual rhythmic beauty. (Editor:admin)