Career
A native Hangzhou, he lived in Jinling (now Nanjing) and was one of "Eight Masters of Jinling". At the beginning the Qing dynasty was formed by a group of artists, called (current Nanjing). Junling was the most important city after Beijing.
Many loyal supporters gathered for the foundation of Qing.
Eight masters de Janling: Gong Xian, Fan Qi, Zou Zhe, Wu Hong, Hu Zao, Gao Cen, Ye Xin and Xie Sun, kept their fidelity mostly to Ming and expressed their feelings in their writings. Gao Cen domiciled for the known part of his life in Nankin where he was considered as part of «Eight masters de Nanjing» as painter but also poet.
Number of his landscapes, as escaped Vision of the stony city, represent surroundings of Jinjing. There wasn"t found the method of ink accumulation by Gong Xian.
He used rather traditional linear methods.
He was gifted for the drawing of outlines and employed job magnificently in the dry brush for the shade. Beijing (Museum of the imperial palace):
Vision fugitive of the stony city, section of a portable roll, inks and colour on silk, 36,3x701,8 cm
Berlin
Paintings of landscapes, dated from 1672, ink and colours on paper, album of twelve canvases according to the masters Song and Yuan, inscription of the painter on the last canvas.