preface
Shen Zhou Ming Dynasty painter, good at painting landscapes, solid and bold brush and ink, although it looks like a hasty embellishment, but it is full of meaning, forming a calm and unbridled style. He is also good at painting flowers, birds and animals, and is good at light colors; occasionally he draws figures. Later generations referred to him, together with Wen Zhengming, Tang Yin, and Qiu Ying, as the "Ming Four Families".
One
A brief biography of Shen Zhou
Shen Zhou came from a wealthy family of calligraphy and painting, learning poetry from Chen Kuan when he was young, learning from his uncle Shen Zhen in his youth, and liu jue, Du Qiong, Zhao Tonglu and others to learn painting. Throughout his life, he studied at home, sang poetry and painting, traveled to forest springs, pursued spiritual freedom, never been recruited by the imperial examination, and always lived a pastoral and secluded life.
Shen Zhou created the "Wumen School of Painting", replaced the position of the "Courtyard Body" and the "Zhejiang School" in the painting world, pushed the Ming Dynasty painting to the peak, he taught the ancients, fought for the strengths of the crowd, widely absorbed the essence of the predecessors, and formed his own unique style through his own practice and exploration. Shen Zhou's prominent position in the painting world is a great achievement in the art of painting, and his influence on later generations is quite far-reaching, after he founded the Wumen School of Painting, he has generated his own unique artistic style by constantly studying the change of the pen from "fine Shen" to "coarse Shen".
Among the painters of the Ming Dynasty, Shen Zhou's artistic achievements were very high. Together with Wen Zhengming, Tang Yin and Qiu Ying, Shen Zhou, as the head of the Ming Four Families, has made certain achievements in landscape painting, flowers and birds, especially his landscape painting is the most extensive. His appearance made the Ming Dynasty painting circle bid farewell to the period of Song Dynasty painting and the prosperity of the Zhejiang School, thus creating a true sense of the Ming Dynasty painting style. Shen Zhoushi is far from the ancients, collecting the strengths of hundreds of families, and forming his own style of art characteristics and picture forms, which are prominently expressed in the two styles of one thickness and one fine in his landscape paintings, which are known as "fine Shen" and "rough Shen".
Subsidence image
Two
Shen Zhou's style of work forms a background
Shen Zhou's landscape painting art, after inheriting the painting style of Wang Meng, one of the four families of the Yuan Dynasty, and concurrently operating the style of the Southern Song Dynasty courtyard, and forming a style of rigorous composition, neat brushwork, and meticulous layout, mainly took the style of Wuzhen, and also operated the painting methods of Ni Zhan, Huang Gongwang and others, forming the characteristics of its concise composition, solemn use of pen, thick brush and ink, and sloppy. From the perspective of painting style, it can be roughly divided into three stages: the early stage of laying the foundation, the middle stage of formation and development, and the late stage of thick brush and ink, old and spicy lines, and far-reaching artistic conception.
Shen Zhou's landscape poems take the spirit of leyou as the core, showing a passionate exploration of the landscape realm. The feeling of landscape with pleasure as the core and the atmosphere of the music group that is different from the lonely style of the traditional landscape poet clearly reflect his artist's aesthetic characteristics and the unique mentality of being a city hermit, highlighting his thinking on the living state of individual life and the value pursuit of understanding the existence of life in the integration with nature, thus interpreting the values and living conditions different from the traditional literati.
In terms of artistic creation, Shen Zhou can absorb the strengths of all people and pursue spiritual freedom, so we often see the natural scenery he represents in his works. His calligrapher, Huang Tingjian, was particularly accomplished in painting. Part-time work on landscapes, flowers and birds, but also can paint people, with landscapes and flowers and birds outstanding achievements. Shen Zhou landscape painting has three main types of subject matter treatment, namely realism, lyricism and antique, of which realistic landscape is the most distinctive. In terms of style, there is a distinction between "fine shen" and "rough shen".
Shen Zhou's art was first studied by his family, and he also taught Du Qiong. The pen is more careful and detailed, and the picture is mainly small; in the later stage, in the later stage, he can absorb the strengths of all, but mainly inherits the ink shallow system of Dong Yuan, Ju Ran and the four Yuan families Huang Gongwang, Wang Meng, and Wu Zhen, which is integrated and thorough, rigid and soft, so his creation is mainly expressed in a large scale, and shows a lot of novelty, forming a new style of thick brush ink.
Three
The influence of Shen Zhou's works on later generations
The Ming Dynasty was an important period in the history of Chinese landscape painting, during which many literati painters appeared, and the "Wumen School" headed by Shen Zhou also sprung up during this period. Shen Zhou, as one of the few artistic masters in the Chinese painting world, not only created a large number of exquisite calligraphy and painting works, but also unique in painting ideas, it is precisely because of Shen Zhou's unique painting ideas that he can have mature art to create artistic masters with great influence such as Wen Zhengming and Tang Yin.
After the middle of the Ming Dynasty, with the development of economy and culture in Jiangsu, literature and art also flourished, and the Wumen School headed by Shen Zhou developed in this context, thus replacing the dominant position of the Zhejiang school in the painting world, so that literati painting once again overwhelmed the courtyard painting. This school of painting was founded in Shen Zhou and formed in Wen Zhengming, along with Tang Yin, Qiu Ying and others. Therefore, Shen Zhou's artistic advocacy and creation play a crucial role in our understanding of the Wumen School.
Shen Zhou was the first recognized painting master in the Suzhou painting world in the Ming Dynasty, who ended the long silence of the painting world and saved literati painting. The reason why Shen Zhou was able to revitalize the Suzhou painting scene is not accidental, nor is it the strength of one person, but there are three predecessor painters of the same era to pave the way for him - Du Qiong, Liu Jue, Yao Shou.
Shen Zhou's "Wei Yuan Ya JiTu"
The author copied Shen Zhou's works
summary
Throughout Shen Zhou's paintings, whether it is landscape painting or flower and bird painting, he can not only imitate his predecessors, but also be complacent, be able to break through the shackles, combine his own understanding, and further develop the expression techniques of literati ink painting landscape and flower and bird painting, it is based on this spirit that he can enjoy the painting world, become the leader of the Wumen school, and have an irreplaceable position in the history of painting.
Some of the graphics come from the Internet
Chen Haifeng was formerly the chairman and secretary of Anhui Ocean Wind Culture Media Co., Ltd., a first-class advertising enterprise in China and a listed company on the New Third Board, the president of Ma'anshan Advertising Association, and the consultant of the presidium of Ma'anshan Artists Association.
From 1981 to 1993, he worked as a senior art editor at Ma'anshan Daily, and published thousands of inscriptions, illustrations, mastheads, sketches and cartoons for more than a decade.
He is currently studying at the China Academy of Art.