Shen Zhou (1427-1509), an outstanding calligrapher and painter of the Ming Dynasty. The word Qinan, called Shitian, in his later years, he called himself Baishi Weng, the founder of the Wumen School of painting, and Wen Zhengming, Tang Yin, Qiu Ying, and called the 'Ming Four Families', a native of Changzhou (now Suzhou, Jiangsu). His works include "Lushan High Map", "Old Picture of Qiulin Dialect", and "Cangzhou Fun Map". He is the author of "Ishida Collection" and "Guest News".
A fairy among the gods who drifted out of the world
Shen Zhou can be described as a man among the immortals. In the early Ming Dynasty, when literati painting was almost at a standstill, he revived this tradition after a lifetime of non-official career. His paintings are full of leisurely interest, which is different from the artistic conception of dryness and emptiness transmitted by the secluded landscapes of the late Yuan Dynasty. This warmth of WTO accession reflects the full affirmation of their own value by the literati in the middle of the Ming Dynasty.
Artwork "Turquoise Stone" (Collection of the Palace Museum)
Clever and studious, marry a good wife, and be a grain chief
Shen Zhou's wealthy family background has made him worry about food and clothing since he was a child, and he has been carefully educated by his elders, and his life has a very broad start. However, when he was 5 years old, he witnessed his father, who was a large landowner, being made a grain chief, responsible for collecting rent and collecting grain. This errand is so stressful that even those who can't complete it have to make up for it at home. So his family gradually became poor from a large landowner. What's even more unfortunate is that during this period, my father was also caught in political struggles. Although fortunately, the charges were cleared later, but the ugliness of politics and the sinister officialdom deeply traumatized Shen Zhou's young heart, so that he did not enter the official career for the rest of his life.
Of course, his father Shen Heng has no intention of letting his son go on a career path. He did not send Shen Zhou to school, but when his son was 7 years old, he ordered him to study ancient Chinese with the scripture scholar Chen Kuan. Four years later, Shen Zhou was already proficient in poetry and rhyme. Once, he went to accompany his father to listen to Xuan in Nanjing (on behalf of his father to listen to work instructions), and made a "hundred rhymes" in advance, showing off himself and exalting the other party at the same time. This is an extremely troublesome literary style, and Cui Gong, the head of the household department, does not believe that an 11-year-old boy can write it. So he wrote "Phoenix Taifu" on the spot. Shen Zhou wrote even more happily now, and he was deeply appreciated by Master Cui! The old man was so happy that he was even relieved of his father's drudgery of being a grain chief for many years! Shen Zhou's status in the family has also soared since then.
Artwork "Landscape for Weide" (Collection of the Palace Museum)
In a blink of an eye, Shen Zhou has grown into an 18-year-old young talent, full of poetry and books, and elegant. He married Chen Huizhuang, the daughter of Chen Yuanhei, a wealthy businessman in Changshu, and the husband sang with his wife. His wife also has a lot of calligraphy and painting collections, which enriches Shen Zhou's vision. The beloved wife is also virtuous and virtuous, and will punctuate her mother-in-law's Buddhist scriptures, which is deeply pleasing to her mother-in-law. This conscientious wife, in the unlucky and difficult days when Shen Zhou also became a "grain chief" (Shen Zhou also became a grain chief at the age of 29 and worked hard), sold all her jewelry to subsidize the family, and she did not complain. A few years later, his wife died, and Shen Zhou was still quite grateful for this, and wrote in the epitaph of his own book that "take off the hairpin to respond without stinginess".
After being exempted from the "grain chief" at the age of 35, Shen Zhou was greatly relieved and fell more and more in love with painting. In the special exhibition of Shen Zhou launched by the Suzhou Museum last year, it happened to exhibit a 35-year-old masterpiece "Landscape Drawings for the Blue Sky", which is also the earliest work of his surviving life.
Artwork "Baqiao Wind and Snow Map" (Tianjin Museum)
The rise of middle-aged painting fame has a wide range of contacts
Shen Zhou, who aspired to be a painter, assiduously copied many works of the "Four Yuan Families" (Huang Gongwang, Wang Meng, Ni Zhan, and Wu Zhen) after the retirement of the grain chief, which is probably equivalent to the current people copying Qi Baishi and Zhang Daqian. At the same time, his sons grew up. In particular, the eldest son fully undertook the affairs of the family, which directly liberated Shen Zhou's energy. Shen Zhou, a hard-working landlord, was able to concentrate on being a painter Shen Zhou.
After practicing solid basic skills, Shen Zhou painted a giant painting nearly 2 meters long at the age of 41 to congratulate his teacher Chen Kuan's birthday, which is now in the National Palace in Taipei. Lushan is a famous mountain in Jiujiang, and Jiujiang is Mr. Chen's hometown. The painting is also inscribed with a poem about Ouyang Xiu, a master of scripture. This painting and poem are used to chant his own scripture teacher, wonderful! Although Shen Zhou has never been to Lushan.
Artwork "Lushan High Map" (collection of the National Palace Museum, Taipei)
Devoted to painting all day long, Shen Zhou gradually formed his own style after the years of confusion. At the same time, he integrated the imitation of the ancients with the natural sketches, and the scenery was full of twists and turns, and dotted with pedestrians, boats, grass pavilions, thatched huts and other scenes, injecting the breath of life into the world, presenting a sense of lush and rich.
Shen Zhou also made a lot of friends. Among them, his friend Wu Kuan (No. Kuangan) was very unambitious before he became an official, he did not do well in the imperial examination, and his children passed away one after another. Shen Zhou wrote poems many times to comfort and encourage him. Later, this Mr. Kuangan became the second champion of Suzhou in the Ming Dynasty, entered the Hanlin Academy, and became a servant of the Ministry of Officials, which is equivalent to the current deputy director of the Organization Department. In his later years, he was the official to the Ministry of Rites, which was equivalent to the current head of the Central Propaganda Department and the Minister of Foreign Affairs, Education, and Culture. With the big officials in the capital as backers, the life of the common people Shen Zhou is of course stable. It is said that when Suzhou Taishou went to Beijing to pay a visit, Wu Kuan chatted and asked, "Is your Mr. Qinan there okay?" Taishou replied, ah, who? Minister Wu lectured, you don't even know such a virtuous person in your own place, let alone other situations!
Artwork "Appreciation of Pot Chrysanthemum" (collection of Liaoning Provincial Museum)
Be filial to your family and be kind to the people
Shen Zhou was highly praised by his contemporaries, not only for his good paintings, but also for the good of others, and was a model of practicing Confucian morality.
When he was a teenager, he accompanied his father to entertain guests, and although he did not drink, he often accompanied him until he was drunk. When my mother goes out, she will be with her. After his father's death, he was persuaded to go out of office, but he refused to serve his mother. In his later years, the governors Wang Shu and Peng Li both wanted to keep him behind the scenes, and he thanked his mother (Shen's mother lived to be 99 years old). His brother Shen Zhao fell ill as a young man, and he lived with his younger brother for more than a year. His filial piety and conduct, people today should study hard.
Work "Dongzhuang Atlas No. 10" (collection of Nanjing Museum)
What's even more valuable is that he is not only good to his family, but also to the people.
After middle age, Shen Zhou's paintings became more and more famous, and the shoes of people who asked him for books and paintings were piled up outside the door. The wealthy merchant officials asked for it with a lot of money, and Shen Zhou carefully drew it, and the common people asked him for it, whether it was a farmer or a herdsman or a pawn, he also answered it all, and never refused. Regardless of whether the other party is rich or not, or whether he really knows how to paint, as long as he really likes his work, he will give them the painting. It is said that a local family surnamed Chen came to the door to ask Shen Zhou for help in order to repair the family ancestral hall. Shen Zhou remembered his benevolence and filial piety, and specially made this painting to let the filial son take it to the fate. The signature said, "A brick and a wood are just a matter of fate, or rice or money is arbitrary." Some people even made his forgeries and asked him to ask for money to sell them for a good price, and he gladly agreed to save the poor of others. No wonder Shen Zhou said to himself: "Heaven and earth are an idiot, and writing paintings and poems does not exchange money." Such a "most beautiful painter" is, of course, deeply popular.
Artwork "Wei Yuan Elegant Collection" (Liaoning Provincial Museum)
A lifetime is not extremely popular
Shen Zhou lived until he was eighty-three years old. The success of this painter was a great encouragement to other scholars in the opposition, who realized that they could still achieve great fame even if they did not take the imperial examination. Shen Zhou showed them the possibility of reaping fame and fortune without relying on calligraphy and painting. This typical significance is powerful, and he provides a new ideal and feasible way of life for the literati in the wilderness: to live in seclusion, to entertain themselves with poetry, calligraphy and painting in the garden collection, and to inherit the mantle of literati painting through fathers and sons, teachers and students, relatives and friends, etc.
Artwork "Lying Tour Atlas No. 3" (Collection of the Palace Museum)