Shen Zhou
Shen Zhou | |
|---|---|
Xiangcheng, Jiangsu | |
| Died | 1509 (aged 81–82) |
| Known for | Shan shui |
| Movement | Wu School, Four Masters of the Ming dynasty |
Shen Zhou (Chinese: 沈周; pinyin: Shěn Zhōu, 1427–1509), courtesy names Qi'nan (启南) and Shitian (石田), was a Chinese painter in the Ming dynasty. He lived during the post-transition period of the Yuan conquest of the Ming. His family worked closely with the government and maintained its wealthy status. Shen later retired and lived a reclusive life, spending most of his time painting and taking care of his widowed mother.
He was a contributor to the more individualist Wu School of Chinese art. Besides painting, he was also accomplished in history and the classics.
Life
Shen Zhou was born into a wealthy family
After the collapse of the
It is probable that he never intended to become an official, but refrained from making this obvious until his father had died. He thus renounced the life of official service while still preserving his reputation in an enduring act of filial piety. In this way, he was able to live a reclusive life, free of responsibility (except that of caring for his mother), and devote his time to artwork, socializing, and monastic contemplation of the natural world around him. Shen was privileged that he could paint what he wanted, since he was rich and therefore did not require a wealthy patron and sponsor.[1]
Cultural and historical context
Shen Zhou lived at a pivotal point in the history of Chinese painting, and contributed greatly to the artistic tradition of
The dominant style of the Ming court painters was called the
Work
Shen Zhou's scholarly upbringing and artistic training had instilled in him a reverence for China's historical tradition that influenced both his life and his art from an early age. He was accomplished in history and the classics, and his paintings reveal a disciplined obedience to the styles of the Yuan dynasty, to China's history, and to the orthodox Confucianism that he embodied in his filial life. He is most famous for his landscapes and for his "boneless" renderings of flowers, which are meticulously created in the style of the Yuan masters. However, he did not always paint within strict boundaries.
Shen possessed a large collection of paintings from the late Yuan and early Ming, which he and his scholar-painter colleagues used as models in forging the revivalist approach of the Wu style. He frequently combined experimental elements with the more rigid styles of the Yuan masters. Much of his work was done in collaboration with others, combining painting, poetry, and calligraphy at gatherings with his literati friends. It was upon these ideals that his Wu School was founded. For Wu painters, painting was a meditation, rather than an occupation. Shen Zhou never coveted his paintings, although they were frequently coveted and imitated by others. Through Shen Zhou's eyes, a painting was not a commodity, but the very extension of the painter himself.
His paintings depicts soaring mountains and towering trees, while human works are reduced to specks in this immensity. This was made to make nature feel all empowering while dwarfing the human element. His most famous work from 1487, Rainy Thoughts (now in the National Palace Museum, Taipei), shows the rain dominating the composition while an insignificant house blurs with the mountains that towers over it. He is usually contrasted with Wu Wei, a painter that places humankind as the center of attention in his paintings.[1]
This artist should not be confused with another Chinese artist named Shen Zhou who lived in 1848–1903.
References
Notes
- ^ ISBN 978-1-4088-0950-1.
Bibliography
- Cahill, James. Parting at the Shore: Chinese Painting of the Early and Middle Ming Dynasty, 1368-1580. New York: Weatherhill, 1978.
- Edwards, Richard. The Field of Stones: A Study of the Art of Shen Chou (1427-1509). Baltimore: Port City Press, 1962, xvi.
- Edwards, Richard. “Shen Chou and the Scholarly Tradition.” The Journal of Aesthetics and Art Criticism, Vol. 24, No. 1 Oriental Aesthetics (Autumn, 1965), 45-52.
- Liscomb, Kathlyn. "Shen Chou’s Collection of Early Ming Paintings and the Origins of the Wu School’s Eclectic Revivalism." Artibus Asiae vol. 52, No. 3/4 (1992),215-254.
- Shan, Guoqiang, "Shen Zhou". Encyclopedia of China, 1st ed.
External links
- Four Great Masters of the Ming Dynasty: Shen Zhou. Taipei: National Palace Museum.
- Shen Zhou and his Painting Gallery at China Online Museum
- Shen Zhou on Artcyclopedia
- Online Exhibition for Shen Zhou's 3 master pieces
