Transcriptions | |
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Standard Mandarin | |
Hanyu Pinyin | Shěn Qǐnán |
Bopomofo | ㄕㄣˇㄑㄧˇㄋㄢˊ |
Wade–Giles | Shen3 Ch‘i3-nan2 |
IPA | [ʂə̀n.tɕʰì.nǎn] |
Yue:Cantonese | |
Yale Romanization | Sám Káinàahm |
Jyutping | sam2 kai2 naam4 |
IPA | [sɐm˧˥.kʰɐj˧˥.nam˩] |
Transcriptions | |
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Standard Mandarin | |
Hanyu Pinyin | Shěn Shítián |
Bopomofo | ㄕㄣˇㄕˊㄊㄧㄢˊ |
Wade–Giles | Shen3 Shih2-t‘ian2 |
IPA | [ʂə̀n.ʂɨ̌.tʰjɛ̌n] |
Yue:Cantonese | |
Yale Romanization | Sám Sehktìhn |
Jyutping | sam2 sek6 tin4 |
IPA | [sɐm˧˥.sɛk̚˨.tʰin˩] |
Shen Zhou (Chinese :沈周; pinyin :Shěn Zhōu,1427–1509),courtesy names Qinan (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.
Shen Zhou was born into a wealthy family [1] in Xiangcheng,near the thriving city of Suzhou,in the Jiangsu province,China. His genealogy traces his family's wealth to the late Yuan period,but only as far as Shen's paternal great-grandfather,Shen Liang-ch’en,who became a wealthy landowner following the dissolution of Mongol rule.
After the collapse of the Yuan and the emergence of the new Ming dynasty,the position of tax collector was assigned to the head of the Shen family,under the Hongwu emperor's new lijia system. This steadily and amply increased the family's wealth,while freeing Shen Liang-ch’en's male descendants from obligatory careers as Ming officials,and allowing them to live the majority of their lives as retired scholar-artists. Upon the death of his father,Shen Heng-chi,Shen Zhou decided to forgo official examinations and devote his life to the care of his widowed mother,Chang Su-wan.
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]
Shen Zhou lived at a pivotal point in the history of Chinese painting,and contributed greatly to the artistic tradition of China,founding the new Wu School in Suzhou. Under the Yuan dynasty (1279–1368),painters had practiced with relative freedom,cultivating a more “individualist,”innovative approach to art that deviated noticeably from the more superficial style of the Song masters who preceded them. However,at the outset of the Ming,the Hongwu emperor (reg 1368–1398) decided to import the existing master painters to his court in Nanjing,where he had the ability to cultivate their styles to conform to the paintings of the Song masters. As Hongwu was notorious for his attempts to marginalize and persecute the scholar class,this was seen as an attempt to banish the gentry's influence from the arts.
The dominant style of the Ming court painters was called the Zhe School. However,following the ascension of the Yongle emperor (reg 1403–1424),the capital was moved from Nanjing to Beijing,putting a large distance between imperial influence and Shen's city of Suzhou,which was nearby Nanjing. These new conditions led to the rise of the Wu School of painting,a somewhat subversive style that revived the ideal of the inspired scholar-painter in Ming China.
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.
The Ming dynasty,officially the Great Ming,was an imperial dynasty of China,ruling from 1368 to 1644 following the collapse of the Mongol-led Yuan dynasty. The Ming dynasty was the last imperial dynasty of China ruled by the Han people,the majority ethnic group in China. Although the primary capital of Beijing fell in 1644 to a rebellion led by Li Zicheng,numerous rump regimes ruled by remnants of the Ming imperial family—collectively called the Southern Ming—survived until 1662.
The Hongwu Emperor,also known by his temple name as the Emperor Taizu of Ming,personal name Zhu Yuanzhang,courtesy name Guorui,was the founding emperor of the Ming dynasty,reigning from 1368 to 1398.
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Wen Zhengming,born Wen Bi,was a Chinese painter,calligrapher,and poet during the Ming dynasty. He was regarded as one of the Four Masters of Ming painting.
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Qiu Ying was a Chinese painter of the Ming dynasty who specialised in the gongbi brush technique.
Huang Gongwang,birth name Lu Jian,was a Chinese painter,poet and writer born at the end of the Song dynasty in Changshu,Jiangsu. He was the oldest of the "Four Masters of the Yuan dynasty" (1206-1368).
The Six Arts formed the basis of education in ancient Chinese culture. These were made and practiced by the Confucians.
Tang Yin,courtesy name Bohu (伯虎) and Ziwei (子畏),was a Chinese painter,calligrapher,and poet of the Ming dynasty period.
During the Ming dynasty (1368–1644),Chinese painting progressed further basing on the achievements in painted art during the earlier Song dynasty and Yuan dynasty. The painting techniques which were invented and developed before the Ming period became classical during this period. More colours were used in painting during the Ming dynasty. Seal brown became much more widely used,and even over-used during this period. Many new painting skills or techniques were innovated and developed,calligraphy was much more closely and perfectly combined with the art of painting. Chinese painting reached another climax in the mid and late Ming. The painting was derived in a broad scale,many new schools were born,and many outstanding masters emerged.
Wen Boren;ca. (1502–1575) was a Chinese landscape painter during the Ming Dynasty (1368–1644).
Wu Li,SJ;ca. 1632-1718 was a Chinese landscape painter,Christian poet,calligrapher and Jesuit missionary priest from Jiangsu who lived during the Qing Dynasty (1644–1912).
Zhang Shicheng,born Zhang Jiusi (張九四),was one of the leaders of the Red Turban Rebellion in the late Yuan dynasty of China.
Chen Shizeng,original name Chen Hengke,courtesy name Shizeng,art name Xiudaoren Xiuzhe,was a Chinese painter and critic,painter,and educator of early 20th-century China. At a time when some Chinese artists were rejecting traditional painting styles in favor of Western influenced styles,Chen championed traditional literati art in his own art and in his A Study of Chinese Literati Painting.
The Four Masters of the Ming dynasty are a traditional grouping in Chinese art history of four famous Chinese painters that lived during the Ming dynasty. The group consists of Shen Zhou (1427–1509),Wen Zhengming (1470–1559),Tang Yin (1470–1523),and Qiu Ying (c.1494–c.1552). They were contemporaries,with Shen being the teacher of Wen,while Tang and Qiu was taught by Zhou Chen (1460–1535). All five of the aforementioned painters were part of the Wu School. Their styles and subject matter were varied. Qiu was solely a painter,while the other three developed distinct styles of painting,calligraphy,and poetry.
Shen Wansan was a businessman during the beginning of Ming Dynasty.
Empress Xiaocigao,commonly known as Empress Ma,was an imperial consort of the Ming dynasty. She was the principal wife of the Hongwu Emperor and acted as his adviser in politics,exerting a large amount of influence during his reign.
Poet on a Mountaintop is a painting by the Ming dynasty artist Shen Zhou (1427–1509). Shen Zhou was a firm believer of Daoism as he mimicked the style of Yuan dynasty administrators through his paintings.
The Ming dynasty (1368–1644) of China was known for its advanced and cultured society. The culture of the Ming dynasty was deeply rooted in traditional Chinese values,but also saw a flourishing of fine arts,literature,and philosophy in the late 15th century.