Ren Xiong

Ren Xiong - Self-Portrait (1857, ink and color on paper, 177.5 × 78.8 cm, Palace Museum , Beijing)

Ren Xiong (Chinese: 任熊; Pinyin: Rèn Xióng ; July 19, 1823 - November 23, 1857 ) was a Chinese artist from Xiaoshan , Zhejiang .

He was part of the artistic group "Four Rens" (members: Ren Xiong, Ren Xun, Ren Yu and Ren Yi) from Shanghai .

biography

Ren Xiong was born in Xiaoshan in 1823 . Growing up in simple social conditions, Ren Xiong discovered a passion for painting in his youth. First he took classical lessons from a local portrait artist, who instructed him in classical portrait painting. However, Ren Xiong soon began to distance himself from the typically idealized portraits of the Qing Dynasty and drew pictures in his very own style. As realistically and realistically as possible, he began to portray people with physical flaws.

His artistic work enabled Ren Xiong in Shanghai to gain great popularity within aristocratic circles through his participation in the “Four Renes” art group.

The artist died at the age of 35 from complications from tuberculosis . In addition to numerous nature and landscape paintings, his oeuvre also includes his well-known self-portrait, which he made in the year of his death.

The self-portrait

In 1857, a few months before his death, Ren Xiong made his self-portrait. As the target medium, he chose a hanging roll of paper on which he drew with ink and color. The size is 177.5 × 78.5 cm and thus most likely corresponds to Ren Xiong's own height. The schematized and graphic style of drawing does not correspond to the traditional portrait drawings of the Qing dynasty .

inscription

To the left of the drawn portrait is a calligraphic inscription. Ren Xiong uses the classical and free Chinese verse form Ci for the poetic design . Thematically, Ren Xiong takes up the inner and social turmoil within a society in which he, too, moved between great poverty and the aristocracy throughout his life.

Based on the poems of Da Mei
[Title unknown]
The goddess of the Luo River

literature

James Cahill : Ren Xiong and His Self-Portrait. In: Ars Orientalis. Vol. 25, 1995, ISSN 0571-1371 , pp. 119-132, JSTOR 4629491 .

Web links

Commons : Ren Xiong - Collection of Pictures, Videos and Audio Files

Individual evidence

^ ^A ^b Richard Vinograd: Boundaries of the Self. Chinese Portraits, 1600-1900 . Cambridge University Press, Cambridge et al. 1992, ISBN 0-521-38548-2 , pp. 128 f .
↑ Julia F. Andrews, Kuiyi Shen: The Art of Modern China . University of California Press, Los Angeles CA et al. 2012, ISBN 978-0-520-27106-7 , pp. 6 .

personal data
SURNAME	Ren Xiong
ALTERNATIVE NAMES	任熊 (Chinese); Rèn Xióng (Pinyin)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION	Chinese artist
DATE OF BIRTH	July 19, 1823
PLACE OF BIRTH	Xiaoshan
DATE OF DEATH	November 23, 1857

[:0-1] A ^b Richard Vinograd: Boundaries of the Self. Chinese Portraits, 1600-1900 . Cambridge University Press, Cambridge et al. 1992, ISBN 0-521-38548-2 , pp. 128 f .

[2] Julia F. Andrews, Kuiyi Shen: The Art of Modern China . University of California Press, Los Angeles CA et al. 2012, ISBN 978-0-520-27106-7 , pp. 6 .