Wen Zhengming

Portrait of Wen Zhengming

Summer freshness in the Ostwäldchen, detail

Master Liu's retreat

Wen Zhengming ( Chinese  文徵明  /  文征明 , Pinyin Wén Zhēngmíng , W.-G. Wen Cheng-ming ; * 1470 in Suzhou , † 1559 ibid) was a Chinese literary painter and calligrapher and is considered to be next to Shen Zhou , Tang Yin and Qiu Ying as one of the four masters of the Ming dynasty , who had a lasting influence on subsequent generations of artists.

Wen was born under the name Wen Bi (文 壁) and was considered a hardworking student, who, however, repeatedly failed the national official exams. However, he was recommended by the governor of his hometown for a position at the Hanlin Academy in Beijing , where he stayed from 1523 to 1527 to study the history of the reign of Emperor Zhengde . However, he was disappointed with the political life in Beijing and retired to Suzhou to devote himself to the arts. Wen is also - together with his friend Zhu Yunming - one of the best calligraphers of the Ming Dynasty. This brought him hard practice, because as a young man his writing was considered bad. He wrote not only in modern typefaces, but also in archaic scripts that he appropriated in the course of dealing with the past. His most famous calligraphic work is “Waiting for the Emperor to Return from the Southern Suburbs” (恭候 大驾 还 自 南郊), in which he uses several scripts to please the emperor.

He carefully studied the works of artists from the Yuan Dynasty , but also the Song Dynasty and Tang Dynasty , in order to process styles and themes in his work. The painter Zhao Mengfu from the Yuan period influenced him the most, along with the four important Yuan masters Huang Gongwang , Wu Zhen , Ni Zan and Wang Meng . Wen specialized in depicting gardens, places in Suzhou, trees, mountain landscapes with rocks, illustrations of literature, and depictions of events from intellectual life. His high level of education can be recognized by the inscriptions and themes on his pictures. His painting style can be recognized by the fine, precise brushstrokes that result in a complex structure on the paper.

One of Wen's most important works is “Sommerfrische im Ostwäldchen” (東 林 避暑 圖), created around 1512, which combines the three disciplines of a literary painter, namely painting, poetry and calligraphy. The precise paintings based on the style of Ni Zan are followed by a poem in italics in the style of Huang Tingjian , another poem in grass script in the style of Huaisu , and a third poem in italics in the style of Su Shi . It shows clusters of rocks with scattered trees and an empty pavilion, painted with light brushstrokes, none of which is superfluous.

The "retreat of Master Liu" (樓 居 圖軸) was created by Wen around 1543 for his friend Liu Lin . The picture shows a garden that Liu would probably build after retiring from politics. It shows two crossing willows in front of a wood and a pavilion in which a scholar receives a visitor. In the upper left corner is a poem written in ruled script extolling the lovely view and peaceful atmosphere. The soft brushwork and the delicate colors of this painting underline this impression.

Wen Zhengming's son Wen Jia and his nephew Wen Boren were also painters and calligraphers.

literature

• Craig Clunas: Elegant debts: the social art of Wen Zhengming; 1470-1559 . University of Hawaii Press, Honolulu 2004, ISBN 0-8248-2772-4 .

Web links

Commons : Wen Zhengming  - collection of pictures, videos and audio files

• Literature by and about Wen Zhengming in the catalog of the German National Library

Individual evidence

1. ↑ ^{a b c d} Alice RM Hyland: (1) Wen Zhengming . In: Jane Turner (Ed.): The dictionary of art . tape 33 . Grove, Oxford 1996, ISBN 1-884446-00-0 , pp. 67-68 .

Note: This article places the family name before the person's first name. This is the usual order in Chinese. Who therefore is the family here Zhengming is the first name.