Wang Shimin

Wang Shimin

Wang Shimin (1592-1680), whose real name is Wang Zanyu, has the name of Xunzhi. He is a smoker and a Taoist. In the late days, he was an old man in Xilu, a native of Taicang in Suzhou, southern Zhili. He was a painter in the late Ming and early Qing Dynasties, the grandson of Wang xijue, a Bachelor of Arts, and the son of Wang Heng, the editor of the Imperial Academy.

He came from the high gate and wrote early. He was the official of Taichang temple. After the revolution of the Ming and Qing Dynasties, the family did not come out, and the rewards and benefits were less advanced. In the Ming Dynasty, Dong Qichang was a scholar of painting. He was intimate when he was young and got his true biography. In Huang Gongwang's Mohism, he had a deep understanding and became more and more deified in his old age. He was eager for talent. He was the leader of a generation of painting circles at that time. Kangxi died in nineteen, at the age of eighty-nine.

Wang Shimin advocates imitating the ancient, the ink is implicit, verdant and elegant, and the composition is less changed. Wang Hui, Wu Li and his grandson yuan Qi were all given their personal instruction. Wang Shimin created the "Loudong school" of landscape painting. Together with Wang Jian, Wang Hui and Wang Yuanqi, Wang Shimin was known as the four kings, and Yun Shouping and Wu Li were also known as the "six schools of Qing Dynasty".

Qin zuyong, the representative painter and critic of Loudong painting school in the late Qing Dynasty, commented on Wang Shimin's "Tongyin on painting": empty wrist, elegant brushwork, random brush, and perfect gully.

(photo source: Portrait of Wang Shimin by Zeng Jing of Ming Dynasty, collected by Tianjin Art Museum)

Life of the characters

Youth

Wang Shimin was smart when he was young. It is recorded in the collection of Guochao paintings that "his posture and nature are different, he is rich in elegance and natural resources, he is good at poetry and prose, and he is good at calligraphy. He is especially good at eight points, and he has special advantages in painting." So his grandfather entrusted Dong Qichang to guide Wang Shimin. Under the guidance of Dong Qichang, he began to imitate the ancient painting as a young man. He studied the traditional painting methods deeply and tried to imitate Huang Gongwang's landscape.

Because his family has a rich collection of ancient books and famous paintings, and most of them are famous works, such as Li Cheng's paintings, which are rarely handed down at that time, he can see, which has a profound impact on him.

According to the regulations at that time, due to the great contribution of the ancestors, the descendants could inherit it without scientific examination. At the age of 24, Wang Shimin became Shang Baocheng, the official in charge of the emperor's seals, and later became Shaoqing of Taichang Temple (in charge of the sacrificial rites and music of the ancestral temple), still in charge of Shang Baosi.

Travel time

He was ordered to visit Fengfan in Shandong, Huguang, Jiangxi and Fujian. He had the opportunity to visit famous mountains and rivers and watch the authentic paintings. Yuan Shu, a great collector of Dong Yuan's and Ju Ran's works and a great collector of Jiangbei's works, once painted a fine brushwork portrait of Yuan Shu, and praised him highly: "Huan Weng Shi Jun is both magnificent and rich in collection. Li Yingqiu was the ancestor of literati and officialdom, and Minan palace was the ancestor of Jingjian. So Jingguan, Dong and Juzhen's famous works belong to their families.

But I have been so diligent as to ask you for your help. After a year, I haven't answered. When he covered it, he saw that the ink was deep, and he didn't feel that the spirit of the sorcerer was strong. This is to imitate Yifeng's style in his chariot and military uniform. In the past, the so-called "constant resemblance to human beings" was written in a special book to show my shame. Close the door, purple air, clouds and smoke, big rocks and cold mountains on both sides. Cut a peak deep beautiful, can be moved into the rice boat (the postscript of Yanke · the self portrait of Guan Shi Jun yuan Huan Zhong)

In 1632, he resigned because of illness and lived in seclusion in Xitian villa, concentrating on painting research and creation.

Retired in old age

Twelve years later, after the Ming Dynasty was overthrown by Li Zicheng's uprising army, the Qing army entered the pass. Wang Shimin surrendered and saved his life. He continued to live in the mountains and study painting, and made great efforts to train his children and grandchildren. Most of his nine sons were officials in the Qing Dynasty. His eight sons, Wang Yan (zhuan'an), went to wenyuange as a bachelor and Minister of rites, and passed the banquet and ceremony examinations. After becoming a Jinshi in the ninth year of Kangxi's reign, his grandson, Qi Yuan, was deeply loved by Kangxi. He entered the South study, served as the president of peiwenzhai calligraphy and painting manual, and presided over the drawing of Wanshou grand ceremony. In 1680, Wang Shimin died at home at the age of 89.

Main achievements

Under the guidance of Dong Qichang, Wang Shimin embarked on the road of imitating the ancient, and gradually formed his ideological and theoretical principle in the future accumulation and study, that is, "imitating the ancient is the highest principle of painting". He pursued the ancient methods and studied them deliberately. All his paintings were the essence of the ancients.

Wang Shimin's paintings of the ancients are similar in shape and style, but different in artistic conception from those of the ancients. This is mainly due to their different spiritual temperament. Wang Shimin was more rigorous, more serious and more regular when he learned from the ancients. Relatively speaking, his paintings were more rigid, but there was also his ingenuity. Wang Shimin brought the ancient style of landscape painting in the early Qing Dynasty into full play. Although his landscape fan is an ancient work, it can integrate the advantages of many families and make it very interesting.

Most of Wang Shimin's works are similar in appearance, with few new ideas. He once said: "recently, the way of painting has declined, the ancient method has gradually disappeared, and many people have their own new ideas. Fallacies spread, so they are so evil that they can't be saved." It can be seen that he strongly advocated the restoration of the ancient law and opposed the creation of new ideas without changing the beginning and the end.

In his early years, Wang Shimin copied many ancient paintings, all of which were based on the original works of the song and Yuan Dynasties. His ink is delicate and elegant, and his copying ability has been seen. His early and mid-term paintings are delicate and elegant in style. For example, the scroll of cloud gully and smoke beach, which was written at the age of 37, is now in the Shanghai Museum. Dry and wet brushes are used together, with mellow ink color, Huang Gongwang's mixed and Gao Kegong's cunbi, which has a dark and delicate charm. At the age of 42, the painting scroll of Changbai Mountain was written with delicate brush, light ink, simple artistic conception and more rhyme of Dong Qichang. In his later years, he took Huang Gongwang as his master and took Dong, Ju and Wang Meng as his subjects, which made him more energetic and rich.

For example, the 72 year old painting of falling wood and cold spring, the 75 year old painting of xianshanlouge axis, and the 84 year old painting of Shanshui axis are all stored in the Palace Museum in Beijing. They are full of hills, dense trees, ethereal lines, fine moss spots, dry and wet textured brushes, and can be used for both rubbing and dyeing, forming an old and clean artistic feature.

Representative works

Wang Shimin's handed down works include the painting of imitating Mei daoren's stream and mountain, the painting of imitating mountain and woodcutter's landscape, the painting of overlapping mountains, the painting of autumn mountain, the painting of yayishanzhai and so on. He also wrote the collection of Xitian, the collection of doubtful year records, and the poetry and grass of Xilu. Wang Shimin also works as an official script, and the list book is also famous. Wang Shimin's works have reached the peak in conception, layout, brushwork, color, line and so on. It is a magnificent flower in the sea of Chinese painting.

Wang Shimin's original works are rare in auction houses and are mostly kept in major museums at home and abroad.

"The painting of imitating the stream and mountain of Taoist Mei": the color of silk is set, vertical: 90CM, horizontal: 42cm. It is a masterpiece written by Wang Shimin at the age of 60 in 1652. His skillful writing style, magnificent momentum and profound artistic conception embody Wang Shimin's artistic attainments.

Du Fu's Poetry: paper color, vertical 39 cm, horizontal 25.7 cm. Collected by Beijing Palace Museum. There are 12 pages in this picture, each of which contains two sentences of Du's poems. The latter page says: "seeing the scenery written by him is magnificent and cold, I feel as if I'm traveling in it. His nephew Shi Xu and his nephew Xian painted a large volume of paintings in his spare time in the cold window. He picked up the beautiful sentences from the scenery and dyed them into a picture. Gu Yi's lungs and intestines dried up, and the custom was to fill them up. The author felt comfortable and moved, but he didn't get any of them. There is a picture in the poem, but there is no poem in the painting. I'm so ashamed to borrow strong topics and blunt many huanhuaweng! Wang Shimin, an old man in Xilu The first volume of the painting Wuxia chess, pine cloud cliff, mountain village spring, rattan moon silver flower. The pen is quite elegant, full of paper and ink rhyme, very vivid.

Xianshan Pavilion: axis, paper, ink, vertical: 133cm, horizontal: 63.5cm. It is now in Taipei Palace Museum.

This is a work by Wang Shimin at the age of 74. It was made for the 70th birthday of Fang Taijun, the mother of Chen Jingfu, a friend. Wang Shimin painted this picture in the way of Huang Gongwang of Yuan Dynasty. On the picture, there are many peaks, lush trees, winding springs and standing pines. The valley is dotted with thatched pavilions and cottages, and the environment is quiet. In the picture, the haze rises and falls, and the clouds surround the mountains, which increases the sense of distance and profundity of the picture. At the same time, it produces the contrast between the virtual and the real, making the whole picture shrouded in a hazy and elegant atmosphere, just like a fairyland. His brushwork is especially exquisite and elegant, which is one of the best works in his later years.

This painting is inscribed with the following words: "the painting of xianshanlouge written by Yisi in winter is the painting of gunshou and Wang Shimin, the wife of Jingfu Taoist brother zuntang. The seals are "Wang Shimin seal" (in white), "old man of Xilu" (in Zhuwen), "xuanshang" (in Zhuwen).

The painting of Lushan in Nanshan: colored silk, 147.1cm in length and 66.4cm in width, collected in Liaoning Provincial Museum.

This is the work of the painter to celebrate his birthday. The painter painted the winding mountains and the green pines to celebrate his birthday. In the picture, the main peak is high, the haze is floating around, the trees are verdant, and the waterfalls are flying; between the mountains, the houses and houses are looming, so you can visit and live. Close up on the hillside, the pine stands upright, which probably means "longevity". The composition of the whole work is complex, the brushwork is meticulous, the ink is dripping, the clouds are floating, vividly depicting the natural mountain forest scene.

The painting of Nanshan Jicui was painted by the painter in his later years. The painting is orderly arranged, well arranged, clear and elegant, calm and elegant. In his early years, Wang Shimin copied many ancient paintings, and copied them according to the original paintings of song and Yuan Dynasties. Therefore, his works at this time were elegant, gentle, neat and delicate, clean and moist but boundless. He not only uses the ancient method to create, but also takes it as the standard to judge his works, advocating that "on the way, just like the ancients, and the charm of the pen and ink, one by one to find the truth.". Wang Shimin's middle age mostly adopts Dong Qichang's method. His brush and ink are cunning and ethereal. His pen is delicate and his ink is clear and free. In his later years, Wang Shimin took Huang as an example

Chinese PinYin : Wang Shi Min