Wen Zhiming, formerly known as Bi (or Zuo Bi), has a distinct personality. Since he was forty-two, he has been using hangzi, and hangzi is more important. Because the ancestors were Hengshan people, they were named Hengshan lay, and the world called "Wenhengshan". Changzhou County, Suzhou Prefecture, South Zhili. Painters, calligraphers, writers and collectors in Ming Dynasty.
Wen Zhiming studied literature in Wu Kuan, calligraphy in Li Yingzhen and painting in Shenzhen. He failed in nine rural exams in his life. In the second year of Jiajing, Gong Sheng, aged 18, took the imperial examination and was awarded the post of imperial academy. In the fifth year of Jiajing, Wen Zhiming resigned and returned to his hometown to specialize in creation.
On February 20th, the thirty-eighth year of Jiajing, Wen Zhiming died at the age of ninety. His disciples made personal sacrifices.
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Wen Zhiming's painting themes are landscapes, orchids, figures and flowers, especially landscapes. Moreover, it is multifunctional and green, including ink painting, meticulous painting and freehand brushwork. Most of his creative themes show the leisure and interest of literati. Among Wen Zhiming's landscape paintings, the most respected is the green landscape painting, which can enter the magical realm. However, his "rough prose" and "fine prose" can not be ignored.
His meticulous brushwork is deeply influenced by Yuan Sijia and Shen Zhou, among which The Axis of a Long Story is the masterpiece of prose. Two people sitting under the green forest tree are starting a conversation. On the top of the mountain, there is a winding canyon passage leading to the depths. On both sides of the passage, mountains are stacked, Chinese fir and cypress stand upright, and water flows out from the depths. The composition is meticulous and profound, and the momentum is soothing and worry-free.
In addition, there are other paintings, such as Lenten True Appreciation, Huishan Tea Party, East Garden, Shadow Cuixuan, etc., which are exquisite in brushwork, full of books and rich in ancient meaning. His landscape paintings organically combine characters with mountains and rivers, highlighting a detached realm and style of literati, with fine brushwork.
This is a major feature of Wen Zhiming's landscape painting. For example, in "The Staff of Heqiao", the ancient wooden river bridge is painted in ink and wash, which is rough, simple and vigorous, magnificent and quaint, and it is a "rough" work in his later years.