Extended information
Wen Zhengming's calligraphy and painting attainments are extremely comprehensive. He is excellent in poetry, essays, calligraphy and painting. He is known as an all-rounder of the "Four Wonders". Together with Shen Zhou, he founded the "Wu School", and in the history of painting, together with Shen Zhou, Tang Yin and Qiu Ying, they are known as the "Four Schools of the Ming Dynasty" ("Four Schools of Wu Clan"). In poetry, together with Zhu Yunming, Tang Yin and Xu Zhenqing, he is known as one of the "Four Talents in Wuzhong".
Wen Zhengming's paintings are good at landscapes, orchid and bamboo, figures, flowers and other subjects, especially landscapes. In his early years, he studied under Shen Zhou, and later devoted himself to Zhao Mengfu, Wang Meng and Wu Zhen, becoming his own style.
The painting style has two aspects: thick and thin. The thick brush is derived from Shen Zhou and Wuzhen, and is also based on Zhao Mengfu's ancient wood, bamboo and stone techniques. Layers and charm can be seen in the middle; the fine brushwork is based on Zhao Mengfu and Wang Meng, the scenery is dense, there is little space depth, the shape is regular, and there are sometimes edges and deformations. The brushwork is fine and dense, a little jerky, and it seems naive in the mastery.
Wen Zhengming’s first calligraphy teacher was Li Yingzhen, and he later studied extensively the famous calligraphy of previous generations. He had various attainments in seal script, official script, regular script, running script, and cursive script. In the history of calligraphy, he is famous for being good at all styles, especially running script and regular script. His calligraphy is gentle, elegant, steady and mature, rigorous in law and vivid in mood. Although it is not majestic, it has the style of Jin and Tang calligraphy.
His writing style is less fiery, and he often reveals a gentle and elegant atmosphere in his enjoyable writing. Perhaps the ups and downs in his official career have sapped his youthful spirit, but his late blooming has made his style more stable. Wen Zhengming was the leader of the Wumen School of Painting after Shen Zhou. He had many followers and disciples, forming the largest painting school in the Wumen area at that time.
Guangming.com - Picking up old poems when busy on New Year's Eve
Baidu Encyclopedia - Wen Zhengming