Wen Zhengming
Wen Zhengming (1470-1559) was originally named Bi, with the courtesy name Zhengzhong, and his nickname Hengshan. He was a native of Changzhou (Suzhou), Jiangsu Province. He was a famous painter and calligrapher in the mid-Ming Dynasty. Together with Shen Zhou, Tang Yin and Qiu Ying, he is collectively known as the "Four Heroes of Wu Clan". Together with Tang Bohu, Zhu Zhishan and Xu Zhenqing, he is known as the "Four Great Talents in the South of the Yangtze River". In his later years, he kept pace with his teacher Shen Zhou and became the leader of Wumen sect after Shen Zhou. From the Zhengde to Jiajing years, according to statistics in the book "History of Wu Clan Painting", there were 876 Wu School painters, with a wide range of talents. However, at that time, only Shen Zhou, Wen Zhengming and others were outstanding and famous.
Wen Zhengming’s early career in obtaining fame and officialdom was not smooth. During the Ming and Qing Dynasties, those who passed examinations at all levels and were admitted to prefecture, state, or county schools were generally called "shengyuan", also known as "scholars." When Wen Zhengming took the examination for the first year of Jiajing (AD 1522), when he was fifty-three years old, he failed to pass the examination and turned gray. At the age of fifty-four, he was recommended by Li Chongsi, the minister of the Ministry of Industry, to the imperial court in the capital. After an examination by the Ministry of Personnel, he was awarded a low-paying post in the Hanlin Academy waiting for an imperial edict. At this time, his calligraphy and painting had become famous, and there were many requests for his calligraphy and painting. As a result, he was jealous and ostracized by his colleagues in the Hanlin Academy. Wen Zhengming felt unhappy in his heart. From the second year after arriving in Beijing, he wrote a letter asking to resign and go home. After three years, He submitted three resignation reports before being approved. At the age of fifty-seven, he resigned and left Beijing, sailed south, and settled back in Suzhou. From then on, he devoted himself to poetry, calligraphy and painting, no longer seeking official career, and retired to play and calligraphy. In his later years, he had an outstanding reputation and was known as "whose writing style is popular all over the world". Those who bought his calligraphy and paintings broke the barrier and said that he was "admired by the sea and the earth, and his silk is accumulated in the mountains". Wen Zhengming died at the age of 90 and was the oldest among the "Four Talents of the Wu Clan". When he was nearly ninety years old, he still worked tirelessly to write epitaphs for people. Before he could finish writing, he "put down his pen and sat down and passed away."
Wen Zhengming's calligraphy and painting attainments are extremely comprehensive, and his poems, essays and paintings are all excellent. He is known as an all-rounder with "Four Wonders". Although he followed Shen Zhou, he still had his own style. He specializes in many things, including green, ink, fine brushwork, and freehand brushwork. Landscapes, figures, flowers, orchids and bamboos are all exquisitely crafted.
Wen Zhengming started learning Chinese characters from the character Su (Shi). Later, Wen Zhengming learned calligraphy from Li Yingzhen. Ouyang Xun, the calligrapher of Li Yingzhen, was upright, gentle, clear and correct. Although he was not a calligraphy master, he was a calligraphy educator. He is Zhu Zhishan's father-in-law and Wen Zhengming's first teacher. In addition to imparting all his learning experience to Wen Zhengming, he also encouraged him to break through tradition and create his own style. When Wen Zhengming was 22 years old, Li Yingzhen looked at his Su style calligraphy and said to Wen Zhengming: "How can Kung Fu follow people's feet? Just let Wang Xizhi learn from him, and he is just another person's calligraphy!" These words affected Wen Zhengming's whole life. .
Wen Zhengming is famous in the history of calligraphy for being good at all styles, especially running script and small regular script. Wang Shizhen commented in "Yi Yuan Yan": "Wen Zhengming was famous for his small regular script throughout the world, and he was deeply involved in it. He Li'er, the only seal script is not taken lightly by others, but it is also written in four styles of "Qianwen". The regular script is extremely fine, with the writing style of "Huang Ting" and "Yi Jiao", and the writing style is green and moist. The jade version of "Holy Teachings" is also written in the "Shou Zen" Samadhi. The seal script is Jinjinyang Bingmen style, and the regular script has a small method, which is precious."
Wen Zhengming's calligraphy is gentle, elegant, steady and mature. , rigorous in laws and vivid in spirit. 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 joyful writing. Perhaps the ups and downs in his official career have sapped his youthful spirit, but his late blooming has made his style increasingly stable. His handed down books include "The Drunkard's Story", "The Preface to the King's Pavilion", "Chibi Fu", "The Fisherman's Ci", "Li Sao", "Beishan Yiwen", etc.