Wang Mian, also known as Yuanzhang, was born in a poor peasant family in Kuaiji, Zhejiang in 1287. He has been eager to learn since he was a child and has been tireless in reading. Since the family had no money for him to study, his father had to let him herd cattle. He herded cattle during the day and went to a nearby temple at night to sit on the Buddha's lap and read. Sometimes I went to a private school to listen to the teacher's explanations and the village children's reading. Once, he was so fascinated by the lecture that he only remembered the grazing cows at dusk. As a result, the cows disappeared and he was beaten by his father when he returned home. His eagerness to learn moved Han Xing, a scholar in Kuaiji at that time, who accepted him as a student and taught him reading and painting.
Wang Mian was once keen on fame in his youth, but he repeatedly failed to pass the Jinshi examination. So he was filled with anger, burned his articles, ended his official career forever, and wandered around the world. He once visited Hangzhou and Jinling, crossed the Yangtze River and the Huaihe River, passed through Xuzhou and Jinan to Beijing, and reached Juyongguan. Traveling thousands of miles away enabled him to expand his horizons and broaden his mind. At the same time, he also gained a clearer understanding of social reality and the ruling class. Because of his unusual poetry and paintings, his reputation grew. During his stay in Beijing, scholar-bureaucrats all begged him to paint. He couldn't stand the ugly faces of the officials, so he painted a picture of plum blossoms and hung it on the wall, and wrote a poem: "The ice flowers are all like jade, and the Qiang flute cannot blow them down." He expressed his unwillingness to paint for them.
Later, he lived in seclusion in his hometown of Jiuli Mountain. During the day, he planted bean sprouts, irrigated gardens and raised fish, and at night he read and painted, living a life of poverty. He planted thousands of plum trees and hundreds of peach and apricot trees around the house, and named his residence "Plum Blossom House". Wang Mian's life experience had a profound impact on his paintings. The poor and simple life in the mountain village gave his poems and paintings a strong flavor of life.
Wang Mian is famous for painting plum blossoms. His plum blossoms are simple, free and unique, and he is especially good at plum blossoms. The representative work "Picture of Plum Blossoms" depicts plum blossoms with horizontally folded branches. The ink is of appropriate shades, and the blooming, gradually opening, and budding of the flowers all appear fresh, free, and full of vitality. The brushwork is simple and elegant, the branches are straight and graceful, and the composition is fresh and pleasing to the eye. His pen is strong and strong, and the outline of the flowers is created with a unique pause and twist method. Although he does not use color, he can vividly depict the smiling plum blossoms and their branches. It not only expresses the natural charm of plum blossoms, but also embodies the painter's noble thoughts and feelings.
Another representative work is "Spring Morning of Nanzhi", which depicts old trunks and new branches of plum blossoms. They are high-spirited, bold and unrestrained, showing the strong, cold fragrance and rich charm of plum blossoms. In the painting, the "flying white method" is used to paint the branches, which also has the meaning of calligraphy. The brushstrokes are steep, vigorous and unrestrained, and are completed in one go from top to bottom. The thin tip of the painting may look like an iron whip, a crane's knee, or a bow tip like a fishing rod, all of which are full of energy and full of rhythm. Wang Mian changed the old painting method of plum blossoms such as Yang Jiu's, and used the numerous branches and flowers as a major feature. The flowers and leaves in this painting are luxuriant, but not chaotic, dense and dense, and the flowers are surrounded by stamens, which is unique and innovative, showing the artistic effect of strong branches, thousands of flowers, innocence, and vitality.
Wang Mian was also a poet, and his poems often revealed his resentment against the rule of the Yuan Dynasty. He also borrowed objects to express his feelings about plum blossoms, saying that he liked "wild plums" and did not want to be "official plums" in order to despise those "Eguan rotten scholars" at that time.