The Four Painters of the Yuan Dynasty - refers to the four painters of the Yuan Dynasty, Huang Gongwang, Wu Zhen, Ni Zan and Wang Meng. Their creations embody the highest achievements of the Yuan Dynasty landscape painting. The four painters not only have their own distinct individual characteristics, but also share the contemporary style of Yuan Dynasty landscape painting. They emphasized the organic combination of poetry, calligraphy, painting and seals, and conveyed emotions to objects. They were typical literati paintings and had a huge influence on Ming and Qing paintings.
Huang Gongwang (1269～1354)
Chinese painter and calligrapher of the Yuan Dynasty, one of the four great calligraphers of the Yuan Dynasty. His original name was Lu Jian, but he changed his name after adopting the Huang family from Yongjia, Zhejiang Province. The origin of his name is quite interesting. After Huang Gongwang's father had a son, his friends came to congratulate him and said, "Huang Gongwang has been looking forward to his son for a long time!", so Huang's father named him "Gongwang", with the courtesy name Zijiu. A native of Changshu, Jiangsu. He once worked as a minor official and was imprisoned due to being involved. After he was released from prison, he lived in seclusion and entered the Quanzhen sect of Taoism. He is skilled in calligraphy, good at poetry and prose, and has achieved quite a lot. He began to paint landscapes after the age of 50. He learned from Zhao Mengfu, Dong Yuan, Ju Ran, Jing Hao, Guan Tong, Li Cheng, etc. In his later years, he changed his method greatly and became his own family. His paintings pay attention to learning from nature, and he often carries paper and pen to depict the natural scenery of Yushan, Sanmao, Jiufeng, Fuchun River and other places. The painting is based on the Caocheng brushwork in calligraphy, which has two aspects: ink and light crimson. The brushwork is simple and elegant, the style is vigorous and broad, and the momentum is majestic. Huang Gongwang's paintings had a great influence in the late Yuan, Ming and Qing dynasties and in modern times. In the history of painting, he, Wu Zhen, Ni Zan and Wang Meng are collectively called the Four Yuan Schools. The author of "Landscape Jue" explains painting theory, painting methods, layout, artistic conception, etc. There are "Dwelling in the Fuchun Mountains", "Nine Peaks with Snow", "Danya Yushu Picture", "Tianchi Stone Wall Picture", "Xishan Rain Intention", "Shanxi Visiting Dai", "Fuchun Daling Picture" "And so on. Many of Huang Gongwang's landscape paintings were created after the age of 70. "Dwelling in the Fuchun Mountains", which was created on the banks of the Fuchun River, is 636.9 cm long and 33 cm high. It depicts the autumn scenery along the Fuchun River in southern China using ink techniques. When he was conceiving, he traveled all over the banks of the Spring River, and it took him six or seven years to complete the painting. The picture shows a graceful and elegant style, with an extraordinary bearing. In terms of his creative style, he advocated learning from his predecessors, and suggested that he should sketch at any time when he saw beautiful mountains and rivers, and not passively create paintings. As a distinguished and wealthy literati painter, Wang Yuanqi pays more attention to the pure language of painting. His crazy mentality of "art for art's sake" is worthy of learning by future generations.
Wu Zhen lived in poverty all his life and once sold divination for a living. He had a solitary temperament and lived in seclusion. He rarely interacted with scholars and gentry, and few people knew him at that time. He was erudite and aloof, and he did not easily draw for others at first. He said "it won't be the same in twenty years" and he became famous. He is good at cursive calligraphy, poetry, and is good at ink and landscape painting. He has many works, including "Picture of the Fisherman" (collected by the Palace Museum), "Picture of Spring Dawn on the Qingjiang River", "Picture of Fishing Hiding on the Autumn River", and "Picture of Two Pines in the Distance" (in Taiwan). "Eight Scenes of Jiahe" and other works. Among them, "Picture of the Fisherman" embodies his thoughts of yearning for nature and reclusiveness.
Ni Zan (1301～1374) was a painter and poet in the Yuan Dynasty. It is said that the original name was "珽". The courtesy name is Taiyu, later the character is Yuanzhen, the nickname is Yunlin, and the signature is Yunlinzi, or the Sanren of Yunlin, also known as Jingmanmin, Jingming Jushi, Zhuyang Guanzhu, Puxian Xianqing, Huanxiazi, Donghai Nong, Wu Zhu'an Zhu, Juetingzi, Ququansou, Canghaimanshi, Lazy Zan, Donghai Zan, Xi Yuanlang. A native of Wuxi (now Jiangsu). He lived in Zituo, Wuxi, where there were many trees. The hall he built was named Yunlin, so he named himself Yunlin. He never served as an official in his life, and his family was a well-known wealthy family in Wuzhong. However, Ni Zan was unwilling to manage production and called himself "Lazy Zan", also known as "Ni Zan". She is very clean, so she washes her clothes several times a day and the trees in front and behind the house. There are thousands of volumes of books in his home, which he has cataloged with his own hands. He is good at landscapes, bamboos, stones, dead wood, etc. His landscape paintings were developed after learning from Dong Yuan, Jing Hao, Guan Tong and Li Cheng. His painting techniques are sparse and simple, and his style is innocent and quiet. The works mostly depict the landscapes around Taihu Lake. The compositions are flat and distant, and the scenery is minimalist. Most of the paintings are sparse forests and sloping banks, with shallow water and distant zeniths. Use the pen to change the center to the side, fold and crack the mountains and rocks, use the dry pen to dry the ink, the elegant and beautiful pines, the artistic conception is desolate, cold and empty, and the style is desolate and elegant. The ink bamboo is refreshing and beautiful. On painting, he advocated the expression of subjective feelings and believed that paintings should express the author's "easy spirit" without seeking physical resemblance. He said, "As for the so-called painters, they only use careless brushstrokes and do not seek resemblance in form, just to entertain themselves." His painting practice and theoretical views had a great influence on the literati painters of the Ming and Qing Dynasties, and he enjoyed a high reputation. In the history of painting, he, Huang Gongwang, Wu Zhen, and Wang Meng were named one of the four Yuan painters. He is good at calligraphy and regular script. He is ancient and elegant, and has the style of people in the Wei and Jin Dynasties.
His works include: "River Bank Looking at the Mountain", "Bamboo Trees and Wild Stones", "Streams and Mountains", "Six Gentlemen", "Bamboo Dwelling in the Water", "Pine Forest Pavilion", "Lion Grove", "Xilin" "Zen Room Picture", "Cold Pine Picture", "Autumn Forest Mountain Color Picture", "Spring Rain New Bamboo Tree Picture", "Little Mountain Bamboo Tree Picture", "Rong Xi Zhai Picture", "Bamboo Bamboo Picture", "Purple Orchid Mountain" "Room Picture", "Wu Zhu Xiu Stone Picture", "New Wild Geese Poems Picture", etc. There are "Pictures of Bamboo Dwelling in the Water", "Picture of Rong Xi Zhai", "Picture of Autumn at Fishing Village", "Picture of Yushan Forest Valley", "Picture of Cold Pines in a Secluded Stream", "Picture of Beautiful Trees in Autumn Pavilion", "Picture of Strange Rocks and Clusters". , "Bamboo Branch Picture" and other works handed down from generation to generation. Wang Mian's "Send Yang Yifu's Visit to Yunlin" said that Ni Zan "filled the house with toothpicks and filled the house with colorful paintings filled with smoke".
Wang Mengyuan is a painter. His courtesy name was Shuming, his name was Xiangguang Jushi, and he was a native of Huzhou (now Wuxing, Zhejiang). Wang Mengneng is a poet and calligrapher. He is especially good at painting landscapes, and he was taught by his maternal ancestor Zhao Mengfu. He took Dong Yuan and Ju Ran as his ancestors and became his own style. The scenery is densely painted, with multiple mountains and rivers in the layout, and good use of cracks and moss spots to express the lush and vast atmosphere of the forest. In addition to landscapes, he is also a person. His works had a great influence on landscape painting in the Ming and Qing Dynasties, second only to Huang Gongwang. Later generations called him, Huang Gongwang, Wu Zhen, and Ni Zan the "Four Yuan Painters". The handed down masterpieces "Residence in Qingbian" and "Studying in Spring Mountain" are collected by the Shanghai Museum; "Migration of Ge Zhichuan" is collected by the Palace Museum in Beijing; "Thatched Cottage in Qiu Mountain" is collected by the National Palace Museum in Taipei.