Wen Zhengming
1470–1559 · Chinese painting: Ming · 9 works
Wen Zhengming worked at the meeting point of painting, poetry, and calligraphy in Ming-dynasty Suzhou. Gardens and landscapes could become places for reflection, friendship, and cultivated retreat, with an inscription adding another voice to the image. His brushwork often proceeds through restrained, carefully placed marks rather than dramatic effects. In Autumn Mountains, a solitary traveler moves through layered terrain whose horizontal strokes also draw attention to the paper’s surface. Following that double action, describing a landscape while showing the hand that made it, is one way into his art.
9 works · 1512–1551
Find the traveler in Autumn Mountains, then compare the mountain strokes with the nearby writing. How do both organize the page?
1512–1522 · 3 works
Walk these 3
1525–1535 · 3 works
Walk these 3
1543–1551 · 3 works
Walk these 3In 16th-century Suzhou, the painters of the Wu School explored the expressive brushwork of the Yuan scholar-painters. Wen Zhengming, among the most celebrated painters and calligraphers of the Ming, trained pupils including his nephew Wen Boren. Tang Yin, his hopes of office lost, lived by painting, as did Xie Shichen, whose dramatic manner recalls the Zhe school.
In the museum: Chinese painting: Ming room · 3 works
