Yun Shouping (; 1633 – 1690), also known as Nantian (), was a Chinese calligrapher and painter. He was a major

artist An artist is a person engaged in an activity related to creating art, practicing the arts, or demonstrating the work of art. The most common usage (in both everyday speech and academic discourse) refers to a practitioner in the visual arts o ...

of the early Chinese

Qing dynasty The Qing dynasty ( ), officially the Great Qing, was a Manchu-led Dynasties of China, imperial dynasty of China and an early modern empire in East Asia. The last imperial dynasty in Chinese history, the Qing dynasty was preceded by the ...

. Along with the

Four Wangs The Four Wangs () were four Chinese landscape painters during the Qing dynasty in the 17th century, all with the surname Wang. They are best known for their accomplishments in ''shan shui'' painting. The painters They were Wang Shimin (1592 ...

and Wú Lì, he was regarded as one of the " Six Masters" of the Qing period.

Biography

Yun Shouping was born to an impoverished family in Wujin,

Jiangsu Jiangsu is a coastal Provinces of the People's Republic of China, province in East China. It is one of the leading provinces in finance, education, technology, and tourism, with its capital in Nanjing. Jiangsu is the List of Chinese administra ...

province. Although he excelled in his classes, his family could not afford for him to attend the civil service examinations. Yun Shouping devoted himself to art. As a child, he composed poetry on lotus blossoms.

Career

As an artist, poet, and calligrapher, Yun Shouping has been said to have mastered the three perfections. He is the founder of the Ch'ang-chou school of painting, and he is credited with reviving the popularity of flower paintings. The mogu bird-and-flower motif experienced a resurgence through Yun Shouping's works and school of art. Yun Shouping was initially a

landscape A landscape is the visible features of an area of land, its landforms, and how they integrate with natural or human-made features, often considered in terms of their aesthetic appeal.''New Oxford American Dictionary''. A landscape includes th ...

painter, but he was reportedly so impressed by the works of the artist Wang Hui that he abandoned his training in favor of flower, animal, and insect paintings. Yun Shouping has been mistakenly credited with influencing the works of Jiang Tingxi. Yun was also recognized as a prominent

calligrapher Calligraphy () is a visual art related to writing. It is the design and execution of lettering with a pen, ink brush, or other writing instruments. Contemporary calligraphic practice can be defined as "the art of giving form to signs in an exp ...

, in which he followed the style of

Chu Suiliang Chǔ Suìliáng (596–658), courtesy name Dengshan, formally the Duke of Henan, was a Chinese calligrapher, historian, and politician who served as a chancellor during the reigns of the emperors Taizong and Gaozong in the Tang dynasty. He beca ...

Style

Yun imitated the 11th-century artist Xu Xi's mogu (or 'boneless') method, an approach that tried to express art without rigidly defined outlines and forms. This style became a hallmark of the Yun family's artistic style, and Yun's daughter

Bing Bing most often refers to: * Bing Crosby (1903–1977), American singer * Microsoft Bing, a web search engine Bing may also refer to: Food and drink * Bing (bread), a Chinese flatbread * Bing (soft drink), a UK brand * Bing cherry, a varie ...

continued to develop the technique. Yun's style was vibrant and expressive; he attempted to display the inner vitality and spirit of his subjects in painting. Yun sought inspiration from the past; his ''Flower and Fruit'' imitated the style of the masters of the

Yuan dynasty The Yuan dynasty ( ; zh, c=元朝, p=Yuáncháo), officially the Great Yuan (; Mongolian language, Mongolian: , , literally 'Great Yuan State'), was a Mongol-led imperial dynasty of China and a successor state to the Mongol Empire after Div ...

. He used strong colors such as reds and purples, which had traditionally been considered gaudy and offensive by Chinese painters.

Gallery

File:Lotus Flower Breaking the Surface by Yun Shouping.jpg, alt=A painting of a red lotus flower with a green lily pad. Ink and color used on scroll. The lotus is the left third of the image, the lily pad is the bottom third, and the upper-right quadrant is calligraphy., ''Lotus Flower Breaking the Surface'' (出水芙蓉圖),

Palace Museum The Palace Museum (), also known as the Beijing Palace Museum, is a large national museum complex housed in the Forbidden City at the core of Beijing, China. With , the museum inherited the imperial royal palaces from the Ming and Qing dynast ...

, Beijing File:Yun Shouping, Magnolias.jpg, alt=Painting of pink lily magnolias and white anise magnolias on scroll. The lily magnolias are small and left of center, and the thin branch is almost intertwined with the branch of the four white magnolias, of which three are in bloom, located center to the right of the scroll. Light blue is used to bring out the edges of the white flowers. One line of calligraphy in the bottom right of the painting, ''Magnolias'' File:Yun Shouping, Peonies.jpg, alt=Painting of various flowers, including white, pink, and lavender peonies as well as blue-green leaves. Flowers are in the right two-thirds of the scroll, with calligraphy in the left third., ''Peonies'' File:Yun Shouping, Old Trees and Bamboo after Ni Zan.jpg, alt=Painting of trees and bamboo on vertical scroll with calligraphy in the two upper corners., ''Old Trees and Bamboo'' File:Sunset along Floral Embankment by Yun Shouping (Kyoto National Museum).jpg, alt=Painting of distant mountains and proximate trees on vertical scroll with calligraphy in the upper left corner., ''Sunset along Floral Embankment'' (花隝夕陽圖),

Kyoto National Museum The is one of the major art museums in Japan. Located in Kyoto's Higashiyama ward, the museum focuses on pre-modern Japanese and Asian art. History The Kyoto National Museum, then the Imperial Museum of Kyoto, was proposed, along with the Imp ...

File:Yun Shouping - Tree Peonies - 1972.16 - Metropolitan Museum of Art.jpg, alt=Painting of white, pale pink, and lavender peonies on shrub on a vertical scroll. The tree has a brown trunk and deep green leaves, and the brightness of the flowers are contrasted against the background., ''Tree Peonies'', Metropolitan Museum of Art File:Yun Shouping - Landscapes in the Manner of Song and Yuan Masters - 1981.285.12a–m - Metropolitan Museum of Art.jpg, alt=Painting of trees and mountains on scroll. Minimalist line renditions of a few small homes in a gathering in the foreground. Gray mountain outlines in the background. Calligraphy in the top left, ''Landscapes in the Manner of Song and Yuan Masters,'' Metropolitan Museum of Art File:Peonies by Yun Shouping.jpg, ''Peonies''

References

External links

Landscapes Clear and Radiant: The Art of Wang Hui (1632-1717)
an exhibition catalog from The Metropolitan Museum of Art (fully available online as PDF), which contains material on Yun Shouping (see index)

now at the

Hong Kong Museum of Art The Hong Kong Museum of Art (HKMoA) is the first and one of the main art museums of Hong Kong, located in located in Tsim Sha Tsui, Kowloon, near the Victoria Harbour waterfront, providing a scenic view of Hong Kong’s skyline. It is a publ ...

''Peonies''
at the

National Palace Museum The National Palace Museum, also known as Taipei Palace Museum, is a national museum headquartered in Taipei, Taiwan. Founded in Beijing in 1925, the museum was re-established in Shilin District, Shilin, Taipei, in 1965, later expanded with a S ...

Taiwan Taiwan, officially the Republic of China (ROC), is a country in East Asia. The main geography of Taiwan, island of Taiwan, also known as ''Formosa'', lies between the East China Sea, East and South China Seas in the northwestern Pacific Ocea ...