Shen Zhou: Difference between revisions

Shen Zhou
Shen Zhou
Chinese	沈周
Hanyu Pinyin
Transcriptions
Standard Mandarin
Hanyu Pinyin	Shěn Zhōu
Bopomofo	ㄕㄣˇ ㄓㄡ
Wade–Giles	Shen3 Chou1
IPA	[ʂə̀n.ʈʂóʊ]
Yue: Cantonese
Yale Romanization	Sám Jāu
Jyutping	sam2 zau1
IPA	[sɐm˧˥.tsɐw˥]
Shen Qinan
Traditional Chinese	沈啟南
Simplified Chinese	沈启南
Hanyu Pinyin
Transcriptions
Standard Mandarin
Hanyu Pinyin	Shěn Qǐnán
Bopomofo	ㄕㄣˇ ㄑㄧˇ ㄋㄢˊ
Wade–Giles	Shen3 Ch‘i3-nan2
IPA	[ʂə̀n.tɕʰì.nǎn]
Yue: Cantonese
Yale Romanization	Sám Káinàahm
Jyutping	sam2 kai2 naam4
IPA	[sɐm˧˥.kʰɐj˧˥.nam˩]
Shen Shitian
Chinese	沈石田
Hanyu Pinyin
Transcriptions
Standard Mandarin
Hanyu Pinyin	Shěn Shítián
Bopomofo	ㄕㄣˇ ㄕˊ ㄊㄧㄢˊ
Wade–Giles	Shen3 Shih2-t‘ian2
IPA	[ʂə̀n.ʂɨ̌.tʰjɛ̌n]
Yue: Cantonese
Yale Romanization	Sám Sehktìhn
Jyutping	sam2 sek6 tin4
IPA	[sɐm˧˥.sɛk̚˨.tʰin˩]

Shen Zhou
Shen Zhou
Born	Xiangcheng, Suzhou, China; 1427; Xiangcheng, Jiangsu
Died	1509 (aged 81–82)
Known for	Shan shui
Movement	Wu School, Four Masters of the Ming dynasty

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Shen Zhou (Chinese: 沈周; pinyin: Shěn Zhōu, 1427–1509), courtesy names Qinan (启南) and Shitian (石田), was a Chinese painter in the Ming dynasty. He lived during the post-transition period of the Yuan conquest of the Ming. His family worked closely with the government and maintained its wealthy status. Shen later retired and lived a reclusive life, spending most of his time painting and taking care of his widowed mother.

He was a contributor to the more individualist Wu School of Chinese art. Besides painting, he was also accomplished in history and the classics.

Life

Shen Zhou was born into a wealthy family^[1] in Xiangcheng, near the thriving city of Suzhou, in the Jiangsu province, China. His genealogy traces his family's wealth to the late Yuan period, but only as far as Shen's paternal great-grandfather, Shen Liang-ch’en, who became a wealthy landowner following the dissolution of Mongol rule.

After the collapse of the Yuan and the emergence of the new Ming dynasty, the position of tax collector was assigned to the head of the Shen family, under the Hongwu emperor's new lijia system. This steadily and amply increased the family's wealth, while freeing Shen Liang-ch’en's male descendants from obligatory careers as Ming officials, and allowing them to live the majority of their lives as retired scholar-artists. Upon the death of his father, Shen Heng-chi, Shen Zhou decided to forgo official examinations and devote his life to the care of his widowed mother, Chang Su-wan.

It is probable that he never intended to become an official, but refrained from making this obvious until his father had died. He thus renounced the life of official service while still preserving his reputation in an enduring act of filial piety. In this way, he was able to live a reclusive life, free of responsibility (except that of caring for his mother), and devote his time to artwork, socializing, and monastic contemplation of the natural world around him. Shen was privileged that he could paint what he wanted, since he was rich and therefore did not require a wealthy patron and sponsor.^[1]

Cultural and historical context

Shen Zhou lived at a pivotal point in the history of Chinese painting, and contributed greatly to the artistic tradition of China, founding the new Wu School in Suzhou. Under the Yuan dynasty (1279–1368), painters had practiced with relative freedom, cultivating a more “individualist,” innovative approach to art that deviated noticeably from the more superficial style of the Song masters who preceded them. However, at the outset of the Ming, the Hongwu emperor (reg 1368–1398) decided to import the existing master painters to his court in Nanjing, where he had the ability to cultivate their styles to conform to the paintings of the Song masters. As Hongwu was notorious for his attempts to marginalize and persecute the scholar class, this was seen as an attempt to banish the gentry's influence from the arts.

The dominant style of the Ming court painters was called the Zhe School. However, following the ascension of the Yongle emperor (reg 1403–1424), the capital was moved from Nanjing to Beijing, putting a large distance between imperial influence and Shen's city of Suzhou, which was nearby Nanjing. These new conditions led to the rise of the Wu School of painting, a somewhat subversive style that revived the ideal of the inspired scholar-painter in Ming China.

Work

Shen Zhou's scholarly upbringing and artistic training had instilled in him a reverence for China's historical tradition that influenced both his life and his art from an early age. He was accomplished in history and the classics, and his paintings reveal a disciplined obedience to the styles of the Yuan dynasty, to China's history, and to the orthodox Confucianism that he embodied in his filial life. He is most famous for his landscapes and for his "boneless" renderings of flowers, which are meticulously created in the style of the Yuan masters. However, he did not always paint within strict boundaries.

Shen possessed a large collection of paintings from the late Yuan and early Ming, which he and his scholar-painter colleagues used as models in forging the revivalist approach of the Wu style. He frequently combined experimental elements with the more rigid styles of the Yuan masters. Much of his work was done in collaboration with others, combining painting, poetry, and calligraphy at gatherings with his literati friends. It was upon these ideals that his Wu School was founded. For Wu painters, painting was a meditation, rather than an occupation. Shen Zhou never coveted his paintings, although they were frequently coveted and imitated by others. Through Shen Zhou's eyes, a painting was not a commodity, but the very extension of the painter himself.

His paintings depicts soaring mountains and towering trees, while human works are reduced to specks in this immensity. This was made to make nature feel all empowering while dwarfing the human element. His most famous work from 1487, Rainy Thoughts (now in the National Palace Museum, Taipei), shows the rain dominating the composition while an insignificant house blurs with the mountains that towers over it. He is usually contrasted with Wu Wei, a painter that places humankind as the center of attention in his paintings.^[1]

This artist should not be confused with another Chinese artist named Shen Zhou who lived in 1848–1903.

References

Notes

^ ^a ^b ^c Fernandez-Armesto, Felipe (2011). 1492 : the year our world began. Internet Archive. London : Bloomsbury. pp. 206, 221–222. ISBN 978-1-4088-0950-1.

Bibliography

Cahill, James. Parting at the Shore: Chinese Painting of the Early and Middle Ming Dynasty, 1368-1580. New York: Weatherhill, 1978.
Edwards, Richard. The Field of Stones: A Study of the Art of Shen Chou (1427-1509). Baltimore: Port City Press, 1962, xvi.
Edwards, Richard. “Shen Chou and the Scholarly Tradition.” The Journal of Aesthetics and Art Criticism, Vol. 24, No. 1 Oriental Aesthetics (Autumn, 1965), 45-52.
Liscomb, Kathlyn. "Shen Chou’s Collection of Early Ming Paintings and the Origins of the Wu School’s Eclectic Revivalism." Artibus Asiae vol. 52, No. 3/4 (1992),215-254.
Shan, Guoqiang, "Shen Zhou". Encyclopedia of China, 1st ed.

External links

Four Great Masters of the Ming Dynasty: Shen Zhou. Taipei: National Palace Museum.
Shen Zhou and his Painting Gallery at China Online Museum
Shen Zhou on Artcyclopedia
Online Exhibition for Shen Zhou's 3 master pieces

[:0-1] Fernandez-Armesto, Felipe (2011). 1492 : the year our world began. Internet Archive. London : Bloomsbury. pp. 206, 221–222. ISBN 978-1-4088-0950-1.

[1]

@@ Line 1: / Line 1: @@
+{{Short description|Chinese painter (1472–1509)}}
 {{other uses|Shenzhou (disambiguation)}}
-{{Chinese name|[[Shěn (surname)|Shen]] (沈)}}
+{{family name hatnote|[[Shěn (surname)|Shen]] (沈)|lang=Chinese}}
 {{Infobox artist
 | name          = Shen Zhou
 | image         = Shen Zhou Self-portrait at age 80.Palace Museum Beijing.jpg
 | image_size    =
 | alt           =
 | caption       =
-| birth_name    =
+| birth_name    = Xiangcheng, Suzhou, China
 | birth_date    = 1427
 | birth_place   = [[Xiangcheng District, Suzhou|Xiangcheng]], [[Jiangsu]]
 | death_date    = {{death year and age|1509|1427}}
 | death_place   =
 | spouse        =
-| field         = [[Shan shui]]
+| known_for     = [[Shan shui]]
 | training      =
 | movement      = [[Wu School]], [[Four Masters of the Ming dynasty]]
-| works         =
+| notable_works =
 | patrons       =
-| influenced by = [[Huang Tingjian]], [[Dong Yuan]], [[Juran (painter)|Juran]]
-| influenced    = [[Wen Zhengming]], [[Tang Yin]],
 }}
+{{Infobox Chinese
-'''Shen Zhou''' ({{zh|c=沈周|p=Shěn Zhōu}}, 1427–1509), [[courtesy name]] '''Qi'nan''' (启南) and Shitian (石田), was a [[Chinese painting|Chinese painter]] in the [[Ming dynasty]].
+| c = 沈周
+| altname = Shen Qinan
+| t2 = 沈啟南
+| s2 = 沈启南
+| altname3 = Shen Shitian
+| c3 = 沈石田
+| p = Shěn Zhōu
+| j = sam2 zau1
+| mi = {{IPAc-cmn|sh|en|3|.|zh|ou|1}}
+| ci = {{IPAc-yue|s|am|2|.|z|au|1}}
+| y = Sám Jāu
+| w = Shen<sup>3</sup> Chou<sup>1</sup>
+| bpmf = ㄕㄣˇ ㄓㄡ
+| p2 = Shěn Qǐnán
+| bpmf2 = ㄕㄣˇ ㄑㄧˇ ㄋㄢˊ
+| w2 = Shen<sup>3</sup> Ch‘i<sup>3</sup>-nan<sup>2</sup>
+| mi2 = {{IPAc-cmn|sh|en|3|.|q|i|3|.|n|an|2}}
+| y2 = Sám Káinàahm
+| j2 = sam2 kai2 naam4
+| ci2 = {{IPAc-yue|s|am|2|.|k|ai|2|.|n|aam|4}}
+| p3 = Shěn Shítián
+| bpmf3 = ㄕㄣˇ ㄕˊ ㄊㄧㄢˊ
+| w3 = Shen<sup>3</sup> Shih<sup>2</sup>-t‘ian<sup>2</sup>
+| mi3 = {{IPAc-cmn|sh|en|3|.|sh|^|2|.|t|ian|2}}
+| y3 = Sám Sehktìhn
+| j3 = sam2 sek6 tin4
+| ci3 = {{IPAc-yue|s|am|2|.|s|ek|6|.|t|in|4}}
+}}
+'''Shen Zhou''' ({{zh|c=沈周|p=Shěn Zhōu}}, 1427–1509), [[courtesy name]]s '''Qinan''' ({{lang|zh|启南}}) and '''Shitian''' ({{lang|zh|石田}}), was a [[Chinese painting|Chinese painter]] in the [[Ming dynasty]]. He lived during the post-transition period of the Yuan conquest of the Ming. His family worked closely with the government and maintained its wealthy status. Shen later retired and lived a reclusive life, spending most of his time painting and taking care of his widowed mother.
+He was a contributor to the more individualist [[Wu School]] of Chinese art. Besides painting, he was also accomplished in history and the classics.
 ==Life==
-Shen Zhou was born into a wealthy family in [[Xiangcheng District, Suzhou|Xiangcheng]], near the thriving city of [[Suzhou]], in the [[Jiangsu]] province, China.  His genealogy traces his family's wealth to the late Yuan period, but only as far as Shen's paternal great-grandfather, Shen Liang-ch’en, who became a wealthy landowner following the dissolution of [[Mongol]] rule.  After the collapse of the [[Yuan dynasty|Yuan]] and the emergence of the new [[Ming dynasty]], the position of tax collector was assigned to the head of the Shen family, under the [[Hongwu emperor]]'s new ''lijia'' system. This steadily and amply increased the family's wealth, while freeing Shen Liang-ch’en's male descendants from obligatory careers as Ming officials, and allowing them to live the majority of their lives as retired scholar-artists.  Upon the death of his father, Shen Heng-chi, Shen Zhou decided to forgo [[Imperial examination|official examinations]] and devote his life to the care of his widowed mother, Chang Su-wan.  It is probable that he never intended to become an official, but refrained from making this obvious until his father had died.  He thus renounced the life of official service while still preserving his reputation in an enduring act of [[filial piety]].  In this way, he was able to live a reclusive life, free of responsibility (except that of caring for his mother), and devote his time to artwork, socializing, and monastic contemplation of the natural world around him.
+Shen Zhou was born into a wealthy family<ref name=":0">{{Cite book |last=Fernandez-Armesto |first=Felipe |url=http://archive.org/details/1492yearourworld0000fern |title=1492 : the year our world began |date=2011 |publisher=London : Bloomsbury |others=Internet Archive |isbn=978-1-4088-0950-1 |pages=206, 221–222}}</ref> in [[Xiangcheng District, Suzhou|Xiangcheng]], near the thriving city of [[Suzhou]], in the [[Jiangsu]] province, China. His genealogy traces his family's wealth to the late Yuan period, but only as far as Shen's paternal great-grandfather, Shen Liang-ch’en, who became a wealthy landowner following the dissolution of [[Mongol]] rule.
+After the collapse of the [[Yuan dynasty|Yuan]] and the emergence of the new [[Ming dynasty]], the position of tax collector was assigned to the head of the Shen family, under the [[Hongwu emperor]]'s new ''lijia'' system. This steadily and amply increased the family's wealth, while freeing Shen Liang-ch’en's male descendants from obligatory careers as Ming officials, and allowing them to live the majority of their lives as retired scholar-artists.  Upon the death of his father, Shen Heng-chi, Shen Zhou decided to forgo [[Imperial examination|official examinations]] and devote his life to the care of his widowed mother, Chang Su-wan.
-==Cultural and Historical Context==
-[[File:Poetonmountain.jpg|280px|thumb|right|''Poet on a Mountaintop'']]
+It is probable that he never intended to become an official, but refrained from making this obvious until his father had died.  He thus renounced the life of official service while still preserving his reputation in an enduring act of [[filial piety]].  In this way, he was able to live a reclusive life, free of responsibility (except that of caring for his mother), and devote his time to artwork, socializing, and monastic contemplation of the natural world around him. Shen was privileged that he could paint what he wanted, since he was rich and therefore did not require a wealthy patron and sponsor.<ref name=":0" />
-[[File:Lofty Mt.Lu by Shen Zhou.jpg|thumb|right|200px|''Lofty Mt. Lu ''by Shen Zhou]]
-Shen Zhou lived at a pivotal point in the history of Chinese painting, and contributed greatly to the artistic tradition of [[China]], founding the new [[Wu School]] in [[Suzhou]].   Under the [[Yuan dynasty]] (1279-1368), painters had practiced with relative freedom, cultivating a more “individualist,” innovative approach to art that deviated noticeably from the more superficial style of the [[Song dynasty|Song]] masters who preceded them. However, at the outset of the [[Ming dynasty|Ming]], the [[Hongwu emperor]] (reg 1368-1398) decided to import the existing master painters to his court in Nanjing, where he had the ability to cultivate their styles to conform to the paintings of the Song masters. As [[Hongwu]] was notorious for his attempts to marginalize and persecute the scholar class, this was seen as an attempt to banish the gentry’s influence from the arts. The dominant style of the Ming court painters was called the [[Zhe school (painting)|Zhe School]]. However, following the ascension of the [[Yongle emperor]] (reg 1403-1424), the capital was moved from [[Nanjing]] to [[Beijing]], putting a large distance between imperial influence and the city of [[Suzhou]]. These new conditions led to the rise of the [[Wu School]] of painting, a somewhat subversive style that revived the ideal of the inspired scholar-painter in [[Ming China]].
+==Cultural and historical context==
+[[File:Poet on a Mountaintop.jpg|280px|thumb|right|''[[Poet on a Mountaintop]]'']]
+Shen Zhou lived at a pivotal point in the history of Chinese painting, and contributed greatly to the artistic tradition of [[China]], founding the new [[Wu School]] in [[Suzhou]]. Under the [[Yuan dynasty]] (1279–1368), painters had practiced with relative freedom, cultivating a more “individualist,” innovative approach to art that deviated noticeably from the more superficial style of the [[Song dynasty|Song]] masters who preceded them. However, at the outset of the [[Ming dynasty|Ming]], the [[Hongwu emperor]] (reg 1368–1398) decided to import the existing master painters to his court in [[Nanjing]], where he had the ability to cultivate their styles to conform to the paintings of the Song masters. As Hongwu was notorious for his attempts to marginalize and persecute the scholar class, this was seen as an attempt to banish the gentry's influence from the arts.
+The dominant style of the Ming court painters was called the [[Zhe school (painting)|Zhe School]]. However, following the ascension of the [[Yongle emperor]] (reg 1403–1424), the capital was moved from Nanjing to [[Beijing]], putting a large distance between imperial influence and Shen's city of [[Suzhou]], which was nearby Nanjing. These new conditions led to the rise of the [[Wu School]] of painting, a somewhat subversive style that revived the ideal of the inspired scholar-painter in [[Ming China]].
 ==Work==
+[[File:Lofty Mt.Lu by Shen Zhou.jpg|thumb|355x355px|''Lofty Mt. Lu ''by Shen Zhou. 1467, Hanging scroll, 6′ × 3′. [[National Palace Museum]], Taipei.]]
-Shen Zhou’s scholarly upbringing and artistic training had instilled in him a reverence for China's historical tradition that influenced both his life and his art from an early age.  He was accomplished in history and the [[Chinese classics|classics]], and his paintings reveal a disciplined obedience to the styles of the Yuan dynasty, to China's history, and to the orthodox [[Confucianism]] that he embodied in his filial life.  He is most famous for his landscapes and for his "boneless" renderings of flowers, which are meticulously created in the style of the Yuan masters.  However, he did not always paint within strict boundaries.  His inherited prosperity afforded him the luxury of painting independently of patrons, and he did so in a way that, while revealing his historical influence, was uniquely his own.  Shen possessed a large collection of paintings from the late Yuan and early Ming, which he and his scholar-painter colleagues used as models in forging the revivalist approach of the [[Wu School|Wu style]].  He frequently combined experimental elements with the more rigid styles of the Yuan masters.  Much of his work was done in collaboration with others, combining painting, poetry, and calligraphy at gatherings with his literati friends.  It was upon these ideals that his Wu School was founded.  For Wu painters, painting was a meditation, rather than an occupation.  Shen Zhou never coveted his paintings, although they were frequently coveted and imitated by others.  Through Shen Zhou's eyes, a painting was not a commodity, but the very extension of the painter himself.
+Shen Zhou's scholarly upbringing and artistic training had instilled in him a reverence for China's historical tradition that influenced both his life and his art from an early age. He was accomplished in history and the [[Chinese classics|classics]], and his paintings reveal a disciplined obedience to the styles of the Yuan dynasty, to China's history, and to the orthodox [[Confucianism]] that he embodied in his filial life.  He is most famous for his landscapes and for his "boneless" renderings of flowers, which are meticulously created in the style of the Yuan masters. However, he did not always paint within strict boundaries.
+[[File:Landscape painting 2, Shen Zhou.jpg|left|thumb|''Poetic Feeling of Fallen Flowers'' by Shen Zhou. Album leaf, ink and color on paper, 35.9 x 60.1 cm. [[Nanjing Museum]], China.]]
+Shen possessed a large collection of paintings from the late Yuan and early Ming, which he and his scholar-painter colleagues used as models in forging the revivalist approach of the [[Wu School|Wu style]]. He frequently combined experimental elements with the more rigid styles of the Yuan masters.  Much of his work was done in collaboration with others, combining painting, poetry, and calligraphy at gatherings with his literati friends.  It was upon these ideals that his Wu School was founded. For Wu painters, painting was a meditation, rather than an occupation.  Shen Zhou never coveted his paintings, although they were frequently coveted and imitated by others. Through Shen Zhou's eyes, a painting was not a commodity, but the very extension of the painter himself.
+His paintings depicts soaring mountains and towering trees, while human works are reduced to specks in this immensity. This was made to make nature feel all empowering while dwarfing the human element. His most famous work from 1487, ''Rainy Thoughts'' (now in the [[National Palace Museum]], [[Taipei]]), shows the rain dominating the composition while an insignificant house blurs with the mountains that towers over it. He is usually contrasted with [[Wu Wei (painter)|Wu Wei]], a painter that places humankind as the center of attention in his paintings.<ref name=":0" />
-This artist should not be confused with another Chinese artist named Shen Zhou who lived 1848-1903.
+This artist should not be confused with another Chinese artist named Shen Zhou who lived in 1848–1903.
-==Sources==
+==References==
+=== Notes ===
+{{Reflist}}
+=== Bibliography ===
 *[[James Cahill (art historian)|Cahill, James]]. ''Parting at the Shore: Chinese Painting of the Early and Middle Ming Dynasty, 1368-1580''.  New York: Weatherhill, 1978.
-*Edwards, Richard.  ''The Field of Stones: A Study of the Art of Shen Chou (1427-1509)''.  Baltimore: Port City Press, 1962, xvi.
+*Edwards, Richard. ''The Field of Stones: A Study of the Art of Shen Chou (1427-1509)''.  Baltimore: Port City Press, 1962, xvi.
-*Edwards, Richard.  “Shen Chou and the Scholarly Tradition.”  The Journal of Aesthetics and Art Criticism, Vol. 24, No. 1 ''Oriental Aesthetics'' (Autumn, 1965), 45-52.
+*Edwards, Richard. “Shen Chou and the Scholarly Tradition.”  The Journal of Aesthetics and Art Criticism, Vol. 24, No. 1 ''Oriental Aesthetics'' (Autumn, 1965), 45-52.
-*Liscomb, Kathlyn.  "Shen Chou’s Collection of Early Ming Paintings and the Origins of the Wu School’s Eclectic Revivalism." ''Artibus Asiae'' vol. 52, No. 3/4 (1992),215-254.
+*Liscomb, Kathlyn. "Shen Chou’s Collection of Early Ming Paintings and the Origins of the Wu School’s Eclectic Revivalism." ''Artibus Asiae'' vol. 52, No. 3/4 (1992),215-254.
-*Shan, Guoqiang, [http://203.72.198.245/web/Content.asp?ID=77604&Query=1 "Shen Zhou"]. ''[[Encyclopedia of China]]'', 1st ed.
+*Shan, Guoqiang, [https://web.archive.org/web/20070929104059/http://203.72.198.245/web/Content.asp?ID=77604&Query=1 "Shen Zhou"]. ''[[Encyclopedia of China]]'', 1st ed.
 ==External links==
@@ Line 47: / Line 93: @@
 {{commons category}}
 *[http://theme.npm.edu.tw/exh103/ShenZhou/index.html Four Great Masters of the Ming Dynasty: Shen Zhou]. Taipei: National Palace Museum.
-*[http://www.chinaonlinemuseum.com/painting-shen-zhou.php Shen Zhou and his Painting Gallery] at China Online Museum
+*[https://www.comuseum.com/painting/masters/shen-zhou/ Shen Zhou and his Painting Gallery] at China Online Museum
 *[http://www.artcyclopedia.com/artists/chou_shen.html Shen Zhou on Artcyclopedia]
 *[http://owlstand.com/#/exhibitions/250a1503-75de-4e70-8628-26483a6f827c Online Exhibition for Shen Zhou's 3 master pieces]
@@ Line 53: / Line 99: @@
 {{Authority control}}
 {{DEFAULTSORT:Shen, Zhou}}
 [[Category:1427 births]]
 [[Category:1509 deaths]]
-[[Category:Artists from Suzhou]]
+[[Category:Painters from Suzhou]]
 [[Category:Ming dynasty landscape painters]]
-[[Category:Painters from Jiangsu]]

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