Yun Shouping (

Chinese Chinese can refer to: * Something related to China * Chinese people, people of Chinese nationality, citizenship, and/or ethnicity **''Zhonghua minzu'', the supra-ethnic concept of the Chinese nation ** List of ethnic groups in China, people of ...

: 惲壽平; 1633 – 1690), also known as Nantian (

: 南田), 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 an art. The common usage in both everyday speech and academic discourse refers to a practitioner in the visual arts only. However, th ...

of the early

Qing dynasty The Qing dynasty ( ), officially the Great Qing,, was a Manchu-led imperial dynasty of China and the last orthodox dynasty in Chinese history. It emerged from the Later Jin dynasty founded by the Jianzhou Jurchens, a Tungusic-speak ...

. Along with the

Four Wangs The Four Wangs () were four Chinese landscape painters 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 (1592–1680), Wang Jian (159 ...

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 (; ; pinyin: Jiāngsū, Postal romanization, alternatively romanized as Kiangsu or Chiangsu) is an Eastern China, eastern coastal Provinces of the People's Republic of China, province of the China, People's Republic of China. It is o ...

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 The three perfections () is a term referring to Chinese , , and understood and practiced as related endeavors. The earliest recorded mention known of "the three perfections" is found in The New Book of Tang, where the term is used to describe th ...

. 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 man-made features, often considered in terms of their aesthetic appeal.''New Oxford American Dictionary''. A landscape includes the ...

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 Jiang Tingxi (, 1669–1732Barnhart: Page 379.), courtesy name Yangsun (), was a Chinese painter, and an editor of the encyclopedia ''Gujin Tushu Jicheng'' (''Complete Collection of Ancient and Modern Writings and Charts''). Jiang was born i ...

. Yun was also recognized as a prominent

calligrapher Calligraphy (from el, link=y, καλλιγραφία) is a visual art related to writing. It is the design and execution of lettering with a pen, ink brush, or other writing instrument. Contemporary calligraphic practice can be defined as "t ...

, in which he followed the style of

Chu Suiliang Chu Suiliang (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 became i ...

Style

Yun imitated the 11th-century artist Xu Xi's

mogu Mogu () is a painting skill or technique in traditional Chinese painting. It literally means "boneless". On paintings in the style of mogu, forms are made by ink and color washes rather than by outlines. Derivation of the name There are mainly ...

(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 (), officially the Great Yuan (; xng, , , literally "Great Yuan State"), was a Mongol-led imperial dynasty of China and a successor state to the Mongol Empire after its division. It was established by Kublai, the fifth ...

. 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 () is a huge 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 dynasties of China and opened to the public in 192 ...

, 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 main art museum of Hong Kong, located in Salisbury Road, Tsim Sha Tsui. It is managed by the Leisure and Cultural Services Department of the Hong Kong Government. HKMoA has an art collection ...

''Peonies''
at the

National Palace Museum The National Palace Museum (; Pha̍k-fa-sṳ: Kwet-li̍p kù-kiung pok-vu̍t-yèn), is a museum in Taipei, Republic of China (Taiwan). It has a permanent collection of nearly 700,000 pieces of Chinese artifacts and artworks, many of which wer ...

Taiwan Taiwan, officially the Republic of China (ROC), is a country in East Asia, at the junction of the East and South China Seas in the northwestern Pacific Ocean, with the People's Republic of China (PRC) to the northwest, Japan to the nort ...