Page 455 - Art In The Age Of Exploration (Great Section on Chinese Art Ming Dynasty)

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was born in Wujin (present-day Changzhou), (1520-1602), "on the mo gu concepts of the Song In spring of the jiazi year of the Hongzhi reign
Jiangsu Province. His grandfather, Sun Xingzu dynasty masters but developed into an individual [1504], when snow fell heavily, the Fool
(1338-1370), had been one of the young heroes style —free and untrammeled images without the made this picture and added the poem to
who assisted Zhu Yuanzhang in overthrowing the application of color. But his new ideas are not far accompany it.
Mongols and reestablishing a native Chinese distant from those of the ancients." H.R. (Translation by Kojiro Tomita.)
dynasty in 1368. Following his death in battle,
Xingzu was posthumously enfeoffed as the Mar- Although Shi Zhong is not usually regarded as
quis of Yanshan and awarded the title Zhongmin, one of the Heterodox painters, his few extant
"Loyal and Sympathetic"; the legends on several works place him in this context. He came from
of Sun Long's seals declare him the "Grandson 304 Nanjing but was apparently known to Shen Zhou
(or, sometimes, the Descendant) of the Loyal and and well regarded by him. In childhood he is said
Sympathetic Marquis at the Founding of the Shi Zhong to have been simple and (literally) dumb, which is
Realm." The local gazetteer of Wujin records that 1438-0. 1517 doubtless a stereotypical "explanation" of his
Sun was called "the little fool" and that he "was unknown origins.
clever and quick from birth. He excelled in paint- CLEARING AFTER SNOWFALL Shi's major contribution to painting develop-
ing grass and insects and rabbits in snow. He was dated to 1504 ment is perfectly embodied in the present work.
spontaneous in dotting and washing so his paint- Chinese He was obsessed by the possibilities of "negative"
ings had a lifelike flavor." handscroll; ink on paper images: creating forms in reserve from the play
Perhaps during the 14405 or 14505 Sun was 2$ X Jiy (9 /5 X 12$ /5) of ink on paper. Because snow scenes lend them-
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called to court; his byname (zi), Tingzhen, means inscription and two seals of the artist selves so readily to this approach, they make up
"raised or recalled to court" and his later nick- references: Cahill 1978, 128-153; Rogers, 1988, 123 the major part of his extant works. The wild,
name was Duchi, "the capital fool." Other evi- Museum of Fine Arts, Boston "scribbly" (James Cahill) brushwork follows no
dence of his court service comes in the form of the school, as Shi himself asserted —hence his classi-
legend on another of his seals: Jinmen gongyu, The two seals, Wochi Lou (Fool's Rest) and Chi fication as "heterodox." As employed by Chinese
"Supplying the Emperor at the Golden Gate," this Weng (Old Fool), are the artist's sobriquets for his critics, "heterodoxy" (xie xue pal] not only
last being the location where, in the imperial home and himself. The poem is his own composi- implied "beyond the two norms" of academic and
palaces of old, the various attendants awaited tion in his own hand: wen ren style; it suggested perverseness — defi-
summons. In the Tuhui Baojian Xubian of 1519 ance of propriety —as well. Heterodox painting
(a biographical dictionary of painters and calligra- The sky is clear; snow covers mountain provoked real moral outrage; a critic writing in
phers) Sun is described as "having the air and and river, about 1550 railed: "I wouldn't even use them as
bearing of an Immortal. In painting birds, ani- The myriad trees tower high; this is dust rags for fear of disgracing my furniture"
mals, grasses, and insects he developed his own nature's work. (translation by Howard Rogers). The drunken or
style in what were called mo gu in, 'boneless Alone and always happy to suffer poverty, willfully unorthodox works of disappointed pro-
pictures/" The present painting is a fine example This old man, moved to tears, records the fessionals or failed scholar-artists found no ready
of that style, based, according to Zhan Jingfeng divine pine. acceptance in the evolving dichotomy of profes-

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