▲Yuan Wangmeng’s “The Cottage in the Western Suburbs”
Wang Meng’s “The Thatched Cottage in the Western Suburbs“, a painting and calligraphy work of Wang Meng in the Yuan Dynasty, 97cm in length and 27.2cm in width, in the Palace Museum, Beijing.
The picture shows the autumn scenery in the distance. The coastal cottages and bamboo fences are hidden in the bushes, and the boats are tied on the shore. The owner and his wife do their own thing in the house. At the back of the courtyard, the lake is empty and wide, and the water waves are not strong, only a section of the shore and the clump of trees are exposed. The composition and brushwork are relatively simple, showing the clear and sparse scenery of the Jiangnan water town in autumn.
lush in late autumn There are several thatched huts under the shade of the forest. An old man sits in the room and reads by the desk, and two ladies in the next room read. The clear stream in front of the door is gurgling, and the boats are moored. Behind the house is Pinghu Tingzhu, a light boat carries passengers in the middle of the lake, breaking the silence of the picture. The distant mountains and smoky forests, the artistic conception is quiet. The brush and ink work of the whole picture is exquisite and elegant, and the composition is novel. It is an excellent work of Wang Meng’s landscape painting.
upper left of the frame Knowing that “Huanghe Mountain Man Wang Mengshuming wrote the picture of the thatched cottage in the western suburbs”, he stamped “Yellow Crane Mountain Man” with a square seal in white text. This piece of Yuanzhang has many seals in the collection, such as “Jianlin Jushi”, “Zeshan Collection”, “Junyin Jushi” and so on. Once collected in Liang Qingbiao and other collections. “Wu’s Calligraphy and Paintings” description.
Wang Meng (1308-1385), courtesy name Shuming, No. Huangheshan Qiao, Xiangshan Jushi, Wu Xing (Today’s Huzhou, Zhejiang) people, grandfather Zhao Mengfu, grandmother Duan Sheng, uncle Zhao Yong, and cousin Zhao Yanzheng are all famous painters of the Yuan Dynasty. Wang Meng’s landscape paintings were directly influenced by Zhao Mengfu, and later he went on to learn from Wang Wei, Dong Yuan, Ju Ran and others to synthesize a new style. At the end of the Yuan Dynasty, he served as a small official such as “reasonable question” and “long official”. Later, because of “chaos” (referring to the outbreak of a peasant uprising), he abandoned the official and lived in seclusion in Huanghe Mountain for many years.
At the end of the Yuan Dynasty, the officials asked, and after resigning from the office, he lived in seclusion in Linping (now Linping Town, Yuhang, Zhejiang) in Huanghe Mountain, and named himself Huangheshan Qiao. In the early Ming Dynasty, Wang Meng was appointed governor of Tai’an (now Shandong) and died in prison because of the Hu Weiyong case.
Wang Mengneng’s poetry and calligraphy. He was especially good at painting landscapes, and he obtained the method of his grandfather Zhao Mengfu. The scenery is dense, the layout of multiple mountains and waters, and the good use of the points of cleavage and thirsty ink moss to express the atmosphere of lush forests and mountains. In addition to landscapes, he can also be a person. His work had a great influence on the landscape paintings of Ming and Qing Dynasties, second only to Huang Gongwang. Later generations called it together with Huang Gongwang, Wu Zhen and Ni Zan as the “Four Schools of Yuan Dynasty”. He created the “water halo ink stamp”, which enriched the expressive techniques of national painting. His unique style is manifested in “magnificent vitality”, skillful use of the pen, “unique vertical and horizontal, and indistinguishable clues”.
