Research On Wenjia’s Painting

Wen Jia was the second son of Wu School Guru Wen Zhengming. Because of his family history, social networking, his interest in learning and imitating the classics and many other reasons, his painting style was changeable, thus stood out in the younger generations of Wu School. Wen’s paintings are divided into two categories:one is ink landscape, birds and flowers and light-color blue and green landscape that are rich in literary atmosphere; the other is heavy-color blue and green landscape in painters’painting style. The former based on inheritance of his family tradition is integrated with the painting style of Ni Zan in Yuan Dynasty, which is majestic and gorgeous; the latter influenced by Qiu Ying, Wen Zhengming, etc. probes into the ancient style in Tang and Song dynasties, so that the painting style is precise and rigorous. As a successor of Wu School and Wen’s family painting, Wen’s painting achievements highlight his inheritance and innovation of the artistic wealth of his predecessors, while maintaining the glory of Wen’s family of artists. More importantly, Wen in the then atmosphere dominated by literati painting style delved into imitation of the classics, drew on Qiu Ying, traced back to the heavy-color blue and green landscape in Tang and Song dynasties and integrated it with literati sentiment derived from his family tradition to form the blue and green landscape in a fresh style. Wen’s such an open attitude towards art not only made him a rising star of the Wu School, but also promoted the inheritance and innovation of Wu School’s classics from generation to generation.