Wen Zhiming Green Landscape Research

Ming Dynasty is the most prospecting period in art history. During that period, Wen Zhengming had been the leading person for dozens of years. He inherited and developed the traditional "Green Hills and Water" of Song Dynasty which was disliked by the "Simple" trend, and gave a new beginning to the "Green Hills and Water" in Ming Dynasty. However, the reason why it didn’t present its prominent is that it got away from the core of the traditional art spirit----"art is almost equal to Dao", and it separated from the origin of arts and went to the vision effects of skills. Therefore, a lot of artists in Ming Dynasty---- no matter he was "Literal" artist or "Yuanti" artist, found it was difficult to give up their origin style. The most important thing is, during the whole Ming Dynasty, all paintings were connected closely with political, social and human environment. A lot of artists got into the dilemma of commodity economy when all arts had become commodity.This essay focuses on a literal artist, Wen Zhengming’s pursing life on Green Hills and Water. It deeply analyzes his inheritance, traditional origin, variation of his painting style, and his painting perception. Therefore, it straightens out Wen’s ideal painting mode as well as the change of his esthetic orientation. By classifying, sorting and analyzing his works, the essay tells his esthetic morphology which connected ink and colours. The painting esthetic style of Ming Dynasty had great influence on the practice and esthetic mentality of Green Hills and Water. When we take Wen Zhengming as a viewpoint, we may find out its whole painting style in Ming Dynasty.