The Literati Perspective Of Zhou Chen And His "Beggars And Street Characters"

Zhou Chen lived in the wealthy Suzhou in the 15 th and 16 th centuries and was a teacher of Tang Yin and Qiu Ying in the Ming Dynasty.There are very few records of Zhou Chen in painting history,and his "Beggars and street characters " has never been written by the literati.This article researches Zhou Chen and his "Beggars and street characters " from the perspective of "literati paintings".It aims to clarify Zhou Chen's real creative style and characteristics,and re-examine Zhou Chen's status and role in the development of paintings in the Ming Dynasty.Through image analysis of the image of the refugees and beggars in The Refugees,we can see that Zhou Chen not only has superb realism skills,but also possesses the "Confucianism" sentiment for the people of the world.The history of painting records that Zhou Chen taught the paintings of the Southern Song Dynasty.However,from the works of Zhou Chen and the many literati in the "Beggars and street characters ",it is inferred that although Zhou Chen is a professional artist,he is a "representative" and a typical representative of the "literati".Zhou Chen's reputation in Suzhou once influenced many painters in Suzhou art circles.Based on the analysis of the economic and social development of Suzhou,Zhou Chen's "literati" meets the aesthetics of the emerging "gentleman and wealthy" Jian Jia,which is the inevitable result of the prosperity of the calligraphy and painting market and the interaction between professional and literati painters.However,with Dong Qichang's "Southern and Northern Sects" theory admiring literati as the "Southern Sect",Zhou Chen's status plummeted,and he eventually fell into the nameless borrowing.