Painter Wang Mian (? A 1359), people stamp, number will check the history, plum blossom house owner, Mi Niu Weng and so on. Zhuji, Zhejiang. Young and eager to learn, he studied under the Han nationality in Anyang, read classics and recited poems, studied the art of war, and had the ambition to help the world and benefit the people. Repeatedly trying to be a scholar, he traveled north and south, deeply observed the sufferings of the Li people, lived in seclusion with his family in Jiulishan, and made a living by farming and selling paintings. Good at drawing plums, Bai Jia.
Wang Mian's ancestors were already high-ranking officials in the Song Dynasty, but by his generation, the Wangs were already poor and lived by farming. Wang Mian has a strong thirst for knowledge. Once herding cattle, he slipped into a private school to listen to students. When he came home at night, the cow disappeared and his father beat him up. That evening, Wang Mian went to the temple again, sat on the Buddha's lap and read by the ever-burning lamp. The story of Wang Mian herding cattle in the first episode of The Scholars is probably based on these materials. Readers must remember the folk story of Wang Mian learning to draw lotus flowers. Unfortunately, Wang Mian's Lotus Map has not been found.
Mimetu is Wang Mian's masterpiece in his later years. There is a plum blossom hanging upside down. The flowers are dense and covered with branches. Like jade scraps and silver beads, it is bright and innocent, and a cool air arises spontaneously. Song people, who were good at painting plums before, mostly used simple and light compositions to show indifference and detachment. Wang Mian, on the other hand, is ingenious, creating a new aesthetic image with impenetrable composition, adding countless vitality and spirit to plum blossom.
The painter wrote five poems with hundreds of words, which are rare in Wang Mian's other works. The seals on the map, such as Wang Yuanzhang, Huiji Waishi and Zhuzhaishu, were all hand-carved by Wang Mian. It can be said that in this work, Wang Mian gave full play to his superb skills in poetry, calligraphy, painting and printing, and organically combined cold ink plum, strange poetry, elegant calligraphy and simple seal cutting, which was amazing.
Wang Mian's painting of plum blossoms has much to do with his life experience. When he was young, he was keen on fame. He often compared himself with Yi Yin, Jiang Shang and Zhuge Liang, and wanted to do something earth-shattering. However, due to the failure of several consecutive Jinshi examinations, his ideal was shattered. Wang Mian, who had seen the world, finally gave up his ambition and returned to his hometown. He built three thatched cottages on the mountain, planted thousands of plum blossoms and hundreds of peach apricots beside the houses, became the owner of plum blossoms, and lived a poor and indifferent seclusion life.