Tang Yin

Tang Yin (Chinese: 唐寅; Pinyin: Táng Yín; 1470-1524), better known by his courtesy name Tang Bohu (唐伯虎, though it is usually not the custom to address an individual by both surname and courtesy name), was a Chinese scholar, painter, calligraphist, and poet of the Ming Dynasty period whose life story has become a part of popular lore.

Tang Yin (1470-1523) one of the most notable painters in Chinese art history, is part of a literary elite “Ming Dynasty’s Group of Four” (Ming Si Jia), which also includes Shen Zhou (1427-1509), Wen Zhengming (1470-1559) and Qiu Ying (ca. 1495-1552). Tang is also a talented poet: together with his contemporaries Zhu Yunming (1460-1526), Shen Zhou (1427-1509) and Xu Zhenqing, known as the “Four Literary Masters of the Wuzhong Region”

Brief Biography

Tang emerged from the vital merchant class of Suzhou, at a very low economic level of the son of a restaurant operator. Contrary to some accounts, he seems to have studied assiduously during his youth, paying little attention to the worldly charms. his genius, which would later gain him renown as the supreme talent of the Jiangnan area (Southern China), soon drew him into the wealthy, powerful, and talented circles of Suzhou. Wen Zhengming became his friend; Wen's father, Wen Lin (1445-1499), acted as something of a patron, making the right connections for him. ["Friends of Wen Cheng-Ming - A View from the Crawford Collection",China Institute in Americia ]

He was a brilliant student and became the protégé of Wen Lin (1445–1499), the father of Wen Zhengming. His friends in Suzhou’s scholarly circles included Shen Zhou, Wu Kuan (1436–1504) and Zhu Yunming. In 1498 Tang Yin came first in the provincial examinations in Nanjing, the second stage in the civil service examination ladder. The following year he went to the capital to sit the national examinations, but he and his friend Xu Jing (?- 1507) were accused of bribing the servant of one of the chief examiners to give them the examination questions in advance. All parties were jailed, and Tang Yin returned to Suzhou in disgrace, his justifiably high hopes for a distinguished civil service career dashed forever.cite news |url=http://www.artnet.com/library/08/0832/T083253.asp |title=artnet.com: Resource Library: Tang Yin|publisher=GroveArt|date=August 12, 2007.]

Wade-Giles romanization T'ang Yin, also called Tang Bohu Chinese scholar, painter, and poet of the Ming period whose life story has become a part of popular lore.

Tang was a pupil of the great Shen Zhou, a friend of Wen Zhengming, and was aided by the latter's father, Wen Lin. Tang came from a mercantile background and excelled in his studies. He was accused, perhaps unfairly, of cheating in the provincial examinations that would have guaranteed him the security of a government sinecure and comfort for the cultivation of scholarly pursuits. Denied further official progress, he pursued a life of pleasure and earned a living by selling his paintings. That mode of living brought him into disrepute with a later generation of artist-critics (for example, Dong Qichang) who felt that financial independence was vital to enable an artist to follow his own style and inspiration. While Tang is associated with paintings of feminine beauty, his paintings (especially landscapes) otherwise exhibit the same variety and expression of his peers and reveal a man of both artistic skill and profound insight.

Tang Yin's Calligraphy and Poetry

Tang Yin perfected an admirable hand in semi-cursive script (also known as running script). His poems touch on themes which people like Wen Zhengming or the older Shen Zhou would have never taken up. Tang seems compelled to deal with the base elements in man - envy, venality, and cupidity. Tragic unfulfillment, driven by belief in the relentlessness of fate and the bitterness of the ultimate truth inbues his more thoughtful poems. At times he is overcome by tragic sorrow for the loss of childlike innocence; at times even love is fraught with ruin and unhappiness. Those poems which do manage to begin on an optimistic note often end on a note of regret.

A Short Verse on BambooThe moon sinks in the fourth watch,Paper windows seem transparent;Stirring from wine,I prop my head and red awhile.High thoughts, I force myself, but can't help it;Ten stalks, still green in winter, cast profuse shadows." [T'ang Po-hu hsien-sheng ch'uan-chi(Taipei, 1970 ed.), vol I, p. 252.]

ee also

*Ming Dynasty painting
* [http://www.galleriapangea.com/paingting_tangyin_selfportrait/product_details.html Tang Yin's self-portrait (reproduction)]

References