Wang Shishen was also good at writing poems. He liked to play the piano, especially when he had a chronic eye disease and was about to become disabled, he often played the piano***. Wang Shishen integrated his love of tea, love for plum blossoms and poetry into his brush and ink, forming an elegant and elegant style in the art of calligraphy and painting. Therefore, among the Chaolin poems, there are more than 20 poems about tea. "Tea is bitter" and "pure" is high, so his friend Jin Nong gave him the nickname "Tea Fairy".
In the 25th year of Kangxi reign of the Qing Dynasty (1686), Wang Shishen was born in Fuxi Township, Xiuning County, Anhui Province, a famous tea-producing place. Wang Shishen's early life and studies in his hometown are still a mystery, and the world knows very little. He left Huizhou for Yangzhou in 1723, when he was 37 years old.
It is said that Wang Shishen is usually taciturn. When interacting with others, he never mentions his past or his hometown. According to common sense analysis, Wang Shishen must have some difficulty in talking about his experiences in his hometown. What the reason is cannot be determined. Clues of the first half of Wang Shishen's life may be found in the works he left behind.
The first is Wang Shishen’s paintings. Many calligraphy and painting authors leave their place of origin in the inscriptions of their works. Whether this is to "bring glory" to his hometown or just out of habit, at least it can let the audience know where the author is from. In Wang Shishen's paintings, he often writes "Fuxi Wang Family" and sometimes "Xidong Foreign History". Therefore, people had to look for Wang Shishen's residence east of Fuxi in Xiuning.
Plum Blossom Painting by Wang Shishen of the Qing Dynasty, Cleveland Museum of Art, USA
Secondly, from the "alias" that Wang Shishen used many times throughout his life, future generations can know that he was at home. Probably ranked sixth, people call him "Wang Liu" or "Mr. Wang Liu".
Once again, it is Wang Shishen’s poetry. Wang Shishen left a collection of poems called "Chaolin Collection". In this collection of poems, there are two poems that clearly reveal his life experience. One is:
Recalling the past, he was young and strong, and his arms were so generous.
Acceptance values ????loyalty, talking and laughing creates sadness.
From this poem, it seems that the young man back then is now a taciturn person. Of course, this naturally makes people think that this young man who was ambitious, generous, and cheerful in conversation may have suffered setbacks and ups and downs in his later life, and gradually became like a puppet.
Another poem is:
What's the point of living in the Tujia family? It's no longer a matter of wanting to become a man.
My old friends should have pity on me, but I have nowhere to pity Chunhui.
Album page of flowers and landscapes by Wang Shishen of the Qing Dynasty
What is going on when he is an "old man" but has no home? Is it because he has conflicts with his fellow villagers? Is it because other members of the family cannot tolerate him? However, although he has left his "homeland", he still hopes that his "old friends" can sympathize with him and understand him: he has the mood to repay his parents for their upbringing, but he is unable to repay because he is in a foreign land! This poem can somewhat make people People read Wang Shishen's helplessness in leaving his hometown...a helpless and miserable situation.
In these works left by Wang Shishen, people cannot find the relationship between his master and his master in writing poetry, painting, practicing calligraphy, and engraving. It seems that he is a self-taught geek.
Plum blossom painting by Wang Shishen of the Qing Dynasty
Selling paintings to buy a new home
At the age of 37, Wang Shishen brought his family to Yangzhou and went to his fellow villagers Ma Yueguan and Ma Yue Brother Lu. The Ma brothers were from Qimen, Huizhou, and had been operating the salt industry in Yangzhou. At that time, they were already well-known in Yangzhou. The Ma brothers have the typical qualities of "Jia Er loves Confucianism". They are particularly willing to make friends with intellectuals and are very generous to intellectuals. As long as they have good calligraphy, good paintings and good books, they may become their good friends. The "Xiao Linglong Mountain Collection Series" they carved is very famous. Among them, there are many precious books that are on the verge of disappearing. The two brothers bought them at high prices, and then hired first-class engravers to carve them for them to pass on the documents. , played a very good role.
The arrival of Wang Shishen, a fellow countryman and painter, was favored by the Ma brothers. The Ma brothers arranged for him to live in their own "Qifeng Pavilion". This pavilion turned out to be a "salon" where the Ma brothers received literati at home. After Wang Shishen arrived, the Ma brothers invited people to organize the pavilion into housing so that Wang Shishen and his family could live here.
Since there are seven huge rocks scattered around the pavilion, like seven peaks, Wang Shishen named this new residence "Qifeng Thatched Cottage" and named himself "Qifeng Layman".
Qing Dynasty Wang Shishen Flowers and Landscapes Album
An important external reason why Wang Shishen came to Yangzhou was that Yangzhou was a famous and prosperous place in the south of the Yangtze River at that time. The economy here is prosperous, the culture is smooth, and there is a good market for calligraphy and painting. After Wang Shishen arrived, he started selling paintings. But this painter who comes from the mountains of southern Anhui is obviously not very adaptable to this environment. Ma Yueguan once wrote a poem saying that he "loved tea and read the Tea Book, and he could draw shame to draw direct rewards." This means that when Wang Shishen was selling paintings, he was embarrassed to bargain with the buyers.
Are Wang Shishen's paintings easy to sell? What are the selling prices? There is no direct basis for modern people to answer this question, but the actual situation shows that Wang Shishen did not make a living by painting. Not having a good time. In Wang Shishen's era, the trend of learning from the ancients was quite popular in society, and the ancient paintings that he copied were more popular in the market. However, Wang Shishen's paintings have a strong flavor of literati paintings, with a style of "teaching from the heart" and "learning from nature" , that is, more unrestricted play. Due to the existence of this contradiction, Wang Shishen's paintings naturally do not have good sales. As he said himself: "Laughing at myself makes me lonely. I am embarrassed in the world." He laughs at himself, but he never follows the crowd.
Since you are "too embarrassed" to sell paintings, then give them to some calligraphy and painting dealers.
A Huai'an man named Bian Shoumin took away 10 volumes of paintings from Wang Shishen. Soon, I received a message saying that I had sold 4 copies and received "three taels and eight taels of silver", which was a very low price at the time. Then, a man named Fang Kecun, who both sold and painted paintings, came to help Wang Shishen sell his paintings. Since Fang Kecun was very clear about the market situation of calligraphy and painting, Wang Shishen, who was living in poverty, was very willing to listen to his opinions. Once, Fang Kecun made an appointment with Wang Shishen, and they took a boat to Ningbo to sell paintings. Wang Shishen was very excited about this trip. Not only did he make money from selling paintings, but he also had an eye-opening experience by traveling across rivers and seas.
Qing Dynasty Wang Shishen Flowers and Landscapes Album Page
Wang Shishen struggled to save some money by selling paintings by himself and asking friends to sell them on his behalf. When he was 48 years old, he entrusted the Ma brothers to find an old house for him in Yangzhou City. At that time, 48 years old was considered old age, and at this time Wang Shishen finally had his own "home" and his own studio.
Camellia Narcissus
Various flowers are planted around Wang Shishen’s new residence. Plum blossoms are the most planted, followed by camellias. These flowers can often be seen in his paintings. Under the window in front of his door, there are jasmine, gardenia, morning glory, peony, pear blossom, etc., as well as a tall cedar tree. Most of these flowers in Wang Shishen's paintings appear cold, bleak, and haggard. Later generations believed that this was a portrayal of Wang Shishen's actual life. Wang Shishen's new house was tightly covered by the shade of dense trees. Therefore, Wang Shishen named his new residence "Qingshan Bookstore". Since then, the calligraphy and paintings created by Wang Shishen in this house were all proudly written "written in Qingshan Bookstore".
Blind Calligrapher and Painter
Wang Shishen, the "first weirdo" among the Eight Eccentrics of Yangzhou, is universally recognized for his profound attainments in calligraphy and painting, but his sufferings are unknown to many people. of.
Wang Shishen, Qing Dynasty, Spring Breeze Smells the Country, Collection of the Palace Museum, Beijing
In the year when he moved to Qingshan Bookstore, Wang Shishen suffered from eye disease. His eyes were hot and painful, especially his left eye, which was bloodshot, red and swollen with tears. For an ordinary person, the importance of eyes is self-evident, not to mention for a painter who relies on his eyes to observe the world? But Wang Shishen did not have money to seek medical advice, so he could only endure the pain of eye disease. torment.
In Wang Shishen's life, there was a phenomenon worthy of people's attention: after suffering from eye disease, he traveled uncharacteristically often. Some people think that this is because Wang Shishen fully anticipated the consequences of his eye disease - he wanted to see the world to his heart's content before he lost his sight.
His eye disease is getting worse, but in order to make a living, he has to keep painting. At the age of 54, he finally lost the sight in his left eye after completing a painting of "Plum Blossoms". Perhaps because he had been mentally prepared for it, he did not appear depressed. Instead, he was optimistic and open-minded and continued to paint. He also called his creation "looking at cold flowers alone." Zheng Banqiao, one of the Eight Eccentrics of Yangzhou at that time, commented that his paintings at this time were of "extremely high quality".
In the second year after he became blind in his left eye, he created a painting called "Begging for Water", which depicts an old man holding an urn and "collecting" snow; this was to use the snow water to make tea. Zheng Banqiao wrote a poem on this painting, calling it "Holding an urn of firewood and four dawn smoke, the painting is so clear and interesting that it makes you look like a fairy." The painting is like the person. Through this painting, people can understand Wang Shishen's noble character.
Qing Dynasty Wang Shishen Flowers and Landscapes Album
However, Wang Shishen’s misfortune did not end there. I have lost sight in my left eye and the pain in my right eye is getting worse. In this regard, Wang Shishen behaved very calmly. He seemed to feel that it was only a matter of time before he became blind in his right eye. Therefore, before losing his ability to observe, he enjoyed looking at more flowers and scenery; secondly, he quickly organized his collection of poems. A unique feature of the "Eight Eccentrics of Yangzhou" is that both painting and poetry are combined. The combination of poetry and painting is considered by later generations to be an important feature of the "Eight Eccentrics of Yangzhou" literati paintings. It is generally believed that Wang Shishen wrote very good poems. In the fourth year after he lost his sight in his left eye, he collected his poems into four volumes called "Chaolin Collection". Including later poems, his "Chaolin Collection" collected poems in seven volumes. Of course, Wang Shishen really wanted to have his collection of poems printed, but given his financial resources, he was clearly unable to do so. It was the fellow Ma brothers who understood Wang Shishen, and his seven-volume collection of poems "Chaolin Collection" was finally engraved by him with financial support from the Ma brothers. It was certainly the happiest thing for Wang Shishen to see his collection of poems published before he lost his sight.
At the age of 66, misfortune befell Wang Shishen again and he became blind. For a painter, it is self-evident how painful this must be. At this time, he could only rely on his own "heart" to observe the world and life, so he gave himself an interesting name - Xin Guan Taoist.
Qing Dynasty Wang Shishen Flowers and Landscapes Album
Two years later in the early spring, a heavy snow suddenly fell, and the sky and the earth were completely white. Jin Nong, one of the "Eight Eccentrics of Yangzhou", was sitting in front of his home, admiring the snow scene in front of him with great interest. When he was excited, he closed the door, returned to the house, and started painting.
After a while, someone knocked on the door. The dog outside the door also barked. Jinnong put down his pen and went to open the door.
Ah! It’s Wang Shishen! A child led him here. Wang Shishen has been blind for several years, but he came to Jinnong’s house in this weather.
Wang Shishen, Qing Dynasty, Album Page of Flowers and Landscapes
The two of them drank hot tea and talked about calligraphy and painting. When he was in high spirits, Wang Shishen excitedly groped for a pen with his hands. Did he want to write or paint? Jin Nong also became excited. He quickly spread out the paper for Wang Shishen, grinded the ink, and handed the pen into Wang Shishen's hand. Wang Shishen completely relied on his own feelings and created a piece of wild cursive calligraphy on the paper! Jin Nong looked at it and couldn't stop his tears from flowing down. Who dares to believe that this wildly cursive work in front of me was created by a blind man? Jinnong couldn't help but leave a long poem of his own on the side of this work:
Double Feijiu He didn't hear anyone's voice.
Suddenly he was startled by the sound of a knock on the door.
The yellow dog barks and wears clothes to welcome the guest,
What a blind man without worldly feelings.
The big characters on the sleeves are as big as buckets.
When I write this, I immediately move my elbows.
The light in my heart suddenly seemed empty,
How many beautiful young men are there now,
They have eyes, hands and nothing,
But see The paper is full of ugly pens turned upside down.
The old man also said that it is not unlucky for my little brother to be blind,
So what does it matter if my brother has a soft fork?
The kapok fur is warm and full of food,
< p> Tomorrow I will come to the deserted temple to talk about the setting sun.Album page of Wang Shishen’s flower and landscape paintings of the Qing Dynasty
In Jinnong’s view, what if those young men (“beautiful boys”) have eyes and hands? They can only write about “ugliness”! The blind Wang Shishen in front of him is so noble and untainted by worldly feelings ("no worldly feelings"). Being blind is not unlucky. You can still walk and run even if your feet are weak. One day, you will come and talk to me about the setting sun - what a detached blind artist is this?
Of course, There must have been stories of Wang Shishen continuing to visit close friends after he lost his sight, but after that he wrote "crazy drafts", which I have never heard of. How he spent his later years, no one knows.
All that is known is that this outstanding artist died in 1759, at the age of 74.
Qing Dynasty Wang Shishen Flowers and Landscapes Album Page