Tang Yin

Tang Yin (Chinese painter)
I. Background of the Artist
Tang Yin, was also called Tang Bohu. He was born 1470, Wuxian, Jiangsu province, China.
He was a Chinese scholar, painter, and poet of the Ming period whose life story has become a
part of popular folklore. Tang was a pupil of the great Shen Zhou, and he 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 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.
These are the examples of his paintings:

II. Works
Tang Yin is one of the most notable painters in the history of Chinese art. He is one of the
"Four Masters of the Ming dynasty”. He is a well-known Chinese scholar, painter, calligrapher,
and poet. The Tang dynasty painting style saw the maturity of the landscape painting tradition
known as shanshui (mountain-water) painting, which became the most prestigious type of
Chinese painting, especially when practiced by amateur scholar-official or "literati" painters in
ink-wash painting. Another style of Tang is scroll painting; it is an art form practiced primarily
in East Asia. The two dominant types may be illustrated by the Chinese landscape scroll, which
is the culture’s greatest contribution to the history of painting, they use these paintings to teach
Buddhist moral lessons.
In addition, Tang Yin perfected an admirable hand in the semi-cursive script (also known
as running script). His poems touch on themes that 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, greed, and venality. It is a tragic unfulfillment, driven by a belief in the relentlessness
of fate and the bitterness of the ultimate truth imbues his more thoughtful poems. Sometimes he
is overwhelmed by tragic sorrow for the loss of childlike innocence; other 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.
III. Critique/ Evaluation

The painters of most periods were not concerned with striving for originality or
conveying a sense of reality and three-dimensional mass through aids such as shading and
perspective; rather, they focused on using silk or paper to transmit, through the rhythmic
movement of the brushstroke, and awareness of the inner life of things. Both the political
fragmentation and social and economic chaos of decline and the vigor of dynastic rejuvenation
could stimulate and color important artistic developments. Thus, it is quite legitimate to think of
the history of Chinese painting primarily in terms of the styles of successive dynasties, as the
Chinese themselves do. In painting, color is added, if at all, to make the effect truer to life or to
add a decorative accent and rarely as a structural element in the design, as in Western art.
Brighter, more opaque pigments derived from mineral sources are preferred for painting on silk,
while translucent vegetable pigments predominate in painting on paper and produce a lighter,
more delicate effect.
IV. Conclusion
One of the outstanding characteristics of Chinese art is the extent to which it reflects the
class structure that has existed at different times in Chinese history. The Chinese themselves
were among the most historically conscious of all the major civilizations and were intensely
aware of the strength and continuity of their cultural tradition. They viewed history as a cycle of
decline and renewal associated with the succession of ruling dynasties
In the broadest sense, therefore, all traditional Chinese art is symbolic, for everything that
is painted reflects some aspect of a totality of which the painter is intuitively aware. At the same
time, Chinese art is full of symbols of a more specific kind, some with various possible
meanings.
Submitted by: Richard Dardo, OATH

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Tang Yin

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Tang Yin (Chinese painter)

I. Background of the Artist

These are the examples of his paintings:

Chinese painting, especially when practiced by amateur scholar-official or "literati" painters in

Buddhist moral lessons.

often end on a note of regret.

III. Critique/ Evaluation

more delicate effect.

decline and renewal associated with the succession of ruling dynasties

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