Wang Meng

CHINA, Zhejiang, Huzhou; Yuan dynasty

Also known as Shuming or Xiangguang Jushi, Wang Meng was a painter from Wuxing (present day Huzhou, Zhejiang). He lived in seclusion for 32 years in Huangheshan. The grandson of the renowned painter, Zhao Mengfu, Wang was skilled in poetry, calligraphy, and painting, particularly landscapes. Together with Huang Gongwang, Wu Zhen, and Ni Zan, he was known as one of the Four Masters of the Yuan dynasty (1271–1368).
Influenced by his grandfather, Wang also studied the styles of masters from the Tang (618–907) and Song (960–1279) dynasties, such as Dong Yuan, Wang Wei, and Ju Ran. His paintings depict scenery with dense compositions that are rich in textured brushstrokes and fine lines. Wang’s painting of the mountainous scene around Jiangnan, shrouded in a thin, misty haze, appears majestic, yet with no forced artificiality. The additional use of running, cursive, and seal scripts blended in the painting is a feature that exhibits the high level of skill Wang attained in his practice.
Wang’s painting, Seclusion in Qingbian, was hailed by Dong Qichang as one of the best in the world and kept at the Shanghai Museum; Lodging in the Summer Mountains, kept at the Palace Museum in Beijing; and Hillside Temple in Autumn, Hillside Cottage in Autumn, Fishing in Reclusion Among Mountains and Streams, Forest Chamber Grotto at Juqu, and others are collected at the National Palace Museum in Taipei, Taiwan. His other paintings can also be found at museums in Taiwan, China, and the United States of America. Calligraphic works by Wang are kept at the Shanghai Museum and the Palace Museum in Beijing and include Postscript on Essential Points of the Surangama Sutra. In Poetry Anthology of Iron Cliff, Yang Weizhen describes Wang’s painting, Inscription on Wang Shuming’s Painting of Monk Crossing the Water, in great detail.