Yangzhou Eight

Author: Wu Lin
Publisher:
Publishing Date: 2003-02-01
Features: The Eight (Yongzhou Masters) were a highly influential art group that emerged in the Jiangsu region of during the Qianlong era of the Qing Dynasty. They are generally referred to as figures like Wang Shishen, Huang Shen, Jin Nong, and Gao Xiang, though there are differing opinions. They excelled in painting, poetry, calligraphy, and seal carving. Their style differed from the orthodox artistic norms of the time, earning them the labels of "unconventional masters" and "monsters in the art world," which led to their being dubbed the "Eight." Most of them made a living by selling paintings and had a deep understanding of the struggles of the common people. When some of them held official positions, they showed sympathy for the poor and despised the wealthy officials. As a result, over the centuries, legends, stories, and anecdotes about them have been widely passed down in folk traditions.
The Eight were a highly influential art group that emerged in the Jiangsu region of during the Qianlong era of the Qing Dynasty. They are generally referred to as figures like Wang Shishen, Huang Shen, Jin Nong, and Gao Xiang, though there are differing opinions. They excelled in painting, poetry, calligraphy, and seal carving. Their style differed from the orthodox artistic norms of the time, earning them the labels of "unconventional masters" and "monsters in the art world," which led to their being dubbed the "Eight." Most of them made a living by selling paintings and had a deep understanding of the struggles of the common people. When some of them held official positions, they showed sympathy for the poor and despised the wealthy officials. As a result, over the centuries, legends, stories, and anecdotes about them have been widely passed down in folk traditions.
The content of this book includes such topics as Zheng Banqiao's round poems, water poems, Zheng Banqiao painting bamboos at Jinshan, Zheng Banqiao selling paintings at Jiaoshan, solving the case of the marriage, gifting a bamboo while getting a haircut, writing poems on fans to , the "" incident, three instances of "three no-paints," watching the host beat a dog, offering a wife as a gift, drawing complaints, using paintings as a matchmaker, sending birthday gifts, the playful banter between the two Shen and the salt merchants, the two saints altering a painting, a county magistrate who was mocked being mocked in return, angrily throwing silver at the salt merchants, painting a Buddha with an egg, a young apprentice testing Gao Xiang, the master of one character, the sound of the drum from Gaoshan echoing a hundred li away, the tomb gate illustration, the legend of the , painting a mouse, being captivated by legends, trading a cabbage for a painting, suffering misfortune due to the character "," acting as a matchmaker in court, the illustration of , the three immortals emerging from a cave, and more.