Make your own free website on
  mountian secene from Chiang Xie , China

Bata Shanren, Zhu-Da (1626-1705)

painting of veggie cabbage

   Probably the most madly talented, with real name of Zhu Da,
   Bata Shanren was Chinese painter and poet. A descendant of the
   imperial Zhu family of the Ming dynasty (1368–1644) and a
   leading artist of the early Qing period (1644–1911), Zhu Da
   painted flowers, birds and landscapes in a distinctive and highly
   dramatic calligraphic style. His connections with the previous
   dynasty led him to flee Nanchang after the Manchu conquest of
   China in 1644. Adopting the sobriquet Chuanqi, Zhu Da became a
   Buddhist priest and soon a respected Buddhist master, quickly
   attaining the position of abbot. He also became an accomplished
   poet and painter; his earliest extant work is an album of 15 leaves
   (1659; Taipei, National Palace Museum).

    In 1672, after the death of his Buddhist master, Abbot Hong Min,
   Zhu Da relinquished his solitary monastic existence to pursue his
   fortune as an itinerant monk-artist. He joined the coterie of Hu
   Yitang, magistrate of Linchuan County, and participated in the
   splendid poetry parties held in 1679 and 1680.
Zhu Da was
   thwarted in his attempts to take up an official career because of
   his imperial lineage.

Zh-Da'  painting of fish with typical questioning and stubborn expression
paitning of pumpkin

painting of an old fisherman painting of landscape painting of landscape with houses on mountaon top

  Reportedly, in 1680 he
  was devastated by the
  departure of his patron
  Hu Yitang, Zhu Da went
  mad. One day, laughing
crying uncontrollably,
  he tore off his priest’s
  robe and set it on fire.
  The burning of the robe
  signaled the end of Zhu
  Da’s life as a Buddhist
  monk. From then on, he
  lived as an itinerant










  Between 1681 and 1684 he called himself Lu (‘donkey’ or ‘obstinacy and dumpness ’), a derogatory   name for monks, or Lu-hu (‘donkey house’); from 1684 onwards he called himself Bada Shanren   (‘Mountain man of eight greatness’). Zhu Da adopted other names throughout his life, many   reflecting his state of mind or his loyalty to the Ming dynasty.

painting ducky and lotus Bata Shanren's calligraphy painting of fish swimming freely painting of lotus leaves
painting of mountain landscape

  Zhu Da developed a school of freehand brushwork in traditional Chinese painting and became
  an outstanding painter and Taoism believer. The individualism of his ink paintings of flowers,
  birds, fish, and landscapes appealed to the Japanese, and his style has become synonymous with
  Zen painting in Japan. His brushstrokes, which seem free and careless at first glance, are filled
  with vitality and descriptive power. His works may be seen at the British Museum; Freer Gallery,   Washington, D.C.; and Museum of Fine Arts, Boston.

Tang Yin  l  Fu Hsin Yi  l  Chi Pai-Shih  l  Chang Da-Chien  l  Comment form  l  Home
E-mail Nell , 07/06/2003