Artists › Painters and Calligraphers
Wu Bin
Late Ming painter from Putian, appointed a court secretary for his art, known for fantastic landscapes and strange arhats
A desk holds an unrolled sheet bearing three bold black ink strokes, with a rack of many brushes above it, a stone ink slab and ink stick, a porcelain bowl, a red lacquer box, a dish of red seal paste and a paperweight; a small seated figure shows through a round window onto bamboo.
Also known as Zi Wenzhong · Hao Zhiyin Toutuo
Wu Bin, courtesy name Wenzhong, styled Zhiyin Toutuo and Zhian Faseng, came from Putian in Fujian. In the Wanli era he was recommended for his painting and made a secretary in the Grand Secretariat, but he was later dismissed for criticising the eunuch Wei Zhongxian. His landscapes are built of towering, contorted rock forms, and his figures and Buddhist images are archaic and grotesque; his arhat paintings in particular are seen as a late variation on the tradition of the monk-painter Guanxiu. Surviving works include the handscroll Arhats and other arhat paintings; the Cleveland Museum of Art has his Five Hundred Arhats and the Metropolitan Museum of Art his Sixteen Arhats.
Life and times
Dates Dates unknown; active c. 1590–1643