Wen Tong
Chinese painter of the Song dynasty

Wen Tong

The basics
Quick facts
Intro
Chinese painter of the Song dynasty
A.K.A.
Weng Tong, Xiaoxiao Xiansheng, Hu-chun, Chin-chiang Tao-jen, Shishi Xiansheng Yu-k'o, Jinjiang Daoren, Shishi Xiansheng hao Xiaoxiao Xiansheng, Shih-shih, Wen T'ung, Hsiao-hsiao, zi Yuke, Yuke, Tong Wen
Gender:
Male
Places:
Work field:
Birth:
(Sichuan, China)
Death:
(Huzhou, China)
The details
Biography

Wen Tong (Chinese: 文同; pinyin: Wén Tóng; Wade–Giles: Wen T'ung) (1019–1079) was a Northern Song painter born in Sichuan famous for his ink bamboo paintings.

He was one of the paragons of "scholar's painting" (shi ren hua), which idealised spontaneity and painting without financial reward.
He could hold two brushes in one hand and paint two different distanced bamboos simultaneously. One Chinese idiom in relation to him goes "there are whole bamboos in his heart" (胸有成竹), meaning that one has a well-thought-out plan in his mind.

As did many artists of his era, Wen Tong also wrote poetry. As attested in his poems, he had at least one golden-hair monkey (金丝狨) and a number of pet gibbons, whose graceful brachiation he admired. An elegy written by him upon the death of one of his gibbons has been preserved in the collection of his works.