Wu Bin

Wu Bin (simplified Chinese: 吴彬; traditional Chinese: 吳彬; pinyin: Wú Bīn; Wade–Giles: Wu Pin) was a Ming dynasty Chinese landscape painter during the reign of the Wanli Emperor (r. 1573-1620). His courtesy name was "Wenzhong" and his art name "Zhiyin Toutuo" means "Mendicant monk at the temple hidden by tree branches". His specific dates of birth and death are not known. Wu was born in Putian in the Fujian province. The local relation linkedhimto Ōbaku Buddhism sect. He painted a large Nirvana scene paintingfor them.

He was educated as one of the literati and skilled as apainter. He workedmainly in Nanjing about 1590-1610. He became a devout follower of Buddhism and lived and worked in a Buddhist temple. In Nanjing, he oftendepicted Buddhist arhats behaving as magicians, performing superstitious rituals and healing practices to satisfy requests made by religious men and women. These are colorful portraits where irony and sarcasm prevail.Heproduced 500 arhat hanging scrolls in Qixia Temple in Nanjing in about 1601. Some of these hanging scrolls havesurvived. It is uncertain whether he worked for the vice imperial government in Nanjing. Mi Wanzong (1570－1628), a high ranking government officer, calligrapher, and painter, was his patron from about ACE1600. Wu Bin moved to Beijing with Mi Wanzong'ssupport in about 1610.Heproduced several masterpieces for Mi Wanzong in Beijing. The landscape of Mi's Garden in Beijing, Ten portraitsof A marvelous rock which Mi had and appreciated., and someextravagant landscape paintings.

The Beijing imperial court assigned him the status for a professional technocrat as painter. There are norecords ofhim after 1626. Some sources indicate that the powerful and notorious eunuch Wei Zhongxian purged Wu Bin.

• Asian Art Museum, San Francisco
  • "Pine Lodge amid Tall Mountains"
• Cleveland Museum of Art
  • Greetingthe Spring (Landscape Handscroll) in 1600.
  • Five Hundred arhathandscroll
• Metropolitan Museum
  • Sixteen ArhatsHandscroll in 1591 "The 16 Luohans"
• Honolulu Museum Of Art
  • LandscapeHandscroll
• Shanghai Museum
  • Journey in San Yin, handscroll, Inkand coloron Paper
• Palace Museum, Beijing
  • Arhats