Artist · 4 prints
Bada Shanren Prints
About Bada Shanren
Bada Shanren was a Chinese painter and calligrapher, born Zhu Da around 1626 in Nanchang, Jiangxi, and died around 1705. He was a descendant of the Ming imperial family. After the Ming dynasty fell to the Manchus he became a Buddhist monk, spending some thirty years in religious life before leaving it around 1680 to work as a painter and poet. He behaved strangely at times, and some believe he feigned madness to stay out of politics.
Bada Shanren is known for fish, birds, lotuses and rocks painted in ink with very few strokes, often floating alone in empty space. His birds and fish have a glowering, almost cross personality, and some of his work has been read as a veiled comment on the fall of the Ming. Key works include the Anwan Album (1694). With Shitao he is ranked among the leading Individualist painters of the early Qing. His work is held in the Freer Gallery in Washington, the Metropolitan Museum and the National Palace Museum in Taipei.
Bada Shanren prints: reproductions of Chinese ink paintings by the early Qing painter Bada Shanren, made between 1690 and 1702. The collection includes Birds in a Lotus Pond (1690), Two Chicks (1694), Fish and Rocks (1699) and Two Eagles (1702).
This selection focuses on his birds and fish. Each painting is in black ink on a pale ground, with a few strokes for each creature and large areas of empty paper. Rocks, lotus leaves and water are shown with broad, wet washes, and the birds and fish sit alone or in pairs.
The black ink and open space suit minimal interiors, studies, offices, hallways and bedrooms, and a pair hangs well side by side. All prints are museum-quality reproductions, available unframed or framed with low-glare acrylic glazing, with free shipping and import duties covered.
