Background
Bada Shanren was born circa 1626, in Nanchang, Jiangxi, People's Republic of China. He was a descendant of the Ming imperial line. He was the son of a painter and calligrapher.
1689
1692
1703
1705
八大山人
Bada Shanren was born circa 1626, in Nanchang, Jiangxi, People's Republic of China. He was a descendant of the Ming imperial line. He was the son of a painter and calligrapher.
A child prodigy, Bada Shanren was already writing poetry, competent in seal carving and distinguished for his painting and calligraphy by the age of eight. He received a classical education in preparation for an official career but his hope of becoming a civil official was soon dashed.
When Zhu Da was barely twenty, the Ming dynasty (1368 – 1644) fell to the Manchus who rose to power on the north–eastern fringe of China and established themselves as the next rulers of imperial China, called the Qing dynasty (1644 – 1911). The collapse of the Ming, followed closely by the death of his father, had a shattering psychological impact on the young Zhu Da. He developed a speech defect, following the example of his father who had also been famous for his calligraphy and painting throughout the whole district south of the Yangtze River (Changjiang).
When twenty-three, Bada Shanren left home and withdrew to the mountains of Fengxi, north–west of Nanchang, where he found political and spiritual refuge as a monk in a Chan (Zen) Buddhist monastery. He shaved his head, took the Buddhist name Xue Ge (snowflake) and the name Lu (donkey) – an allusion to his birthname Da (big-eared). A few years later he was canonised and became a Buddhist master, attracting hundreds of students.
In 1679, the Qing court at Peking set up a special examination to recruit eminent Chinese scholars from the south to compile the Ming dynastic history, but Ming loyalists refused to participate. Zhu Da was invited to stay with a local magistrate, for a year, supposedly to paint for him.
It has been suggested that Zhu Da was held under house-arrest, on suspicion of anti-Qing activities. However, by 1683, any hope of restoring the Ming seemed to have vanished. Despite their sudden success of 1644, it had taken the Manchus thirty-nine years to suppress all resistance and consolidate their power. In 1687, Zhu Da left the Taoist temple and devoted himself to painting. Until he died in 1705, at the age of seventy-nine, he was known as Bada Shanren (man of eight great mountains), a name adopted in 1685.
Bada Shanren's work ineradicably changed the course of the history of Chinese painting more than other artists. His paintings are known for capturing the very essence of the flowers, plants and creatures he portrays. He developed a distinctive, evolving individual style of painting that had a profound and lasting influence on other calligraphers.
The Bada Shanren Memorial Museum in suburban Nanchang in Jiangxi province houses a rich collection of the legendary painter's works and a portrait of the artist.
Flower in Jar
1689Chrysantheme
1692Mynah Bird on an Old Tree
1703Two Birds
1705Bamboo, Rock, and Mandarin Ducks
Cat and Butterfly
Double Fish
Eagles in Withered Tree
Egret by the Pool
Landscape (Album Leaf)
Landscape (Dong Yuan and Juran Style)
Landscape (Juran Style)
Landscape (Ni Zan Style)
Lotus and Birds
Pine and Cranes
Pine and Deer
Rock and Two Fish
Three Friends of Winter
Two Wild Geese
Shao Changheng also described Zhu Da as "Although we know a great deal about Shanren today, there is no one who really knew him. In his innermost being he was at once wildly ebullient and melancholy; he was also unable to relax and seemed like a river bubbling up from a spring that is blocked by a large stone or like a fire smothered with wet wool. Thus deprived of an outlet, he would start raving at one moment and fall silent the next. Being inscrutable, he was detached from the world. If some considered him a crazy intellectual, others found him sublime. They were both entirely superficial in their knowledge of Shanren."
Quotes from others about the person
Cheng Ding: "Shanren [Bada Shanren] was crazy! But how then can the production of his brush have such strength? I have asked people from his village, and they all said: "He accomplished it while he was drunk." Alas! Alas! One can get as drunk as he did, but not crazy as he was."
Cheng Ding: "He called himself Bada Shanren which he explained thus: “Ba, the eight great ones are the four chief and four secondary quarters of heaven, in all of which I am great and none greater than I."
