Shen Zhou

A Chinese literati painter and poet in the mid-Ming dynasty. Zhou was his given name. His pen name was Qinan. His pen names were Ishida and Shiraishi. He was from Choshu (Suzhou, Jiangsu Province). He was born into a family of literati well versed in Jiangnan calligraphy and painting. Although he was blessed with talent, he did not enter the government, and instead lived a life of art in the city until his death at the advanced age of 83. He was well-mannered and had a deep scholarly knowledge, so he was respected as Professor Ishida, and many talented artists, including the calligrapher Zhu Yunming, gathered around him. His pupils included Wen Zhengming and Tang Yin, who became central figures in the Suzhou painting world at the end of the Ming, and from Wen Zhengming to Dong Qichang, he became the founder of the flourishing Southern School of painting. Shen Zhou widely copied and studied the masterpieces of the Song and Yuan dynasties, and is said to have been devoted to Huang Gongwang, one of the Four Great Masters of the late Yuan dynasty, in his middle years, and to Wu Zhen, also one of the Four Great Masters, in his later years. His subjects ranged from landscapes and people to flowers and birds and fish, but he was particularly skilled in landscape painting, and also often painted miscellaneous floral paintings as literati ink plays.

[Shinya Hoshiyama]

Source: Shogakukan Encyclopedia Nipponica About Encyclopedia Nipponica Information | Legend

中国、明(みん)代中期の文人画家、詩人。周は名。字(あざな)は啓南(けいなん)。号は石田(せきでん)、白石翁。長州（江蘇(こうそ)省蘇州(そしゅう)）の人。江南の書画に精通した文人の家系に生まれる。才能に恵まれたが仕官せず、83歳の高齢で亡くなるまで、市井にあって芸術三昧(ざんまい)の生活に終始した。折り目正しい性格で、学識も深かったので石田先生と敬称され、書の祝允明(しゅくいんめい)をはじめ多くの秀才がその周辺に集まった。その門下から明末の蘇州画壇の中心となる文徴明(ぶんちょうめい)、唐寅(とういん)を出し、また文徴明から董其昌(とうきしょう)を経て盛んとなる南宗画の祖となった。沈周は広く宋元(そうげん)の名跡を模写、研究し、中年に元末の四大家の黄公望(こうこうぼう)、晩年には同じく四大家の呉鎮に傾倒したと伝える。画題は山水、人物から花卉(かき)、禽魚(きんぎょ)に及んだが、とくに山水画を得意とし、また文人墨戯としての花卉雑画もよくした。

［星山晋也］

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