The Shanghai School.docVIP

The Shanghai School 　　The decades from the mid 19th century to the early 20th century were years that saw the migration of many painters to Shanghai from its neighboring provinces Jiangsu and Zhejiang. The phenomenon gave rise to the Shanghai School, which corresponded to the Beijing School in the north. Artists in this school made innovative efforts to integrate genteel techniques and sensibilities with the exuberance of folk art, and Western media with indigenous ones. Their works therefore appeal both to those with a cultivated taste and to the appreciative public alike, making the works popular abroad as well as at home. 　　 　　Ren Bonian 　　 　　Ren Bonian (1840-1895) was one of those artists who moved to Shanghai to seek more opportunities for his career. Born in Shaoxing, Zhejiang Province, he arrived in his 20s ?C talented, but little known ?Cto make his way in a metropolis already brimming with celebrated artists. Seeing works under his own name didn’t sell, and crushed by the subsistence livelihood he managed to eke out, Ren Bonian began to fake the signature of one of the most beloved painters in the city ?C Ren Xun.Buyers immediately fell for the ruse. One day a middle-aged man stopped by his stall to take a close look at the pieces on sale. He asked the young man if he knew Ren Xun in person. Embarrassed and anxious, Ren Bonian stammered that he was a relative.The man in front of him was Ren Xun himself. Discerning the young man’s artistic gifts, Ren Xun didn’t fume over his malfeasance, and instead, took the lad into his brood of students. 　　By the age of 40 Ren Bonian had overtaken his mentor in the art circles of Shanghai and beyond. He incorporated Western watercolor techniques and sketching into Chinese ink painting, enhancing the realistic character of his works. To bring life into the objects on paper, he observed the world around him with the utmost attention. His home in Shanghai was adjacent to a pet bird and fish market. Everyday Ren Bon