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Ni Zan

Type Figure Region Asia Time 1301–1374 Also known as Ni Zan、Yunlin、Yunlinzi

Ni Zan (1301–1374), a renowned painter from the late Yuan to early Ming, is counted among the Four Masters of the Yuan with Huang Gongwang, Wu Zhen, …

Timeline

  1. 1301–1315Wuxi · Wuxi CityBorn into a prominent Wuxi household, he studied the family's extensive art and calligraphy collection from childhood and associated with Jiangnan literati, laying a foundation of deep artistic cultivation and aesthetic taste.
  2. 1316–1350Wuxi · Wuxi CityAfter middle age he lived in reclusion at Yunlin, Wuxi, holding no office and marrying no one, amusing himself with poetry and painting. His landscape style grew increasingly spare and empty, forming the distinctive 'Yunlin style', and he exchanged poems with Yuan masters such as Huang Gongwang and Wu Zhen.
  3. 1351–1374Changshu · Suzhou CityWith the Red Turban Uprising at the end of the Yuan, his family property was lost and he wandered through Songjiang, Changshu, and elsewhere, making a living by selling paintings. He died in Changshu in the seventh year of Hongwu in the Ming, aged seventy-four.

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