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Lu Zhi
Chinese, 1496 - 1574
Chinese painter and minor poet (see fig.). He is associated with the Wu school of painters active in Suzhou during the Ming period (1368–1644). Lu’s surviving paintings date to 1523–74; the most distinctive, executed between 1547 and 1555, represent a synthesis between the literati style of painting (wenren hua), as exemplified by Wen Zhengming (see Wen, (1)), and the professional tradition, as epitomized by Qiu ying. Lu himself was a literatus: after he passed the local civil-service examination, his studies were supported by the prefectural government, though he never succeeded in the provincial examination. In 1557, at the age of 61, he was awarded the largely honorary gongsheng degree and allowed to retire.
Lu lived a life of genteel poverty. With the exception of two years as an instructor in a Confucian school in the early 1520s, he did not accept employment, refusing the hopeful students who sought him out. In the mid-1550s he built a retreat outside Suzhou on Mt Zhixing, where he lived in relative seclusion until the age of 80, when failing health forced him to return to the city. His biographer Wang Shizhen noted that Lu was somewhat misanthropic: he barred the door and hid at the approach of unwanted guests, though he might talk the night away over home-made chrysanthemum wine with a few select friends.
Lu moved only on the fringes of the artistic and intellectual circles surrounding Wen Zhengming and probably did not study directly with the older artist, although Wen’s paintings, ubiquitous in Suzhou, exerted a seminal influence on his development. In fact, two major lines of interest are revealed in Lu’s early works: one is exemplified by the hanging scroll Reading the Yijing by a Snowy Window (1524; Taipei, N. Pal. Mus.), which explores the fine textures and traceries of bare branches in a mode characteristic of Wen Zhengming; the other is represented by the handscroll Combined Painting and Calligraphy of Wen Zhengming and Lu Zhi (Wen Zhengming Lu Zhi shuhua hebi juan, 1535; Beijing, Pal. Mus.), which features swelling volumes and packed spaces in a style associated with Wen’s teacher Shen zhou. The two lines of interest are combined in Lu’s paintings of the 1540s. For example, a landscape hanging scroll (c. 1540; Chicago, IL, A. Inst.) explores the tensions between surface and depth and between linear pattern and volumetric form.
Such juxtapositions continued into Lu’s artistic maturity, as for example in the masterwork Jade Field. In this painting, a complex of motifs centres on a cave entrance, evoking the literary and artistic theme of the Peach Blossom Spring, land of the immortals. The cave depicted in the scroll is recognizable as a specific place, the Zhang Gong Stalactite Grotto in Yixing County, a subject that had also been painted by Shen Zhou, but it is identified with the cave-entrance to paradise by the use of the Blue-and-green (qinglü) colour scheme and angular brushwork associated with both antique painting styles and paradisaical imagery. The composition is close in style to the tradition of the Yuan master of literati painting Wang meng, as transmitted by Wen Zhengming, though the angular brushwork and crystalline rock forms are based on the professional version of the Blue-and-green tradition practised by Qiu Ying.
Lu continued to depict complexes of real and mythical imagery in a similar style until the mid-1550s. He then developed a quieter vision, executing several topographical paintings, including the 16-leaf album, Journey to Baiyue (1554; Kyoto, Fujii Yurinkan Mus.), and a handscroll painted during a trip to Nanjing (1558; Tianjin, Mus. A.). Several important works from the 1560s are in the styles of old masters, notably Daoist Retreat among Streams and Mountains (1567; Cleveland, OH, Mus. A.) in the style of Ni Zan and Hermit Fisherman at Huaqi (1568; Taipei, N. Pal. Mus.). From 1565 until his death, Lu was in at least occasional contact with Wang Shizhen, a leading literary figure who lived in nearby Taicang and collected works by many Wu school painters. Lu executed many paintings at Wang’s request, including his latest surviving work, a copy (1574; Shanghai Mus.) of the 40-leaf album of Mt Hua by Wang Li (b 1332). Lu was influential mainly for his combining of literati and professional devices in his painting, which prepared the way for later artists in Suzhou and elsewhere.
Louise Yuhas. "Lu Zhi." In Grove Art Online. Oxford Art Online, http://www.oxfordartonline.com.proxy.lib.fsu.edu/subscriber/article/grove/art/T052573 (accessed May 8, 2012).
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