Zhao Meng-Fu ( 趙孟頫 ) 1254-1322
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Zhao Meng-Fu was a descendent of Sung Dynasty's imperial clan. Nevertheless, he became a government official and served under five emperors of the Yuan Dynasty. He tried his best to help Han people and worked to reinstitute the civil service examination system. In spite of his high position later on, he had always wanted to retire from public life which was reflected in his reclusive style landscape paintings.
By the middle Ming Dynasty, Zhao Meng-Fu, Huang Gong-Wang, Wang Meng, and Wu Zhen were widely known as the Four Great Masters of Yuan painting. It was until the late Ming Dynasty that Dong Chi-Tsun asserted that Zhao should own a higher position. He crowned Zhao above the others and added Ni Zan to the Four Great Masters of Yuan painting. (Earlier groupings may have included Gao Ke-Gong. Many sources state that Dong intentionally substituted Zhao with Wu Zhen or Ni Zan because of Zhao's dishonorable collaboration with the Yuan court, or perhaps Dong's envy of Zhao's achievements in calligraphy.)
Zhao was a versatile calligrapher and painter who cast a strong influence on his followers since his time. He was good at all five major styles of calligraphy and painting horses, flowers and birds, landscapes, figures, and many other genres. His artistic assertions played a vital role in the development of Chinese calligraphy and literati painting.
Zhao studied carefully earlier painting models of Dong Yuan and others and incorporated the unique Chinese multi-vanishing point perspectives (including foreshortening and level-distance) to create somewhat controversial and influential masterpieces. He wrote that his paintings, though seemingly quite simple and carelessly done, were based on earlier masterpieces and would be appreciated by connoisseurs, but not ignoramuses.
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