Zhu Da

From Freepedia

Zhū Dā (朱耷) (c.1626 – c.1705) was a Chinese painter and calligrapher. He was of noble descent, being a descendant of the Ming dynasty prince Zhu Quan.

He was a Child prodigy who began painting and writing poetry in his early childhood. About the year 1658, when the Ming emperor committed suicide and a rebel army attacked Beijing, the young man sought refuge in a Buddhist temple and became a monk. Despite a nervous breakdown in 1678 that left him unable to speak for several years and subject to fits of madness, he was a leading painter of the Qing period. It was also about this time that he abandoned monastic life and was briefly married.

His paintings feature very sharp brush strokes, attributed to the sideways manner by which he held his brush.

In the 1930's, Chinese painter Zhang Daqian produced several forgeries of Zhu Da's works. But, they are easily spotted by the trained eye, because the modern copies were softer and rounder.

Yale University scholar Wang Fangyu became a major collector of Zhu Da paintings from the 1960's until his death in 1997.

Zhu Da is also known as: Bādà Shānrén (八大山人).