Wen Zhengming enjoyed an important position in the calligraphy and painting circles of the Ming Dynasty. His attainments in calligraphy and painting are extremely comprehensive, and he is proficient in poetry, literature, calligraphy and painting. He is said to be an all-rounder of the "Four Wonders", including poets Bai Juyi and Su Shi, writing from Wu Kuan, calligraphy from Li Yingzhen, and painting from Shen Zhou. Together with Shen Zhou, he founded the "Wu School". In poetry, together with Zhu Yunming, Tang Yin and Xu Zhenqing, he is known as one of the "Four Talents in Wuzhong". They are also what we often call the "Four Great Talents in Jiangnan"
Wen Zhengming is an example of Bo Fei's expertise in calligraphy. Wen Zhengming's cursive calligraphy not only learned from Erwang and Zhiyong Xiaocao, but also from Huaisu and Huangshangu's Kuangcao. The most common ones are the two-king type of small running grass, which is what this article shows. Wen's cursive style is often integrated into his short cursive scripts. Wen Zhengming's cursive style is not inferior to that of Zhu Zhishan, who was famous for his cursive style at the same time.
Li Deng once wrote in a postscript after Wen Zhengming's work: Calligraphers can imitate, even if they are of the highest quality, they can try their best to imitate it. As the saying goes, step by step, it is impossible to imitate the sage like Dian Su. Why? Use danger to escape. But in order to imitate, God will be separated first. Therefore, it can be life-like, so-called elegant and dust-free, yet it is the latter.
Wen Zhengming (1470-1559), formerly known as Bi and courtesy name Zhengming, was a native of Suzhou and a painter, calligrapher and writer of the Ming Dynasty. Because he went to the Imperial Academy to wait for the imperial edict, he was given the posthumous title of Mr. Zhenxian, so he was called "Wen daizhao" or "Wen Zhenxian". He is humble and honest.
