In 1962, to celebrate his eightieth birthday, Shen Yinmo (1883–1971) went with his family on a trip to Lake Tai (taihu太湖). Lake Tai connects Zhejiang and Jiangsu provinces and includes a multiplicity of scenic areas, including Lake Li. As the inscriptions state, Shen Yinmo visited the area of Lake Li, or Lihu 蠡湖, in Wuxi, Jiangsu province and composed a ci 詞 poem titled dingfengbo (定風波) to commemorate the event.

It is noteworthy that in his poem Shen Yinmo cites Fan Li范蠡 (536-448 b.e.), a historical figure of the Warring States period who helped his king recover his state, then changed his name to Tao zhu and retired from the court in order to avoid future difficulties with the ruler. Fan Li's name includes the same character li 蠡 as Lake Li. Shen Yinmo refers obliquely to Fan Li because he too wished to maintain distance between himself and the government.Private correspondence between Jiali Chu, Shen Yinmo’s godson, and Jan Wang in 2008.

While this poem and event are recorded in Shen Yinmo’s biography, this is the first time this painting has been published. The Seattle Art Museum was given this work by Shen Yinmo's adopted son and it enables us to understand Shen Yinmo's relationship with his distant relative Shen Zude沈祖德, who was commonly known as Shen Maishi 沈邁士 (1891–1986), and to have an example of Shen Maishi’s painting style.

At Shen Yinmo’s request, Shen Maishi painted the scenery of Lake Li and presented the painting as a birthday present to Shen Yinmo, who inscribed his ci poem on the painting. As Shen Maishi was eight years and four generations younger than Shen Yinmo, he respected Shen Yinmo as his “great-grandfather.” In the inscription, he wrote, “This is for my great-grandfather Qiuming’s eightieth birthday.”Qingming秋明was originally Shen Yinmo’s studio name. It’s also sometimes used as his nickname. This inscription corrects the common misconception that Shen Maishi was a younger brother of Shen Yinmo.Feng Shuzhao馮叔釗, Dai Zizhong戴自中, “Shen Yinmo he tade jiwei haoyou: Li Dazhao, Yu Youren, Ma Yifu, Shen Maishi” 沈尹默和他的幾位好友 — 李大釗、于右任、馬一浮、沈邁士. In Wu Yaohui 吳耀輝, Lu Zhizhang 盧之章 ed., Ningjing: Yinmo ershi zhounian ji 凝靜 — 尹默二十年祭 (Beijing: Beijing yanshan chubanshe, 1991): 46-47.

Shen Maishi was a traditional painter. He followed the Four Yuan Masters [Huang Gongwang 黃公望 (1269–1354), Wu Zhen 吳鎮 (1280–1354), Ni Zan 倪瓚 (1301–1374) and Wang Meng 王蒙 (1308–1385)], as well as the Wu School tradition, especially Shen Zhou 沈周 (1427–1509) and Wen Zhengming 文徵明 (1470–1559).Zhejiang dangan浙江檔案, (1989, no.10): 31. This handscroll is freely painted in a twentieth-century interpretation of the traditional blue-and-green landscape style, black ink complemented by washes of green, blue and reddish brown. The view is expansive. The foreground is occupied by green willows, boats and fishing nets, small huts and a pavilion, and a flock of birds, whereas on the far shore are green hills and trees of wet black ink set against distant mountains peaks. Animating the hills are white, horizontal bands of mist, which, like the surface of the spacious lake, are created by the bright white of the unpainted paper. A multitude of small boats, sailboats and those being poled by boatmen, enhance the tranquil scene.

Traces of modernity, however, are present in this otherwise traditional Chinese landscape painting. Electricity poles, modern buildings and a bridge with tall lamp posts are indicative of the twentieth century and consistent with Shen Maishi's advocacy of sketching from life. His conviction was based on Shitao’s 石濤 (1642–1707) theory that “brush and ink should follow [the needs of] the time (bimo dangsui shidai筆墨當隨時代).”Preface in Shen Maishi huaji沈邁士畫集 (Shanghai: Renmin meishu chubanshe, 1985). Therefore, this handscroll painting can be regarded both as a sketch of daily life and a pictorial response to Shen Yinmo’s ci poem (ciyitu詞意圖).For the discussion of ciyitu詞意圖, refer to Rao Zongyi (Jiao Tsung-i) 饒宗頤, “Ci yu hua: lun yishu de huanwei wenti” 詞與畫 — 論藝術的換位問題, in Rao Zongyi ershi shiji xueshu wenji饒宗頤二十世紀學術文集, no.18, vol.13, Art 1 (Taipei: Xinwenfeng chuban gufen youxian gongsi, 2003): 351. Nevertheless, it should also be understood as a product of its time, the 1960s, when “New Chinese painting (xin guohua 新國畫)” glorified the beauty of the motherland and the progress of the new regime.

© 2013 by the Seattle Art Museum