SHEN CHOU

born 1427, Su-chou, Kiangsu province, China died 1509 Pinyin Shen Zhou, also called Shen Shih-t'ien Chinese artist, a leading member of a group of scholar-artists later known as the Wu school (after Wu district), which was considered superior to the professional artists of the Che school, in which Tai Chin held an equivalent place. Shen Chou was born to an honoured and secure family and enjoyed a long life involved in the learned arts of poetry, painting, and calligraphy. His many paintings reveal an active concern with preserving the aesthetic discoveries of bygone ages as well as a similar concern with nature in its many manifestations (especially landscapes). However various in stylistic source and subject matter, Shen Chou's art consistently bears his unique touch of an abiding confidence, restrained calmness, and subtle warmth. The ideal of his life and the accomplishments of his art have earned him reverence by all artists devoted to the ideals of the literati (wen-jen) tradition. Among his pupils was Wen Cheng-ming.