Luo Pin
Encyclopedia
Painting
Painting is the practice of applying paint, pigment, color or other medium to a surface . The application of the medium is commonly applied to the base with a brush but other objects can be used. In art, the term painting describes both the act and the result of the action. However, painting is...
who lived in Gan Yuan (甘泉, modern day Yangzhou
Yangzhou
Yangzhou is a prefecture-level city in central Jiangsu Province, People's Republic of China. Sitting on the northern bank of the Yangtze River, it borders the provincial capital of Nanjing to the southwest, Huai'an to the north, Yancheng to the northeast, Taizhou to the east, and Zhenjiang across...
) of Jiangsu Province. His style name
Chinese style name
A Chinese style name, sometimes also known as a courtesy name , is a given name to be used later in life. After 20 years of age, the zì is assigned in place of one's given name as a symbol of adulthood and respect...
was 'Disappearing Gentleman' (Dùnfu, 遯夫)，and his pseudonyms were 'Two Peaks' (Liǎng Fēng, 兩峰) and 'Monk of the Temple of Flowers' (Huā zhi Sì Sēng, 花之寺僧). He studied painting under Jin Nong
Jin Nong
Born in 1687 in Hangzhou, Jin Nong became popular as a painter and calligrapher while living as a childless widower in Yangzhou in his sixties. His paintings of mei blossoms were in particular demand there. Heralded as one of The Eight Eccentrics of Yangzhou, Jin prescribed to the amateur scholar...
and developed a unique personal style. He painted people, Buddhist images, plum with bamboo, flowers, and scenery paintings. He refused government service to live a life of poverty selling paintings. He was the youngest of the Eight Eccentrics of Yangzhou
Eight Eccentrics of Yangzhou
Eight Eccentrics of Yangzhou is the name for a group of eight Chinese painters known in the Qing for rejecting the orthodox ideas about painting in favor of a style deemed expressive and individualist....
.
Luo Ping's life began with loss and sadness. His father died when Luo was just one year old, and his mother soon after. But from an early age the youth orphan was recognized as a talented poet and gained admission to the exclusive artistic circles of his home town, Yangzhou. At nineteen he married - for love -- the poet and painter Fang Wanyi (方婉儀, 1732 - 1779). Their daughter and two sons (Yǔnshào, 允绍, and Yǔnzuǎn, 允缵) also went on to become artists. All painted plum blossoms, the family trade mark (罗家梅派）.
Five years after his marriage Luo met the man who would change his life. This was the nationally renowned poet, artist and bon vivant Jin Nong (1687 - 1763). The 70-year old master took a great liking to the talented young man, who was in turn inspired by the emotional and expressive art of his mentor. Luo also painted pictures for Jin Nong, who signed them with his own name and sold them. When, after 6 years of this close collaboration, Jin Nong died, Luo buried his teacher with as much reverence as if it were the funeral of his own father.
In the second half of his life, Luo often visited the capital, Beijing, where he caused a sensation in the fashionable cultural scene. On to a long painting scroll which he showed to everyone, he had painted ghosts and claimed to have seen such creatures with his own eyes: "Some expose teeth like melon seeds, and have fingers large as thighs*. Luo died, highly esteemed, at the age of sixty-six. Throughout his life he saw himself as an austere Buddhist and signed his works with the name "Monk of the Temple of Flowers".