Ren Yi, an outstanding painter, whose name is like a bright star, illuminates the sky of Chinese painting. He, formerly known as Ren Run, the word is far away, the number is Xiaolou, and later changed his name to Yi, the word Bonian, alias Mountain ** Ascender, Shou Taoist, etc., with the word line. He was a famous painter in the late Qing Dynasty, hailing from Hangwu Mountain, Shanyin, Shaoxing Prefecture, Zhejiang Province (now Guali Town, Xiaoshan District, Hangzhou).
Selling paintings with his father since childhood, Ren Yi has shown his unique artistic talent. He learned the essence of painting from Ren Xiong and Ren Xun, and gradually formed his own unique style. Later, he settled in Shanghai, where he made a living selling paintings, and became one of the most outstanding painters of the "Four Terms", known as the leader of the "Shanghai School" and one of the "Four Masters of the Shanghai School".
Ren Yi's paintings originate from folk art, and his techniques are comprehensive, whether it is landscapes, flowers and birds, or figures. He attaches great importance to sketching, integrates various painting methods, and absorbs the advantages of watercolor tones, and makes the picture style fresh.
Ren Yi's figure paintings draw nourishment from Chen Hongshou's techniques, and the images are exaggerated and decorative. For example, the scroll of "Gan Mo Lian Sword Drawing" in the collection of the Palace Museum shows his early figure painting style. With the passage of time, his painting style gradually became free, such as the "Three Heroes of Wind and Dust" shaft and other works in the collection of the Palace Museum. His portrait painting skills are superb, and he has painted portraits of Xugu, Hu Gongshou, Zhao Zhiqian, Ren Xun and many others, all of which are realistic and vivid. The Zhejiang Provincial Museum has a scroll of his "Portrait of a Sour and Cold Captain", in which Wu Changshuo is dressed in official clothes, which is lifelike.
In terms of flower and bird painting, Ren Yi was known for his fine brushwork in his early years, imitating the Northern Song Dynasty people's methods, and was close to Chen Hongshou. Later, he adopted the freehand method of the Fayun School and Chen Chun, Xu Wei and Zhu Qi, and his brushwork tended to be simple and indulgent, and the colors were bright and elegant, forming a bright and warm style of part-time work and writing. His representative works include the scroll of "Wisteria Kingfisher" in the Xu Beihong Memorial Museum.
Ren Yi has had a great influence on modern and modern flower and bird painting. His paintings became a model for later generations of painters to learn from Xi, and his artistic spirit also became a part of Chinese painting. Ren Yi's name will forever be engraved in the annals of Chinese painting, and his artistic achievements will always be remembered and praised by people.