Ren Ren-fa [Jen Jen-fa]
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Biographic note |
Ren Renfa [Jen Jen-fa] was a scholar official under the Yuan Dynasty. Like Zhao MengFu [Chao Meng-fu], the great painter and calligraphyer, he entered the Mongol adminstration, where he held the post of Vice-President of the Office of Water Control. Although he agreed to work for the foreign dynasty in a period of universal careerism, he preserved his his dignity and sense of justice. He put his paintings at the service of his ideas, to satirize comtemporary society. He painted a pair of paintings: a Lenn Horse and a Fat Horse. The fat horse, fat and arrogant, symbolizes the corrupt official, who seemingly has an easy life.
From Francois Fourcade |