Tang was a pupil of the great Shen Zhou, a friend of Wen Zhengming, and
was aided by the latter’s father, Wen Lin. Tang came from a mercantile
background and excelled in his studies. In 1498 Tang Yin came first in
the provincial examinations in Nanjing, the second stage in the civil
service examination. The following year he went to the capital to
attend the national examinations. However, he and his friend Xu Jing
(?-1507) were accused, perhaps unfairly, of bribing the servant of one
of the chief examiners to give them the examination questions in
advance. This deprived him of the security of a government sinecure and
comfort for the cultivation of scholarly pursuits.
Denied further official progress, he pursued a life of pleasure and
earned a living by selling his paintings. That mode of living brought
him into disrepute with a later generation of artist-critics (for
example, Dong Qichang
董其昌) who felt that financial independence was vital to enable an artist
to follow his own style and inspiration. While Tang is associated with
paintings of feminine beauty, his paintings (especially landscapes)
otherwise exhibit the same variety and expression of his peers and
reveal a man of both artistic skill and profound insight.
Tang Yin perfected an admirable hand in semi-cursive script (also known
as running script). His poems touch on themes which people like Wen
Zhengming or the older Shen Zhou would have never taken up. Tang seems
compelled to deal with the base elements in man - envy, greed and
venality. Tragic unfulfillment, driven by belief in the relentlessness
of fate and the bitterness of the ultimate truth imbues his more
thoughtful poems. Sometimes he is overwhelmed by tragic sorrow for the
loss of childlike innocence; other times even love is fraught with ruin
and unhappiness. Those poems which do manage to begin on an optimistic
note often end on a note of regret.
