For the snake-footed, he will die of his wine. - Warring States Policy
Painting snakes to add enough this idiom people will not be unfamiliar, this is a small story from the "Warring States Policy", the original text is that there is a family in the Chu country after the ancestor worship, ready to give a pot of wine to the people below to do things, but the people who do things are too little wine, so they want to give a person, at that time thought of a way is to let everyone draw snakes, painting fast and good can get a pot of wine. One of them finished painting, but seeing that the others were still painting, they were too bored to add feet to the snake, and they lost a pot of wine. Such things seem absurd, but there is no shortage of such things happening in real life.
As we all know, Mr. Qi Baishi's paintings are very valuable, and for many people who do not know much about Chinese painting, in everyone's impression, Qi Baishi's shrimp paintings are very powerful. In fact, in addition to painting shrimp, many of Qi Baishi's works are very good, and in some auctions, Qi Baishi's paintings can be auctioned at high prices.
Qi Baishi has a "Picture of Cultivating Cattle", in Qi Baishi's later years, this subject is a subject he likes very much, although the pen and ink is small, but the scene of the old farmers cultivating the fields with cattle in the spring in the south is depicted, such a painting sold for a high price of 7.64 million in 2018, while the same painting, Qi Baishi's student copying work only sold for 630,000.
For many people who study painting, it is very necessary to copy everyone's works, and one of Qi Baishi's students named Guo Xiuyi, who had the honor of visiting Qi Baishi, began to copy the teacher's paintings. When copying this "Cultivating Cattle Map", Guo Xiuyi felt that there was something missing in the teacher's work, so she added a few strokes to her painting.
The same work, Qi Baishi's "Cultivating Cattle" sold for 7.64 million, and Guo Xiuyi's work, precisely because he saw that the original painting was auctioned at such a high price, was auctioned, and the result was only 630,000 yuan. In Guo Xiuyi's view, there should be reflections of old farmers and cultivating cattle in the water, so in her "Cultivating Cattle Map", the reflection is added to the water, and many people think that these reflections make Guo Xiuyi's works and Qi Baishi's original works 10 times the price difference.
In fact, this "Cultivating Cattle Map" has always been controversial, and for Mr. Qi Baishi's original work, many people also feel that there is some fallacy in this painting. The first is the discussion about reflections, many people think that there should be not only the reflection of an old cow in the water, but also the reflection of a distant mountain.
When some people also think that the old farmer in the painting is wearing a bucket hat, this shows that it was raining at that time, and there was no reflection in the water on a rainy day. There is also a view that the water for farming is turbid, and it is difficult to have reflections in such turbid water. However, this statement is not convincing enough, and there is also a debate about whether there should be a reflection or not, and the ripples in the water when ploughing the land.
This "Ploughing Cow Picture" lies in freehand, painting this painting is also the painter wants to express his feelings of missing his hometown, so there are also trade-offs when painting, painting and taking pictures are not the same, as long as the painter wants to express what he wants to express, through the painting can be expressed.
The reason why people have so much discussion about this "Cultivating Cattle Map" is also related to the high price of this painting, in fact, Guo Xiuyi's copying work, even if there is no painting snake plus reflection, the auction price will not exceed Qi Baishi's original. As for whether it will be auctioned at a price higher than 630,000, it is difficult to say, Qi Baishi's realm has already achieved achievements in Chinese painting, which is the reason for the high price of "Cultivating Cattle Map".
【References】Warring States Policy
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