Over the years, people often ask me, is a painting real or fake? Is it well drawn? How much is it worth? These three issues are representative. The economic value of painting is based on aesthetic value. Looking at painting, the most fundamental thing is the aesthetic problem, and it is also the most direct and most needed problem for the public to understand. Appreciating a painting is a simple thing, but when it comes to the identification of authenticity, it is very complicated.
The painting experience left to us by the ancient painting classics is to use concise language to say profound truths, which is of great benefit. There have been some changes in the way we look at paintings today. The general public view of painting focuses on the aesthetic attributes of painting, but for professionals, painting is not a simple aesthetic problem, but also involves a lot of professional research, so the method of painting has become more complicated. For example, it is now popular to use a magnifying glass to see the painting, and even use a high-resolution high-definition picture to see, these methods, used as art history research, authenticity and false identification will play a certain role, but from an aesthetic point of view, this method of looking at paintings is not worth advocating.
In the past, it was very reasonable to say that guanhua "first look at its weather, then determine its going, then root its intentions, and finally seek its reason" (Liu Daool's "Commentary on Famous Paintings of the Song Dynasty"), but now this kind of research-oriented painting has lost the most important thing. This method of researching painting may be effective for some figurative works, but for some relatively abstract works, there is almost no way, which is obviously manifested in the appreciation of landscape painting, and it can be said that this research method of viewing painting is almost ineffective. Landscape painting is the most essential part of Chinese painting, and appreciating a landscape painting will not work with those research-based methods of painting. "First look at its weather, then determine its going, and then its meaning" mainly focuses on the aesthetic level, and "finally seeking its reasoning" involves the level of research. The aesthetic problem needs no further discussion, and the level of research is very complicated. Why "finally seek reason", and take "Fuchun Mountain Residence Map" as an example, listen to me one by one.
The following is from the Beijing News Book Review Weekly's May 14 special feature "Looking at Paintings"
Written by | Webin
Why the generations?
Taking "Fuchun Mountain Residence Map" as an example, how to judge the age of a painting?
When "Bucheon Mountain Residence Map" is presented to us, its painting style characteristics determine that we cannot put its time too far ahead. This work is mainly draped in linen, and in terms of composition, it is a long scroll, taking a flat and distant compositional approach. Judging from the history of the emergence of the law, this method became popular around the Time of the Song Dynasty, and the Yuan Dynasty was relatively mature, so it is impossible to push this work before the Tang Dynasty.
I have seen a picture album of works from the National Palace Museum in Taipei before, which contains a landscape painting by Lu Tanwei, mainly based on a large axe splitting. Lu Tanwei was a painter of the Liu Song Dynasty, and the mature axe splitting was impossible to appear in the Six Dynasties, so this work should be a forgery of posterity.
A painting, we can judge its approximate chronological range from its entire breath and overall technical characteristics. Just from the technical characteristics of the "Fuchun Mountain Jutu", it is a work after the Song Dynasty, which is no problem. Judging its age, in addition to this intuitive feeling, the inscription on the picture is crucial.
Some paintings have the author's money and creation time, "Fuchun Mountain Jutu" (useless master volume) is like this, at the end of the volume there is an inscription by Huang Gongwang, indicating the time and process of the creation of this painting, it can be known that its creation time is the first ten years, that is, 1350 years. The "Fuchun Mountain Jutu" (Ziming Scroll) also has a creative time, which is said to be "the great idiot Daoist Gongwang to yuan peng yin autumn", that is, painted in the autumn of 1338. This inscription is considered to be a forgery, so this sub-scroll is also fake. If there is no payment and creation time, the inscription on the painting and other words may also reveal some information.
Why?
So why did Huang Gongwang choose Fuchun Mountain as the theme of his painting?
Landscape painting is closely related to the hermitage of the literati doctor. For example, lu Hong, a hermit in the Tang Dynasty, lived in seclusion in Songshan and painted his reclusive environment; Wang Wei lived in seclusion in Liaochuan, and the area around Yuanchuan also became the object of depiction. In history, a tradition, a modeled landscape pattern, has been formed. Many landscape paintings may have a specific theme, but it is also possible to change this theme to A, and it can be replaced by B, which can appropriately refer to the actual scenery, but basically it is not a truthful depiction of the actual scenery. Holding a landscape painting and comparing it with a real scene violates the basic common sense of landscape painting creation.
The theme of landscape painting is often more related to the region in which the author lives, or the ideal living environment. Therefore, we often see depictions such as "Yuanchuan Map", many of which are not related to the landform of The Yuanchuan River in Lantian County, but it does not prevent it from being called "Yuanchuan Map". "Fuchun Mountain Residence" is also a continuation of such a theme, which reflects the hidden realm of life. The name of this painting, we changed it to "Lingchuan Mountain Residence", it does not matter much. In recent years, some scholars have been influenced by the research methods of art history in Europe and the United States, and often over-interpret the motivation for the creation of a painting, especially easy to associate the creation of painting with politics. There is a similar interpretation of the "Fuchun Mountain Residence Map", which is unnecessary.
"Fuchun Mountain Residence Map" is a miracle in the history of landscape painting. Although some contemporary painters do not agree with this painting, historically, especially in the system of literati painting, this painting is very respected, so during the Ming and Qing dynasties, there were many who imitated it, or created new creations (imitations) through it. Painters in the Qing Dynasty who admired the "Theory of Southern and Northern Sects" mainly studied Huang Gongwang, and the "Fuchun Mountain Jutu" was especially the focus of study. Fang Xuan of the Qing Dynasty said: "Zijiu's "Fuchun Mountain Residence" is a picture, and the facsimiles before and after are not only Shibai, but also have their own magic. ("On the Painting of Mountain Tranquility"), what impressed me the most was the facsimile of Wang Shigu, which was much more tacky than the original. In a sense, these facsimiles may be counted as depictions of Mt. Fuchun. In recent years, there have also been some creations such as "New Fuchun Mountain Jutu", mainly from the inspiration of Huang Gongwang's "Fuchun Mountain Jutu", rather than the inspiration of Fuchun Mountain, it can be said that Fuchun Mountain is widely known because of "Fuchun Mountain Jutu".
"Leftover Mountain Map", passed to the collector Wu Hongyu at the end of the Ming Dynasty, Wu Hongyu loved this painting so much that he even ordered it to be burned and buried before his death, and was rescued from the fire by Wu Hongyu's nephew, but at this time the painting had been burned into two parts. The longer later section is called "Useless Master Scroll", which is now in the National Palace Museum in Taipei; the former paragraph is called "Leftover Mountain Map", which is now in the collection of the Zhejiang Provincial Museum.
Why is it circulating?
As far as the "Fuchun Mountain Residence Map" itself is concerned, how it has been passed down to this day is a better question, because there have been many papers on its circulation research, which are basically generally clear at a glance. If there are no research articles, then we generally look at them through bibliographies, seals, and inscriptions. Through the bibliography, I basically have a general understanding of its circulation. However, these also only reflect the stage of the collection situation, there may be some collection process in the picture and bibliography is not reflected, if you can combine other literature collation, there will be a richer understanding of its circulation process. As for some works, there are no famous models, there are few seals, and there are very few inscriptions, so it is more difficult to understand its circulation process. Even if there is a process of oral circulation by collectors, it should be treated with caution.
We will also involve the identification of the picture seal, after the identification is clear, but also to clarify the era attribution of the seal, after the two problems are solved, you can sort the seal from time, this time series can reflect the general collection process. Also look at the title. Many inscriptions have dates, and the process of handing over the paintings can be judged by the date, ordering, and content of the inscriptions. In short, we combine the bibliography, inscription and stamp of the painting to have a general understanding of the process of handing over a work. This understanding is not absolutely accurate. Generally speaking, the older the painting, the more limited our understanding of its collection process.
The above is only the relevant problem of "finally seeking its reason" after looking at the painting to a certain stage, but the most important thing in looking at the painting is to "first look at its weather, then determine its going, and then root its meaning". Looking at a painting is a re-creation of artistic imagery, not a simple mechanical reaction to an objective image. From its initial conception, depiction, completion, and appreciation, every aspect of a painting is creative. The process of appreciation is also a creative process, not a simple mirror reflection. The beauty acquired by different viewers is both different and similar. The difference comes from the subjective consciousness of each appreciator, and the similarity comes from the frame itself.
Works of art do not require verbal explanations, which is something to be aware of when appreciating paintings. We often come across some connoisseur theories and courses that are actually problematic. Nowadays, many painting appreciations need to be guided, and there are complex social reasons. For the general viewer, I do not advocate the research of "finally seeking reason", this way of looking at the painting is necessary for professionals, but for the general viewer, we are more advocating intuitive feelings. Now for various reasons, many people do not use their own hearts and eyes to see paintings, but with their ears to see paintings. We don't quite trust our intuition about painting, and tend to follow some so-called theories of appreciation. Painting criticism over the years has also been abnormal, and many painting criticisms are actually making false advertisements. What will be the result if we follow these false advertisements? Therefore, when looking at painting, we must believe in our own intuition, no matter how big the name of the other party is, painting, it is an art of visual language, it does not need advanced theory to explain, this is the root of painting.
Author | Webin
Edit | Li Yang Shen Chan
Proofreading | Xue Jingning