During the Southern and Northern Dynasties, the achievements in the field of calligraphy caused anxiety among art critics such as Wang Wei and Yan Yanzhi. Wang Wei's "Narrative Painting" is based on the calligraphy circle as an "imaginary enemy". Through their efforts, although painting did not achieve the same status as calligraphy, it was separated from medicine, witches, bu, fang tricks, and skillful craftsmen. Zong Bing solemnly, or seemingly superfluously, proves to us that the shrunken landscape paintings painted on silk cloth are not inferior to the real landscapes in terms of "Taoism", and their intention is also this.
The combination with scholars is the most prominent feature of traditional Chinese painting. This is not a natural point, and its initial victory can be traced back to Zong Bing and Wang Wei in the Wei and Jin dynasties. As the main category of literati painting, landscape painting has been prescribed by the spirit of scholars since the date of its birth. Today, I look back along the river of the history of literati landscape painting, and I can't help but feel fortunate for it. When it was founded, there were already relatively mature literature and philosophy accompanying it, supplemented by two wings. Zong Bing's "Preface to Painting Landscapes", which was born in the initial stage of landscape painting, is like a green willow by the river in early spring, hanging down wisps of silk, some of which have stopped after several dynasties, and some of which have penetrated into the depths of history, penetrating the entire history of the evolution of landscape painting, reverberating for a long time and never stopping.
Zong Bing of the Southern Dynasty painted as a scholar, and Pinhua specially composed a discussion article with both meaning and reason, such as "Painting Landscape Sequence". The incident itself is as far-reaching as the many issues he elucidates in The Preface to Painting Landscapes. Zong Bing (375-443), also known as Shaowen, was a native of Nanyang (belonging to Henan) and living in Jiangling (belonging to Hubei), at the same time as Tao Yuanming. Can play the violin, good at painting, repeatedly enlisted, into the "Nanshi • Hidden Biography". He had studied Buddhism in Lushan, and was known for his literature and was particularly good at reasoning. These points are prominently expressed in the "Preface to Painting Landscapes".
The "Landscape And Water Sequence" is exquisitely structured and longer than logic, which is where it is superior to other painting theories of the same period. Behind Zong Bing's reasoning layer by layer, we can see the problems he faced at that time, and it can also be said that the criticism encountered by "painting landscapes" itself can be said. Some of these problems, once Zong Bing's conclusion, have long ceased to be problems. Some have gone through debates, giving birth to a variety of faces, and have lasted for a long time. In the case of the dilemma that Zong Ping was facing at that time, we will have a more realistic understanding of the development process of landscape painting practice.
According to the order of Zong Bing's original text, there are five problems that the "Order of Painting Landscapes" tries to illustrate:
(1) Why does the landscape enter the Tao?
(2) Why do you need to paint landscapes?
(3) Can landscapes be painted?
(4) How to paint landscapes?
(5) How can painting landscapes enter the Tao?
The Wei and Jin Dynasties were a period of great literary development, and the concept of landscape and water was endowed with rich connotations. Shanshui was a shield that Zong Bing used to fight against the conquest of the current dynasty: "Qiqiu Drinking Valley, more than thirty years." ("History of the South") The hill valley here is not only the actual living place, but also the holy place of his enlightenment. Zong Bing consciously classified himself among the sages: "As for the landscape, the quality and interesting spirit are the ones of Xuanyuan, Yao, Kong, Guangcheng, Dakui, Xu You, and Guzhu, and there will be the wanderings of KunTong, Gu ci, Gugu, Ji, Shou, and Dameng." Landscapes are containers and carriers. It is precisely with the external object of the landscape that the way of the saints can be revealed, and the sages can taste the meaning accordingly. Unifying landscape and Taoism is the first step in Zong Bing's reasoning and an important foreshadowing.
Since the landscape has entered the Tao, the wise people of the world have always been close to the landscape through personal travel, hoping to obtain the guidance of the Tao. However, the field trek has higher requirements for people's physical condition, and it is limited by age and health: "Shame can not condense the body, hurt the flow of the stone door." "Here is also Zong Bing's own personal experience, he had to interrupt his journey due to illness and still live in Jiangling. This has created the need to "paint landscapes".
There are two points here, the landscape painted on silk cloth, mainly not to retain the real scene seen by the eye, but to supplement the lack of personal travel. It's not just made for the eyes, but more for the "swimmer" of the body. The introduction of Western perspective to China has caused the painting community to reflect on the defects of the viewpoint of old paintings. However, the limitations of the perspective method were soon recognized, and the historical "viewing method" of landscape painting was once again confronted (Fang Wen et al., "Questions and Methods: Questions and Answers to the Study of Chinese Art History"). As Wang Wei said a little later: "What the spirit sees when it is dead, so it does not move; the eyes are extreme, so what is seen is not thorough." ("Narrative Painting") This passage is followed by a detailed description of the whole process of landscape painting business arrangement, from various types of mountain shapes to dotted houses, people, and animals. This is not a scenery seen from a visual fixed point, but a panoramic landscape universe, combining the four wildernesses, integrating all kinds of fun, and being able to live and swim. It echoes the spiritual response of the people, and Zong Bing is in the middle of it, playing a piano and the mountains are ringing.
At this point, Zong Bing raised the third question: Can landscapes be painted? We are now moved by the gesture of a mountain, the landscape, and want to draw it on paper, which is very common. We will not first dwell on this mountain, whether this water can be painted. Zong Bing doesn't need it either. Didn't The Ancients have already painted "mountains"? - The pictographic "mountain" character in the oracle bone. Zong Bing's argument on this issue used a lot of strength, and if you look at it now, it is simply a cattle knife for killing chickens: "Those who are absolutely above the Middle Ages can be under the thousand years." Those whose purpose is less than words and images can be taken from within the book. In fact, the body is coiled, the eyes are silky, the shape is written in shape, and the color is also colored. ("Order of Painting Landscapes") "Xiangzhuang Dancing Sword, intended to be Pei Gong", Zong Bing wants to use this round of arguments to ensure that the painting of landscapes reasonably has the same function as true landscapes. He not only clarified that landscapes can be painted, but also raised the painting of landscapes from "pictograms" to a new height through such analogies, and raised them to the philosophical level of reason, meaning, purpose, and heart.
Regarding how to paint landscapes, Zong Bing's statement is consistent with the painting practice at that time. When guo ruoxu of the Northern Song Dynasty discussed the advantages and disadvantages of painting in ancient and modern times, he said: "If we talk about Buddhist characters, scholars, women, cows and horses, it is not as close as ancient; if we talk about landscapes, forests, stones, flowers, bamboo, birds and fish, then it is not as close as ancient." The "ancient" here refers to the Southern and Northern Dynasties of the Wei and Jin Dynasties, and the shape and aesthetics of their landscape paintings are very different from the mainstream styles of later generations. The landscape painting method is relatively immature, and the visual effect presented has a famous description that is very appropriate:
Its paintings of landscapes, then the peaks of the momentum, if the tin decorated with rhinoceros, or the water can not be flooded, or people are greater than the mountains, the rate is attached to the trees and stones, reflecting its land. If you are planted, if you extend your arms and fingers. (Records of Famous Paintings of Past Dynasties)
The mountain on the silk cloth can only be a shrunken shape, Zong Bing described: "Vertical stroke three inches, when the height of a thousand taels; horizontal ink several feet, the body of a hundred miles of difference." At this time, he had to answer another question: Did shrinking the mountain so small did it affect the similarity between the two? In Zong Bing's view, in the question of whether the painting of landscapes and real landscapes are the same, "making small" is a counter-evidence, that is, the behemoths of nature are abbreviated on silk cloth, which may hinder its function in the "Tao". His weapon to overcome this counter-evidence is "quasi-coincidence", that is, similarity, and the way to achieve similarity is "to write shapes in shapes and colors in color". The painting can only be the shape of the landscape, Zong Bing has already laid the groundwork before this, and the key to the entry of the landscape into the road lies in its external form - "the way of flattery in the form". Zong Bing mentioned the "color" of the landscape twice. Color is a very existential element in Gu Kaizhi's "Painting Yuntai Mountain": "In the clear sky, all the heavens and the color of the water use empty blue, and they are used up and down to reflect the sun." Go west to the mountain, don't know its distance, start the east base, turn up the half, make purple stones like five or six strong clouds, and ride on the middle of it, so that the grasshoppers are like dragons. Because the peak is straight up, the lower is a pile, so that the canopy of hope is condensed upwards. The second peak is a stone, bordered by the Xiangzhi Cliff to the east, the Dan Cliff to the west, and the lower base to the bottom. Painting Dan Cliff on the stream, when making Hewei long, painting dangerous situation. "This is not the same as the aesthetic mainstream of later ink brush landscapes, but it is harmless." Zong Bing's obsession with illustrating the high degree of unity between the landscape painting and the real landscape is still to ensure that the painted landscape has the same function as the real landscape. This function is that the true landscape is the carrier and container of the Tao, which is clearly mentioned at the beginning of the "Preface to Painting Landscapes". Only when painting landscapes is consistent with real landscapes can this most important function be lost.
Through the discussion of the third and fourth questions, the answer to the fifth question is also ready to come out: "He who understands the mind with the eyes is reasonable, and if he is skillful, he will have the same purpose and the same mind." God should be touched, and God should be super reasonable. Although the false seeks the rock, why add to it? "True landscapes are so similar to painting landscapes that the effect is the same when they reach the mind through the eyes. At this point, Zong Bing's logical self-consistency has been realized. In this way, the physical and mental strength and spirit required to climb the landscape in the real world are no longer a problem, or even no longer needed, and it can be completely replaced by painting landscapes.
Zong Bing's reasoning was made one after another, step by step, and after this battle, "painting landscapes" obtained an access permit for the lives of scholars. Zong Bing, as a member of the Shiliu, said that he had gone from a traveler to a painter. This was a major contribution of Zong Ping, and landscape painting was thus associated with the entire scholar class. In "Preface to Painting Landscapes", on the one hand, we see the mystery of the rational text and the exquisite structure of the articles, on the other hand, we see that the creation of landscape paintings is still in its infancy. It can be said that landscape painting was born from the beginning in the mainstream, mature scholar culture of the protection, there are scholars spirit to escort it. During the Southern and Northern Dynasties, the achievements in the field of calligraphy caused anxiety among art critics such as Wang Wei and Yan Yanzhi. Wang Wei's "Narrative Painting" is based on the calligraphy circle as an "imaginary enemy". Through their efforts, although painting did not achieve the same status as calligraphy, it was separated from medicine, witches, bu, fang tricks, and skillful craftsmen. Zong Bing solemnly, or seemingly superfluously, proves to us that the shrunken landscape paintings painted on silk cloth are not inferior to the real landscapes in terms of "Taoism", and their intention is also this.
To define traditional literati paintings today, we always feel plausible, and it has never been easy to reach a unified opinion. As far as the subject of creation is concerned, it seems that even the "literati" are difficult to determine. Why is Fei Danxu, who can write poetry, not a literati? Jiang Baoling composed poems and compositions, and wrote "Koto Noya Poetry Collection" and "Merlin's Present Words", but he was still classified as a professional painter. Is the criterion here an enterprising subject name or a professional or amateur painting? If it is the latter, between the imperial examinations, there are many scribes who have a career in Yantian, those who can paint sell paintings, and those who are good at writing sell literature, such as Zhang Geng, Qin Bingwen, and Wu Dayi, and their professions and amateurs are often interchangeable. After resigning from the government, Zheng Banqiao sold paintings professionally, and this painting is still counted as a compositionist. In terms of painting style, the ancient flowers of Qian Xuan and Yun Shouping, and the green landscapes of the Kangqian period were not only not excluded from Shifu paintings, but were always regarded as representative varieties.
However, literati painting is not non-existent, in fact, the integration of literati and painting determines the aesthetic and trend of the entire traditional painting world. The promotion of literati painting allowed the spirit of the scholar to take over the field of painting; painting was placed under the shadow of the spirit of the scholar, that is, the spirit of Chinese culture. This access was two-way, landscape painting obtained the access permit for the life of the scribes, and the literati and the rich themes of the study— philosophy, poetry, calligraphy, and later the golden stone— were also able to enter the field of painting without obstacles. Literati paintings achieved the "privilege" of unlimited compatibility with the thematic culture, they shaped the shape of Chinese painting, and the development of painting must conform to the moral requirements of literati doctors. The so-called literati painting is rather a kind of orientation. This orientation includes advocating landscape aesthetics in subject matter, abstaining from fine depiction and "hue" in style, emphasizing spiritual expression over visual effects, and shame in the process of receiving.
Due to Zong Bing's own background in philosophy and enlightenment, the applicable situation of landscape painting was determined at the beginning. He defined the typical situation and aesthetic tone of the appreciation of landscape painting in later generations:
So he sat idly by, whispered the piano, put on a picture of the shadows, sat in the four wildernesses, did not violate the heavenly encouragement, and should be alone in the wilderness of no one. Peaks and peaks, clouds and forests. The sages are reflected in the absolute, and everything is interesting and integrated. What is Yufu? It's just a matter of being in the air. ("Painting Landscape Sequence")
It can be said that the contemplation of the lives of the scholars in landscape painting is extremely "one-sided", and it is not responsible for the overall joys and sorrows. When sad or angry, if the audience goes to see Frida and listen to Beethoven, it can suddenly reach a fit. If a traditional landscape painting is unfolded, the audience will have to trek for a long time before they can reach the exit. A long road between this, is lao Zhuang? Is it Kong Meng? "Autumn Forest Waterfall Map", "Smoke River Overlook Map", "Cloud Mountain Autumn Tree Map" - these common painting titles also reflect this feature of traditional landscape painting, that is, its applicable situation is strictly limited. The entry of landscape painting lays the foundation for its aesthetic tone, guides the path of the entire old painting tradition, and limits the spiritual level that painting can respond to. This also gives landscape painting the character of "gray art" (Qian Zhongshu).
Author: Han Jin, Associate Research Librarian, East China Normal University Library
Editor: Chen Shaoxu
Editor-in-Charge: Junyi Li
*Wenhui exclusive manuscript, please indicate the source when reprinting.
![Chen Chuanxi: The origin of landscape painting is rooted in metaphysics[fig]](data:image/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAIAAAP///wAAACwAAAAAAQABAAACAkQBADs=)