Since the Two Song Dynasties, Chinese painting has appeared a creative method called "ink opera", the Northern Song Dynasty two meters of "Yunshan Ink Opera" is the earliest name, the Southern Song Dynasty Fachang, Yujian and the painter Liang Kai of the Painting Academy are good at ink opera. Ink opera painting does not seek detailed form, and pays attention to the effect of instantaneous sprinkling, which is deeply valued by Chinese painters.
Speaking of "ink opera", it is always associated with a name, which is xu Wei, a genius painter of the Ming Dynasty. Xu Wei mainly painted with ink in his life, and rarely saw his color works, and on the whole, they all had the characteristics of sloppy brushes and ink colors, which can be said to be ink plays. Xu Wei himself has often said, such as he said: "The old man's game is inky" and "the ink game is zen". But he doesn't think such works are casually smeared. He said: "There is nothing in the world, there is no samadhi, and I always joke about painting flowers." He pursues "samadhi" in ink dramas — the wisdom of life. For example, a long scroll of Xu Wei's "Wind Iris Figure" of more than four meters in the Shanghai Museum was written in his later years, with autobiographical colors, and Xu Wei's inscription on the heart of the painting has four big characters of "Shuhan Ink Humor", which is really a kind of "heavy ink play".
Xu Wei has "Ink Flower Picture Scroll", and his poems are meaningful: "Busy laughing and dreaming, idle painting flowers and stones to make spring and autumn." The flower noodles are old in March every year, and the stones are often harvested with gold. Who asks people if they seem to be or not? There are three meanings here: First, from the perspective of pen and ink form, his paintings are not similar, but in the heavens - expressing the reality of the world, so as to "make spring and autumn" and settle down a life that is not leisurely. Second, the real world is the refuge of life, while the appearance world is illusory: "the flower surface is old every Year and March", life is fragile and short: "Stones often harvest a hundred gold", and the world is materialistic. In Xu Wei's view, "Qiankun illusion bubble", Qiankun is a "drama", all the persistence is like a moss-stained dream shadow. Third, because life is like a "play", so he observes the world with a playful attitude, describes the world in a playful way, and his dripping ink humor highlights the unreality and playfulness of reality, in order to wake up himself and the world, to come out of this illusory game and look back at the local scenery of life.
Xu Wei Ink Grape Drawing Ink pen on paper 166.3cm×64.5cm Collection of the Palace Museum
Xu Wei's "ink play" has the characteristics of strong life enlightenment. He's an actor, everyone is an actor in this world, and he can't escape. He is also a spectator, he is not dazed and ignorant, especially in his old age, he wants to break through the illusion of life and think about the value of life. He is also a writer of drama, Xu Wei has been joking since childhood, at the age of 16, he imitated Yang Xiong's "Xie Tao" as "Release", and he wrote too many "plays" in his life, not only his plays, his paintings and poems, all of which are his plays. The actor, the spectator and the writer are all unified in him. The "ink play" in Xu Wei's paintings reflects the strange colors embodied in his collection of multiple identities.
Four-hour flower drawing Ink and pencil on paper 144.7cm×80.8cm Collection of the Palace Museum
Xu Wei said in his comments on the Han Dynasty Haiyou Dongfang Shuo: "The Tao is in the joke", and the Dao dao is in the joke. Xu Wei used ink to write his feelings about Qiankun as a play. His ink plays, fake and real, psychedelic, although they are playful, but they are a deep experience.
Xu Wei was a dramatist, Yuan Hongdao first saw his "Four Voices ape", suspected to be Tianyin, broken by Yuan Ren, the great dramatist Tang Xianzu also praised his achievements. Xu Wei's "Narrative of southern words" composed at the age of 36 shows his extraordinary insight into opera. His artistic career is full of the influence of dramatic factors, and his ink plays can be said to be "drama painted on paper" created with ink.
One of the flower figures album Ink on paper Collection of the National Museum of China
Xu Wei's painful and dramatic life is lamentable. Wu Hufan once wrote a poem "He Groom", titled Xu Weihua Qing Palace Diagram, which has clouds: "And do not ask, fate wrong article, article wrong fate." The talented man has never been blessed, and he has falsely said that he has proved his iniquity. Sheng Sheng borrowed the shadow of a beautiful person, listened to the night rain in the dream of Bashan, remembered Ma Song crying in pain, and said that he tasted this middle realm. ”
Judging from the existing materials, Xu Weixue painting will not appear as a painter before the age of 45 after he studied painting in his middle and late years. The earliest surviving work of Xu Wei, which indicates the time, was made in 1569 at the age of 49. The year 1565 (when he was 45 years old) was a pivotal year in his life, and Xu Wei's life can be divided into two periods. Hu Zongxian, who was detained this year, committed suicide in prison, and Xu Wei, who was deeply encouraged by Hu, decided to die his own discipline and made himself an epitaph, although he eventually survived, but nearly ten suicides and a long period of mental madness caused great harm to his body and mind.
Later, when he was 47 years old, he was imprisoned for manslaughter, and since then his living conditions and outlook on life have completely changed, and Xu Wei, who is full of upliftment, diligent and enterprising, ten yingjuju, and who has won the emperor's favor with a substitute work "Offering the White Deer Watch", disappears, and he becomes an "undead person" (which is quite similar to Chen Hongshou's situation after the death of Ming), a broken kite that flutters in the vast sky. It is in this ideological background that he entered the field of painting, he borrowed ink plays to express the pain and trembling in the depths of the soul, in his words, that is, "less expression of the feeling of worry in the chest, the feeling of losing the road", both the sigh of "losing the road" in the life, and the "worry" - thinking about the value of life.
Xu Wei Crab fish figure partial
Xu Wei is a special actor in the Qiankun theater. He was too smart and too sensitive. Too clever, so that he can use those wise eyes to peek into the truth behind the stage of life; too sensitive, but also makes him feel more deeply about the warmth of human feelings in this scene than others. He is a clever theater watcher, but a sleepy performer, and this situation is intertwined in his art, which makes the "play" he writes more special charm.
Through painting, Xu Wei writes absurd dramas and tragic comedies of life one after another, thus venting his rushing heart. He once wrote "Tent Pole Puppet Diagram" for a friend in Hangzhou, and inscribed two poems, one of which read:
The tent puppet is no longer real, and the painting puppet is like a neighbor and a neighbor.
Thinking of the tent, who is not a theater person?
Floral Figures Album No. 2 Ink on Paper Collection of the National Museum of China
This poem shows Xu Wei's idea of "painting as an ink play". The puppet on the tent pole is for acting, and his painting draws the props for this acting. Props are "dolls", not the real world. And he painted this "doll" world, which is separated from the real world by two layers, which is a play outside the play.
Of course, Xu Wei does not despise the meaning of painting, but uses this to express his understanding of the meaning of real life. He thought from the drama account that the universe of heaven and earth is not a big luo tent, and everyone is a person in this account (as Liu Ling said, "Take heaven and earth as a dynasty, ten thousand dynasties as a beard, the sun and the moon as a sword, and the eight wildernesses as a court.") There is no trace of retreat, no room, no curtain, as long as you want. The puppets of the tent are used for acting, and on the stage of heaven and earth, everyone is a person in this theater, and they are all puppets. His friend left Zhejiang for Beijing, and Xu Weiyou bid farewell to Shiyun: "Not only is it distressed not to leave, but it is always in the scene of sorrow and joy." "Life is like a puppet. Zen Buddhism has the phrase "carry the pole and wood with you, and make a play every scene", and Xu Wei wants to make a scene through painting to show the truth behind the drama.
Floral Figure Album No. 3 Ink on Paper Collection of the National Museum of China
In the eyes of this "playwright of the world", the world is full of too many unattainable things, through the psychedelic curtain, he sees many connotations related to the essence of life, and Xu Wei's ink play is laid on a "phantom" word.
1. The transmutation becomes an illusion
Chinese philosophy has two concepts, one is change, the other is change, although the meaning is close, but there are essential differences. Confucian philosophy talks about change, while Taoist philosophy talks about change. In the view of Taoist Zen philosophy, change is a depiction of the appearance of things, and change is a judgment of the true meaning of the world, precisely because the world is changing, so it is illusory and unreal. The mutant of Taoist Zen philosophy is the idea of illusion, which has had a profound impact on Chinese art, and Xu Weizhi's art is greatly affected by this doctrine.
Xu Wei said: "Zhuang Zhou's words materialize: Jiuzhu sheng qingning, Qingning shengcheng, Cheng shengma, ma shengren, people are reversed into a few, all things are out of a few, all are in a few. Fu Fang Qi Jiu Zhu Ye, An Zhi Qi Qing Ning? Fang Qiqing Ning also, An Zhiqi cheng? And know its journey and horses, horses and people? The change of this thing is also out of a few, into a few. "A few, wonderful and unpredictable. Confucian philosophy also talks about the mysterious and unpredictable "several", such as the "Yin and Yang Unpredictable God" in the Yi Chuan, but this unpredictable thing is certain, but it is difficult to understand. However, this "few" mentioned in Taoist philosophy cannot be grasped, cannot be determined, and is not real, so it is illusory.
Peony banana stone diagram Ink and pencil on paper, 120.6cm×58.4cm, Shanghai Museum Collection
He has "Two Songs of Self-Book Small Portraits", which are made of illusory discussions by his own body. One of the clouds: "I was born fat, weak and invincible." Standing and gradually becoming fat, even the obsession of Jostu. Gai Nian is known to know right from wrong, but today's delusion, An zhi zhi is no longer in the way, how much is hemp than Yamazawa No. Yukiya? And man and Anderson Stu to carve the boat and keep the plant? Oh, Dragon Yeah Pig Yeah? Crane yeah yeah? Butterflies come to life? Zhou Li Li Ye? Do you know its origins? "In the hundred years of people flowing illusion, how can it be suddenly fixed!" His paintings are full of such confusion and questioning, such as his painting of begonias, inscribed with poetry clouds: "Leaves covered with rouge, branches hanging with colored silk." Ask Qu Jiao you have a promise, not to the horse ridge. "Bright and fresh can be a few hours, it is difficult to find a drift." In the flow of time, Xu Wei saw the essence of the world like a play, smashed the attachment of reality, and sought the liberation of life.
This kind of empty fantasy thought influenced the shape of Xu Wei's paintings, and added new content to the idea that traditional painting does not seek form. His poem "Old Doll Painting Fish For This" says: "Yuan Zhen makes ink bamboo, and paints ink at will." By whom does it call the painting? Or reed or hemp. I used to draw scales, and people asked what kind of fish? I can't answer either, Zhang Qian's crazy cursive writing. Fish farmers, crystal glass, tortoiseshell and sea rhinoceros, purple shell joint car canal. The number can be more than 100, and the pond swamp is more than 10 million. The narrator has one fish and two tails, and three tails and four tails are unknown. Q What is the name of this fish? Trout bell fun bronze with whales. Laughing, heaven and earth create the old and the new, bamboo Xu Lu Ma Yu Yun Forest! "The bamboo of Yunlin is painted like a reed (when it is a reed) and like a hemp, and the fish in his own painting is both this fish and another fish, and there is no definite form of the object. Are they not like the paintings? Of course not, because "the heavens and the earth create the old and the new", how can the rotation of the world be determined, everything is illusory. In his poem "Imitation plum blossom Daoist Bamboo Painting", it is said: "Calling him bamboo should not be inherited, if it is called lu, I should not be." The common eye met Mo Pingpin and went to ask the plum blossom Wu Daoren. That's what it means.
Donkey Back Poetry Drawing Ink and Pencil on Paper 112.2cm×30cm Collection of the Palace Museum
2. Invert the things
The opening inscription of Xu Wei's "Song Dai Xiao" is Cloud: "By virtue of his upside down, direct payment and other idle viewing." In "Four Voices of the Ape", he scolds Cao through the you of Hades, and with the impossible, he comes out of the chest, which is this kind of upside-down trick. The Qiankun scene is unpredictable, and he paints to turn the world upside down and express the feeling of drama.
The Forbidden City in Beijing contains Xu Wei's "Four Times Flower Chart Axis", which is a mixed bamboo, color plantain, plum blossom, vine flower, peony, okra, bamboo, daffodil, orchid as one, not randomly arranged flowers and branches, but vividly and vividly born on the ground, the blossoms are open, leaping into life, the order of time is withdrawn, and common sense is broken. There is an inscription on the poem: "The old man's game is full of ink, and the flowers and plants will be mixed for four hours." Mo Wei drew two strokes of the drawing, and recently the Heavenly Dao was bad enough. "Poetry and painting reflect each other, expressing such a meaning, everything changes in the flow of time; all the flowers and plants that appear with change are a kind of appearance. His "ink play" shows his "poor pool" appearance.
Durian Ink and pencil on paper 91.4cm×26.5cm Collection of the National Palace Museum, Taipei
In his later years, Xu Wei had a fresh understanding of the "banana in the snow" in traditional painting. He has a poem "Titled Narcissus Orchid": "Narcissus blooms at the latest, what is the matter with Lan Amaranth?" Also like The Mahabharata, the snow paints plantains. "The Palace Museum in Beijing has a green vine "Plum Blossom Banana Leaf Diagram Axis", light ink dyes the snow scene, the left side of the snow is strange, there are large pieces of colored banana leaves covering the sky upwards, almost obscuring the middle of the picture, the banana leaf protrudes a plum branch, there are a few points of faint plum blossoms. The top right inscription cloud: "Basho with plum blossoms, this is Wang Wei's painting." He is precisely trying to highlight the "upside down" kernel.
The "Banana Stone Peony Scroll" hidden in the Shanghai Museum is rendered in ink, divided into layers, not outlined, and the ink is not glued, and there is a lingering interest. The picture shows plantains, ingots and peony flowers. This is an extremely emotional work with inscriptions and several rules, recording the process of a crazy painting. The first title says: "Jiao Mo Yingzhou stone, banana bush anchovy wood." The tip of the pen is Yin Qiqi, and the peony blooms in late summer. The calves in the pool of heaven. He also recognized: "The painting has been, the floating white is five, drunk, the wild song of bamboo branches is a slur, and the book is on its left." Peony snow opened in person, and the color banana snow Wang Wei was good. The frost rabbit is a little sharp, swinging the spring wind surface by the canal. There are small words next to it: "Taste and see the peony in the snow two." In the lower right, he also wrote: "Du Zhenyan: I am suffering from the creation of children." ”
"Suffering for the Creation of Children", for the title of this painting. This drunken work of indulgence is not so much drunkenness as it is the intoxication of life. "Suffering for the creation of children" is not disrespectful to the creation of heaven and earth, but emphasizes that life is impermanent, life is like a play, and there is nothing that is not swallowed by impermanence.
Chrysanthemum Crab Ink and Pencil on Paper 83.5cm× 38.5cm Collection of Guangzhou Museum of Art
3. Dream tian shuiyue
Xu Wei has the name of "Tian ShuiYue", and in his later years he often used this as a model. Obviously, it was obtained by dismantling the word "Wei", but it has a deep meaning, and I think it is the illusion of taking the moon in the water and the flower in the mirror. From his poems, you can see the end of the pity. His poem "Titled Near the Spring Monk Scroll" reads: "Fang Zhu takes water and moonlight is cold, non-moon and non-pearl is not a disk." Where is the fountain flowing around the Jun's House, and what is the Jun's view in this world? His "Drunken Moon Seeking Flowers" said that "the flower seeker refers to the moon to chant, and the drunk moon has no flowers to find", from which he experiences "the illusion of the truth is in the microscopy, and the moment of the heavens and the earth is realized." A profit and a loss is the moon in the sun and low, and the dethronation and extinction of the flowers are also explained by the idea." This illusory spirit of the mirror flower water moon is exactly the meaning implied by "Tian Shui Yue".
In his later years, Xu Wei painted with the theme of "Wind Kite", and many of his works of this kind survive today. Wind kites, that is, flying kites, this custom has long existed in the mainland. "Ji Sheng in the Age of Emperor Jing" Yun: "When the Tomb sweeps in the Qingming Dynasty, men and women in the city each carry a paper iris shaft, and the sacrifice sweeps are completed, that is, they cast a victory in front of the grave." "Xu Wei wrote kites and gave them a special feeling of life.
Huang Jia Tu Ink and pencil on paper 114.6cm×29.7cm Collection of the Palace Museum
He compares the fate of man with a kite, and his "Wind Iris Tu Wei" has two songs of clouds:
The wind kite's nose is firm, and it is always a rope to lead this one.
Borrowing from the old man to lead the water dry, the monk of the mountain did not spare.
Life is always "rope", and Xu Wei's request is "not for the rope". The Zen case used in the poem shows this desire. As a senior monk of the Tang Dynasty, "to be a water yak ox under the mountain", is an important word of Zen, proposed by Nanquan Puyan, who once opened a church to say this method, which is a free water yak.
The Shanghai Museum has a long scroll of Xu Wei's four-meter-long picture of the wind kite, and the heart of the painting has the words "Shuhan Ink Ruins", which depicts the children flying kites before and after the Qingming Dynasty. There is a knowledge of the clouds: "Guo Shu first made the "Wind Luan Diagram" for the rich man's son, the rich man's son was angry and refused, meaning that the map would be destroyed at that time, Yu Mu intended to do it, forgive who was first, Yu Yu crippled turtle chased the ear, the meat beard crossed the sea, and the lidding to Tuo Na de saw a leaf lotus, and it was just a matter of taking its meaning. Wang Yuanzhang put eleven poems of the Iris Yuan, eight of the survivors, and the first son of the manuscript was Yan, and when he also admired and forgave the first poem, because the book was here. This long scroll is titled with twelve poems by the Wind Kite, the first eight of which are the works of the Crown of the King, followed by four. There are twenty-five poems of "Wind Iris Tu Song" and four "Wind Iris Tu Poems" in the "Xu Wei Collection", a total of twenty-nine poems, and the twelve poems in the Shanghai Long Scroll are found in these two groups of poems.
In these twenty-nine poems, Xu Wei told the sigh of his life. One of them said: "Wicker rubbing threads and rubbing cotton, rubbing enough Chihiro to put paper kites." How much power to dissipate the spring wind, take the children to the blue sky. He added, "I used to let go of harriers, but now I am not as old as I am." That can be more stationed in the spring horse, idly watching children break the line (Shanghai Tibetan book "line break"). Flying a kite symbolizes his desire to soar high when he was young, implying his feelings of flying high before the age of 45, and he also has moments of "visiting the juvenile field, and his spirit is full of pride" ("Chivalrous"), but in the end he always folds his wings and returns.
Bergamot Ink pen on silk 29.5cm×21cm Collection of Guangzhou Museum of Art
Xu Wei also used actions such as letting go of the wind as a metaphor for people's stupid behavior driven by desire. The poem of the wind kites writes: "The wind is slightly desired to be up, and the wind is tight and low." Crossing the sea with Nong's self-crossing, poor belt to kill the dumplings. Xu Wei commented on himself: "According to the people of the sea, a child will eat the dumplings, send the line to the waist, and suddenly the wind will pull the kites to the sea, and the child will fall to his death, collect his remains, and the food will still be in the palm of his hand." He also had a poem: "I love to see the high harrier in the sky, and I don't know how to run before and after." The wind blew last night's tang pear folded, lying like a needle on the board bridge. "In the rolling red dust, there are traps everywhere, and if people are not careful, they will fall into them." The poems of the Wind Iris Group highlight the characteristics of kites flying with the wind, Xu Wei said: "The sons and daughters of the village compete with the birds, and who am I afraid of by the high wind? Since ancient times, there have been winds and rest, and the bamboo cavity is unbearable. The kite is borrowed from the wind, the wind stops falling, Xu Wei believes that the "wind" is the most untrustworthy, the most unattainable, which reflects Xu Wei's recognition of the value of independent life. He also had the desire to "send me to qingyun with the strength of a good wind", but in the end it was all shattered, and there was only one person who was transferred from the south to the north, wading in the world.
Xu Wei can be said to be in the kite flying stage before the age of 45, and the kite line break stage after the age of 45, and his paintings are all made after the "kite of destiny" is broken, full of disillusionment and the feeling of finding liberation. He wrote in the poem: "A hundred winds and false harriers fly, and it is difficult to hold without knowing how to break." If you leave five feet of residual hemp, it is good that the fisherman grabs the fishing wire. "The kites are all competing low and high, and the line is broken and the kites fly to make a fight." If a red boot does not break the knot, if the red jacket of a person is not bad? "The thread is broken, the shoes are broken, the clothes are dirty, and the people who are full of heavenly wishes are thrown heavily to the ground, which is the portrayal of Xu Wei's life." Fengluan poetry painting, as a "shuhan ink ban", is a wake-up call drama about human life.
"Xu Wei Ink Writing Intention Volume" selects 14 volumes of classic ink writing intention volume works of Ming Dynasty painter Xu Wei, and about 200 partial works. In the form of pictures and texts, the book interprets the inscriptions and styles of his works, and introduces the artistic aesthetic value of Xu Wei's surviving works and their influence on modern and contemporary paintings. At the same time, the display of works in the form of high-definition approaching the original university fully demonstrates the bold courage and crazy personality of the painter, and provides readers with classic practical books that can be appreciated, accessible and hidden.