Portraiture is one of the methods of recording human figures, which is not only the imprint of the appearance of a group of people, but also the image of civilization of an era. Whenever we look at history, it is like a mirror that helps us read time, and it can always retain the traces of cultural glory in the most appropriate way.
Throughout the ages, portraiture has contained the profound idea of art's expression of human nature with intuitive and distinctive characteristics. Co-sponsored by the National Art Museum of China and the Nanjing Museum, the "Mirror-like Photography and Mysterious Divine Form- The Exhibition of Ming and Qing Portraits from the Collection of the National Art Museum of China and the Nanjing Museum" has been carried out for a long time at the National Art Museum of China, and the exhibition shows the paradigm system of Ming and Qing portrait painting from the aspects of family elders, senior monks and literati, and sages and celebrities. Starting from this issue, we will lead you through the smoke, rain, Ming and Qing dynasties, and read the history of yesterday in the faces of the ancients.
A short account of the evolution of ancient Chinese portraiture
In ancient China, there was no such title as "portrait painting", and such works were often called "portraits", "portrayals", "conveying gods", etc., that is, figure paintings with the purpose of depicting the appearance of specific characters. In the early days, the functions of portrait painting were mostly closely related to etiquette and etiquette, and later gradually became a means of assisting political indoctrination, that is, the important theory put forward in Zhang Yanyuan's "Records of Famous Paintings of Past Dynasties": enlightenment and helping people.
Ancient Chinese portraits can be roughly divided into sage portraits, heroes, emperors, concubines, literati, etc., and can be divided into portraits of others and self-portraits according to the way of creation. According to literature, Chinese portraits can be traced back to the early Shang Dynasty, but unfortunately no physical objects have survived, and the earliest known portraits are the Warring States Period "Figure Dragon and Phoenix Diagram" and "Character Royal Dragon Diagram" excavated from the tomb in Changsha, Hunan.
Early portraits were mainly sketched lines, and the characters were mostly positive and sideways, until the Wei and Jin Dynasties and the Southern and Northern Dynasties, when they began to emphasize the portrayal of gods in shape and pay attention to the portrayal of gods. Portraits in the Tang Dynasty tended to mature, and Yan Liben, Wu Daozi and others were good at photography. By the Song Dynasty, portraits were mostly based on empress saints, and their expression techniques were more realistic. The Yuan Dynasty tended to be popular and gradually became mainstream. During the Ming and Qing dynasties, portrait painting was not only fully integrated into the folk, but also formed a variety of painting methods, such as traditional painting method, Jiangnan painting method, ink bone method and so on.
Since Gu Kaizhi of the Eastern Jin Dynasty put forward the thesis of "writing God in form", it has been regarded as the supreme criterion by countless portrait painters. With the infiltration of the literati's aesthetic taste, portrait paintings gradually divided into two branches, one is the artisan painting of "forcing The Portrait as the Extreme Rule", and the other is the literati painting based on "writing its charm". Influenced by Western realism techniques, Ming Dynasty portraits gradually showed a new look, not only with a decisive and accurate pen, moist and clear, but also with their characters and images mostly funny and gratifying. At this time, portrait painting has broken through the traditional model, integrated many literati aesthetic components, and in the creation, it is even more required that the painter should not expose his handwriting, too carved and straightforward.
Patriarch of the family
Searching for roots and asking ancestors is a Chinese cultural tradition, and for thousands of years, Chinese pay attention to drinking water and knowing the source, and do not forget the ancestors. People remember the deeds of their ancestors in order to clarify the survival and continuation of the family. There is an old saying: "The third generation does not cultivate the spectrum as no filial piety." The family law is bad, and the spectrum still has a legacy; the spectrum is bad, and people don't know where they come from. Therefore, the genealogy must not be repaired. ”
Anon. - Image
Image (partial)
In the cognition of ordinary people, the family tree is generally based on words, supplemented by pictures and materials, but a good genealogical portrait can not only make the establishment and inheritance of the family clear to future generations, but also accurately convey the characteristics and spiritual outlook of the times.
In ancient times, where there was no photographic technique, portraiture took on the function of courtesy and courtesy. The heirs of the family will invite a painter with social influence to paint for the family elders and deceased ancestors, which not only shows the cohesion of the family, but also reflects the long cultural heritage of the family.
Although the Ming Dynasty portrait paintings with the title of "Family Respect" exhibited by the National Art Museum of China this time do not know whose hand it is, the composition of the picture is ingenious and neat, and the simple and quaint lines and colors are like mirrors. The painter follows the traditional use of brush color, with meticulous line contours layer by layer, from top to bottom, stacked but each in its own place, while showing the quiet and deep eyes of the characters, but also reflects the noble status and identity of the characters.
Anon. - Video【Ming Dynasty Video】
Image【Ming Dynasty Video】(Partial)
High monk and scribe
Ming Dynasty portraits can be divided into sacrificial portraits and portraits of everyday life according to their use. In the portrait paintings of literati in the Ming Dynasty, in order to highlight the elegant style and bones of the literati, the portraits are often placed in elegant and quiet scenes, such as bamboo forests, trees and stones, and the side of the stream, and they are also accompanied by four treasures of the study room, books, painting scrolls, incense burners, etc. This kind of work not only pays attention to the portrayal of human objects and psychology, but also attaches importance to the expression of the environment and interest.
Zeng Whale - Gu Sleepwalking Like Axis
Gu Sleepwalking Portrait Axis (Partial)
In the Ming Dynasty, the Song Dynasty and the Yuan Dynasty, the painting circles of famous artists also produced famous works, and the "Zhejiang School", "Wu School", "Huating School" and other widely influential and distinctive genres emerged. At the end of the Ming Dynasty, Zeng Whale (1564-1647), although a folk painter, painted portraits for Dong Qichang, Chen Jiru, Wang Shimin and others. The "Bochen School" he founded was good at drawing portraits using the ink bone method, which was similar to the concave and convex method in Western painting.
There are records in the "Ming Painting Record": Zeng Whale, Zi Bochen, Minjin Jiangren. Work portrayal, pen to its divine reasoning... The writing is excellent, and the name of wanli is important. Based on the realistic portraits popular in Putian, Fujian Province at that time, Zeng Whale integrated new ideas into the traditional painting style, so that the original stereotypical and serious portrait paintings presented a new style. The characters he paints are good at grasping the instantaneous appearance of a certain action of the characters, and while perfectly showing the "dynamics" of the characters, a kind of elegant and dusty artistic conception is also unforgettable.
Qianfu - Purple Cypress is really like an axis
Purple Cypress True Image Axis (Partial)
In addition to literati portraits, Ming painters also preferred to paint portraits of senior monks. The Zhenke monk (1543-1603) in Qian Fu's "Purple Cypress Zhenke Portrait Axis", commonly known as Shen, whose legal name was Daguan, changed his name to Zhenke after middle age, and was one of the four great monks of the late Ming Dynasty, and wrote the Complete Collection of Zibai Venerables. The work is outlined with fine lines, the facial features are accented with light ink, the eyes are depicted, the lips are slightly pasteled, and the colors are elegant and quiet, which is a portrait of the gods.
Chen Yihuang - male image
Male images (partial)
The wind and bone painted by the pen is a piece of Oriental philosophy, even if it is simple, it is also brilliant. The ancient literati used lines to give portraits a spiritual interest that was detached from other types of paintings, and reflected a prosperous and far-reaching spiritual world with their unique charm.
Xie Bin - Portrait Scroll
Portrait axis (partial)
The Treatise on the Collection of venerable Bodhisattvas has clouds "born from the heart", and how much of the ancient people's hearts are hidden in the scrolls? This issue of the Chinese Art Museum's Ming and Qing portraits of the exhibition record is over for the time being, and in the next issue we will continue to bring the second chapter of this exhibition, which we will meet again in the next issue.
Eye Art Chronicles No. 872 Is an Artistic Gift dedicated to Life.
Text Writing: Eye Edge Art Zhi
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