It's the end of the year again, and it's about to be the Year of the Tiger in the Lunar Calendar. "Tiger" has also become a popular theme.
In the fields of traditional culture such as writing, language, poetry, literature, sculpture, painting, novels, operas, folklore, and more generally folklore, myths, stories, and nursery rhymes, the image of the tiger is ubiquitous and an indispensable part of Chinese civilization.
In the history of Chinese painting, the "tiger" has become one of the creative elements of the ancients thousands of years ago.
When it comes to painting tigers, the tiger in the general impression should be a tiger roaring in the mountains and forests, and the wind is mighty. However, there is such a "strange painting" in the National Palace Museum in Taipei, painting a tiger in the shape of a sick cat, which has caused countless controversies for hundreds of years.
This is the Qing Dynasty painter Hua Yan's "Fenghu Tu".
"FengHu Tu", Qing, Hua Yao
The tiger in the painting is skinny, shrugging its head, frowning, its body curled up, its left front leg on its face scratching something, a sick look, and a look of panic in its eyes.
Why did the King of the Hundred Beasts become like this? The wild peak in the upper right corner of the picture may tell us the answer.
It turned out that the once mighty forest king was stung powerlessly by wild bees, and his timid eyes looked at the sky, and a look of embarrassment jumped on the paper.
Hua Yao vividly expressed the tiger's dejected posture. Although it is somewhat different from traditional paintings, the painter observes scenes that ordinary people cannot find, and depicts them with his profound artistic attainments and exquisite capture ability, thus achieving this unique classic.
Hua Yue (1682-1756), also known as Deok Song, more zi Qiu Yue, the number of The Baeksa Doren, the Silla Mountain People, the Dongwon Students, the Cloth Students, the Dirt Residents, etc., the old man referred to himself as the "Floating Canopy". It is better to paint people, landscapes, flowers, birds, grass insects, and animals. Shanshu, Neng poetry, then known as "poetry, books, painting three absolute", one of the representative figures of the Yangzhou School of painting.
From childhood to old age, Hua Yao experienced various unfortunate encounters such as being ostracized by his fellow villagers, being displaced from the country, not encountering talents, encountering obstacles in the capital, and being poor all his life. He painted a tiger in a form of fear and pity, perhaps related to these experiences of his own.
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Editor-in-charge: Jia Tingyi