Talk about the painted sculpture art style in Changzhi district, Shanxi
Art Education, No. 11, 2018, Tian Yonggang
At present, carrying forward the excellent culture of the Chinese nation and establishing self-confidence in national culture is an important part of the cultural construction of the mainland. Cultural inheritance and promotion need a certain carrier, and the traditional arts and crafts works of the mainland carry brilliant cultural content. The painted sculpture in Changzhi district of Shanxi is one of the cultural carriers with regional characteristics, and its shape, style performance and content shaping present a variety of postures, containing rich cultural connotations. Interpreting its artistic style can better understand the cultural implications behind it.
The culture and art of the mainland have a long history, and representative works of art exist in various regions. From the geographical point of view, Shanxi Changzhi is located at the junction of the three provinces of Jinji, Hebei and Henan, with a unique geographical environment, the soil structure is relatively high-quality, the cultural foundation is also relatively deep, and many advantages make the color sculpture in Changzhi area unique. From the perspective of theme, the painted sculptures in Changzhi district of Shanxi are mostly in the service of religion, and from the perspective of artistic value, they have a unique artistic language and artistic expression. Color sculpture not only reflects the ideological consciousness and aesthetic concept of people in Changzhi area, but also reflects the meaning of Chinese culture, so studying color sculpture in Changzhi area of Shanxi can better understand the land of Sanjin and understand the connotation of traditional Chinese culture.
First, the style characteristics of ancient painted sculpture art in the Changzhi area of Shanxi
The color sculptures in the Changzhi area of Shanxi have a high reputation in North China, which has three distinctive characteristics: First, there are more color sculpture images and rich content. From the perspective of the specific color sculpture content, religious stories, history and humanities, myths and legends are all materials for ancient color sculptures in Changzhi, so the content of color sculptures covers a very wide range. Second, the color contrast of color sculpture is relatively strong. The general color sculpture will be consistent with the coloring pursuit of life when coloring, or the gradient will be considered when coloring, but the use of color by Changzhi color sculpture often shows a stronger color difference, which makes the color sculpture have a stronger visual impact. Third, the painted statues in the Changzhi area won the group portrait in the statue. Ancient painted statues in the Changzhi area are often integrated with three religions in the statue, that is, in the painted sculpture area, there are both Buddhist painted statue images, as well as Taoist and Confucian painted statue images, which is one of the characteristics of Changzhi to adopt group portrait modeling.
Second, the artistic style of painted sculptures in Changzhi area, Shanxi
The painted sculptures in the Changzhi area have a unique artistic style. In order to fully understand the Changzhi painted sculpture, it is necessary to conduct a specific analysis of its artistic style from the following five aspects, so as to have a more comprehensive understanding of the Changzhi painted sculpture.
(1) Subject matter content
First of all, the outstanding feature of Changzhi color sculpture is that the subject matter is very rich. For example, the painted statue of Guanyin Hall, the center of the hall is the color statue of Guanyin Bodhisattva, and the left and right sides are manjushri Bodhisattva and Puxian Bodhisattva painted statue. On the main wall behind Avalokiteshvara are Buddhist stories such as the Boy of Good Fortune and the Lingshan Society. Above the girder and the second beam, there are 35 Buddha statues in the golden pavilion. The Buddhist platforms on both sides are divided into four layers, the first layer of painted sculptures are eighteen arhats, the second layer of painted sculptures are twenty-four heavens, the third layer of painted sculptures are twelve circles, and further up are the figures in Taoist mythology. On the north wall of the hall, the Seventy-two Sages of Kongmen come to life, while in the south there are Taoist stories such as the Eight Immortals Worshiping Shou. In addition, the painted sculptures of historical stories such as "The Change of the Castle" are also higher than in the Kannon Hall. In terms of specific themes and contents, the content and theme of Changzhi painted sculptures are very extensive, including both Buddhist characters and Taoist stories, as well as the true restoration of Confucian characters and historical stories, and the painted sculptures that express these contents divide the entire space and level of the painted sculptures through their respective postures, with a strong natural life atmosphere. In short, the painted sculptures in Changzhi are widely used in a wide range of materials and diverse themes, and their performance is extremely infectious.
(2) Religious thought
The painted sculptures in the Changzhi area reflect a relatively strong religious ideology. Much of the content in the painted sculptures is derived from the image of religious figures. The Changzhi area has long been in a state of coexistence of Confucianism and Taoism, so the integration of the three religions is relatively high, which has a certain impact on the painted sculpture art in this area. In terms of social influence, the influence of Buddhism is second to none, in addition, the influence of Confucianism is also significant, and Taoist thought is between Buddhism and Confucianism. The long-term coexistence of the three religions has made all cultures infiltrate the Changzhi painted sculpture, so it cannot be viewed absolutely when analyzing it in detail. In terms of the analysis of the influence of the three religions, Confucian culture has played an important role in the construction of social order; However, Buddhist culture has been secularized and folklorized in the specific development, so the closeness of the Buddhist painted statue and people has been significantly strengthened; Looking at the Taoist culture, its transcendent outlook on life acts on the painted sculpture, making the color sculpture look natural. In short, the painted sculptures in the Changzhi area make a concrete expression of the ideological connotation of religious culture.
(3) Statue style
The painted sculptures in the Changzhi area have a unique charm in the style of statues. The appearance of the painted sculpture is very natural, and it has both a sense of closeness to people and an atmospheric demeanor in the image. Observing the painted sculptures, it can be found that although its clothing pattern is concise, it is not lacking in a sense of solemnity, although the scene is grand, but the exquisite place can be seen everywhere.
As far as the image of the twelve circles of Fa Xing Temple is concerned, its image not only reflects the solemnity of the female bodhisattva Dharma, but also closes the female image in the human world, and this modeling method effectively closes the psychological distance of the worshippers and makes the painted statue full of human and secular meaning. One of the twelve statues of enlightenment is in the form of a contemplative figure, with a relaxed look, elegant manners, and extraordinary temperament. In addition, the statues of Luohan in the three major halls of Chongqing Temple have made specific performances of different mental states through subtle portrayals, which makes Luohan have a relatively strong human atmosphere.
(4) Composition layout
The color sculptures in the Changzhi area show two characteristics in terms of composition layout: the first is that the suspension sculptures are more famous. For example, the suspension sculpture of Guanyin Hall is a rare representative of the suspension sculpture in the mainland. As far as the spatial layout of the suspension sculpture is concerned, its main purpose is to set off the main body and present a romantic and magnificent momentum. The second is that there are very obvious echoes between the sculptures, such as mountains, water, beasts, clouds, etc. are all reasonably arranged outside the position of the main body, showing a state of echo. In short, the characteristics of the painted sculptures in the Changzhi area in terms of spatial layout are not found in other areas.
(5) Painted luan
The color combination of color sculpture in Changzhi area is relatively thick and warm, showing a sense of grandeur and strong visual impact. The main colors of the painted sculptures in the five halls of Chongqing Temple are red, green and gold, while the overall color inside the Hall of Guanyin Hall is golden. The painted sculptures in the Changzhi area have the remarkable characteristics of the plastic painting collection, so they are very bold in color setting, and the color of the color sculpture Luan Shicai and the character colors of people's daily lives have a big difference. For example, when the Song Dynasty painted sculptures of Chongqing Temple, when the bodhisattva was decorated with luan and applied color, the white powder was used for depiction, which mainly reflected the white and delicate texture of the bodhisattva's skin. Another example is that when depicting the skin tones of the eighteen arhats, white or red is used to reflect the different personalities of the characters. For example, such as corolla, Ying Luo, etc., most of the colors are made of mineral pigments such as stone green, stone blue, stone yellow, cinnabar and other mineral pigments with a strong sense of visual impact, as well as metal materials such as gold and silver, and the use of specific techniques such as painting, dyeing, drawing, and brushing to form a strong contrast between the color blocks and strengthen the expressiveness of the work.
Third, the intrinsic relationship between artistic style and regional culture
The formation of artistic style is closely related to the artistic foundation of the individual, and the style expression of regional art will be closely related to the local regional culture, so to understand the specific reasons for the formation of the Changzhi painted sculpture art style, we can explore the regional culture.
Analyzing the cultural performance of Changzhi area, it can be found that the artistic style formation of painted sculptures has a significant relationship with the cultural characteristics of Changzhi. First of all, the Changzhi region has a mixture of cultures. In history, there have been many ethnic minority regimes in the north of the mainland, and whenever ethnic minorities move south and east, Changzhi will fall under its rule, although the main culture of Changzhi is still Han culture, but it has been integrated into the cultural symbols of the northern nomads, so its painted sculpture performance
The majestic momentum is outstanding. As far as the analysis of the Eighteen Arhats of the Song Dynasty of Chongqing Temple is concerned, its overall performance is very atmospheric, but it is extremely meticulous when it comes to the outline of the clothes, which is the result of the combination of the two cultures.
Secondly, the culture of the Changzhi area is inherited. Judging from the content of the painted sculptures, there are both Confucian content, Buddhist content, and more Taoist content, which shows that these three religions have been circulated in the Changzhi region, and they have also been well promoted. Looking at history, we can see that Buddhism has developed extensively since it was introduced to China in the Han Dynasty, and famous monks in Shanxi have played an important role in it, and Faxian, Huiyuan, and Tanluan are among the representatives. From the Han Dynasty to the Tang Dynasty, Buddhism in Shanxi reached its peak, and Buddhist culture was widely spread in Shanxi and had a significant impact on future generations, so even in the Song Dynasty and Ming Dynasty, Buddhist culture still influenced the painted sculptures in the Changzhi area. As far as Taoism is concerned, Shaanxi is a neighboring province of Shanxi, and quanzhen Dao is flourishing in Shaanxi Zhongnanshan, and Shanxi will naturally be affected, so Changzhi will be affected by Taoism. As for Confucianism, since Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty, it has been the orthodoxy of Chinese cultural thought, and its influence on Changzhi is naturally far-reaching. The continuous fusion of ideas and cultures of the three schools of Confucianism and Taoism has influenced the development of art in the Changzhi area, and painted sculptures are the most affected works of art.
Finally, the culture of the Changzhi region is scoped. The so-called scope mainly refers to the fact that the characteristics of regional culture are well preserved. Although it is located at the junction of three provinces, Changzhi's own cultural characteristics have not been broken, so it can still develop its own unique charm of painted sculptures under the influence of the surrounding area. To put it simply, the cultural development of the Changzhi area has retained its own characteristics, and under the influence of the surrounding environment, it has embarked on its own cultural path, and it is precisely because it can adhere to its own self that it has a unique and attractive characteristic art.
epilogue
Shanxi painted sculpture serves religion and has clear functional characteristics, which can not only reflect the face of social life, but also reflect local cultural concepts and ideas, so Shanxi color sculpture is a work of art with comprehensive cultural connotations. The painted sculptures in Changzhi area have their own obvious characteristics, which contain the aesthetic tendencies and ideological concepts of people in Changzhi area, and play an important role in regional cultural expression and inheritance. Analyzing the artistic style of the color sculpture and discussing and analyzing the relationship between the artistic style and culture on its basis can further understand the charm of Changzhi culture.
Author Affilications:Taiyuan University