I remember when I was in color class before, the teacher showed us a set of French Impressionist master Monet's "Rouen Cathedral", and at that time I was deeply shocked - the same scene, at different times, there were so many color changes, the painter can accurately capture these colors, it is really great!
Part of the group painting of "Rouen Cathedral"
Then I had a question: if we remove the color, can we accurately reflect the characteristics of different times in the same scene?
This problem can be solved when representing some small objects, such as I can draw some dew in the morning and strengthen the contrast between light and shadow at noon, but what if it is a large scene?
—— It wasn't until I saw Guo Xi's "Early Spring Chart" that this question was answered.
《Early Spring Picture》
Who is Guo Xi?
Guo Xi (郭熙), courtesy name Chunfu, was a native of Wen County (present-day Wen County, Henan) and a landscape painter of the Northern Song Dynasty.
He studied under Li Cheng, and was summoned to the academy by Emperor Shenzong of Song Zhao [xū] (the one who appointed Wang Anshi to change the law) and studied art in the academy.
Because Song Shenzong liked Guo Xi's paintings too much, he promoted him to "Hanlin Zhizhao Zhichang", which was the biggest official that a painter could do at that time.
What is good on the top will be worse for the bottom. What the emperor liked, the courtiers followed suit. Su Shi, Huang Tingjian, and Sima Guang all loved Guo Xi's landscape paintings and praised them many times.
At that time, many of the decorations on the walls and barriers of the palace hall were by Guo Xi's hand. Guo Xi is also really powerful, he can write on the large plain wall of the hall to draw "long pine giant trees, back to the creek cliffs, rocks are extinct, peaks are beautiful." The clouds and smoke disappeared, and between the pickled fogs, there were thousands of shapes", which was called "a single step" by the people at that time.
"Early Spring Diagram" is Guo Xi's work in his later years.
The so-called early spring refers to January and February, when the water in the north has just been frozen. So Guo Xi painted a thin waterfall in the mountain recess to form a three-fold pouring down, slowly merging into the bottom of the valley at the foot of the mountain. ——Spring to the top of the mountain ice and snow melting, the waterfall is naturally a trickle, the water pattern is also a few strokes, the gentle flow rate is accurately expressed.
"Early Spring Map" Part 01
Look at the trees again, there are no flowers painted on them - because it is early spring to show, after a winter, the trees have to sprout first, with leaves to provide nutrients to have flowers bloom - Guo Xi although he uses Li Cheng's "crab claw branch", but the pen is lighter, and some ink spots are added, giving people the feeling of young shoots spewing thin.
Comparison of Li Cheng's crab claw branch (left) and Guo Xi's crab claw branch (right).
There are also those huge mountain stones, Guo Xi used the "cirrus cloud", that is, gently swept with a lot of watery light ink, so that each stone rolled up like a cloud, and the whole mountain felt fleshy, as if there was a force under the mountain stone to arch out, reflecting the life force of the revival of all things in early spring.
If you climb the mountain in the spring, you will know that there will be a hazy mist at the height of the mountain at that time, and Guo Xi also drew it out - you see that the distant mountains are extremely light in ink and the mountain color is ethereal, but is it not the feeling of "cloud mountain fog cover"?
"Early Spring Map" part 02
Look closely at the small figures in the painting. At the waterhole below the waterfall, two fishermen are preparing to land. The fisherman on the right bowed his head and fiddled with the fishing net, and the fishing basket and other objects were faintly recognizable on the boat, was it not that he took advantage of the fact that the water had just melted and caught some fresh fish to beat the tooth sacrifice?
"Early Spring Map" Part 03
……
All kinds of details and techniques have captured the characteristics of early spring, painting the subtle changes from winter to spring and the recovery of the earth, even if it is only ink, there is no rich color, it can accurately show time, for the skills of ancient painters on the mainland, I am served, what about you?
This "Early Spring Map" was painted in 1072, more than 800 years before Monet's "Rouen Cathedral" (1892-1893), and Guo Xi himself summed up the different "looks" of the landscape at different times: "Spring Mountain is light and smiling, Summer Mountain is green and dripping; Autumn Mountain is clear and makeup, Winter Mountain is bleak and sleepy", which can be described as very image.
Let me put out Guo Xi's works from other seasons, so that you can experience his expressiveness in different seasons.
"Mountain Village Map", painted in early summer.
《Mountain Village Map》
"Pingyuan Tu of The Stone", painted in late autumn.
《窠石平遠圖》
Just ask you if you are satisfied?
In the "High Quality of Forest Springs" written by Guo Xi's son Guo Si, the characteristics of natural scenery in various periods are also described in more detail, such as spring scenery, and a large list is listed:
Spring has early spring cloud scenery, early spring rain scenery, residual snow early spring, xueji early spring, rainy early spring, smoke and rain early spring, cold clouds want to rain spring, early spring evening scenery, dawn spring mountain, spring cloud desire rain, early spring smoke mist, spring cloud out of the valley, full of spring spring slip, spring rain spring wind as oblique wind drizzle, spring mountain bright, spring clouds like white cranes, all spring themes.
- Well, there is a lot to say about the book "Lin Quan GaoZhi" and Guo Xi's father and son, and we will talk about it next time.
This article is a companion article to "Fun talk about the history of Chinese characters/calligraphy" and a series of articles on the history of Chinese art (tentative name). Every minute, harvest a lifetime of knowledge, you deserve it! Pay attention to the previous article, and prompt the update in time. Please indicate the source of the reprint, welcome to the publisher to contact me.