This landscape painting is the work of the Ming Dynasty painter Xie Shichen, and according to the inscription poem in the painting, it can be seen that he depicts the story of Du Fushu's mountain journey. Du Fu was a famous poet of the Tang Dynasty, and after the Anshi Rebellion broke out, Du Fu went retrograde to Chang'an and was eventually captured. After being rescued by friends, Du Fu went into Shu to avoid trouble. He left many moving poems in Shuzhong, and Xie Shichen painted this work based on the verses in "Three Poems from Langzhou's Wife But Went to Shu Mountain".
"The stack is hanging to avoid stones, the bridge is broken but looking for the stream", at first glance, you will think that his aesthetic taste is a little strange. Broken bridges, dangerous situations, boardwalks, is it a bit tacky. Everyone knows that the landscape in Shuzhong is fantastic and dangerous, and Xie Shichen borrows poetry why he does not paint a little more subtle. Especially the broken bridge, the more you look at it, the more you feel that it does not match the picture.
Xie Shichen Du Fu poetic
At the bottom left of the picture, there is really a broken bridge, and such a straightforward expression is very rare in painting. Poetic intent, most afraid of being reduced to illustration of illustrated text. Is there no pursuit of such a famous artist as Xie Shichen? This detail illustrates the contradictions in the creation of Xie Shichen, who lived in the middle of the Ming Dynasty. In terms of painting style, it does not belong to the Zhejiang school or the Wumen school, and both schools say that his works have the habit of folk painters.
In the Ming Dynasty, to say that a painter is like a folk painter is tantamount to denying the achievements of a painter. Maybe Xie Shichen is gambling and saying that he can't do it, he will use a straightforward way of expression to let people see his creative ability. Painting a broken bridge is nothing, he can still paint the beauty of the landscape in Shuzhong with rigorous techniques.
Xie Shichen Du Fu poetic partial
The ancients liked to express themselves implicitly, and liked to let the viewer enter the art world described in poetry through association. Xie Shichen did the opposite, using a direct approach, indicating that he was thinking about what art was and what was beauty. Xie Shichen was bold and free with his pen, and the poetry he understood was to express his chest directly. Therefore, there is such a unique picture.
From another point of view, Xie Shichen is still thinking about the relationship between truth and beauty. Authentic, but also can be beautiful. The poem expresses the deep and inaccessible landscape through the "broken bridge", and Xie Shichen only needs to paint this feeling, and does not have to stick to the state of a bridge.
Xie Shichen was a Painter of Suzhou, but there seemed to be some estrangement between him and the Wumen School. People commented that his works were imposing, not refined enough, not beautiful enough. Obviously, this is to evaluate his works from the perspective of the aesthetics of literati painting. Xie Shichen's creative habits that he likes to express directly make people feel that he cares too much about "entertaining himself".
In fact, good or bad, both say relatively speaking. At least this "Du Fu Poetry" can't see the feeling of roughness and slackness. He attaches great importance to the change of brushwork, but also attaches importance to excessive ink color, and there are subtle and exquisite pen and ink interests everywhere. He can do it very well, so why should he care what others think.
Xie Shichen, a painter who belonged to the "second line" in the Ming Dynasty painting world, people felt that his works were stereotyped and lacked natural interest. This evaluation is very unfair, and his achievements cannot be belittled because his aesthetic characteristics are not mainstream.