Introduction: Wu Wei's life is a very successful life, although he drank suddenly and died, after his birth, he was devalued by the painting as "a wild fox on the sun, can not be passed on", but before his death, Wu Wei's painting style was praised by the painting world, and he was summoned to the palace by the emperor three times, sought after by the magnates, and led the Zhejiang school to the most prosperous period. And the great success of his painting style is also due to his strange and arrogant personality.
Part of "Ten Thousand Miles of the Yangtze River"
In the history of Chinese painting, there are two painters who have enjoyed the reputation of "painting champions", one is Wu Wei in the middle of the Ming Dynasty, and the other is Tang Dai in the early Qing Dynasty.
Let's get to know the first "painting leader" in history - Wu Wei. The "Zhejiang Faction" famous general after Dai Jin.
Part of "Song and Dance Diagram"
Accompanying the reading of the "painting of the yuan"
Wu Wei's life was full of ups and downs, and he was summoned to the palace several times to show the royal family's preference for him, but because of his hard and wild temperament, he finally despised the sinister people inside the imperial court, could not integrate into the palace environment, and finally left the palace and lived a leisurely and idle life.
Wu Wei, a representative figure of the Zhejiang school of painting in the early Ming Dynasty, was a figure of Zi Shiying, Ci Weng, and Xiao Xian. Born in a family of officials and eunuchs, his grandfather Wu used honest officials to worship Zhizhou, worked diligently for the people, and was quite loved. Although his father had no official position, he was well educated and good at calligraphy and painting, but he was obsessed with alchemy and made the family fall behind. The funny thing is that even so, the husband and wife still died early, and Wu Wei, who was only 8 years old, became an orphan.
Part of "Fish Music"
Fortunately, at a young age, he was adopted by Qian Xin, the envoy of Huguang Province, and studied in a private school as a companion of Qian Xin's son, which was also the only period of study experience in Wu Wei's life. The talent inherited from his father allowed Wu Wei to show his amazing talent in painting from an early age, and Qian Xin provided the future artist with pen and paper and resources.
At the age of 17, Wu Wei left the Qian family and went to Jinling alone, and when he made a living with Danqing skills, he was appreciated and treated favorably by Zhu Yi, the Duke of Taifu Chengguo, and other powerful people. At this time, he was very eager for court life, so he created paintings for many high-ranking officials and nobles, and finally won the recognition of these people with his outstanding painting skills.
Part of "Pine Creek Fishing Cooker Map"
Wu Wei originally thought that everything would develop as he had imagined in his heart, and only after he actually entered the court did he find that it backfired.
At the age of 20, Wu Wei traveled to the capital and became famous, and was summoned to the court by the emperor to be named a jinyi wei hundred households and given a stamp of "Painting Yuan" to paint in the Renzhi Hall. For a person who did not win by the imperial examination, this was an excellent treatment, but for Wu Wei, who was unruly and not bound by secular norms, he had no freedom to speak of in the palace like a bird trapped in a cage, and often had to look at people's faces.
Moreover, Wu Wei had always been arrogant and arrogant, and he was naturally angry in the face of the situation that his intellect could not be exercised and he had to be controlled by eunuchs. So that later, he could not bear the despicable exclusion of the treacherous villains and asked him to resign and return to the south, and lived on the banks of the Qinhuai River in Jinling. After Wu Wei's ideals of life were shattered, like most literati, he has since sent love to landscapes and indulged in pleasures, and his personality has become more uninhibited.
Until the age of 30, When Emperor Xiaozong ascended the throne, he once again asked Wu Wei to be a court painter, but he had lost his optimism and interest in entering Beijing for the first time, so he resigned from the government after entering the palace for two years and continued to live a free and free professional painter life.
Part of "Coats Chart"
After Emperor Wuzong succeeded to the throne, he summoned him to the palace again, but he was damaged by long-term alcohol and debauchery, and died suddenly at the age of 50.
If Dai Jin is the founder of the Zhejiang school, then Wu Wei is the key to pushing the Zhejiang school to the top. This is inseparable from Wu Weishi's acceptance of Dai Jin. Although Dai Jin was already in ancient times at that time and had no direct contact with Wu Wei, the influence of Dai Jin can be seen in his works.
"Baqiao Wind and Snow Map"
Wu Wei and Dai Jin are the same master in painting, and they have some understanding of the southern Song Dynasty courtyard body ink vigorous style.
The Zhejiang school was the main genre in the early Ming Dynasty, and almost dominated the art world in the first hundred years of the early Ming Dynasty. For the Zhejiang school, Dai Jin is the founding father of the Zhejiang school, which basically laid the style of the Zhejiang school. Wu Wei is a follower and integrator of Dai Jin, and his inheritance of Dai Jin's painting style mainly focuses on basic aspects such as composition methods, pen and ink techniques, theme choice, and aesthetic implications.
Part of "Baqiao Wind and Snow Map"
In Wu Wei's "Baqiao Wind and Snow Map" and Dai Jin's "Winter Landscape Map", it can be clearly seen that Wu Wei's study of Dai Jin. The two paintings are very similar in composition and material selection, and the obvious difference is the change in brushwork.
Wu Wei pursues a kind of casual and bold brushwork, using the pen quickly and playing at will, and the rhythm of the whole picture is dominated by the ups and downs of the brushwork, so it seems that the picture is dynamic and fast-paced. Dai Jin's brushwork is lively, but the dynamics of the picture are still within the old method, and Wu Wei's brushwork is bold and rapid, and it begins to break through the old brushwork.
The trees in "Baqiao Wind and Snow Map" are scrawled and sloppy, stretching casually, paying more attention to the performance of pen and ink. He depicted a corner of the creek beach in a close-up view, making a angular compositional treatment, which has similarities with the southern Song Dynasty courtyard painting style, with five or six ancient trees with strong branches on the slope on the left bank, revealing a corner of the roof of the hut behind it. The old trees withered, but there was a sense of struggle upwards.
A hermit riding a donkey slowly from the bridge of Xitan is similar to Dai Jin's "Dongtian Qing Daotu" in which a tall man slowly walks towards the depths of the mountain forest, a metaphor for the painter's own state of mind that wants to hide between the mountains and forests, and the figure in Wu Wei's painting riding a donkey and with some secular mentality is reflected in the picture.
The scenery behind the beach is a series of near and far mountains, with heavy mountains and layers. Streams pour out of the misty mountains in the distance, cascading into the pool. The whole picture layout is unique, the concept is novel, the pen is steady and fine, the painting method is exquisite, and it obviously has the meaning of wearing a beautiful and rigorous brush. In particular, the depiction of the ancient tree peak is more elegant and natural, exquisite and exquisite.
Rough and relaxed "Stepping on the Snow in Search of Meitu"
If Wu Wei's paintings in the early days inherited Dai Jin's ink-colored and vigorous painting style, then his late works are eclectic and self-contained, forming their own distinct personality, mature and sophisticated artistic style.
Part of "Treading Snow in Search of Meitu"
Wu Wei's late work "Treading Snow and Looking for Plum Map" has similarities with the earlier "Baqiao Wind and Snow Map" in terms of composition, the golden triangle in the lower left corner, the small bridge in the lower right corner, the scenery depicted is likely to be the same place, but from here we can see that Wu Wei has a completely different understanding in the late landscape creation, and the overall picture is more rich and changeable.
The whole map is covered with steep mountains, trees on the tops, meandering springs in the mountains, waterfalls flowing down, mountains and rivers, and the cascading mountain temples in the distance cover the forest.
Only the lake surface on the lower right corner of the bridge is calm, and a simple wooden bridge is built on the narrowest part of the two banks, on the bridge is an old man wearing a bucket hat and holding a bamboo stick, followed by a child holding a violin in both hands, who is the hermit and the waiter who returned from the snow in search of plums, and slowly walked towards the mountain hut covered by a few leafy towering ancient trees.
This may be the same character as the donkey rider in the "Baqiao Wind and Snow Map", and it is even possible that he himself is. Because Wu Wei is more willing to integrate himself into the creation of landscapes, in order to express the true emotions in his heart.
What is surprising about the whole composition is the upper right corner of the picture, Wu Wei uses diagonal filling and triangle blank space to make the picture achieve a new balance. This is the classic diagonal composition in Ma Yuan's works.
The whole work is cleverly conceived, the layout is complete, the brushwork is rough, it looks messy, but it is actually perfect, which fully demonstrates the painter's superb painting skills. This characteristic of rough and relaxed brushwork not only vividly shows the natural beauty of the snowy mountains, but also is a true portrayal of Wu Wei's love for the landscape and happy life.
epilogue:
For the Zhejiang school, Wu Wei led the Zhejiang school to an unprecedented period of glory and occupied a very important position in the ming dynasty painting world. He inherited the painting style of Dai Jin, the originator of the Zhejiang school, and made a new breakthrough, so that the Zhejiang school occupied the dominant position in the painting world.
However, it is also undeniable that Wu Wei's wild painting style is the great reason why the Zhejiang school of painting is frivolous. The superficial and manic picture performance made later generations criticize this school of painting.
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