The basic attitude of appreciation of temperament, paintings and ink
Xu Xiaohu talks to Wang Jiqian
About the Sheikh's "vivid and vivid" explanation
Xu Xiaohu (hereinafter referred to as "Xu"): The first thing I would like to ask you about is the "vivid rhyme" in the Six Laws of Sheikh, how to explain it? There has always been much debate on this issue.
Wang Jiqian (hereinafter referred to as "Wang"): Many people confuse the "qi" in painting with the "qi" in the text, and think of "air", "breathing", and so on. The continuation of "qi" is "rhyme", and the whole process of dynamic expression can be said to be "vivid". But my explanation is not much the same. Some of China's calligraphy and painting works show dynamics, some are not, for example, cursive writing is very dynamic, while italics are not, but both for me, there are potential for "vivid rhyme", that is, the structure of the font, the arrangement of the pen and its relationship with each other, can express the connotation of "vivid". Both Yan Zhenqing's characters and Ni Zhan's landscape paintings can be said to be dynamic, or with very little dynamic. Ni Zhan always painted a few stones and some trees, but the way trees and stones were arranged was comfortable. That is to say, Yan and Ni's works show natural interest, rather than artificial creation. All in all, they all exhibit a natural effect and have a human personality or posture, so people feel comfortable seeing their work.
【Yuan】 Ni Zhan's "Qi Shu Autumn Wind Diagram" ink on paper
62cm x 43.3cm from the Collection of Shanghai Museum
Xu: You think that "qi rhyme" is an appearance (noun), and "vivid" is a bit like "living" (the adjective of qi rhyme). Are you talking about a mental activity?
KING: Well, take a woman who sits stiffly, she has no inner anger, it's like wood. If her sitting posture has some kind of quality that makes her different from other women, or from other inanimate things, it can also be said to be a kind of "vivid charm". In fact, good paintings have this characteristic, such as Picasso, Matisse, etc. However, if the "charm" of the work is not "vivid" enough, it cannot arouse a sense of life, then it cannot be called a great painter, because he cannot grasp the characteristics of "moving".
Xu: You particularly emphasize that "vivid" is like living or active, and you mention "posture" and "human nature", so can all comics or cartoons be said to be "vivid"?
KING: No. It's like a beautiful stone, it doesn't move, it doesn't breathe, but I put it in the house and admired it because its special shape is reminiscent of vitality and movement. It has a posture, a humanity, as if it can move and breathe, so for me, this stone is extremely "breathy". For example, if a person dies, his "charm" is no longer "vivid." In painting, the transmission of "vivid" feelings is based on the combination of various elements, such as black and white, existence and non-existence, etc. They must be combined to make people look comfortable, they must be natural creations, not deliberate arrangements. This feeling is not only alive, but also moving.
Some questions about the paintings
Xu: What is your definition of the three purposes of "god", "magic" and "energy"?
Wang: We are accustomed to dividing painting into four products: "God", "Miao", "Energy" and "Yi", and I personally think that "Miao" can be removed, because it will only make the grading of the painting more chaotic.
Xu: Don't you have any doubts about overturning a tradition of more than a thousand years?
KING: If it's stupid, I wouldn't be suspicious. I see it this way: "Divine product" means that the painting is very good, and it can draw many kinds...
Xu: Your explanation is very bold, you think that a painter who is skilled in various types of painting, that is, he can paint landscapes, figures, Taoist interpretations, flowers and birds, can be listed as a divine product. You are distinguishing between painters and not painters. I've never heard that view.
KING: Listen to me. Take Dai Jin and Tang Yin as an example, Dai Jin is a "noh product", although he paints very well, but it cannot be compared with Tang Yin. Tang Yin can enter the painting everything, and he has reached a higher realm than ordinary painters, so Tang Yin should be listed as a "divine product".
[Ming] Dong Qichang's "Spring Light Cloud Shadow Map" ink on paper
127.8 cm x 63.9cm, National Palace Museum, Taipei
Xu: Can you compare Tang Yin's bad paintings with Dai Jin's good paintings?
KING: You can't compare that way. Tang Yin's abilities and skills are not necessarily comparable to Dai Jin's. Just like among the four kings in the early Qing Dynasty, Wang Yi was "able" and very skilled, but his artistic value was slightly inferior to that of the other three.
Xu: I get it. Then you classify Shi Tao and the Bada Shanren as "Yipin".
KING: No. The artistic achievements of the two of them have surpassed those of ordinary painters, so they are "divine products".
Xu: So, who belongs to "Yipin"?
Wang: "Yipin" refers to the fact that painting has a special artistic quality, but lacks skill and ability, in other words, it is inspired, not "able". I think it is enough to divide the works into these three categories.
Xu: Please be a little more detailed.
KING: Okay. We can say that what has the ability to perform but lacks performance is "noh", what has a special spirit or performance but lacks skill is "Yi pin", and what has the ability to perform skillfully and express is "divine product". I think it makes sense to explain it that way.
Xu: That's reasonable. Although you say so, I don't think you reflect the aesthetics of the Qing Dynasty, but there is too much imagination, too much creation, too bold.
【Yuan】Zhao Mengfu's "Self-Portrait" is colored on silk
24cm x 23cm from the Palace Museum
KING: Let's go on! Zhao Mengfu belongs to the "divine product", he can paint very well, and can paint all kinds of things, figures, landscapes, bamboo stones, animals, etc., usually can arouse special expressive qualities. He went through many stages of incompetence, but in the end he developed the standards and directions of Yuan Dynasty artists, especially in the use of pen and ink.
Xu: I think you put Dong Qichang in the "Divine Product" as well.
KING: I'm afraid not. His paintings often lack the ability to be skillful, and his ideological achievements are greater than the kung fu in his hands, and I would rather put him in a "yipin". Although Dong Qichang lacks skill, most of his works have a high spirit, so I list him as "Yipin" in painting. Of course, if there is a lack of spirit and skill, the work is called "no quality" and is not worth mentioning. On the other hand, in calligraphy, I list Dong Qichang as a "divine product" because of his extreme skill and full of magical new spirit.
Xu: But to me, Dong Qichang's paintings still look quite skillful!
【Qing】Bada Shanren's "Imitation of Ni Yunlin Landscape" ink on paper
124.5cm x 58cm Tibet unknown
KING: Not really. The success of the structure in his paintings is accidental, and can be easily discerned by any painter. The requirements of calligraphy are less than those of painting, the structure has been established, there is no need to spend too much effort on it, you just need to follow the established structural procedures, including stroke order, and then add your own talent, brushwork, personality, you will succeed. However, painting has more requirements, and it is not a simple thing as just writing a "heaven" word every day. The "divine product" in painting requires that each painting contains new ideas and new visions. You have to create your own structure, brushwork, texture and color in each new work, and you have to try to succeed in all of these areas.
Xu: Oh? I don't know how much of the spirit of the late Qing Dynasty you reflect? Your teacher, Mr. Wu Hufan, how does he taste the grading?
KING: He's not going to make a fuss about these things. I think he should think the same as me, but he never says it, because he only knows what it is, and he doesn't know why.
Xu: Finally, what is your view of painters and amateur painters? The early Twelfth-century Xuanhe Pictorial Notation seems to reflect Emperor Huizong's views. The score says "a thousand miles away", but only those painters who "have hills and ravines in their chests" can understand. It also mentions that most landscape painters are amateurs, not from academies.
Wang: I think we are commenting on the painter's paintings, not his profession. In the beginning, the main production of court painters was functional, and the art made for politics was like advertising and propaganda, but we must not forget that Dong Yuan in the Southern Tang Dynasty was the painter of Li Hou lord, and in the Mi Fu period, the status of this painter was improved, and at the end of the Ming Dynasty, Dong Qichang promoted him to the founder of the literati painting or scholar tradition. Paintings with propaganda and decorative functions, as well as paintings with relatively free expression (the artist's self-creation), is an important thing to distinguish between the two. In the former, the most important thing in painting is skill, while the individual's personality is secondary; in the latter, in private painting, personality is the most important. Of course, the painter's attitude will vary with the object, that is, whether he paints for himself or for the people who finance him. But we must remember that a painter can paint in both cases, such as Jing Hao, Li Cheng, Dong Yuan, Fan Kuan, these great painters, they were highly praised at that time or in the bibliography, of which only Li Cheng was not professional. In the history of Western painting, we can say that medieval religious paintings are equivalent to our courtyard paintings, and from modern times, starting from Impressionism, they are equivalent to our literati paintings.
Some basic attitudes in pen and ink appreciation
Xu: You obviously think that pen and ink itself is art, and it is the spirit and essence of art, but others look at the line as a contour, structure, stroke or method. Most people, at least most trained Westerners, are "looking at a painting" and you are "reading pen and ink." How would you describe this pen-and-ink view? The ancients used their own pen and ink, how did they appreciate or "read" the brush and ink in the painting?
Wang: As I mentioned earlier, pen and ink or ink are drawn by Chinese brushes, and with infinite diversity, it naturally increases its importance in history. If you use a pencil or a stylus all the time, you can only draw the same lines forever, so what's the use? Of course, the consciousness of pen and ink is not developed in the West, so I say that the first thing to do with Chinese painting is to acknowledge this basic difference. Chinese by the Time of the Tang Dynasty, he was keenly aware of the unlimited potential of pen and ink art. If you don't look at the development of a painter's basic expressive potential (that is, through brush and ink), then you can't see the essence of Chinese painting. Not to mention calligraphy.
Xu: So, should we think of the brush and ink in Chinese painting as a kind of chemography? Is this a kind of "looking" specialty of the Chinese through pen and ink?
Wang: Yes, yes, yes, but it is not appropriate to say so. I think that pen and ink are like human voices, they have their own characteristics, but they are not similar to each other. People aren't trained on handwriting tests, but it's strange how others can differentiate by a few strokes. For laymen, the strokes are the same, but for me, the pen and ink show a personal voice. The brush and ink in Chinese painting are like trained sounds, so they not only have a sound, but also have a special mode of expression. Each painter has his own special way of using the pen to draw their dots and lines, such as phidding, axe splitting, and so on. If you just make a sound, it's like making a mark with a pen, but when you sing, it becomes regular like painting, the personality is revealed, and the personal style is easy to identify, whether it is singing or painting.
【Qing】Jinnong's "Xuancao" silk ink
40.9cm x 30.5cm
Xu: According to you, can the brush and ink of a first-class painter be easily identified?
KING: Exactly. There are very few first-class singers in the world, and they can be compared with the few painters who have superior brush and ink. The better the singer, the easier it is to recognize his voice and the less likely it is to be imitated. Similarly, the more exquisite the painter's brush and ink, the less likely it is to be faked. Chinese pen and ink is like sound training, which must go through a lot of practice and take a lot of work to reach the point of proficiency.
Xu: As far as I know, whether it is Chinese opera or Western opera lovers, they go to the theater to listen to the singer's voice, not to "see the story".
KING: That's what I mean. Many Western paintings, such as drawing outlines with lines to explain an object or situation, are like drama. Western painting was like drama before Impressionism, while Chinese painting was like opera, and sound was the main factor at this time. In the former (drama), the actor's voice is not the most important, what is important is the development of the play, and in painting it shows the form, while the latter (opera) - Chinese painting - the singer is just as important as the plot. The qualities of sound (i.e. pen and ink) are important, and so is the expression of the story. As you said, it's the same in China, where people listen to the voice of the singer. In the West, people listen to Enrico Caruso in droves; in Shanghai, people go to listen to plays, and they don't care what kind of play it is, because it is Mei Lanfang who sings it.
Xu: They all have a lot of imitators, learning the use of their voices...
KING: Yes, but there is no second Carosu, and there is no second Mei Lanfang. The best young artists have new, great names of their own. Sounds, especially trained in traditional methods, are not just singing dramas, but often learn the singing methods of famous singers, and I think this can also be analogous to the brush and ink in Chinese painting. Basically, the composition of performing arts in Chinese painting is much greater than that of creating art.
Xu: Now can you talk about what are the criteria for distinguishing a person's voice and pen and ink?
Wang: First of all, you need to understand what is good pen and ink. You can't just take a sample of so-called good ink and look for similar ink in other works (like a seal). When you hear a voice, also understand what makes it good and what makes it bad. What qualities do we ask of singers? His rounded tone, the way he breathes and the natural comfort of his phrases are all what we ask for. To understand Chinese painting, you must know good standards, and not just be satisfied with distinguishing between different brush strokes and wrinkles. The strokes are like sentences forming a pattern, and what we are talking about now is the inner quality, that is, you have to be familiar with the personal brush and ink of each artist, they use the pen in particular, and each painter has his own brushwork. You have to look at the painting more, the training of the eyes depends on the depth of visual experience, and you must pay special attention to pen and ink. Finally, if you want to really grasp the true meaning of pen and ink, you need to experiment with the pen yourself. Why can I recognize Ni Zhan's work by only looking at the corner he painted? Because I've become obsessed with his paintings and have practiced them hundreds of times, I'm familiar with every twist of his wrist, the increase or decrease in wrist strength, and so on.
【Yuan】 Ni Zhan's "Zizhi Mountain Room Map" ink on paper
80.5cm x 34.8cm Collection of the National Palace Museum, Taipei
Xu: Isn't this kind of practice making fakes?
Wang: No, traditional books and Western scholars may insist that Chinese painting is just "copying the ancients" or "constantly repeating what someone has done", but in fact, what we find precious is the fresh ingredient and personal contribution added to the painting, and this fresh ingredient is not vulgar and unfounded, but a kind of experience that contains the past. Take Wang Shimin as an example, he always said that he used Huang Gongwang's method to paint, but when you see his paintings, you can know that the two are actually different. There may be many similarities in the use of pens and methods on the surface, but the characteristics are different. If Wang Shimin had imitated Huang Gongwang without any creativity and not contributed at all, he would not have received such a high evaluation. You must understand the background of Chinese antiquity, which is a kind of respect for traditional Confucianism.
Xu: In short, in Chinese painting, pen and ink are like the voices of trained singers, and we learn to recognize and appreciate them by becoming familiar with their unique usages and the operation of their wrists. You also said that although all artists are imitating the masters of the previous generation and learning the brushwork of their predecessors, they will never get the essence and expression of the original work. Each new artist eventually develops his own pen and ink style, so we have to learn to understand the penmanship and the more difficult use of the pen.
KING: That's roughly it.
(Wang Jiqian is a famous collector and connoisseur.) This article is excerpted from Xu Xiaohu's "Painting Quotations: Listening to Wang Jiqian talk about the brush and ink of Chinese calligraphy and painting", Guangxi Normal University Publishing House, September 2020)
Zheng Weibin, editor-in-chief of Chinese Painting Weekly
This article is selected from the T04 edition of Culture and Art Newspaper on March 19, 2022