Pipa line diagram axis (Ming) Guo Xue
Bai Ju's renamed "Pipa Line" is a favorite subject of ancient painters. Among the main categories of characters, the Palace Museum's collection of "Pipa Line Diagram Axis" (above) is the most famous.
Its author was Guo Xu (1456-1532), a native of Jiangxi. He lived slightly later than Shen Zhou (1427-1509) and slightly earlier than Wen Zhengming (1470-1559), just in line with the first generation of the Wumen School. However, the prevailing cultural atmosphere and values in each region are very different, and the path he chose to learn painting is obviously very different. Moreover, if we go back to the time and space of the Ming Dynasty to observe, then he has also gained a high degree of recognition, at least not inferior to the wu school's colleagues. Most of the current accounts of Guo Xu's life experience are derived from the biographies made by his fellow villager Chen Changji: he did not embark on the road of seeking fame, but traveled around, increased his painting skills, served in the court during the Hongzhi years, and later survived the rebellion of Zhu Chenhao, the king of Ning.
Guo Xu in the biography declares that the source of painting lies in the real mountains and real waters, or in other words, in the actual visual experience of people. In contrast, the pattern of "spectrum" is low-level and not worth referencing. His artistic practice includes works intertwined with poetry and painting, as well as spiritual themes such as "holding the knee and breaking the valley".
Many years ago, scholars have pointed out that the painters of the Zhejiang school and the Jiangxia school in the broad sense are mostly from the Taoist popular areas of northern Fujian, eastern Gandong, and southern Anhui, often using "a certain immortal" as a name, and their styles are somewhat close to each other, among which the leaders such as Wu Wei (1459-1508) have also received royal patronage because the emperor believed in Taoism. Guo Xue, who calls himself a "Qing Crazy Daoist", really should also belong to this group. However, although biographies can convey some basic facts, after all, they often have a legendary meaning of a set of personalities, and should not be gullible. Is "Pipa Line Diagram Axis" really nothing to rely on?
Pipa Beauty Figure (Ming) Wu Wei
This work from the Indianapolis Museum of Art (above) may surprise the audience. The woman holding the pipa is the same as the xunyang merchant woman's posture in Guo Xue's pen, even the streamers on the body and the direction of the lute's neck are roughly the same, and the sharp square folds of the lines are close, only the details are different. These details include hairstyles, patterns of clothing and lute sacs, and local movements in the arms of the lute. However, when discussing the overall image, it is necessary to put aside the branches for the time being, and it is difficult to admit that this large area of shape seems to be difficult to be coincidental. If we happen to know that guo xu's biography also has "Shi Jiangxia Wuwei, Beihai Du Yan, Gu Su Shen Zhouju named after paintings, and if we don't hesitate to extend our necks and wish to give them to each other", we can vaguely feel that Guo Xu is not alone and wandering and creating. Leaving aside the foam of compliments, we can understand the essence of this statement: he has many communications with famous people at the same time.
He and Wu Weisheng are similar in age, have the same beliefs, and have a lot of overlapping styles, and the two must have shared a lot of visual experience, which is not the only example. "Enjoy" or "not enjoy", out of individual choice and identity; who comes first, bright and honest or sneaky, there is no need to carve a boat. Because no one knows whether before the two of them, the theme of the pipa lady had become popular; whether the fanbook of this image had spread on a small scale.
In short, if it is said that the "Pipa Line Scroll" is purely from the author's intention, it is a misunderstanding of the art of painting. Just as the poet never works under a blank canopy, but always uses his clever hand to capture the previous starlight; the painter certainly does not make a fool of himself on a new subject, but knows the technique of moving flowers and trees and using force to beat it — and the subject is not necessarily as new as we suspect. Historical materials are difficult to obtain, and it is true that it is impossible to verify who Wu Wei and Guo Xu are "original" and who is "plagiarized"; but once we realize that the process of copying first and then changing is originally in the basic production mode of painting, we can think that infatuation with innovation is the obsession of our contemporary people, and we cannot always insist on describing, imagining, or even praising them.
And let go of the beautiful imagination of literary and artistic life, and temporarily become a city servant who calculates merit and profit, to discuss the difference between painting and poetry. In ancient China, there were few successful "professional poets", and it was common for readers to learn and excel, and those who could not learn were to be staff, teachers, doctors, landlords or farmers, and at the same time "in the name of poetry". It is true that poetry often brings to the poet a name, which over time translates into incalculable benefits. But there are some painters who really make a living only from their skills. In this case, each painting must be exchanged for silver money to live a life, and then it will be transformed into a long-term supporting proprietor, or a well-known reputation, so that the producers can have food and clothing. I think that when discussing poetry, it is best to focus on the writing side first, admitting that it can only be a record of life, rather than always shaking the spirit of the poet and caring about the potential "majority of readers". When discussing painting, we should think about it according to the situation, to see whether it is more inclined to the creation of the undressing plate, or more facing the audience, more like a commodity.
The so-called "spectrum" may be defined as a simple image or structure. It must help to replicate and spread. Even if the mouth dislikes it is not high, the painter's hands and brain have always been honest, more or less capitalized. In the pre-mechanical era, reproduction must not be precise, leaving many loose gaps. Scholars have already noticed this when discussing the collective counterfeiting of Suzhou workshops, and have put forward a wonderful speculation: on the same product line, different configurations of goods can be selected by customers. Colorful, fine pattern, may be a little more expensive; slightly image, not rigorous, probably slightly lower the price. In this way, those gaps become usable space. In other words, you can be "frugal and frugal" as much as possible. Wu Wei and Guo Xu both belong to the kind of people who make a living from their skills, and discussing their choices should take this hypothesis into account. But that's not all. Why did Guo Xu choose these ornaments instead of others?
Neither painter's woman can be considered realistic. Teacher Yang Zhishui taught me: Ming Dynasty women wear hair masks, high buns are not common, such hairstyles are generally from the late painters for the early ancient female image of the stereotype creation. However, the one painted by Guo Xu has some plausible "Tuanqiao Flowers" in the clothing pattern, which is close to the Tang Style and far from the Ming Style. Although the so-called Tang Yun is also more imaginative and less solid. From this point of view, Wu Wei hastily left blank because he did not need to hint at which dynasty and which generation the person in the painting came from; and when Guo Xue added his pen, he may have a vague intention in his heart to make people believe that "she" came from the Tang Dynasty.
Discussing painting is always difficult because of the number of dimensions. Purely to win the price, or to bury the intention from the subtle, is a kind of extreme assumption, and the actual situation is often between multiple possibilities. Fortunately, even if all this analysis cannot be confirmed, there are ways to show that Guo Xu is not completely lazy - the originality of "not always online", and quietly pokes his head out here. Please carefully compare the looks of the two women. The one in Wu Wei's pen just didn't smile, and the corners of his mouth were still slightly upward. She can be thousands of nameless women who are good at playing the lute. But the one in Guo Xue's pen, the corners of his mouth have been pulled downwards, he almost didn't cry out, this must be the pipa girl at the head of the Xunyang River, touching the past, and feeling lonely.
Author: Lu Beirong
Editors: Andy, Qian Yutong
Editor-in-Charge: Shu Ming
*Wenhui exclusive manuscript, please indicate the source when reprinting.