□ Iron And Steel
Regarding the montage theory, the famous Russian director and writer Sergei Eisenstein famously said: The pair of two montage shots is not the sum of two numbers, but the product of two numbers. In the essay collection "Reading Paintings", young female writer Hu Yan uses pushing, pulling, cutting, moving, turning, retracting, putting, combining and other lens techniques, and through the superposition of narrative, intersection, repetition, insertion, association, contrast and other montages, the spiritual world of ancient literati painters is explored, so that readers can have a new understanding of the life trajectory and their works of ancient literati painters from different angles in the spatial effect of montage.
The preface to "Reading Paintings", "The Way Literati Paintings Are Opened", was written by Wang Damao, associate professor of the School of Design of Jiangnan University and master tutor. "Night Visit to Calamus Jun" is one of the chapters of "Reading Paintings", and Wang Dameng is the protagonist of the text, Chang Pujun. Hu Yan read Calamus Insignia Jun's Calamus, and Chang Pujun read Hu Yan's ancient literati painters, each interpreting each other's pen and ink as readers, cutting in a montage way, and then pulling back. Chang Pujun wrote a preface to Hu Yan's "Reading Pictures", which is a kind of montage in itself, just like a protagonist in the movie gives a commentary to the movie, in this situation, time and space seem to be rotated, and the viewer's vision has become more three-dimensional. Perhaps, Hu Yan deliberately arranged it this way, deliberately edited it in this way, and deliberately wanted to create a very interesting and unexpected montage effect.
If "Three Nights in Shenzhou", "Mourning and Vengeance", "Baishi Shengxiang", "Winter Heart Writing Bamboo", "Night Visit to Calamus Jun", "Vegetables into Painting", "Fisherman, Fisherman", etc. are regarded as the sub-shots of "Reading Paintings", then the preface is a subtle combination of shots. Tang Yin's "Autumn Wind Fan Diagram", Jin Nong's "Bamboo stone double hook", Dai Jin's "Wind and Rain Return to the Boat", Chen Hongshou's "Yang Sheng'an Hairpin Flower Diagram", Shen Zhou's "Ink Vegetable Diagram", Song Huizong's "Xianglong Stone Diagram"... Each painting illustration in "Reading Paintings" plays a reference role in the emotional interpretation of literati painters, and the illustrations of each painting are accompanied by different painters' expressions of the same painting subject matter and personalized painting language.
"Reading Paintings" is interspersed with many inscriptions of ancient literati paintings, which become a special supplement to montage lenses, or can express the inner monologues of ancient literati painters, or explain the practical significance of painting creation, so to interpret paintings, it is necessary to borrow the key of inscriptions. The quotations of various inscriptions are also the condiments of the language style of Hu Yan's cooking prose collection "Reading Pictures". From a montage point of view, the inscription of the painting is like a bright light in the lens. Here is a group of inscriptions for Qi Baishi's painting of autumn leaves: easy and autumn sounds in front of the window, crickets chirping on the walls of the courtyard. The child asked the grandfather through the window, the autumn leaves of the present dynasty were yesterday and the green; Tang Yin's "Autumn Wind Fan Diagram" inscription poem: Autumn comes to the fan collection, what is the beauty of the heavy sentimentality. Please look at the world in detail, most of them do not chase the heat and cold. Hu Yan believes that the ancient literati enjoyed poetry and were also transformed by poetry. Most of the poems of the ancient literati have individualistic overtones, and the inscriptions of the poems are not only the personality configuration of the literati paintings, but also a means for the literati painters to dry calligraphy and compare literary style, and it is also a unique way for them to show their comprehensive cultivation.
Psychological montage, showing the character's dreams, memories, flashes, hallucinations, reverie, thinking and other spiritual activities. Dreams and memories appear many times in "Reading Paintings", which is also a window for readers to browse the spiritual world of literati painters. Repeating the montage, like the background music of the movie, can be played repeatedly in many scenes to achieve the purpose of rendering the atmosphere, coherent the shots, and deepening the theme. In "Looking for the Eight Monsters of Yangzhou", the names of the eight monsters of Yangzhou appear cross-over, inadvertently creating the effect of repeating the montage.
Cutting in is the technique frequently adopted by Hu Yan in "Reading Paintings". Many witty and calm cuts are also an excellent way for Hu Yan to reflect the malleability, fullness and freedom of prose language. While writing a legend related to Dai Jin's fate, Hu Yan cut into a short story. When writing about the old lotus Chen Hongshou's habit of giving hairpins to men, he unconsciously cut into the story of the "four-phase hairpin flowers" in "Mengxi Pen Talk and Supplementary Pen Talk". After cutting into the "Ruan Xiu Gu Wine Map", it also cuts into the story of Ruan Xiu by the way. Hu Yan has a special affection for the fisherman's father, and after cutting into the painting of the plum blossom Daoist Wu Zhen's "Fisherman's Father", he quickly cut into his father and cut into his father's life of fishing. In "Fisherman's Father", the fisherman who focuses on fishing lets Hu Yan see his elderly father. Without cutting in, there is no free form of prose, and without cutting in, there is no montage effect that "Reading Pictures" cannot give.
Switch for contrast. When the lens is switched, the memory is in the clearest state, and the contrast between the shots at this moment is the strongest. In "Vegetables into paintings", Shen Zhou's "Ink Vegetable Map" is compared with Qi Baishi's "Cabbage"; Shi Tao's vegetables are compared with Jinnong's vegetables; The fisherman's father and Hu Yan's father are compared... From the brush and ink of ancient literati painters to the brush and ink of modern painters, from traditional to modern, from narrative to rational perception, the contrast obtained by switching is exactly the result of the lens montage of "Reading Pictures".
"Reading Paintings" also talks about the creative state, brush and ink style and painting style characteristics of some ancient literati painters. For example, when Qiu Ying painted, he could not hear the drums in both ears, and there were no distractions in his heart, which was similar to meditation. To admire the paintings of Qiu Ying, you must use a magnifying glass. In qi baishi's several large-scale painting exhibitions, it was also equipped with a magnifying glass. Repeated observations of the cricket's antennae, the thin wings of the know and the sharp serrations on the mantis's legs are admirable. For example, Mr. Dongxin's bamboo is written by him one by one, slow-paced, with ups and downs. Every branch and leaf weighed the pen. Pretty sure, like in the inscription. Not afraid to scatter, the situation is bright. Looking at these painting methods, it accurately reflects the different pen and ink characteristics of the ancient literati painters and the painting temperament of one person and one side.
Painting theory belongs to the category of rational montage. Hu Yan, who has studied calligraphy and painting, occasionally intersperses some painting theories with unique insights in "Reading Paintings". For example, such a painting theory: the brush and ink style, rather than actively choosing, is more like listening to the call of the heart, the ingenuity; a painting is an electrocardiogram; philosophy, history, literature, art, the ups and downs of fate, the pitch of heaven and earth, are all between this landscape painting; freehand, is a cloud, a trace of water, a leaf light boat...
Hu Yan loves classical Chinese art, but I am not sure where Hu Yan's writing is going, and I don't know if she will also write a collection of essays interpreting chinese calligraphy works throughout the ages. Judging from the montage-style story lens presentation, the writing of "Reading Pictures" is very successful and meaningful. At the end of the preface to "Reading Paintings", there is such a sentence that Hu Yan is the communicator of the literati's emotions, and I believe that her transmission of the literati's emotions will continue and will not stop.
Qinghai Daily (April 22, 2022, 8th Edition: Supplement)