"Drama Kakuda Kawatu", Lingchuan Shixuan
"Half-Faced Beauty Picture", Lingchuan Shixuan ◎ Omura West Cliff
Knock on the blackboard
Some people have abandoned Youbeibei and taken Shixuan as the originator of ukiyo-e, and we believe that the reason is that the personal life of Youbei is not very clear, and the second is that the vast majority of ukiyo-e paintings that have survived to future generations are woodblock prints from the time of Shixuan.
As a key event of the 2022 China-Japan Cultural and Art Exchange Season, the "Edo Qiyi Song - Ukiyo-e Exhibition" was held from March 26 to June 5 at the China Millennium Monument in Beijing. Ukiyo-e is a woodblock print that was popular in japan during the Edo period, with a wide range of themes, intuitively recording the secular situation at that time. The exhibition selects 140 groups of ukiyo-e classics, of which more than 70 precious ukiyo-e works are debuted in China.
For lovers who want to understand ukiyo-e, it is recommended to read the "History of the Ukiyo-e Genre" co-authored by Omura Nishiya and Shiichi Tajima, which introduces the origin and development of Japanese ukiyo-e in 18 chapters, arranged in chronological order of the rise of 21 styles of genres, and at the same time, in each genre, according to the descending order of the famous artists' birth years, they introduce their teacher-inheritance relationship and their respective artistic styles one by one, drawing a large and clear ukiyo-e genealogy for us, correcting our previous one-sided understanding that "ukiyo-e is equivalent to Nishiki-e". The following is excerpted from the "History of the Ukiyo-e Genre" published by China Pictorial Publishing House, which has been partially deleted due to its long length.
Although Iwasa and Hyobei were the well-deserved originators of ukiyo-e, at that time, the difference between the so-called ukiyo-e and other art types was not clear, and even if the general painter did not leave a model, he would often create ukiyo-e out of a playful mentality, and there was no one who took ukiyo-e creation as a profession.
This is not the case with Lingchuan Shixuan, who prides himself on being a Japanese painter and Yamato painter and flaunts ukiyo-e as a major genre.
On the one hand, as opposed to the tousa school's active figure paintings, he specializes in Ichii customs; on the other hand, unlike the Chinese paintings of the Kano school, he makes it clear that he is mainly Japanese characters.
His self-confidence and courage in resolutely opposing the two major schools of painting are even more victorious and guarded. It can be said that the ukiyo-e banner became bright from this time.
Lingchuan Shibu came to Edo in his prime, inherited his father's business to engage in embroidery, and gradually became a master painter by depicting embroidery patterns, and finally abandoned his profession and specialized in ukiyo-e painting, and eventually became a master.
The popularity of his works at that time can be seen from the following: the haiku collection "Virtual Chestnut" published in 1683 by Tenwa San,000 includes the phrase "This wind resembles Lingchuan"; in the essay on Ying Yidi's self-portrait, it is recorded that he wanted to surpass Iwasa and Lingchuan when he was young; in addition, a pamphlet at that time, "Female Daimyo Tenzen-neng", mentioned that some people had a fascination with The characters in Lingchuan's paintings; and in the Sezhiju, it is also said that Lingchuan's artistic skills were wonderful. All this shows the popularity of Lingchuan at that time.
The reason why Shi Xuan's style of work is inferior to that of Youbingwei is of course because he was born in a family of embroidery workers, and he was already inferior and first-class in his birth, so the objects of his works are naturally limited to inferior society and have to cater to the hobbies of inferior society; but it is also related to the fact that Shi Xuan's era is different from that of Youbingwei.
In the years of Zhenxiang and Yuan Lu, the taiping was long,the literature and art gradually flourished, and the world style finally changed. At that time, Sinology was no longer limited to the preaching of Gang Lun Zheng Dao, and the way of poetry emerged from Arai Shirai, Gion Nanhai, and Mushroom Garden. Matsuo Basho's harmonic appearance is the world's response, Chao Linzi shows an unprecedented genius in opera, and Ihara Nishizuru and Qishuo are the first to penetrate the subtleties of human feelings in the novel.
Although female Kabuki and Wakatsu Kabuki were banned, drama became more popular with the emergence of famous people such as Kansaburo Nakamura (first generation), Gerikuro, Sakata Fujishiro (first generation), and Ichikawa Tuanjuro (first generation). People's living customs are becoming more and more luxurious, and the clothes and dresses during flower viewing outings are fierce, and some people will not hesitate to spend thousands of dollars in order to be able to spend money in the spring supper in Yoshihara (Hanayanagi Street).
It can be seen that at that time, regardless of Hou Boshishu, they all took the theater and the land of flowers and willows as the center of their entertainment activities, which was the most significant feature of the world situation in the Yuan Lu period.
The works of Shi Xuan, who are specially aimed at the creation of current customs and are good for the world, can be described as a mirror reflecting the world style at that time, and their characters are delicate and charming, and they are higher than the guards.
The paintings of the guards were the favorites of a small number of people in high society, and the woodblocking technology was not yet widespread at that time, so his works were not disseminated in the form of prints.
As published books became popular, publishers were not satisfied with adding illustrations only to books, and by the time of The Extension and Tenwa periods, there were already picture books with paintings as the main content, and there were even single prints, the so-called "one painting", which was the predecessor of the later Edo period. Since then, printmaking has become more and more the mainstream way of disseminating ukiyo-e, so much so that it eventually becomes indistinguishable from nishiki-e.
According to legend, the publication of these one-piece prints and picture books mainly began in the Shixuan period, and it seems that the use of prints at that time was to expand the audience for fine art works. Shi Xuan's works are mainly prints, which is extremely suitable for the style of his works.
Some people have abandoned Youbeibei and taken Shixuan as the originator of ukiyo-e, and we believe that the reason is that the personal life of Youbei is not very clear, and the second is that the vast majority of ukiyo-e paintings that have survived to future generations are woodblock prints from the time of Shixuan.
The teacher's propaganda skills are free and changeable, and the works are extremely popular, so there are many works that have been preserved to this day. Throughout these works, its pen is sharp and light, from the overall layout to the posture of individual characters, all of them are unbelieving and hand-picked, depicted vividly, without any trace of deliberate contrivance, which can be described as easy. The color deliberately does not use strong colors, which looks quite fresh and bright.
However, Shi Xuan is not blindly obsessed with lightness, but can also be a solemn and thick masterpiece, and "Half-Faced Beauty" is a good example.
None of its strokes are arbitrary, and the pen is extremely meticulous, and the portrayal of the folds of the clothes has reached a degree that cannot be added or subtracted, and it has been refined. As for the ingenuity of the texture and the brilliance of the color matching, it can be described as an artist' work. Judging from its "Youzhu", it is a work in the late years.