#Summer Creation Contest#The nearly 400 years from the Five Dynasties to the Southern Song Dynasty were the period when masterpieces such as "Han Xizai's Night Banquet Map", "Xishan Travel Map", "A Thousand Miles of Rivers and Mountains" and "Qingming Upper River Map" emerged, and it was also a special and crucial stage in the history of Chinese painting:
More and more painters broke away from the collective creation of temple and palace murals, and frescoes formed a new interactive relationship with scroll paintings; The creation of hanging scrolls and the exploration of the form of hand scrolls have led to far-reaching compositional styles and viewing methods; The increasingly refined sub-discipline of painting implies a further specialization in the practice of painting; The deep involvement of the central and local authorities led to the administrativeization and institutionalization of painting creation, thus forming a comprehensive court painting system that had never appeared in Chinese history. The incubating literati painting played an increasingly important role, and its aesthetic concepts influenced the style of court interest and religious painting, opening the way for it to eventually become the mainstream of Chinese painting.
This book is a new masterpiece of the famous art historian Wu Hong, which continues the writing idea of "Chinese Painting: From Ancient Times to the Tang Dynasty", absorbs the recent research results of archaeological art, focuses on various types of painting works and their media characteristics from the Five Dynasties to the Southern Song Dynasty, pays attention to painting practice and cross-regional exchanges in diverse contexts, and strives to outline a more comprehensive and three-dimensional development context of Chinese painting, and tell new stories of Chinese painting in multiple dimensions.
General
The period covered in this volume—from the Five Dynasties to the Southern Song Dynasty (907-1279)—constitutes the first part of the history of late Chinese painting, and can be said to be the middle of the whole process of Chinese painting. As proposed by the author in "Chinese Painting: From Ancient Times to the Tang Dynasty", the periodization of the history of painting in this series of books is not based on the concept of dynastic history or evolutionary theory, but on the one hand, it is based on the characteristics of painting in different periods, including its function and purpose, medium and vocabulary, as well as the mechanism of creation and circulation; On the other hand, it is also based on the similarities and differences in research evidence and methods. The paintings of each period also contain many clues such as regions, institutions, and the identity of the painter. The overall purpose of this series of books is to understand the face and trend of painting in each era by exploring these characteristics and clues.
Looking at the nearly 400 years from the Five Dynasties to the Southern Song Dynasty from this perspective, it undoubtedly constitutes a special and crucial stage in the history of Chinese painting, whether it is from the position of painting in the social and cultural structure, or from the perspective of specific creative practice and theoretical discourse, it is different from the previous Han and Tang dynasties and the later Yuan, Ming, and Qing dynasties, and at the same time connects these two periods into a process of change and renewal. We can understand the special character of painting in this period through the following aspects.
The first is the change in the structure of painting's history: Chinese painting is no longer confined to a single political system and social structure. While traditional writing divides the history of painting in this period into the divided "Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms" (907-960) and the subsequent establishment of the Northern Song Dynasty (960-1127) and Southern Song Dynasty (1127-1279) according to the dynastic evolution, today's researchers need to look at a broader political and cultural geographical space and more complex temporal clues, considering painting practices and artistic exchanges under multiple regimes. The history of painting needs to tell a diverse and interactive story.
This pluralistic situation began with the division of domains and towns after the middle of the Tang Dynasty, and after the fall of the Tang Dynasty, it became the dominant figure in the history of painting, and lasted for most of the 10th century. Although the unification of the Song Dynasty re-established the orthodoxy of Chinese political history, the dynasty coexisted with several powerful surrounding regimes in both the Northern and Southern Song dynasties, including Liao (907-1125) and Dali (937-1253), established in the early 10th century, and Western Xia (1038-1227) and Jin (1115-1234) in the 11th and 12th centuries. The boundaries of these regimes often included traditional Han cultural regions. They bordered closely with the Song and maintained close exchanges with the Song in culture and art, including the movement of artists and craftsmen, and the spread of artistic styles and styles.
From the development of painting itself, this period witnessed a redefinition of painting. Previous works on the history of painting, especially Zhang Yanyuan's "Records of Famous Paintings of the Past Dynasties" and Zhu Jingxuan's "Catalogue of Famous Paintings of the Tang Dynasty", all prove that mural painting and barrier painting were the main use of early Tang and Sheng Tang painters. Famous painters often had their own workshops and created popular "patterns". This medieval painting mechanism began to disintegrate in the late Tang dynasty: more and more painters broke away from the collective creation of temple and palace murals, and screen paintings and banners were increasingly given the nature of independent works. This trend was revolutionized in the Five Dynasties and early Song Dynasty, and a key reason was that the "hanging shaft" or "vertical shaft" was invented and developed rapidly in the 10th century. Although the murals of the temple were never interrupted and barrier paintings were still mass-produced to decorate palace dwellings, for experimental and creative painters, portable scroll paintings provided them with a more creative platform, stimulating them to constantly invent new compositional styles and methods of expression. The creation of the hanging scroll, in turn, prompted the artist to consciously explore the media characteristics of traditional handscrolls, and in the process created far-reaching new compositions and viewing methods.
As a new stage in the history of Chinese painting, this period witnessed the emergence of systematic painting disciplines, and the refinement of painting disciplines implied the further specialization of painting practice. Although previous painting theorists have long proposed some basic painting themes, such as Gu Kaizhi's "On Painting", which says that "all people who paint are the most difficult, the second landscape, the second dog and horse", Zhang Yanyuan and Zhu Jingxuan also compared the level and difficulty of painting subjects, but they did not use this as the primary criterion for dividing painters and describing the history of painting. For example, "Records of Famous Paintings of the Past Dynasties" lists painters from ancient times to the present based on dynasties, and Zhu Jingxuan divides painters into three products of "god, wonder, and ability" with his artistic achievements. It was only in the early years of the Song Dynasty that Liu Daool (mid-11th century) proposed a clear classification system for painting in the "Supplement to the Famous Paintings of the Five Dynasties" and "Commentary on the Famous Paintings of the Holy Dynasty", with the six gates of figures, landscapes and forests, livestock and beasts, flowers, bamboo and feathers, ghosts and gods, and houses and trees as the first-level structure for constructing the history of painting. It is said that the "Supplement to the Famous Paintings of the Five Dynasties" is a sequel to Hu Jiao's "Guangliang Dynasty Paintings" in the mid-10th century, and although Hu Shu has disappeared, it is likely that this classification and narrative structure has been proposed.
The painting department became more refined in the late Northern Song Dynasty and early Southern Song Dynasty. Emperor Huizong's "Xuanhe Picture Book" divided 231 painters into ten gates: Taoism, Figures, Palaces, Fans, Dragon Fish, Landscapes, Livestock and Beasts, Flowers and Birds, Ink Bamboo, and Vegetables and Fruits. Other works on the history of painting, such as Guo Ruoxu's Picture Zhi and Deng Chun's Painting Succession (both written in the 12th century), use criteria such as era, attainment, and identity, but also use painting as the most basic factor in determining a painter's profession. For example, "Painting Succession" places 219 painters between the seventh year of the Northern Song Dynasty (1074) and the third year of the Southern Song Dynasty (1167) within eight doors: fairy Buddhas, ghosts, and gods, character biographies, landscapes, forests, stones, flowers, bamboo and feathers, animals, insects, fish, houses, wooden boats, vegetables, fruits, herbs, and small scenes. Although the emergence and development of painting is generally regarded as the title of "history of art historiography", it is actually a comprehensive product of painting discourse and painting practice, which on the one hand marks a breakthrough in the concept of art, and on the other hand, it also provides a new foundation for the independent development of landscapes, flowers and birds, ladies and other paintings.
Considering the social and patronage system of painting, as well as the identity and working environment of the painter, the period from the Five Dynasties to the Southern Song Dynasty also witnessed an extremely important change, that is, the increasing involvement of the central court and local authorities in painting creation, and the resulting administrativeization and institutionalization of painting creation. The appointment of professional painters by the court was naturally not a phenomenon that appeared at this time - in the past, the imperial families of various dynasties had brought talents skilled in medicine, divination, astrology, calligraphy, drawing, and other skills into the inner court to serve themselves. For example, in the Tang Dynasty, there was a "painting straight" under the Jixian Hall Academy, which was in charge of books, and its function was gradually expanded from "repairing miscellaneous drawings" to "fengzhao portraits". However, it was only from the 10th century that the emperor gathered a considerable number of first-rate painters in the court, partly because of the political division that led to the flow of painters, and secondly, because rulers with a strong interest in painting strongly supported the art. In this context, two painting centers emerged in Chengdu and Jinling—the capitals of the Former and Former Shu (907-966) and Southern Tang (937-975), respectively. Court painting was further institutionalized during the Song Dynasty, with the emergence of an official institution called the Hanlin Academy of Calligraphy and Painting, and Emperor Huizong (reigned 1100-1126) and then the "School of Painting", "Calligraphy" and the "Hanlin Picture Academy" to attract talented painters throughout the country. Through his direct participation, this emperor combined the creation of paintings in the court with copying and art education, forming a comprehensive court painting system that had never appeared in Chinese history. Although the specific circumstances of the Southern Song Dynasty Painting Academy are unknown in historical texts, a large number of physical evidence shows that court painting had a stronger influence during this period. At this time, almost all of the most famous painters painted for the imperial court, and their status was significantly higher than that of the previous court painters, and some were awarded gold belts or even served as imperial officials. Echoing the system of the Two Song Dynasty, the Liao Dynasty in the north set up the "Hanlin Painting Academy" and "Hanlin Painting to be Decreed" under the Hanlin Courtyard, and then the Jin Dynasty court built the "Sui Ying Si" where the painter served. Even in the far northwest, the rebel military regime in the Dunhuang region set up art academies. Considering these situations in context, we can see that the court painting academy was a common phenomenon of this period, reflecting the shift of the organizational structure of painting from grassroots units such as temples and workshops to high-level administrative institutions.
The establishment of the court painting academy is ostensibly a matter of institutional history, but in fact it is inseparable from the content and style of painting, thus constituting an important aspect of the development of Chinese painting. The greatest feature of court painting is that its prosperity depends on the personal interest and participation of the ruler, and its appearance is directly related to the interest and purpose of the ruler. But on the other hand, the imperial taste was not entirely personal, but also influenced by the political situation and cultural trends of the time. A series of phenomena in court painting during this period—including the "Great Mountain Hall" pattern favored by Emperor Shenzong of Song (reigned 1067-1085), the decorative style promoted by the Huizong Painting Institute, and the strong political themes of Gaozong's (1127-1162) paintings—bear witness to this influence. The study of court painting therefore needs to take into account both the emperor's preferences and the political situation and cultural trends of the time, especially the interaction between court painting and literati painting. This interaction entered people's field of vision during this period, and thus developed into a core thread in the history of Chinese painting.
Although the strictly literati painting tradition was formed after this period, the works and painting theories of the Northern Song to Southern Song Dynasties clearly show the increasingly powerful influence of the literati class in both painting practice and discourse. The "practice" mentioned here includes the emphasis on private painting media, the emphasis on expressing personal thoughts and feelings, the respect for the relationship between "poetry, calligraphy and painting", and the specific painting themes and style pursuits that emerge from it. "Discourse" includes the literati's various writings about painting, such as painting theories, inscriptions, poems, notes, etc., reflecting their aesthetic tastes and values, and they look for pioneers from the past era that conform to their own tastes and values, thus opening the precursor to writing the history of literati painting. The relationship between this trend and court painting is a complex and delicate issue – although the two are often placed in opposing positions at the conceptual level, they are often in concrete and subtle interactions in actual historical developments. Although court painting under the initiative of the emperor determined the mainstream fashion at that time, the incubating literati painting also began to play an increasingly important role, and its aesthetic concepts influenced the style of court interest and religious painting. The occurrence and development of literati painting should therefore not be regarded as a closed phenomenon in literati circles, and one of the basic reasons why it eventually became the mainstream of Chinese painting actually lies in its continuous penetration into other fields.
From the point of view of research materials and methods in the history of painting, this period also has its own uniqueness. Most importantly, for the first time, we have a collection of unique paintings that can be inherited, including originals and early copies, some with credible authors and patrons. However, on the other hand, paintings with clear artist attribution before the Southern Song Dynasty are still rare, and most of the heirloom works have problems such as era, authenticity and authorship, which are the object of long-term debate among calligraphy and painting experts. Information about the painters – including the most famous painters of the time – is also still very limited. Although the history of painting records the names of many painters in this period, as well as the titles and stylistic tendencies of their works, these records are mostly brief descriptions and reviews, and rarely deal with the life experiences and artistic explorations of the painters. This situation makes us reflect on a major tendency in the past writing of painting history, that is, art historians use these brief descriptions to highly summarize painters, condense their artistic creations into a single face, and then use this as the basis for identifying the works handed down. However, the history of Chinese and foreign art tells us that the artistic career of any important painter must be a process of exploration and growth, and the change of his painting theme and technique is a common phenomenon. The high summary of Chinese painters in this period in later documents is mainly the result of the lack of historical evidence, and does not necessarily reflect the overall appearance of the artist.
For these reasons, although writing this period of painting history with the painter as a clue is a long-used method, it actually lacks sufficient basis in both literature and physical objects. Painting historians also tend to find themselves in two dilemmas, either repeating highly generalized traditional texts or engaging in endless debates about limited heirloom works. In response to these questions, this book shifts the basis of historical narrative from "painter" to "work". The works used include two categories, one is archaeological art materials whose authenticity and age are not in question, including paintings excavated in tombs and murals existing in the site; The second is the heirloom paintings accepted by most historians of painting and some early facsimiles from sources. Some famous paintings that do not fall into these two categories do not appear in this book as key historical evidence. In general, due to the limitations of historical materials, the main task of this book is not to trace the intellectual development and artistic trajectories of important painters, but to synthesize the context of Chinese painting in this period through the analysis of paintings, including many anonymous paintings.