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In the past two decades, with people's love for Song Dynasty culture, the repertoire inspired by Song paintings has emerged one after another. In the movie, "No. 1 in the World" directed by Hu Jinquan in 1983 and "Night Banquet" directed by Feng Xiaogang in 2006 are both based on the characters in "Han Xizai's Night Banquet".
On Chinese New Year's Eve 2022, the dance poetry drama "Only This Green", inspired by the famous monument "A Thousand Miles of Rivers and Mountains" by King Ximeng of the Northern Song Dynasty, became popular on the stage of the Spring Festival Gala, which shows that the enduring charm of Song painting and Song Dynasty culture can still inspire the creation of various art forms after a thousand years. These excellent repertoire have enabled people to have a deeper understanding and study of Song painting.
One
In the case of "A Thousand Miles of Rivers and Mountains" expressed in "Only This Green", when people first see this picture, they are often attracted by the magnificent green colors, endless peaks and vast rivers and lakes. However, when you look closely at this picture, you will immediately find that there are countless wonderful "microcosms" in this picture: there are roads connecting the front and back between the undulating mountains, pavilions and thatched cottages at the foot of the mountains, long bridges connecting the two banks on the vast river, and boats shuttling non-stop, a large number of delicate and delicate figures distributed in the forest, on the shore, in the boat, in the house... The vastness of the river and the vastness of the sky and the loneliness of the world and the delicate and exquisite, echoing points form a great sense of contrast, which can be said to be as subtle and vast as possible in one picture.
Wang Ximeng "A Thousand Miles of Rivers and Mountains"
In fact, in real life, it is difficult to see the details of the mountains from such a distance. The visual effect of myopia in this picture can only be achieved by painting. Painting, especially the landscape painting of the Song Dynasty, paid special attention to various details and elements, that is, the expression of point scenes. If we subdivide these scenes, it is not difficult to find that there are various figures, such as Coats, woodcutters, fishermen, farmers, ladies, and child servants, and various buildings, such as pavilions, pavilions, courtyards, water pavilions, bridges, in addition to animals and plants, such as mandarin ducks and wild dogs by the water, buffaloes in the fields, donkeys and horses led by pedestrians, grasses and wild flowers in the forest, and even the sun and moon that express the morning and dusk, and so on. These rich point-of-view elements create a microcosm of the scenes in the macrocosm. Among them, two characteristics of Song Dynasty painters are revealed:
First, the painters of the Song Dynasty paid attention to the meticulous observation of life, so the brushwork was full of fresh vitality. For example, the buildings in "A Thousand Miles of Rivers and Mountains" are depicted delicately and realistically, and Mr. Fu Xinian's "Architecture of the Northern Song Dynasty in Wang Ximeng<千里江山图>" relies on the buildings depicted in this picture to study the structural characteristics of the residential houses of the Northern Song Dynasty. This not only reflects the realism of painting at that time, but also reflects the painter's observation of life. Another example is the Southern Tang Dynasty Dong Yuan's "Xiajing Mountain Pass to be Crossed", under the endless mountain forest, there is a fisherman who is walking barefoot on the water's edge with a fishing net. He walked barefoot on the muddy road with only rolled up white trousers, his legs exposed, as if he had just come ashore from the water. Its limbs are slender, the shape is vivid, almost directly with ochre stained face and body without contouring, the painting method is simple and primitive, the people in the fields are alive and active on the paper, although more than a thousand years and make people see the real scene.
Wang Ximeng "A Thousand Miles of Rivers and Mountains"
Dong Yuan "Xiajing Mountain Pass to be crossed"
Second, it reflects the multi-ability of the painters of the Song Dynasty, who pretended to be familiar with various types of point scenes. Judging from the surviving object of "A Thousand Miles of Rivers and Mountains", although Wang Ximeng is a young painter, in addition to the painting methods of landscapes, trees and rocks themselves, he has also mastered various painting methods of architecture, boats, and people, and the depiction is extremely exquisite. For example, Huang Zhen, the most important flower and bird painter in the early Song Dynasty, was not only good at painting flowers and birds, but also painted landscapes, figures and even dragon water. "Xuanhe Painting" called it "mountain flowers and wild grasses, ghostly birds and beasts, rivers and islands on the banks of streams, and ancient fishing boats, all of which are exquisite". In other words, his subjects are diverse and his means are rich. Among them, "mountain flowers and wild grasses" and "fishing boat Gucha" and the like obviously belong to the point scene. Other painters such as Dong Yuan, Huang Juhuan, Yi Yuanji, Li Gonglin and other painters of the Northern Song Dynasty also dabbled in many disciplines. After training in a variety of painting disciplines, they can naturally come to the point scenery in the landscape at their fingertips.
Two
So, why did the Song people attach so much importance to the scene, and what is the significance of the scene in the Song people's landscape?
The most significant point is that the point scene gives the originally static picture a sense of plot and interest. For example, in Fan Kuan's "Traveling in the Mountains and Streams", two travelers drive donkeys to walk under the mountains and forests; in Wang Xu's "Little Snow in a Fishing Village", several fishermen work together to cast nets to catch fish; in Li Di's "Returning to the Pasture in the Snow", the farmer in his coat and ride a bull and slowly return, and Liu Songnian's "Four Scenic Landscapes" The child servant waiting for the door with a curtain... Obviously, these character activities give the otherwise static picture a sense of scene and story, and thus make it interesting.
Other types of point scenery also have similar functions, such as the village houses, pavilions, bridges and roads in the paintings, which are essentially related to human activities and reflect people's clothing, food, housing and transportation; for example, the deer in the Five Dynasties' "Autumn Forest Group of Deer Picture" and "Danfeng Yo Deer Picture", and Zhao Shilei's "Xiangxiang Small Scene" wild birds and gulls and herons, which use the animals in the mountains and rivers to express the sense of movement and plot, which are also full of interest; and even the flowers and trees in the courtyard in Liu Songnian's "Four Landscapes", Zhao Lingsu's "Huzhuang Qingxia Picture" Although these flowers and wild grasses on the banks of the mountains and rivers are plants, they also add a variety of rich details to the picture, making the picture produce a deep and quiet feeling.
Fan Kuan's Journey to the Mountains and Streams
Anonymous "Autumn Forest Deer Picture"
Wang Xu's "Little Snow in a Fishing Village"
Zhao Shilei "Small Scene of Xiangxiang"
More importantly, macroscopic abstract painting themes often need to rely on microcosmic concrete point scenes to express. In other words, it is not only the "view" that points to the scenic spots, but also the "questions". For example, the title of the painting shows that it is a summer scene and a plot to be crossed, and the two together form the theme of this picture. In his specific creations, the painter fitted this theme by depicting the Coats waiting to be crossed, the boats passing through the rivers and lakes, and the fisherman returning from fishing naked.
Looking at the bibliographic part at the back of the "Xuanhe Painting", this feature can also be found, such as the popular theme of the four seasons in the Song Dynasty, that is, spring, summer, autumn, and winter combined group paintings. There are popular themes in each season, such as winter is often related to fishing, so Zhao Gan's "The First Snow of the River", Wang Xu's "Little Snow in the Fishing Village", and Zhao Ji's "Snow River Returning to the Ground" all have the plot of casting nets to catch fish. Han Zhuo's "The Complete Works of Mountains and Rivers: On the Scenery of the Four Seasons of the Scenery of the Four Seasons of the Guancheng Temple, the View of the Mountain, the Boat and the Boat", Zhongyun "The scenery of the four seasons must be clear about physics and personnel", and the characters related to the four seasons are pointed out in different categories, such as the spring scenery is suitable for painting the green and the green, the summer scene is suitable for painting the cool and wading, the autumn scene is suitable for painting the water and the raccoon, and the winter scene is suitable for painting the hearth and snow hunting. It can be seen that, from practice to theory, the Song people have made a detailed classification of the dots and themes.
From the perspective of art history research, it can also be refuted that the point scene is closely related to the theme. Situ Ke and Ban Zonghua once discussed the popular theme of "Eight Views of Xiaoxiang" in the Song Dynasty, and found that "Jiangtian Dusk Snow", "Mountain City Qinglan", "Xiaoxiang Night Rain", "Yansi Evening Bell", "Yuanpu Guifan", "Fishing Village Sunset", "Dongting Autumn Moon" and "Pingsha Falling Geese" all have fixed point scene combinations, such as "Mountain City Qinglan" is "Mountain City Gathering in the mountainside, there is a bridge on one side of the mountain, and there is a path on the other side. The characters in the scene appear on the village lanes, small bridges, and mountain paths", that is, the combination of mountain markets, bridges, paths, and characters has almost become a kind of grid and is fixed. In this way, several surviving single paintings were introduced, such as Yan Ciyu's "Landscape Map", which should be the "Mountain City Qinglan Picture" in the "Eight Views of Xiaoxiang" set of paintings. His research idea is to rely on the fixed combination of dots and scenes to reason about the subject matter of the painting.
Xia Xiang《山市晴岚图》
Yan Ciyu "Landscape Map"
Further, we can also find that paintings with poetic intent with significant themes and literary allusions flourished in the Song Dynasty. This echoes the wonderful scenes in the Song Dynasty paintings. The essence of this is precisely because compared with the paintings of the Yuan, Ming and Qing dynasties, the Song people paid special attention to the management of the subject of painting. Guo Si specially listed the "meaning of painting" in "The Elegance of Forests and Springs", saying that "Si Yin Ji Xianzi (Guo Xi) tasted the ancient Qing beautiful sentences that originated from Jia Si and can be painted", and listed a large number of poems suitable for painting. Deng Chun's "Painting Succession" records that the examination questions of the Northern Song Dynasty Painting Academy take one or two more lines of poetry, and require the painter to depict the picture. Among the test questions are "no one crosses the wild water, the lonely boat is crossed", others all draw empty boats tied to the shore, and the first place is surprisingly successful, depicting a boat lying on the stern of the boat, and a lonely flute, which is intended to show "no boatless people, no pedestrians". Obviously, how to draw poems into pictures and how to manage abstract painting topics into concrete compositions requires careful thinking and repeated tempering by painters, and point scenes are an indispensable and important element for building poetry and creating stories. Coupled with the in-depth observation and exquisite depiction of life by the painters of the Song Dynasty, poetry and reality are integrated into one picture, and truth is nurtured in romance.
Three
On the other hand, since the Yuan Dynasty, the theme of painting and the creation of point scenes have gradually weakened, and this road has developed to the extreme of the "Four Kings" of the Qing Dynasty and its end. Its main characteristics are: 1. The brush and ink technique is the core element of painting; 2. The shape is simplified, and the rules and regulations are displayed and the pattern is gradually stylized without new ideas; 3. The construction of the theme of the painting is no longer emphasized; 4. The point scene is ignored, and the picture lacks a sense of plot and interest. In this regard, Chen Duxiu published an article entitled "Art Revolution - A Reply to Lu Cheng" in the New Youth in 1918, proposing that "if you want to improve Chinese painting, you must first reform the life of Wang Hua".
In the past, we often put forward suggestions for improvement from the perspective of the painting method itself, such as Chen Duxiu, who said, "We must not adopt the spirit of Western painting realism... Painters must also use realism in order to be able to give full play to their genius, paint their own paintings, and not fall into the trap of the ancients. However, there is nothing inherently wrong with the emphasis of the Four Kings on the tempering of brush and ink lines, which is the core of what distinguishes Chinese painting from other genres. And even as Chen Duxiu said, strengthening the realism of Chinese painting may not achieve good results, as exemplified by Lang Shining's nondescript paintings that combine Chinese and Western cultures. In essence, the real drawback of the "Four Kings" lies in the uniformity of the composition, which is lifeless. In fact, this malaise is only the external appearance reflected by art, and the deeper reason lies in the inner artistic pursuit that ignores the theme and is detached from life. Chen Duxiu actually observed this, pointing out that "there are no less than 200 Wang paintings in my family's collection and seen, and less than one-tenth of them contain 'painting titles'." It can be said that the creation of the theme of the picture, the expression of the sense of plot, and the pursuit of interest are exactly what the "Four Kings" are short and what the Song people are good at. Only by knowing the shortcomings and strengths can we find the right direction, or develop our strengths and avoid our weaknesses, or learn from our strengths to make up for our weaknesses.
In fact, it goes without saying that the vivid and interesting microcosm of the Song people's paintings is lacking in the landscapes of the "Four Kings", and even Shi Tao, who is a little later than the "Four Kings", has realized this and strives for novelty and interest in his own creations. Lu Yanshao proposed at the beginning of "Discussion on Landscape Painting" that "the benefits of Shi Tao can not follow the trend and come up with new ideas under the condition that the antique painting method of the Four Kings envelops the entire painting world." In particular, his sketches are full of ingenuity." This kind of strangeness and ingenuity is reflected in the picture, which is a microcosm composed of point scenes, such as the scene of dozens of slender men pulling boats in the "Qingxiang Calligraphy and Painting Manuscript", painted with the inscription "Return to the empty grain ship to fight for the sky, singing through the green clouds and harmony"; and for example, in the "Yellow Mountain Eight Victories", the three tourists bathing in the soup pool are naked, cheering, and the inscription is painted "If the tourists stay in the Xiangfu Temple, go to the soup pool to wash it first." The dust roots of the hundred calamities are washed away, so that they can reach the peak and chant poetry". Poems and paintings are combined to point out the theme. It is conceivable that these interesting themes and vivid scenes originate from Shi Tao's meticulous observation and reflection on life. Although his painting style and painting method are completely different from those of Song painting, his creation of themes, emphasis on point scenes, and pursuit of plot and interest in painting are all in line with the spirit of Song painting. This is also one of the reasons why many modern masters such as Zhang Daqian, Fu Baoshi, and Lu Yanshao have taught him either masters or secret studies.
Shi Tao "Eight Victories of Yellow Mountain"
For a long time, we have made many discussions around such issues as Song and Yuan Dynasty or Ming and Qing Dynasties, Southern Sect or Northern Sect, connoisseur or Erjia, realism or freehand, integration of China and the West or adherence to tradition. In other words, it is an observation from the salient aspects of landscape painting, such as brushwork, modeling, composition, coloring, and even genre and style. However, if we take a deeper look at the painting, we can find that there are some internal aspects that have not been noticed, such as the management of the theme of the painting, the embodiment of the sense of plot and interest of the picture, the thinking on how to integrate real life into the painting, and even how to set off the atmosphere of the picture, how to express the cloudy and sunny days, and so on. The microcosm of the dotted scene is an important means of creating this level. Whether it is creative practice or theoretical research, the study of this level can undoubtedly open up a more novel perspective.
This article was published in Jiefang Daily's October 26, 2023 issue of "Chaohua Weekly"
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