Last year, the Chinese art market appeared Fu Baoshi's golden slope figure painting masterpieces "Dongpo Kasak" and "Spring Light", which are exciting! In difficult times, these great works can always soothe people's hearts and inspire people to move forward. The new willows are blowing, the spring swallows are returning, and we are happy to meet Fu Baoshi's simultaneous masterpiece "West Garden Collection".
Spiritual home, ideal home
Fu Baoshi's Reading of the West Garden Yajitu
In the early years of Emperor Yuanfeng of the Song Dynasty, Wang Yi, a vassal of Tuoma Duwei, was an elegant and fond of calligraphy and painting, and invited Su Shi, Su Rui, Huang Tingjian, Mi Fu, Cai Zhao, Li Zhiyi, Li Gonglin, Chao Shuzhi, Zhang Qi, Qin Guan, Liu Jing, Chen Jingyuan, Wang Qinchen, Zheng Jiahui, Master Yuantong, and others to visit the garden for a banquet, and to write poems, to learn ancient inscriptions, to play the piano, to talk about Zen and Tao... Leisurely and unsophisticated, like a paradise!
Collection of the Nelson Atkins Art Museum, Southern Song Dynasty, Ma Yuan's "West Garden" Volume (Partial)
Later, Li Gonglin, a participant in the West Garden Collection, carefully drew the "West Garden Collection Map" as a memorial, while Mi Fu, who was also a participant, wrote the "West Garden Art Collection Map" to do the same thing. For thousands of years, the "West Garden Collection" has aroused the infinite feelings of many literati rioters, and Li Gonglin's "West Garden Collection" has become a beautiful talk in the literati circle and the painting circle. Those who are obsessed with painting things are mostly envious of such a grand event with a look of admiration. The "West Garden Yajitu" gradually evolved into a spiritual symbol with a certain symbolic significance, which was repeatedly sketched by later generations of literati in the form of paintings, poems, sculptures, etc., and extended to the Republic of China, and the atmosphere is still the same.
Suzhou Museum Collection Ming Li Shida "West Garden Ya Collection" volume
Shanghai Museum Collection Qing Shitao "West Garden Elegant Collection" volume
Song and Yuan, Monk Fanlong, Zhao Boju, Liu Songnian, Ma Hezhi, Ma Yuan, Qian Xuan, Zhao Mengfu and others all created the "West Garden Elegant Collection". After entering the Ming Dynasty, the style of literati yaji prevailed, and the "West Garden Yajitu" was even more loved, especially the Wudi literati Ya was playful, creating and collecting at the same time, and enjoying it without tiredness. Wen Zhengming, Tang Yin, Qiu Ying, You Qiu, Li Shida, Gu Yide, Chen Hongshou and others have been repeatedly depicted. In the Qing Dynasty, Wang Yun, Shi Tao, Ding Guanpeng, Hua Lun, Hua Guan, Gu Luo, Zhou Kasa, Gu Qiao and others drew the "West Garden YaJi" according to Mi Fu's "Xiyuan Yaji Tu", and the character image and spiritual situation also had a specific schema. Since the 20th century, Zhang Daqian, Chen Shaomei, Xu Yansun and others have continued to show up and present wonderfully. The painters are fascinated by the distant feelings of the "West Garden Collection", and also pin their infinite admiration for the ancient sages and their ardent expectations for the future. Here, there is leisure and relaxation, but also depression and sentimentality. "Xiyuan Yaji" has also become an imagination, a yearning, and an ideal spiritual home for the literati. As a result, "West Garden Yajitu" has not only become a painting art phenomenon, but also a social and cultural phenomenon.
lot409 Fu Baoshi West Garden Collection
Mirror core on paper 54×80 cm
Knowledge: Jia Shen Leap Moon New Yu Fu Baoshi System.
Plutonium Seal: Fu Baoshi Seal
Since 1942, Fu Baoshi has selected "the most inspirable or memorable stories or behaviors", "newer pictures", such as "Lanting Xiuyu", "Dongshan Yizhi", "XiaoYi Earn Lanting", etc., one by one, in the hope of injecting a certain plot and a certain emotion into landscape painting to inject new vitality into stylized traditional landscape painting. At that time, he also examined the literature and history books, thinking of the celebrity demeanor, ruan yin fluttering and poetic sentiment of the West Garden Yaji in that year, trying to run the "West Garden YajiTu", and he could not aspire to it. Over the years, he kept speculating and putting into images.
lot409 Fu Baoshi's West Garden Collection (Partial)
In May and June 1944, Fu Baoshi again created the "West Garden Yajitu", but unlike in the past, he did not have a panoramic reproduction, but only chose the "Lone pine and lush, with Lingxiao tangled on it, red and green in the "Xiyuan YajiTu"... There are turbulent streams flowing in the middle of the stream, water and stones babbling, wind and bamboo swallowing, furnace smoke square, grass and trees are self-pleasing", partial presentation. Depicting 8 yaji figures and 1 waiter, from the close-up view of the column sitting stream to the large stone case in the shade of the forest behind, the pine blossoms, the plantains are lush, the hedges are scented, and the rapids of the clear streams are intermittent, a quiet and clear garden. Along with the rich scenery of the West Garden, the 9 figures are divided into three groups, according to the distance and proximity: the first group of 2 people next to the big stone in the lower right corner, Chen Jingyuan wearing purple clothes, Fuqin sitting on the bank of the stream, Qin Guan Qingyi, standing with his hands in his hands, intoxicated listening; the second group of 4 scribes and 1 waiter under the thick shade in the distance, Li Gonglin next to the stone case, Li Gonglin in the blue clothes exhibition scroll, Chao Wuxian scarf Qingyi sitting and staring, Zhang Qi kneeling and catching stone viewing paintings, Zheng Jing's old Dao towel plain clothes look down from shoulder to shoulder, pink shirts and hairy children holding the spirit of the stick; the third group of 2 people in the bamboo forest on the bank of the creek in the upper left corner. Monk Yuantong was lecturing for Liu Jing. The three groups of characters gather and disperse, look forward to each other, play the piano, watch the painting, discuss the Tao, and enjoy themselves freely, completely reveling in the paradise of dreams. The image depicts each according to the identity, vividly conveys the spirit, and forms a dynamic, virtual and real contrast between the garden scenery, creating a different dynamic and vitality.
According to the "Xiyuan Yaji Tuji", Li Gonglin divided the 16 people who participated in the yaji into five groups when he was creating: the first group, Wang Yi, Cai Zhao, and Li Zhiyi watched Su Shi write calligraphy; the second group, Su Rui, Huang Tingjian, Chao Shuzhi, Zhang Qi, and Zheng Jing Laoguan Li Gonglin painted Tao Qian's return to the map; the third group, Wang Qinchen guan mi fu inscription stone; the fourth group, Qin Guan listened to Chen Jingyuan bomb Ruan; the fifth group, Liu Jing talked with Master Yuantong about the theory of lifelessness. However, when Fu Baoshi created it, he divided it into six groups, and the second group of 6 people was split into Chao Shuzhi, Zhang Qi, Zheng Jing Laoguan Li Gonglin painting Tao Qianguilaitu and Huang Tingjian watching Su Rui reading on the side, and placing them in two spaces. Moreover, he also changed the Chen Jingyuan of Ruan to Fuqin, and for the sake of the picture, changed Chao To a sitting position, which is very different from all the "West Garden Yajitu" of the previous generation of painters.
Combining historical figures with landscape painting is Fu Baoshi's painting habit. Here, he shows the West Garden Collection as lively and extraordinary, with jagged characters and scenery, interspersed appropriately, appropriate rhythms, and romantic talents in thick ink. Large brush scattered thick ink to write out the mountain stone ridge, giant pine thick shade, with the pen dashing, with ink smooth, easy to put away, thick and light dry and wet between the upright posture. Between the dense leaves and the light and shadow of the bush banana, the coats chant and shout proudly, the postures are different, all described by the high ancient gossamer, smooth and smooth, the shape, the open face and even the details of the clothing, written subtlely, the clothing color is thick, red, blue, blue, orange, mainly layer dyeing, bright but not beautiful, and leave a water line to strengthen the concave and convex sense of the clothing, the god of leisure and ease of the coats is expressed in a wonderful way. And the plantain, the ghost, the thick flower blue, set off the character's elegant crown, constitute an ancient and exquisite effect. Cangsong, plantain, lake stone, Xiuzhu, Qingxi and famous men, monks, and children are in harmony, and the quaint wind is blowing in the face. This contrast between the characters and the landscape is fascinating and meticulous.
In September 1942, Fu Baoshi wrote a preface to an upcoming solo exhibition, expressing his dialectical views on the formal language of the picture:
I like the beauty of the picture shape, which is in the chaos of the coarse clothes, there is no lack of strict and delicate. Chaotic and rough clothes cannot become a quiet atmosphere, and strict and delicate can be achieved by non-indulgent pen and ink, and the two are harmonious and suitable for it. I paint landscapes, is to make full use of the contrast of two different pen and ink to make the picture "move", Yunfeng tree stone, if you want to indulge in recklessness, then the character house, must be fine decoration. According to the traditional theory of Chinese painting, I often like landscapes and clouds to use techniques below the Yuan, while figures, palace views, and props are above the Southern Song Dynasty.
The tradition of Chinese painting has always paid attention to "boldly dropping ink and carefully cleaning up". In the creation of "Xiyuan Yajitu", Fu Baoshi also followed this method, expressing the character's demeanor and clothing treatment, or painting, or playing the piano, or reading books, or speaking the scriptures, depicting delicately and vividly reproducing the spiritual temperament of the characters. He is also good at setting off the atmosphere and creating the artistic conception, the grass and trees in the West Garden, the slope and the shore, the turbulent spring, especially the pine tree shape is strange and strange, the strong knots and branches, its shade is like a cover, its posture is like a leaning, its momentum is overshadowed, and then the drenched ink creates a full picture of ups and downs.
As we all know, Fu Baoshi is good at the study of art history, familiar with the facts of literature, admiring the ancient masters and scholars, accustomed to historical allusions and literary masterpieces as the theme, turning the unrestrained impulse into the gallop of imagination, and narrating the cultural spirit of ancient China with free pen and ink. "The Truth of Several Beauties in the History of the Camp System" is one of the main routes of Fu Baoshi's creation. He is rich in "history" habits, focusing on the study of history and spiritual understanding, once said: "In order to have the times, the focus is mostly on the characters, when I decide to take a certain subject, the first thing I should refer to is the personality of the main characters in the painting, as well as the sets, costumes, props and so on." There is no special material on these in China today, and I only have to drill through all kinds of relevant books, and the most time-consuming is this stage. Thus, the beauty of history is artistically presented through his brush.
On July 25, 1946, Fu Baoshi wrote to Zhang Yuanxi to succinctly explain the casual feelings of the "West Garden Elegant Collection":
Humiliating Hosuke, I can't thank you enough. All the collectors are friendly to the gentleman, and the brother only strives to seek refinement in the works, and asks for his incorruptibility, which is enough to say that ya is also in case. I hereby follow the selection of Chen Jiu frames, and I would like to present it with the letter, please receive it. Mr. rich collection, fine appreciation, earnestly do not give up, favor the government, look forward to the good fortune. In these nine frames, the "West Garden Collection" was composed according to the Minang Palace's "West Garden Collection", from the Song to the Ming Dynasty, many painters depicted it, and after the Qing Dynasty, due to the decline of figure painting, it became a masterpiece. Brother Thirty-one years began to try to do it, there are several uppercase and lowercase paintings, Wujin Xue Digong, Yixing Xu Beihong all have a frame, and now a small selection of Chen Jiao.
In the letter, Fu Baoshi and the historical past of "West Garden Yajitu" also talked about his own experience in creating "West Garden Yajitu", which seems to be a footnote to this creation. He was attached to the West Garden, touched the elegant collection in his hand, met with the ancients, and used exquisite pen and ink to interpret wonderful pictures, truly completing the time and space dialogue with Li Gonglin, Mi Fu, Su Shi, Huang Tingjian and other people. Therefore, "West Garden Yajitu" is by no means an ordinary landscape figure painting, but a humanistic historical sentiment in the true sense. Fu Baoshi is not only a simple depiction of the real scene, but also achieves a close connection with the ancient sages in thought, creating an elegant and vulgar aesthetic space.
Fu Baoshi's "Lanting Repair Map" axis, July 1944
While fu Baoshi created the "West Garden YajiTu", he also indulged in the construction of the "Lanting XiuyuTu", thus forming a vivid sequence of images about the literati Yaji. Undoubtedly, Fu Baoshi used his elaborate "Lanting Xiuyu Map" and "West Garden Yaji Map" to trace the classical tradition of Chinese cultural spirit in his mind, which is the homeland and spiritual home of his paintings. He repeatedly recreates the moving yaji scenes, and through the enhanced remembrance of the images, he tries to link the memory chain of this moment with the distant moment, pinning on the wish of the empty valley Youlan to live. Although it is a time and space domain, his heart and hands are corresponding, and his breath is in harmony, which stimulates the understanding and resonance of the high-ranking people.
Guangzhou Museum of Art Collection Fu Baoshi's "West Garden Collection" axis 1940s
In the autumn of 2020, the "Characters of the Ancient Style - Su Shi Theme Calligraphy and Painting Special Exhibition" was grandly opened in the Wenhua Hall of the Palace Museum, setting off a wave of "Su Dongpo fever" in the society, and there is still no sound left. Later, Fu Baoshi's "Dongpo Kasak Map" made a stunning appearance at the autumn auction in China Guardian and sold at a high price of tens of millions of yuan, which seems to be a spiritual tribute to Su Shi!