Li Fangbin is one of the "Eight Monsters of Yangzhou", but he did not live in Yangzhou for a long time, from his life records, he only passed through Yangzhou twice, Guan Jincheng said in the "Biography of Li Fangbin": "Although Li Fangbin is listed as the 'Eight Monsters of Changzhou', he is a little indulgent, but unlike other members, he never used Yangzhou as a base for selling paintings. "If that's the case, then why is it listed as one of the eight monsters?" Guan Jincheng said: "In fact, Li Fangzhi must be included in the list of the 'eight monsters', first of all, the character, the picture grid and the other seven people are comparable. ...... Fang Bing, like Li Qi and Zheng Xie, is indeed a Yangzhou person in a broad sense. ”
It is believed that Li Fangbin belongs to the Yangzhou people in a broad sense because he was born in Nantong, and Nantong once belonged to the jurisdiction of Yangzhou, so Bian Xiaoxuan said in "Li Fangbin, one of the "Eight Monsters of Yangzhou": "The reason why FangBin was included in the 'Yangzhou Eight Monsters' painting school is because his paintings have a distinct innovative personality; second, because in the eleventh year of Kangxi, Yangzhou Capital 'and Tongzhou'. ”
Although Li Fangyi did not live in Yangzhou for a long time, he had close contacts with the main figures in the "Eight Monsters", and sang and sang with Jin Nong and Li Qi in poetry and painting, such as the inscription written by Li Feng in the sixth year of Qianlong, Li Feng, who wrote in his "Happy Eyebrows", tried his best to praise the beauty of plum blossoms painted by Li Fangyi:
Teng Yang dissolved the group, lived in the calendar for more than 400 days, the red sun was empty, the breeze suddenly arrived, the autumn breeze was refreshing, and he made "Happy Plum Shoot Map" to congratulate himself. Forbidden court service straight, do not paint magpies, sex to write plums, bad heart when vulgar, eyes are good, and can not reach the ancients. See the family Qingjiang plum blossoms, pure heavenly fun, Yuan Zhang, supplement one generation of high quality, the old man should retreat to avoid the three houses. In July of the sixth year of Qianlong, the top of the mountain was recorded.
Li Fang's "Ancient SongTu", 1754, collection of the Palace Museum
Regarding Li Fangbin's interaction with Jinnong, the third volume of the "Indochina Painting Dacheng" published in Japan contains Li Fangbin's "Plum Blossom Long Scroll", which is followed by the sayings of Yuan Ming, Jin Nong, and others, of which Jin Bao is:
The world of life is borrowed, that is, the lyricism of things is uncertain.
Li Hou folded Cambodia to borrow the garden, and the furniture was a plum blossom fairy.
Heaven does not borrow from men in disguise, nor does it borrow from them.
Drag mud and water to evil guests, and turn around to fear that the master will turn over the color.
In the sound of wind and rain, the orchestra was mixed, and Tsinghua was lonely and high-level.
Dripping ink writes horizontally, and the old stems and new branches are a few.
Woohoo! The day is not rainy, the guests are not obstructed, what is the choice of cheering at the banquet?
The iron bone ice soul sends this heart, and people and plum blossoms have been together for eternity.
Hangjun Jinnong inscribed this Zhi Xie, when the age of sixty has nine.
This painting was made in the early summer of the twentieth year of Qianlong, when Li Fangbing was living in the borrowing garden in Nanjing, he issued an invitation to invite many friends to come to hold a pen meeting, but the sky was not beautiful, it rained that day, so that Jin Nong could not come, and later Jin Nong saw this hand scroll, and then wrote this trek. Regarding the situation at that time, Li Fangbin introduced in the painting's words:
In the early summer of the garden, the greenery is confused, the pool is full of water, and the birds are high and low. About Shen Fanmin, Yuan Zicai, and Jin Shoumen shared the reward. When the rain is pouring down, the guests will not arrive. When bored, he ordered Li Wenyuan to blow the flute, the plum blossom building waiter Lu Zhucun, He Mengquan Duqu, Hao Xiangshan stretched out paper and ink, painted dozens of plum blossom long scrolls, and was happy to do so in one go. Guests come to a pleasure, guests do not come and another pleasure also. It can be seen that there is a happy place between heaven and earth, and it is necessary to see whether people seek or not to find ears.
Li Fang's "Double Pine Map" is collected by the Anhui Provincial Museum
In early summer, the garden where Li Fangbin lived was red and willowy green, so he asked Yuan Ming, Jin Nong, etc. to come to Yaju, but he did not expect heavy rain, and several guests he invited could not come, which made Li Fangbin feel quite bored. Fortunately, there were already several friends in the garden, and he asked one to blow the flute, the other two to sing, and the other to prepare pens, ink and paper. In the face of Xiao Xiao's summer rain, Li Fangyi painted a lot of hair, painted dozens of plum blossoms in one go, it can be seen that plum blossoms are indeed his best and favorite subjects, he also sent a sigh in the words of this painting, saying that friends come and do not come, can find happiness, only depends on whether people are willing to find it.
Later, Yuan Ming also saw Li Fangbin's "Plum Blossom Long Scroll", for which he added a poem, and also praised Li Fangyi's painting of Mei Zhijia:
Li Hou was not surprised to paint Mei Mei and did not dare to come to Yuan Zishi.
Yuan Zi's inscription poems are not good, and he is laughed down by plum blossoms first.
Li Hou's painting is really strange, please do not come to plum blossoms.
Blowing the flute and singing the song to encourage it, Le Mo Le Xi painting plum time.
At the beginning, a suspicious old dragon cut the clouds to make a xiang east wind.
Two flowers, a variety of maples, and a daffodil jade woman draped in a fervent.
Three plants and four strains like friends, I learned to play the piano jun drinking.
At the end of the Kunlun Mountains, no one dared to be a plum blossom fragrance.
What happens to this poem and this painting? Please ask Shen Shuluo again.
Don't come to Yuan Zicai.
Li Fangbin also had more contacts with Zheng Banqiao, and Cui Liping, in her paper "Li Fangbin's Research", excerpted the words written by Li Fangbin on the "Want to Plant and Buy a Pot Diagram" painted by Zheng Banqiao in the Nanjing Museum: "Buy a pot and bring it back, plant it on the two peaks of the north and south." Itabashi sent a friend to return to the Yue sentence, and the rest of the record was given as a gift. And the "Compilation of Ancient and Modern Celebrities" contains a pair of five words written by Zheng Banqiao for Li Fangjian: "Shu Yun returns to the Brick Box, and the dream is cut into the heart of the flower." The elder brother of Qingjiang Nianxue, Itabashi Zheng Xie. The Palace Museum's "Ink and Bamboo Diagram" painted by Li Fangbin has An inscription by Zheng Banqiao: "These two rods can be flutes and flutes, and they must be chiseled out of the holes." However, the things of the world, instead of having holes, are not as good as not having holes. The Qingjiang Daoist painted several leaves to cover them, and also saved them from being chiseled. ”
Li Fangbing's "Plum Blossom Chart Axis" collection of Shanghai Museum
From the above, it can be seen that although Li Fangbin is a Yangzhou native in the broad sense, he did not live in Yangzhou for a long time, nor did he expand his painting market in Yangzhou, his painting market is mainly in Nanjing, but he has close contacts with several important painters in Yangzhou, and for this reason, he is classified as one of the "Eight Monsters" by later generations. He Wanli and Yin Xiaozhen, in the article "The Circle of Interaction between the Eight Monsters of Yangzhou and the Existence of Li Fangbin", summarized this as follows:
Li Fangbin can be recognized as the main member of the "Eight Monsters of Yangzhou", which is always suspected of being different from Min Zhen's identity of the "Eight Monsters of Yangzhou", not only because of his continuous direct contacts with members of the "Eight Monsters of Yangzhou" center such as Li Kun, Zheng Xie, Jin Nong, etc., but also because although Li Fangbin is not in Yangzhou, he communicates with the members of the "Eight Monsters of Yangzhou" continuously, and from time to time will be mentioned by the main members of the "Eight Monsters of Yangzhou". That is to say, in the absence of Li Fangbin, other members of the "Eight Monsters of Yangzhou" who are very good friends with Li Fangbin will always mention Li Fangbin through poetry, letters, inscriptions, art commentary, singing, and so on. It can be said that because of the recognition of him in the "Yangzhou Eight Monsters" circle, Li Fangbin is not in Yangzhou, but his name has always been active in this circle, which is Li Fangyi's "existence".
Regarding Li Fangbin's mastership in painting, there is no direct documentary record. The Qing Dynasty's "Records of Chongchuan", which records the situation when Li Tang founded the Five Mountains Painting Society, can indirectly understand some situations:
Borrow water garden, Li Cao Pavilion building, Lian Wushan Painting Society. Grass pavilion nature spring stone, good pen and ink lover. Those who stayed in this garden for three years, Chen Jucun also. Shi Lingjing'an, Wu Xilu, and Ma Yaoshan Heng came and went. He also recruited Zhang Yanfu, Bao Zhen'an, Wang Maishan, and Li Yanshi to join the society. After the death of a few Kiku villages and maishan villages, many people traveled far, and the society was ruined, and the old society was renewed. Yi Yi Chen Yishi and Jiang Kaishi, one episode per month. Fourteen years after Peng Yin's rise, Yaoshan and Kaishi died again, Jing'an, Xiluju were eighty, Yu Dujian, Kenfu, Zhen'an, Seventy, Sixty Stones, Fifty Stones, and Eighty Grass Pavilions. In the past fourteen years, the pen and ink of the Accumulation Painting Society have been stolen by people, and the survivors have only twelve small pages, and each page has a few lines of ink inscription in the grass pavilion, and collects a volume, and plays with it from time to time, and remembers it.
It can be seen that the Wushan Painting Society was very lively at that time, and many local literati had joined the society to participate in the activities. Founded in the 37th year of the Kangxi Dynasty, the society held a monthly collection of art for fourteen years, until later some of the members of the society died of illness, some of them became older, and it was particularly unfortunate that most of the paintings hidden by the society over the years were stolen.
Li Fangbing's "Turquoise Scroll" in the collection of Suzhou Museum
There is no mention of Li Fangfeng in this passage, but Li Tang, the owner of the water garden, is a good friend of Li Fangbin's father, Li Yufeng, and the two have a close relationship. According to the time calculation, when the Five Mountains Painting Society was founded, Li Fangbin was already about three years old, the society lasted for fourteen years, it is conceivable that the entire juvenile time when Li Fangbing grew up was often witnessing these elegant collections and seeing the elders painting, it is very likely that he was through the Five Mountains Painting Society, and stimulated the potential of painting.
The direct influence on Li Fangsheng's paintings should be his second brother Li Caisheng, who wang Zao said of Li Caisheng in the "Collection of Poems and Banknotes of Chongchuan", saying that he was "good at painting, especially good at lanzhu." And Li Fangbin's best subject in painting is bamboo in addition to plum blossoms, from this point of view, he should be influenced by his second brother Li Caisheng. For example, Li Fangbin painted a "Xiaoxiang Wind Bamboo Map" in the sixteenth year of Qianlong, and he inscribed a poem on the painting:
The history of painting has never painted the style, and I have won the sky in difficult places.
Please look at the size of Xiao Xiang Bamboo, full of ears Ding Dong Wan Yu Kong.
For this painting, Cui Liping commented in the paper: "For the performance of bamboo, there have been all generations since the Song Dynasty, and there are also painters who express wind and bamboo, but like Fang Bing, it seems to be rare in the history of painting to show bamboo in the wind and rain or the wind. Two years later, Li Fangyi made another "Wind and Bamboo Map", which has the inscription poem:
The waves and eunuchs of the sea are several floating, planting bamboo and closing the door to learn painting.
Laughing at himself is full of guts, and he still loves the fierce wind.
It can be seen that Li Fangbing loves to paint bamboo, and especially loves to paint the strong bamboo in the wind. The Nanjing Museum has Li Fangyi's "Album of Fengwei Purple Swallow", which contains an inscription written by him, expounding his experience in painting bamboo:
The method of painting bamboo must be painted, the method of painting must be broken, the single phoenix tail, the double flying purple swallow, interspersed only business, the position to survive new, both are difficult. After reading "Leaving the Troubles", the impermanent teacher stopped when he was angry, and the eyes of people who were not entertained were also there.
This passage can be regarded as Li Fangbin's theory of painting bamboo, he believes that painting bamboo well, not only to pay attention to details, but also to pay attention to the layout of the plot, and at the same time to innovate in pen and ink.
Li Fangbin's "Swimming Fish Map" Collected by the Palace Museum
Regarding Li Fangyin's family origins, the "Collection of The Old and Modern Collection of The Five Mountains" compiled by Yang Ting of the Qing Dynasty contains Li Yufeng's behavior, which mentions: "Taigao Zuhua Gongsheng, Tired Official Hubu Langzhong; Gaozu Gong ba Gongsheng, Leiguan Jiangxi JianchangFu Prefect; Great-grandfather, Zu Yanxiang, and Father Dasheng are all named Zhusheng." Although Li Fangyi's ancestors did not have a higher meritorious name, the official positions he held were not low, which showed that he was also the family of the eunuchs. However, in Li Yufeng's generation, the family's situation declined, and Li Yufeng talked about the hardships of his youth in his poem:
When I was young, I worked hard for many years, and I was old enough to eat and sleep.
Ten acres of buckwheat seeds are harvested, and it is also pitiful to cook in the spring.
Nine of the ten kitchen stoves are smoke-free, and the rain and snow are in the twilight of the year.
The children and wives provided coarse rice, and the hunger treatment was exhausted.
Probably in order to revive the family style, Li Yufeng studied hard, and finally rose in the forty-four years of the Kangxi Dynasty, and became a jinshi in the following year. Since then, the Nantong Li clan has been revived, and although Li Yufeng's four sons failed to pass the entrance examination, the third son Li Fanglong was promoted to the rank of Tongzhi in Yunnan Province, and the fourth son, Li Fangyi, was promoted to Zhizhou in Juzhou, Shandong.
Li Fangping was able to obtain the official position because of the care of the Yongzheng Emperor. In the "Epitaph of Li Qingjiang" written by Yuan Ming, it is written:
Qingjiang Zhen Fang Zhen,Zi Qiu Zhong,Father Yu Zhen (玉鋐), official Fujian (官闽按察使), was known to Emperor Sejong. Yongzheng entered the pilgrimage in the seventh year, and he pitied his old age and asked if he had a son to come with him? Right: The fourth son, Fang, came with him. What is the job to ask, and is it better to win the official? Right: Raw members are also, sexual improprieties are not official. Shangxiao Yue: Those who have not learned to adopt children and then marry. That is, summons. Handed over to the governor of Henan, Tian Wenjing, to know the county.
Li Fangbing's "Xiaoxiang Wind Bamboo Chart Axis" collection of Nanjing Museum
At that time, When Li Yufeng was an envoy to Fujian, he was greatly relied upon by the Yongzheng Emperor. In the seventh year of Yongzheng, Li Yufeng went to Beijing to meet the emperor, and the emperor saw that he was old and asked him if he would bring his son with him. Li Yufeng said that his fourth son, Li Fangyi, came with him, and the emperor asked Li Fangyi what position he had and whether he would become an official. Li Yufeng was quite frank, and replied that the fourth son, Li Fangyi, was only a student, and his personality was straight and unsuitable for being an official. The emperor laughed and made an analogy that no woman first learned how to raise children and then marry, so he specially summoned Li Fangxin, handed him over to Tian Wenjing, the governor of Henan, and finally arranged for him to serve as Zhi County.
Li Fangyi entered the career in this way, for which Li Yufeng specially made the "Introduction to the Second Song of the Gongji of the Qinzheng Palace" to commemorate this event, the second of which is:
The emperor is a side official, a heavenly grace and his descendants.
Divide Zou Ludi and enter the government of Shengxian Jin.
Strive to be diligent and diligent, and burn incense to answer Zi Chen. (The four sons of Fang are virtuous and virtuous, and are used in coastal counties.) ）
Li Yufeng also clearly wrote in the small notes of the poem: "The four sons of Fang Are Virtuous and Fangzheng, and use them for coastal zhi counties." Before li fangbing was appointed to Zhi County, he followed his father to serve in Fujian, and he was once held up by the local xianliang Fangzheng Bao, perhaps because of this honorary title, so that the emperor found a reason to appoint him as Zhi County, and he was 33 years old when he was appointed.