introduction
From Li Taibai's "Thousand Feet Waterfall", to Zhang Jiuling's "Ten Thousand Zhang Red Spring", from Li Chenzhi's "How Can the Stream Be Kept", to Fan Zhongyan's "Down the Mountain is Still Straight, to the Sea Is Clear", the flowing spring waterfall has been transformed from a natural scene into an image in the poem, originating from the heart of the Wei and Jin Mountains, Forests and Springs, and becoming a beginning in the Tang Dynasty. As for the Song Dynasty, he reincarnated the image in the poem into the image in the painting. In the Northern Song Dynasty, the theme of waterfall landscape painting began to see the clues, there is Mi Fu "listening to the waterfall"; to the Southern Song Dynasty, all the anonymous painters have the waterfall theme works handed down.
1. The reasons for the development of landscape painting on the theme of waterfall viewing in the Southern Song Dynasty
After Gaozong of the Southern Song Dynasty went south to establish a small imperial court, he surrendered on his knees, and was unwilling on all sides. The patriotic fervor of the patriot, after useless persuasion and persuasion, turns into deeper disappointment, which leads to pessimism and negative thoughts. Therefore, retiring from Linquan has become the destination of many patriots. Therefore, themes related to their secluded life, such as fishing, flower exploration, and waterfall viewing, are all related to this.
In terms of economy, although the Southern Song Dynasty was in a corner, the economic prosperity in the middle and late periods was not an illusion, industry and commerce developed unprecedentedly, and the broad citizen class gradually formed. The landscape works related to practical crafts were quite popular, and the classical and elegant, landscape sketches that expressed Coats's preference for the small citizen class flourished in the Southern Song Dynasty, so the works that expressed the theme of viewing waterfalls in Coats' life were developed.
"The Whole Song Dynasty" recorded: "The counties and counties in the world are not far away in size, so as to pass the joy of the four seasons." ”
As far as the object of landscape painting is natural landscape imagery, one of the direct reasons for the development of the theme of waterfall appreciation in the Southern Song Dynasty is the change of natural geographical environment. During the Southern Song Dynasty, the country's economic center shifted from north to south, and the southern economy gradually surpassed the north to become the country's cultural center. As a result, the geographical distribution pattern of Chinese painting has also changed.
In the Song Dynasty, Confucianism, Taoism, and Buddhism tended to be integrated and unified on the whole. Confucianism is the center of Confucianism, and it absorbs the philosophical theories of Buddhism. Later, Wang Anshi's psychology and Su's Shu gradually declined. After the "Second Journey", Zhu Xi, a famous Confucian scholar in the Southern Song Dynasty, established a systematic philosophical ideological system based on the achievements of science.
Neo-Confucianism also permeated the artistic field of the Southern Song Dynasty. The Southern Song Dynasty Painting Academy followed the emphasis on the cultivation of painters during the Northern Song Dynasty. In addition to painting skills, painters also need to learn cultural concepts such as classics and righteousness when they enter the academy. Neo-Confucianism, as the orthodox tradition of the dynasty, naturally became the focus of study. Among the important ideas of Neo-Confucianism, "seeking knowledge from things" is an extremely important concept in the University, and it is also one of the important topics discussed in the ideological system of Neo-Confucianism.
Zhu Xi believes that the state of matter is poor rationality, seeking truth from the universe of things, and gradually accumulating and finally realizing the highest "one rationality" of the universe of things through the continuous "states" of different "things". Watching a waterfall is not a simple viewing, but a way of understanding and describing things. The scenery is the scene, the waterfall grows, and the scene of watching the waterfall is presented on the picture, in fact, it is to give the viewer a painting environment that can understand the theory of heaven and earth, so the landscape painting of the waterfall theme in the Southern Song Dynasty contains a profound scientific and artistic expression.
2. The formal expression and characteristics of landscape paintings on the theme of waterfall viewing in the Southern Song Dynasty
The composition of the Southern Song Dynasty's "half a corner" style is also reflected in the landscape paintings with the theme of viewing waterfalls. After the dominance of literati painting in ancient Chinese painting theory, there was a situation of contempt for the painters of the academy, and the reference to "half a corner" was often derogatory. In fact, the angular composition of the Southern Song Dynasty provides ample white space in the painting, and the yin and yang blend and evolve, allowing the viewer to appreciate the highest level of "the unity of heaven and man".
On the basis of the traditional bird's-eye, high and head-up perspective of the Northern Song Dynasty, the courtyard landscape of the Southern Song Dynasty added a visual processing method of layered and truncated distance and distance. From the perspective of the theme of waterfall viewing, it can be divided into two categories: one type of work focuses on the layering of distance and the extension of imaginary space, and the waterfall is only used as an embellishment. This type of work is condensed and refined in the close-up scene, and the distant perspective is blurred and hazy, emphasizing the creation of a broader and more distant artistic conception in contrast.
The theme of waterfall landscape painting is not to show the waterfall in front of the viewer, but to create a medium that can be brought into the painting to "observe" the figure - Gao Shi. In the existing landscape paintings of the Southern Song Dynasty with the theme of waterfalls, there are often high-ranking doctors, doctors and young children, and the characters in the paintings create a "sense of existence" in the imagination of the viewer. In this painting, Gao Shi is both the epitome of the painter and the stand-in of the viewer, with a special identity that connects the dual presence.
Compared with the waterfall viewing works of other periods, the landscape paintings of the Southern Song Dynasty waterfall viewing theme are mostly straight brushes and square brushes, and the round and tactful curves are rarely seen.
"Essays on Painting Zen Rooms" records: "Separation and integration is the great sect outline. There is a division, there is a division, and it is clear that there is more than half of the painting. ”
Dong Qichang's view has certain limitations. The Southern Song Dynasty's strong brushwork stems from the unique historical background of the Southern Song Dynasty. It has the solid aura of an iron horse glacier, which seems to contradict the literati aura advocated by Dong Qichang. In fact, the Southern Song Dynasty landscape painting's pursuit of the spiritual world and the artistic conception of strong brushstrokes do not lack the profound and thought-provoking spirit of Chinese art. Yang is the outside, yin is the inside, which is reflected in the picture as the combination of yin and yang, which has a quiet and distant meaning.
A careful examination of the brushstrokes in the landscape paintings of the Southern Song Dynasty waterfall viewing theme shows that the painting speed is faster and longer than the axe brushstrokes of the Northern Song Dynasty. The aesthetic characteristics produced by the long hard use of the brush are "simple" and "cold": when using fast straight lines, the changes in brushstrokes caused by the shaking and distortion of the brushstrokes are reduced, and the viewer can easily judge the process of the painter's brushstrokes. The effect presented on the screen is characterized by "simplicity".
And it is precisely because of the lack of change in the writing process that the tension of the lines on both sides is reduced, giving people a visual effect of line contraction, creating a cold feeling. There are fewer changes in the lines themselves, and the corresponding requirements for the movement and artistic conception of the lines are also more stringent. Observing the landscape paintings of the Southern Song Dynasty, the grasp of the brushstrokes and the direction of the lines continues the rigor of the Northern Song Dynasty, and at the same time attaches great importance to the enhancement of the artistic conception of the picture. The subtle conception and arrangement of mountains, rocks, and vistas are all ingenious ideas and arrangements.
3. The spiritual connotation of landscape painting on the theme of waterfall viewing in the Southern Song Dynasty
The artistic spirit of Chinese painting is related to heaven, earth and Tao. The softness of the water trumps everything. Water falls from the cliffs, forming waterfalls; Waterfalls, observable, audible, perceptible. The meaning of "the sound of the Great Hidden Stream" is that the waterfall in the painting was originally silent, but the viewer appreciates the silent waterfall and experiences the silent sound. Silence is better than noise.
"Ancient and Modern Saying the Sea" recorded: "And through the stone out of the hole, Ganglian Fu, east and west, front and back, left mountain and right water, along the stream and long, continuous and full, swallowing the mountain nostalgia"
Waterfalls are different from trickles, deep pools, and long rivers. They have a unique power and momentum, often in the form of long vertical symbols that show a moment in time and space. In the blink of an eye, they are like a flash of life, passing down a waterfall. A hundred years is like a rushing stream, rich and noble, cold and gray, spinning and turning, only the road lasts forever. Qingming seeks truth, Qingming views the Tao, and what you see is not a waterfall, but reason and Tao.
The spirit of reason in the landscape paintings of the Southern Song Dynasty waterfall viewing theme does not have a calm state of mind, nor is it an awakening after a thorough understanding, but carries too much national shame and helpless sustenance. Therefore, Southern Song Dynasty landscape paintings are often labeled as beautifying peace and pretending to be peaceful. However, in fact, the peaceful and prosperous era in the corner of the Southern Song Dynasty was not fake, as evidenced by the overall development of society during the Gaozong and Xiaozong periods.
epilogue
It is true that the landscape paintings of the Southern Song Dynasty are peaceful, and it is also true that they have feelings for the mountains and forests, and it is also true that they have no way to serve the country. In the infinite contradictions, the painters of the Southern Song Dynasty sought the inner balance by painting landscapes, forests and springs, and the way and reason obtained by viewing the waterfall became their self-questions and answers in time and space, and their profound feelings were not possessed in other eras, which was also the value and charm of the landscape paintings of the Southern Song Dynasty.
Bibliography:
[1] "The Whole Song Dynasty".
[2]董其昌.《画禅室随笔》.
[3]陆揖.《古今说海》.