After Dong Qichang established the order of landscape painting with the north-south sect as the core, the appearance of landscape painting in the late Ming Dynasty was changed. However, landscape painting in the early Qing Dynasty moved towards a one-sided imitation of the ancient and the inheritance of tradition. Some painters are deeply immersed in the French style of the North-South sectarianism, detached from the truthfulness, profundity and diversity of content, and the brushwork seems to be ancient, but in fact it is a stale and a sparse cause, which is fragmentary, weak, and empty. There are also some painters who have mixed too many market factors and established a sweet and vulgar appearance of tranquility. The emergence of these abuses has caused dissatisfaction and reflection among many people, and Shi Tao is one of them.
Shi Tao jumped out of the circle of mud and antiquity in aesthetic thought, he believed that purely for the purpose of imitation of antiquity without creation was the biggest drawback of the landscape painting in the early Qing Dynasty, painters were all dedicated to imitation, did not dare to really start from their own inner life, did not dare to express their hearts directly. The core of his proposition in "Quotations on Bitter Melon Monk Painting" is to establish self-awareness, express one's own feelings, and follow one's own heart. It is worth noting that the distance between the "Four Kings" and the "Four Monks" should not hide their affinity as the embodiment of Dong Qichang's thoughts, Shi Tao's strong noble "me" spirit is actually not in conflict with whether Dong Qichang pays attention to whether the picture has "morale", the noble "me" is the premise of having "morale", and the painter's own life state is vividly presented on the paper through brush and ink, and finally has "morale".
Shi Tao's "Searching for the Strange Peaks and Sketching Maps" inscription
The work that best embodies Shi Tao's painting ideas is his "Searching for Strange Peaks to Make Drafts", in the blank space at the end of the painting, Shi Tao inscribed a long painting theory: "Guo Heyang on painting...... Not giving up a method is my purpose, and scholars know it. As a painter who is loyal to his own heart, Shi Tao believes that the landscape painting scene in the early Qing Dynasty was "only known about the ancients but not me". While refuting the ignorance of nature and true landscapes by the ancient school, he also emphasized that his purpose of learning the painting of the ancients was to "not give up one method", and he was confident that his understanding of the landscape creation of the ancients was higher than that of those painters who only knew how to blindly copy a certain school, only knew the ancients but did not know the creation of the ancients, and saw the appearance of the ancients and ignored the hearts of the ancients.
The scroll of "Searching for the Peaks and Playing Drafts", 285.5 cm long and 42.8 cm wide, ink on paper, is now in the Palace Museum. At the front of the volume, Shi Tao used the official book to inscribe himself "Search all the peaks to make drafts", and "Lao Tao". According to the compositional characteristics, the long scroll can be divided into three sections.
Detail of Shi Tao's "Searching for the Strange Peaks and Sketching Maps".
The first section begins with a group of hilly slope stones, followed by a curved river surface, and the two ends of the river extend out of the painting and encircle the rocks at the beginning, creating a sense of space with the mountains and rivers in the distance. The grass on the left bank leads along the rocks to the right sloping mountains. The mountains are stacked and surrounded by mountains, forming a "back-to-back" composition, with cliffs standing upright, strange peaks and strange rocks intertwined, and mountain streams lingering and pouring into the river. There are several houses in the mountains and forests, either hidden on the top of the mountain, or hidden behind the mountain, although they seem to be inhabited, but there is a desolate and desolate atmosphere. This section is divided into left and right sides of the composition with the mountain sloping to the right in the middle as the axis, the right is sparse and the left is dense, and the direction of the river and the trend of the mountain are contrasted with each other.
Detail of Shi Tao's "Searching for the Strange Peaks and Sketching Maps".
The second section resembles the "panorama" composition of Song paintings. There are many objects in this picture, but the details are still not out of order. Among the undulating mountains, a bridge is used as the beginning of the painting, and then passes through the realm of the painting. In the near view, the rocks are falling and falling, and the strange trees are overgrown. Surrounded by ancient trees and streams, thatched huts are scattered, and there are pedestrians strolling along the mountain road behind the houses, as if they are visiting relatives and friends in a village deep in the mountains in the middle of the scene. In the foreground, mountains overlap and clouds and mist. It is worth noting that in the "facing each other" composition of the two mountains and rivers in the picture, the mountains and rivers on the right do not reach straight into the sky, but are inclined to the lower left corner against the edge of the frame, and the low-lying mountains on the right respond to the upper right, which is a little softer in the danger. The thick brush and ink are not loose and lively, and the sense of vigor is presented by the shape, brush, potential, and pen power itself, and the loose work comes from the pen and the painter's own "I have my own method".
Detail of Shi Tao's "Searching for the Strange Peaks and Sketching Maps".
In the third section, a mountain stands in the center of the river, and the mountain is filled with mist. Compared with the first two complex scenes, this section has a sense of isolation from the world and is not just red dust. The blank space is like the clouds and mist on the river, there are fishermen rowing around the mountains in the river, and there is a person waving to the people who are boating in the river near the gentle place of the riverbank, adding a bit of human atmosphere to the lonely picture. In the foreground, the author does not make endless extensions, so that the viewer is full of anticipation for the scene behind the distant mountains. From the vast river surface in the near background to the complex visual center in the middle scene, and then to the undulating distant mountains in the distance, the artist puts the limited scenery into infinite emotions through the "three-fold" composition, that is, "all scenery is love language".
In terms of technique and language, the pen and ink of "Searching the Peaks and Drafts" are smart, the method is superb, and he is good at using the dignified and changeable lines to outline the peculiar peaks, the moss on the mountains and rocks is lush and complex, and the method of the mountains and rocks is fine and accurate, and the changes in the shade of ink color show a leisurely demeanor as the mountains are intricately entrenched on the paintings. Furthermore, the shape of the mountain peaks and the method of the mountain are interrelated. In the mountains, moss and grass can be found everywhere, and the lines are staggered, creating a different shade of ink effect. The perfect combination of lines and dots constitutes the external form of the "matrix" of the landscape, and then shows the endless innocence of the picture, which is like the combination of poetry and painting in traditional Chinese art, which is the so-called "artistic conception".
In the picture of "Searching for Strange Peaks and Drafts", the trees are either tilted or hung upside down, the mountains are majestic, and the strange rocks are dependent on each other, showing the contradictory and rebellious psychology of depression and arrogance in his chest, but helpless, and highlighting Shi Tao's unique "self-realm".
Around 1691, Shi Tao traveled north to Beijing, and he wanted to show his ambitions with his academic talents, but he fell into a gaffe and felt disappointed in his heart. He was regarded as a painter by the Qing Dynasty aristocracy, and his Zen and self-expressive style were not appreciated by the emperor. At that time, Shi Tao had a deep understanding of the ancient style of the mainstream painting world in Beijing, but the cruel thing was that in the face of all kinds of malpractices in the art world, Shi Tao had to cooperate with Wang Yuanqi, one of the authentic "Four Kings" in the painting world recognized by the imperial court at that time, in order to gain the appreciation of the current situation. Of course, it is precisely because of Shi Tao's experience and the environment in which the painting world is shrouded in the imitation of ancient styles that it fundamentally contributed to the publication of Shi Tao's "Searching for Strange Peaks and Drafts".
In the painting, the mountain is like a dragon vein meandering on the paper, with a fine brush curve to outline the rubbing, from light to thick repeatedly rendered, especially the use of moss points, dry, wet, thick, light repeatedly superimposed, like rain borrowing the wind, majestic and fine, the natural mountains and rivers of the bold and lush momentum, vividly and vividly stand on the paper. This is the embodiment of the "self" in his life. Shi Tao unreservedly presents the melancholy, indescribable gap and injustice in his heart on paper, which is not like the scene of the world.
It is precisely Shi Tao's impetuous, struggling, and contradictory mental state in the course of his life that can be truly expressed on the paper through brush and ink, so that he can touch the softest part of the hearts of batch after batch of viewers, and then shine with dazzling brilliance in the history of painting. After understanding Shi Tao's life experience and inner state, the viewer will naturally understand and accept his rivers and lakes, indulgent, wanton, rebellious, but real and touching. Just as Pan Jitong said in the back of the volume, "When the volume is opened, it is like a sword out of the box", the cold air hits people, and the light shines, "making the viewer feel frightened".
Shi Tao's "Searching for the Strange Peaks and Playing Draft Drawings" is Pan Jitong after the volume
If we compare Shi Tao at the peaks of Chinese art history, we will find that he is an "alternative". He was lonely all his life, depressed and arrogant but helpless. He advocates freedom in character, full of uninhibited temperament, heroic spirit, romantic feelings and easy-to-touch emotions, and pays attention to emotional expression in his works, from which it is not difficult to feel that his art is wonderful. This strong temperament and affection revealed from the bones, when necessary, breaks through the limitations of rules and structures, and even thinks that no one can set the standard of beauty. It is not difficult to imagine why he has the words "If you don't establish a law, it is my sect, and if you don't give up a law, it is my will".
His critical audacity is characterized by a strong personality and a focus on emotional expression, as well as a disdain for technical influences. Out of dissatisfaction with the sluggishness of the painting world in the early Qing Dynasty, he stepped forward under extremely heavy pressure and devoted himself to correcting all kinds of malpractices in the painting world from both his mood and technique. He liberated himself from the shackles of one-sided retro, broke through the shackles as much as possible, and worked hard to explore the expression of his own feelings, gradually producing the concept of formal composition, doing whatever he wanted, venting to his heart's content, and having fun. In the end, the trend of self-expression in landscape painting was formed, which was a rare high-spirited liberation of personality in history.
Note: This article was originally published in the July 2024 issue of China Auction magazine