"Danqing doesn't know that the old man is coming, and the painting is not amazing and endless." - Qi Baishi
Zhenzhitang press: Master Qi Baishi's disciples are 3,000, the most famous are Erli-Li Kuchan and Li Keran.
Zhenzhitang reads paintings, the prophet Li Kuzen, and later knows Li Keran.
Before delving into the appraisal of calligraphy and painting, Zhenzhitang thought that Li Kuchan must be above Li Keran.
After reading 3,000 paintings, I learned that Mr. Li Keran's paintings cost more than 100 million yuan, ranking among the top ten famous artists in modern China, but Ku Lao did not enter the top ten.
Not only the auction price of calligraphy and painting, but also the national level!
Li Keran's works are among the 41 people whose works are not allowed to leave the country. And Li Kuchan is only in the list of masterpieces that cannot be exported. This was true in 2001 and will continue to be true in 2023. This may also be the core key to Li Kuchan's works not being sold in the auction market.
But after reading more than 10,000 paintings, Zhenzhitang has a new insight. Li Kuchan's works are seriously undervalued by the market. Li Kuchan's realm of Chinese painting has surpassed that of Li Keran, reaching the highest absurdity rate in the Chinese painting world, the realm of high antiquity.
This realm has only been reached by Xu Wei, Bada, Bitter Melon Monk and a few others throughout the ages.
From this point of view, Li Kuchan's flower and bird paintings have surpassed Wu Changshuo and Qi Baishi, and slightly higher than Pan Tianshou, who died young. Huang Binhong, Fu Baoshi, etc., who can be compared with landscape paintings.
Duh! Duh! Unstained and unstained super three realms, the white lotus root is demudded and bitter Zen.
After his old age, Li Kuchan really got rid of the mud of the white lotus root and washed away the mortal dust.
In other words, Li Kuchan's paintings actually reached the state of selflessness in the years after the end of the Cultural Revolution in 1976 and before his death in 1983.
The life of Kuzen
Zhenzhitang: Li Kuchan was born in Gaotang County, Shandong Province in 1899, formerly known as Li Ying, Li Yingjie, the word Chaosan, Li Gong. Chinese modern and modern freehand flower and bird painter, calligrapher, art educator.
At present, Cui Ruzhuo, the highest auction price of a contemporary Chinese painter, is also a disciple of Li Kuchan.
Li Kuchan is named Li Ying, so he especially likes to draw eagles.
According to rumors, Xu Beihong's horse, Qi Baishi's shrimp, Li Kuchan's eagle...
In fact, he was burdened by fame, and Li Kuzen became an eagle, and he was also an eagle when he was defeated. Because of the fame of painting eagles, people do not realize the true essence of Li Kuchan's works.
Li Kuchan is both named Li Ying, the word is super three, Li Gong, why is it called Li Kuchan?
It turned out to be his Dharma name. Li Kuchan was a Buddhist, and he was also a layman.
Zhenzhitang: In 1919, on the eve of the May Fourth Movement, Li Kuchan, who was in his early 20s, drifted north to Beiping. Because he had no money, he lived in Ciyin Temple on the outskirts of Beiping, and lived by the temple's porridge, so he got the Dharma name Kuzen.
Later generations of painters snubbed this master because of the fact that this bitter word seemed unlucky.
After three years of self-study in the temple, in 1922, Li Kuchan was admitted to the National Beiping Art College (the predecessor of the later CAFA, Guomei, etc.), specializing in Western painting. In order to make a living, Li joined the "Work-Study Society in France" and worked and studied with great people here. The following year, by chance, he became the first disciple of Qi Baishi who lived in Beiping.
At this time, Qi Baishi had just emerged. It's not very famous.
The study of bitter Zen can be used for the rest of the day, and one can be seen for two.
- Shiraishi
Qi Baishi also inspired his ambition and said: "Ying also won my heart, Ying also passed me, Ying is invincible, if Ying does not enjoy the name in the future, there are no ghosts and gods in the world!" ”
Zhenzhitang: After the victory of the Anti-Japanese War in 1945, Mr. Li Kuchan was hired by Xu Beihong as a professor of Chinese painting at the National Beiping Art College, and was elected as the executive director of the first "Chinese Art Writers Association".
After the founding of the People's Republic of China, Li Kuchan was transferred from his teaching post to see the gate, and he sent a letter to Chairman Mao Zedong after drinking.
Chairman Mao personally wrote to Xu Beihong to inquire about the matter. Li Kuchan was able to resume his teaching position.
In 1951, Li Kuchan was transferred to the Institute of National Fine Arts as a researcher, and later as a professor in the Department of Chinese Painting. Member of the Academy of Chinese Painting. On June 11, 1983, Li Kuchan died of illness at the age of 84.
Landscapes, flowers and birds, and characters are three major factions
Since ancient times, there have been three major schools of Chinese painting, namely landscapes, flowers and birds, and figures. It is divided into two categories: freehand and gongbi.
Painting is inherent, and clay is customary. If you like landscapes, you can paint landscapes, and if you like flowers and birds, you can paint flowers and birds. Specialized is fine, familiar is skillful. - "Painting and Cultivating Puppets· On Painting" (Qing) Shao Meichen
Zhenzhitang: A master of modern painting and calligraphy, although Zhang Daqian is known as an all-round painter, most of them are still proficient in one subject.
Wu Changshuo is good at freehand flowers, but not landscape figures. Huang Binhong grew up in landscapes, so I don't see what figures, flowers and birds he paints.
Qi Baishi's flowers, birds, fish and insects are famous, but the landscape characters are not good at it. Although Li Keran is famous for painting cows, the market still recognizes his Li family landscape...
Landscape painting, due to the heavy literati atmosphere. Since the Song and Yuan dynasties, calligraphers and painters mostly believed that landscapes were higher than flowers and birds, and higher than figures. This is also one of the reasons why the price of Li Keran's works is high.
Li Kuchan is a painter of flowers and birds.
Wu Changshuo, Qi Baishi, and Pan Tianshou, the three masters, are also famous for their flowers and birds in the world of calligraphy and painting.
The flower and bird painting market identified Pan Tianshou. A disciple of the Qi family, the market recognized Li Keran, and Li Kuchan, who was as famous as the two, was left out in the cold. What a pity!
Reading the painting carefully, Zhenzhitang found that Mr. Li Kuchan's works in his twilight years had completely surpassed his master Qi Baishi, and even surpassed Wu Changshuo! and Pan Tianshou's contribution to flower and bird painting can be called equal.
On painting to resemble the shape, see with the child neighbors.
The poem must be this poem, and it must not be a poet. - Su Shi
Li Kuchan said: "There are fine paintings and divine products. Fine products can be obtained by skill, and those who are not skilled must not be obtained, and those who have skill cannot be obtained. ”
The picture below is the work of the Bada Shanren.
Zhenzhitang: Painting to become a family, the first step is to go from not similar to similar.
The second step is to go from similar to non-similar. First you have to draw like it, and then you have to draw it not like it.
That is to say, first seek the likeness, and then seek the likeness of the god.
It is like a god, and it has not reached the highest level.
I don't know if you have noticed, many of the works of Chinese painting masters are written by "a certain year, a certain month, and a certain painting" instead of "such and such a painting".
There are two realms of painting, one is "painting" and the other is "writing", "painting" is to paint, "writing" is expression, and writing is easy in the chest.
According to Li Kuchan, freehand paintings are indeed written like calligraphy. The pen pen power through the back of the paper!
Freehand painting is not drawn, and the pen is all written steadily
- Li Kuchan
Zhenzhitang: The ancestor of freehand painting is Fan Kuan!
Fan Kuan's "Traveling in Streams and Mountains" is known as the highest mountain in Chinese landscape painting.
Fan Kuan. Living in the mountains and forests, he often sits all day long, looking around, in order to seek his wonders.
Li Kuchan's work in his twilight years has already won Fan Kuan's open-mindedness and generosity, his spirit is solid, his spirit is strong, and he has eight winds.
Therefore, the critic Hou Yimin said bitter Zen: "There is a strong spirit, a resolute spirit." ”
Li Kuchan in his twilight years, no longer confined to the rules and regulations of his teacher Qi Baishi, finally broke the shackles and jumped out.
His paintings are Wu and Qi, boldly pushing through the old and bringing forth the new, combining eagles, starlings and other birds with mountain rocks and flowers. A refreshing new style of flower and bird painting has been formed.
In particular, the starlings he painted are highly recognizable, in fact, they have surpassed the eagles he painted, comparable to snow, bitter gourd (Bada Shanren and Shi Tao)!
Qingteng Snow is far away, and Baishi has not been unraveled for many years. In the end, there will be a decline in the years of hard meditation, and the bald pen will be hastily put into the famine. - True Knowledge
Zhenzhitang: In 1976, China ended a decade of catastrophe. Li Kuchan is 77 years old and has finally ushered in the spring of his painting art.
After painting 500 bald brushes, the brush and ink became clean and spicy, and the fire disappeared completely, and returned to dullness.
The natural interest of painting is outside the brush and ink, and it cannot be conveyed. If the shape is clumsy, there is no shortage of Wang Youcheng and General Li in the city of Wudu.
Simplicity and antiquity, it is extremely difficult for a painter to do. Jane Fei does not use a pen, and does not use ink, which has a kind of ancient taste. - "Painting and Cultivating Puppets· On Painting" (Qing) Shao Meichen
In other words, Li Kuchan's works in his twilight years have reached the realm of absurdity of great ingenuity and loud voices.
"The so-called absurdity is not a victory by blightness. Sketching and rubbing, changing with the hand without seeing traces, clever and clumsy, can reach the point of absurdity, is the painter's skill. - Master Kiyomori in "Travels in the Mountains and Streams"
epilogue
This short article is Zhenzhitang's experience in studying the works of Master Li Kuchan.
Zhenzhitang: There is a master Qi Baishi in the front, a junior brother Li Keran, and an apprentice Cui Ruzhuo. These three are all the top leaders in the current calligraphy and painting collection circle, and all of their works are priced at 100 million yuan. At present, the price of Mr. Li Kuchan's calligraphy and painting works is only one-tenth of that of these three people.
Whether it is from the artistic height of the painting itself or from the analysis of the high price of Mr. Kuchan's master, Li Kuchan's works in his twilight years will definitely be recognized by time and future generations, and the price of his works will definitely have a large room for making up for it.
Ladies and gentlemen, what do you think?