Cao Rong
"Wang Jiqian's Calligraphy and Paintings", written by Wang Jiqian, edited by Wang Yiqiang, published by Shanghai Calligraphy and Painting Publishing House in July 2021, 208 pages, 78.00 yuan
In the traditional style of writing, a miscellaneous can be a work of a strongly private nature. If it is a manuscript, it is also a precious version value. The "Miscellaneous Records of Inscriptions and Paintings" collected in the "Records of Wang Jiqian's Calligraphy and Paintings" belongs to this type of literature. It was written from 1942 to 1945 in the form of a new calendar, with a diary style, and recorded fables, books and paintings (mainly paintings) purchased, inter-appreciation, examination, and price as seen. "Memorandum" is a kind of work that evaluates the works in two kinds of "albums" one by one. Several kinds of views show that as a collector, Wang Jiqian's life, knowledge, and thinking are many aspects. This article is particularly concerned with the process of his cognition of calligraphy and painting.
opus
Wang Jiqian (Xuanqing, 1907-2003), a native of Suzhou, studied law at Soochow University in 1928. After school, he studied calligraphy and painting with Wu Hufan (1894-1968). In the early 1940s, painting viewing, painting and buying paintings were the main themes of his daily life. In the "Miscellaneous Records of Paintings", wuri is not such a record. However, in the trivial things, there are also clues to the cognition of calligraphy and painting. Taking Wang Meng as an example, we can see how the two are intertwined and deduced from each other.
December 1942 (according to: the original text did not specify the specific date, according to the context of the calculation and completion), "Miscellaneous Records" Chronicle Cloud:
The year before yesterday, he bought a huge painting of Huanghe ShanQiao's "Forest Foothills Hermitage" at Jingyou, and the pen and ink song were beautiful and elegant, which was a kind of ancestor of Shi Tao and Mo Jing. When people are known for their unusual appearance, salty eyes are fakes. In fact, there are many changes in mountain tree paintings, and the faces are different, such as "Qingbian Tu", "Summer Mountain Residence Map" and other habitual beings, and the faces of other people who are slightly involved in coldness are easy to ignore, but where their pen and ink are connected, it is not difficult to find. He is like Zhu Jinhou's "Boiling Tea Diagram" and "For only allowing", which is also a different character in the authentic manuscript, and this is the same category.
(Yuan) Wang Meng's "Lin Lu Seclusion Map", collected by the Art Institute of Chicago, USA
Wang Jiqian purchased Wang Meng's "Map of Lin Lu's Seclusion" from the north, which should be in 1939 (Wu Hufan's "Diary of the Ugly Man", March 15, 1939, "Wu Hufan Manuscripts", China Academy of Art, p. 247). The pictures are mostly dry brushes and sharp and fine, which is indeed different from the "Qingbian Hermitage Map" and the "Summer Mountain Residence Map". The former was not widely circulated at that time, and most people thought it was a fake. However, Wang Jiqian identified it as true, collected it in his pocket, and often thought that wang Meng's "standard piece" was compared with other works, such as the "Miscellaneous Records" of September 5, 1944:
To the place of Pang Xuzhai, Guan Wang Meng's "Danshan Yinghai Scroll". ...... The Yellow Crane Scroll is similar to Yu's collection of "Lin Lu's Hermitage". The mountains and trees that Lian zhou has taught have all come out from here. Gai Yanke's teacher is "Lin Quan Qing Ji" and "Qiushan Xiao Temple"; Lianzhou is a kind of "Danshan" and "Summer Mountain Residence"; Yushan is "Lin Lu Hermitage"; Shi Tao's teacher is "Boiling Tea Map". Each has its own private lady, which is unknown to previous generations.
Wang Meng's "Danshan Yinghai Map" belongs to the fine pen all the way, and it is naturally in the same breath as "Lin Lu Hermitage". Wang Jiqian merged the two into the same kind, like two similar leaves on the same branch. However, there are also differences between similar leaves. Through comparison, we can distinguish the differences between each other and clarify their respective characteristics:
On January 4, 1944, Zhang Liangyu returned from Beijing. ...... Inside, Wang Meng is the most superior, the upper paragraph is "made for Yiyun Shangren", and the brushwork category "Huilu Xiaoyin" is clumsy and funny, and it can be known that the Xiangguang painting method comes from. Yu Zang's "Lin Lu Hermitage" is large, and there are similarities with this, but the "Lin Lu Tu" is rigorously written, but it is not as painful as the parade of this painting.
In this way, the breadth of allegory becomes the cornerstone of identification, and connoisseurs always go to great lengths to see more works:
(September 1943) Yu saw fourteen paintings of the mountain trees: Pang Laichen's collection of "Geshan Weng Migration Map", "Summer Mountain Residence Map", "Danshan Yinghai" volume, the Forbidden City (now the National Palace Museum in Taipei) "Taniguchi Spring Cultivation", Zhang Onyu's Collection of "Huilu Xiaoyin", Di's Pingping Pavilion "Qingbian Tu", Zhang Xueliang's "Lin Quan QingJi", Xu Junqing's "Western Suburbs Caotang", Zhu Jinghou's "Boiling Tea Map", Xu Bangda's "Thatched House Holly" (many people at the time did not know its truth, and there are similarities with "Lin Quan Qing Collection"), Beiping Guanmian Jun's collection of "Su'an Tu", a certain clan's collection of "Xiuzhu Yuanshan" (old seal see "Shenzhou Grand View") and Yuzang's "LinLu Hermitage", Zhou Xiangyun's large landscape and water (see Japan's "Tang song and Yuanming Famous Painting Collection"), Suzhou Gu's collection should have several paintings, not seen.
Among these paintings, Taniguchi Spring Ploughing belongs to the public collection, which Wang shi received, or in 1935, when the paintings and calligraphy were selected for the Forbidden City and exhibited in Britain. The rest of the pieces were privately owned and could be visited in the collection at that time and tried to view them. In less than half a year, the list grew to twenty, and after a solemn grade:
(1944) On February 10, Pang Xuzhai guan shanqiao "Lantian Mountain Villa", "Summer Mountain Residence", and "Qiushan Xiao Temple" three pictures, with "Summer Mountain Residence" as the first, which can confirm that Bunda's "Thatched Holly" is also authentic. Yu saw the mountain tree paintings, the first of the "Qingbian Tu" of Xuan Zhaizang, the second of the "Ge Xianweng Migration Map", the third of the "Summer Mountain Residence", the fourth of the "Lin Quan Qingji", "Huaxi Yuyin" and "Qiushan Caotang". Secondly, it should be "Lin Lu Secluded Residence", "Su An Tu", "Spring Mountain Reading", "For Yi Yun Shangren", "Huilu Xiaoyin", "Hut Holly" and so on. "Lantian Mountain Villa", "Boiling Tea Map", etc., and then again.
"Miscellaneous Records of Inscriptions and Paintings" book shadow
Judging from the handwriting, the above pindi has undergone several revisions, especially in the first and second orders, showing hesitation. On this issue, Wang Jiqian has considered it again and again:
(1943) On november 27, in the Wuliu Caotang of the Rong clan of Wei Ting, Guan Wang Shuming's "Qingbian Hermitage Map", the paper is still clean, the ink is muddy, about four feet high, the Ming Dynasty is framed, the so-called "Yuanqi is dripping with moisture", this picture is enough. Shu Ming's painting is indeed the first pen also.
(June and July 1944) Pang Xuzhai revisited Wang Shuming's "Map of Ge Zhichuan's Migration", with many mangrove trees, moqing mountain stones, quaint atmosphere, and fluttering eyebrows. Compared with the "Qingbian Hermitage Map", there has been no less than it.
It can be seen that Wang Ji's attitude towards the grade of the work is prudent. The level of the same painter's work is high, and the problem of ordering is naturally coming out, which is not surprising in the long tradition of calligraphy and painting evaluation. However, the strict quality reflects the connoisseur's desire to grasp the relative level of each work. Because, the relative position of each work, the average level of a painter, will become the yardstick for their identification of painting and calligraphy.
Using such a scale, many problems can be solved. For example, to remove a fake:
September 17, 1944. A painting of Wang Meng's "Dead Wood and Bamboo Stone" is also seen in the void, the pen and ink are very good and slightly rigid, or the Ming people are forged, and there is a Yang Weizhen inscription on it, which is also not good. (Press: This article retains the deleted content of the original manuscript, marked by underlining.) ）
Or, confirm an authenticity:
On June 6, 1944, Sheng Shiguan painted dozens of paintings. ...... Wang Meng's "Writing for Zhensu" horizontal volume... All with burnt ink, with a pen like Zhu's collection of "Boiling Tea Diagram", "Boiling Tea Diagram" was quite suspicious of the past, and looking at this picture now, it is enough to prove its delusion, and the chapter is victorious. The grass hall is counted, the long pine shade, the pen is interesting, and it is full of paper.
This cycle is a long-standing and effective identification method used by traditional connoisseurs. Brushwork and level have become effective tools for them to judge authenticity and identify works. Comparison and comparison have become the means of operation compatible with the two.
On this basis, connoisseurs also derived an effort to construct a history of painting. In December 1942, Wang Jiqian recorded "Lin Lu Youju" Yun: "Pen and Ink Song Xiu Tianya, a kind of ancestor of Shi Tao and Mo Jing (Wu Li);on January 4, 1944, he was viewed "For Yi Yun Shangren": "Can know where Xiangguang (Dong Qichang) painted from the place"; on September 5, 1944, his view of "Danshan Yinghai" Yun: "Lianzhou (Wang Jian) is a kind of "Danshan" and "Summer Mountain Residence"; of course, with the deepening of understanding, the past views may also change, and on the same day, the "Miscellaneous Records" is cloudy: "Shi Tao's teacher, It is a kind of "boiling tea diagram". ”
Using brushwork as a criterion, following the vine to touch the melon, what you get is the understanding of the style of a series of painters. From this, the accumulation of small amounts forms a cognitive framework for the entire history of painting. In different scenes, flexible tuning of the frame allows unknown painters to become known, fragmented knowledge to gain order. This is why many connoisseurs are diligent.
Returning to the works themselves, they are not only "things", but also boats that travel through the world of connoisseurs' lives, knowledge, and ideas. Different connoisseurs of different eras may have different attitudes towards the boat, but they are always driving it farther away. For Wang Jiqian, looking at paintings, and buying paintings are not only the way of daily life, but also the realistic starting point of a way of thinking.
Printed
In the early 1940s, Wang Jiqian generally followed the traditional trajectory in terms of lifestyle and ideological path; in terms of calligraphy and painting knowledge and value tendencies, he was not far away from traditional connoisseurs. However, the wind of the times has suddenly risen, and the water of the old pond is inevitably stirred. In the field of collection, new technical means have affected the original appreciation environment:
The invention of the late Colo edition technique, the public and private collection of the photo rate shadow line circulation, its plate-making essence, only the first class of the real handwriting... Recently, collectors have changed their secret habits in the past and have exhibited their collections for peer evaluation. If the good ancient people have the authentic comparison and the reference of the printed version, then all the ink color and the penmanship of the fugu people have clues to be found, and the heart understands that the true forgery is not difficult to distinguish. (Diary of Xu Zhaowei, April 12, 1939)
Chroma printing was introduced to China around the beginning of the twentieth century. This technology has led to a large number of printing of new albums, reversing the appreciation environment that was almost completely dependent on collections in the past. Enthusiasts can harvest "eye blessings" by relying only on the album; in addition to the teacher, the learner can also ask for benefits from the album. Wang Jiqian lived in an era of changing ethos.
What is decidedly different from the previous generation of connoisseurs is that his first impression of many famous paintings was derived from the black-and-white fine printed album:
Yuan Huang Gongwang "Nine Peaks Snow Ji Diagram" This is a famous relic of the idiot, and the layout is very strange. Taste the axis of the "Fuchun Daling Map" of the Virtual Zhaizang, the same stroke. The painting is the work of Ban Yan, who was eighty-one years old at the time. According to the great idiot "Fuchun Mountain Residence" volume was written in the seventh year of Zhizheng, it is only □ to go here, and the two books have slight similarities and differences, which are incomprehensible. Or, this figure can be found in the "Ink Edge" bibliography, which should have a Yi Zhou tuji. However, those who saw the "Ink Edge" and did not have an Anshi seal were very poor, and those who added to the "Record" after the cover were mostly compiled by their son Yuanzhong, and the reporters who did not print at that time were also. □ corner has the Liang Jiaolin Xiangguo Tibetan Seal, which can be passed down □. (Press: sic)
This is a note he took in 1944 for the Nine Peaks Xueji collected in the Chinese Famous Picture Album (published in 1935). At this time, he had not yet seen the "true copy", but with the "printed version", he still made a corresponding judgment: although the writing was the same as that of the "Fuchun Daling", the writing was not very good; because it could not be hastily determined whether it was contained in the "correct record" or "continuation" of the "Ink YuanhuiGuan", it was "incomprehensible".
"Chinese Famous Paintings Comic Review" book shadow
This statement is non-negotiable and is a positive view under limited conditions. However, after obtaining the "true copy" of Guan Sheng's "Nine Peaks Xueji Map", the situation changed, and the original text "Eighty-One Yi" was then revised to:
However, the pen used in the book is very weak, and it is not like a genuine handwriting. In the past, there was a painting hidden by the Wujin Sheng clan, the book is better, the painting method is very similar, there are Tibetan seals such as the "Prince Yi Bao" and An Yi Zhou, and the person recorded in the "Ink Edge" is also. The two are discussed in terms of style books, the latter is better, and the painting method is very different, then this is undoubtedly a master facsimile.
Compared with the two, the two pieces of "Nine Peaks Snow Ji" of "one twin" were judged high. The former style is "very weak", not similar to the original handwriting, which is a deepening of the previous impression; the painting is good, and when it is a "master facsimile", it is a compromise opinion of painting falsification and good. The latter is a better book, and has an Ahn Tibetan seal, which is the bibliographic version of the "Ink Edge Huiguan", which is historical evidence, adding to its relative "true" weight. That is to say, compared with the connoisseurs of the previous generation, some of Wang Jiqian's calligraphy and painting cognition processes have increased the intermediate links of "printed copies".
The addition of "printed copies" has changed the pattern of obtaining visual experience through the guidance of the master, the demonstration of the drawing notation, or the guidance of conceptual knowledge such as painting skills and painting history. Iterations of old and new are quietly taking place. However, in Wang Jiqian's time, the original copy was still "within reach", and the printed copy could not replace the real copy. Seeing it as the embodiment of the real book, Wang Jiqian gladly accepted the printed version and also actively used the album:
Since the advent of the album, scholars have called it convenient. The Yu family has a good collection of good deeds, and in order to learn painting projects, he has been engaged in the search for albums since childhood, and has been a teacher. In the past twenty years, I have been full of tens of thousands of books.
At the same time, I also think that the albums on the market are uneven and have the need to clean up:
Recently, with a little progress in identification, I feel that the true people in the Tibetan album must not be four or five, and those who are full of teachers in the four or five are less than half, and the good and the bad are mixed, and the scholars are suffering. In the winter of Jiashen (1944), Yu Yang's rural residence, with many sunny windows, tried to check eight copies of the "Chinese Famous Album" printed by Japan, and evaluated them picture by picture, for entertainment, reading and writing, and unconsciously painting most of them. Now at sea, I occasionally checked the old ones and got them, so I did my best for half a month to complete them. Its ambiguity is not discernible, the shrinkage is too small, and the Yu Xueli is not aware, all of them are omitted to make up for it in order to make up for it. ......
This is the introduction to the opening meaning of the "Review of Chinese Famous Paintings", which is a note based on the old literary category and for the new-style album. The writing of "Comic Review" itself shows Wang Jiqian's attitude: a good picture album can be a scholar's Jinliang. The rest of the "Famous Pen Collection Wins The Manga Review" is also a continuation of the same mentality.
exhibition
As mentioned earlier, the popularity of albums has led to a shift in the collection environment. Collectors "have exhibited their collections" and seem to be intent on contributing to a more open communication environment:
(September 1943) Recently, Chen Xiaodi, Xu Bangda, and others prepared the Chinese Painting Academy, which was specially designed for the exhibition of new and old art works, and the title was "Chinese Painting Garden". For the first time, an exhibition of famous paintings from past dynasties was held, and collectors were solicited for productions. Produced by collectors enthusiastically, most of them are really exquisite products, and a total of more than 80 pieces of the two beautiful (press: sic: so) are displayed in two times. With the content, the audience was very crowded, and the record of the exhibition was unprecedented. If such an exhibition can be held once a year in the future, the future of Chinese painting will be of great benefit.
A single exhibition can reach hundreds, which is obviously a big improvement from the sporadic number of collections seen in the past. In June and July 1944, the "Painting Garden" held the "Exhibition of Calligraphy and Paintings Collected by the Jian Zhen Society", and Wang Jiqian saw Wang Yi lin Dong Yuan's "Map of the Peak of Wanmuqi", which attracted his great attention. Next, he visited Wang Geyi (1897-1988), Guan Shigu imitating the "WanmuQi Peak Map"; to Sun Boyuan's (1898-1984) Shihu Caotang, Guan Shigu's "Snow Landscape"; and lin Xiaonian held a miniature copy of Shi Gu Lindong Yuan's "Xiashan Map", which is a gradual process of understanding Wang Yi.
In addition to new viewing channels, the exhibition also provides new channels for the circulation of works. On March 1, 1945, the collector Pang Yuanji (1864-1949) displayed the "Silk Calligraphy and Painting Exhibition" in the "Painting Garden", "most of them are black silk books without style, including Zhang Pingshan, Wu Xiaoxian, etc., the pen and ink are early, they are cut off, and they are used as Song and Yuan paintings." Wang Jiqian purchased Ke Jiusi's "Bamboo" from it: "The pen and ink are very good, but the silk color is too dark, and the spirit is not vibrant, and the book 'Danqiu Ke Jiusi Linshi Mr. Plays Ink', Yu obtained it with thirty thousand gold (15) (according to the original text, when it is a pricing method), in order to prepare for one grid." "Thirty thousand gold, which is not inexpensive in Wang Jiqian's purchase record, is not high in the transaction price of yuan paintings at that time, which may be one of the reasons why Wang still chooses to buy despite the poor appearance."
There are many indications that the environment for the collection was changing in the early 1940s. As far as Wang Jiqian is concerned, although he has maintained the way of life of the old-style literati to a great extent and followed the ideological path of traditional connoisseurs, the process of his cognition of calligraphy and painting has still changed in subtlety. These changes also happened to his contemporaries. So, to what extent will they affect connoisseurs' collections, appraisals, and paintings? Or even gradually stand out, pushing them away from tradition? All these things give us room to think, and also leave a window for reference and reflection between ancient and modern times.
Editor-in-Charge: Zheng Shiliang
Proofreader: Luan Meng