In the Qing Dynasty, literati painting occupied the mainstream position in the painting world. Under the influence of literati painting ideas, the pen and ink interest became the pursuit of painters at that time. In the early Qing Dynasty, the "Four Kings" occupied the dominant position in the painting world. At the same time, the innovative school represented by the "Four Monks" and "Eight Houses of Jinling" in the Jiangnan region began to rise. In the middle of the Qing Dynasty, due to the emperor's preferences and social and economic prosperity, court painting was well developed, and the literati painting school represented by the "Eight Monsters of Yangzhou" in yangzhou advocated innovation. In the late Qing Dynasty, the Maritime School and the Lingnan School had the greatest influence, and played a role in the development of Chinese painting. Among the various painting schools, the most controversial is the "Eight Monsters of Yangzhou". The reason why the painters in the "Eight Monsters of Yangzhou" are "weird" is because their painting style does not follow the tradition and is not the mainstream. They were bold and innovative, and their works were contrary to the appreciation habits of the people at that time. The "Eight Monsters of Yangzhou" has been active for nearly a hundred years, and there are many works and wide circulation, and each painter has his own uniqueness. From Luo Ping's "Five Rui tu", one of the "Eight Monsters of Yangzhou", we can appreciate its non-identical painting characteristics.
The Guangxi Museum's Collection of Wurui Tu (see above) is colored on paper, 91.2 cm in length and 38.7 cm in width. The painter inscribed in the upper left corner of the picture: "Wu Rui Tu." B Wei Tianzhong Festival, two peaks Luo Hired painting. "Xia Plutonium" Luo Ping Private Seal", "Two Peaks Painting Seal" White Text Seal. "Yi Wei" refers to the forty years of Qianlong (1775). As can be seen from the inscription, this was done by Luo Ping at the Dragon Boat Festival when he was 43 years old. This painting is intended to express the folk customs of the Dragon Boat Festival. Snakes, toads, spiders, centipedes, and geckos are depicted as the main objects. It is said that during the Dragon Boat Festival, the "five poisons" are exhausted, and people exorcise evil spirits and avoid poisons at this time. In the middle of the picture, a snake crawls up from the bottom to catch the toad in front of it, and the toad is fleeing in panic. The painter brought this scene to life, especially the expression of the toad. At the top left of the picture, a tree grows obliquely. A centipede crawls from a branch on the left, and its multi-legged body and vermilion head give a chilling feeling. On the main trunk of the tree, the gecko is crawling upwards. Next to the vine leaves, a spider hangs down. In addition to the "five poisons", the painter also embellished seasonal plants such as orchids and vine leaves in the picture. Orchid grass has the meaning of decontamination, and vine leaves have the meaning of exhausting the "five poisons".
Most of the objects depicted in Luo Ping's paintings have ancient meanings. In the late Qing Dynasty, Qin Zuyong defined Luo Ping's paintings as "Divine Products" in the "Tong Yin Treatise on Painting". Qin Zuyong wrote: "Luo Liangfeng's pen is ancient and elegant, his thoughts are elegant, he has won the essence of the winter heart, the ink meilan bamboo is extremely wonderful and interesting, the character Buddha statue is particularly strange and not strange, the real high flow of ink, and the extraordinary painting history can also peek into its end." "It can be seen from "Wu Rui Tu" that Luo hired a pen to be old and capable. He painted branches with light ink, dyed the trunk with dry ink, and painted the vine leaves with light ink and thick ink dots. He uses his pen to be extensive and free to make the picture both rich and layered. The blue grass brush on the trunk of the tree is powerful, and each stroke conveys the painter's state of mind. The composition of this work also breaks the traditional stylized composition method and shows the artist's exploration of innovation.
Luo Ping (1733-1799), also known as Shufu, Liangfeng, Yiyun, alias Huazhi temple monk, Golden Bull Mountain, Zhou Fisherman, Shi Lian Old Man, Anhui Shexian people, later lived in Yangzhou. He was a disciple of Jinnong, a good traveler, and never took the road of career in his life. He is good at people, landscapes, flowers and birds, and is also good at painting ghosts and monsters. He used all kinds of ghosts and monsters to satirize various ugly phenomena in the society at that time. Luo Ping's painting style is known as "weird". He does not follow the world, and creates a unique personal style. He sent affection to painting, pursued a higher spiritual realm, and did not want to flow into the ranks of ordinary painters. He has a bumpy life experience, so his works often reveal unevenness and anger. He will vent his dissatisfaction with ugly things in the form of pen and ink to find inner balance.
——Excerpt from China Painting and Calligraphy
![After the death of his wife, Luo Ping, in addition to being sad, also blamed himself, and after the yiyun monk called himself his wife, Luo Ping, in addition to being sad, also blamed himself, calling himself a monk yiyun[fig]](data:image/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAIAAAP///wAAACwAAAAAAQABAAACAkQBADs=)