Speaking of the "Ding Million" family, the people of Huangxian County, Shandong Province, can be said to be known to everyone. In its heyday, the Ding family's luxurious buildings covered most of the Huang County, and its pawnshops and money houses spread throughout 11 provinces and cities across the country, and the assets were equal to the annual financial revenue of the Qing government, becoming the richest man in Shandong. In 1947, the Jiaodong area carried out land reform, Ding fled, Ding's parents brought home two bundles of calligraphy and paintings that no one wanted, and the framed calligraphy and paintings were not suitable for burning and were thrown on the attic of their own home.
In 1963, the staff of Yantai Museum went to this place to collect cultural relics and found that of the more than 70 calligraphy paintings provided by Changgong Laolin, 53 of them were more valuable, one of which was a painting work "written" with traditional pen and ink, and the painting used techniques such as "gossamer drawing" and "golden wrong knife", showing high artistic value. Mr. Zhang Boju, a famous connoisseur of cultural relics, went to Yantai and was shocked when he saw this work, this painting he searched for more than 40 years, originally thought that it had long been lost overseas, but did not expect to be well collected in Yantai, full of emotions, can be described as a long-cherished wish. The collection mentioned by Mr. Zhang Boju is a national first-class cultural relic, "Ancient Buddha Map".
Jin Nong, the author of "Ancient Buddha Map", mr. Dongxin. In the first year of Qianlong,000, he recommended the Erudite Hongzi Branch, but he failed to become an official in the capital, lived in Yangzhou for the longest time, sold paintings for a living, lived in sanzhu nunnery, and died of old age and poverty. Jinnong is erudite and versatile, good at poetry, fine in ancient times, happy to collect, and works in calligraphy and painting. There is a collection of goldstone scripts, with thousands of volumes. Calligraphy workers are subordinate to Kai, who are known for their simple and thick, and who are more subordinate to each other, creating a grid of their own, known as "lacquer books". I started painting after the age of 50. Writing bamboo, plum, kurama, Buddha statues, characters, landscapes, etc., the pen and ink are thick and simple, the layout and composition are ingenious. He is the author of "Mr. Winter Heart Collection", "Winter Heart Miscellaneous Painting Inscription", and "Winter Heart Zhai Yan Ming". The handwriting of the "Measurements Like Seas" has now flowed into Japan. Jinnong's calligraphy is a fusion of calligraphy works such as the National Mountain Monument and the Confession monument of Tianfa. He wrote lacquer books with ink, horizontal and vertical, more straight pens, less curved pens, like the strokes of the lacquer painter with a flat brush. Mr. Dongxin was the chief of the painting world at that time, the first of the "Eight Monsters of Yangzhou", the eight strands of Yangzhou have their own strange points, and Mr. Dongxin blames his talent.
And we know that the Eight Monsters of Yangzhou are the general names of a group of calligraphers and painters of similar styles who were active in yangzhou from the middle of the Qing Kangxi Dynasty to the end of the Qianlong Dynasty, and they are often called the "Yangzhou School" in the history of art. In the history of Chinese painting, there are different theories, and it is more commonly recognized that: Jin Nong (strange in cai), Zheng Xie (strange in the legend), Huang Shen (strange in the understanding), Li Li (strange in the fate), Li Fangyi (strange in stubbornness), Wang Shishen (strange in the person), Luo Ping (strange in the mission), Gao Xiang (strange in the indifferent). Because the word "eight" can be regarded as a number word, it can also be seen as a reduction. Most of them came from poor backgrounds, lived a hard life, were high and wild, and calligraphy and painting often became a medium for expressing their ambitions and expressing their true feelings. The style of calligraphy and painting of Yangzhou Eight Monsters is different from ordinary people, not conventional, and sometimes pejorative, so it is called "Eight Monsters".
Since the Sui and Tang dynasties, Yangzhou has been known for its economic prosperity, although it has experienced the destruction of military disasters, but because of its key location, convenient transportation, fertile land, rich products, after the war, it always quickly returned to prosperity. In the Qing Dynasty, although it was tragically destroyed by the Ten Days Slaughter City, it was developed by the Kangxi, Yongzheng and Qianlong Dynasties, and it showed a prosperous scene, becoming a metropolis on the southeast coast of China and an important trade center of the whole country. Rich merchants and merchants gathered in all directions, especially the salt industry flourished, and the southeast of The Rich Jia was rich.
Economic prosperity also promotes the prosperity of cultural and artistic undertakings. Literati and celebrities from all over the world gathered in Yangzhou. At the initiative of local officials, poetry receptions are often held. Poetry creation, national reputation. Some salt merchants, who can be called rich and wealthy, are also vassals of elegance, and they extend their reception to those who come to Yangzhou by celebrities from all over the world. As a result, Yangzhou has attracted many celebrities from all over the country, including many poets, writers and artists. Therefore, Yangzhou at that time was not only the economic center of the southeast, but also the center of culture and art.
In order to meet the needs of their luxurious life, the rich merchants also demand a large number of material and spiritual products, such as exquisite handicrafts, precious treasures and jade, fresh clothes and delicacies, and they are even more focused on calligraphy and painting. As far as the winds are concerned, the middle-class families and even the richest among the commoners also seek to hang in the room of calligraphy and painting to show their elegance, and the folk proverb has the saying that "there is no calligraphy in the home, not the old family".
The large demand for calligraphy and painting attracted and produced a large number of painters. According to the "Yangzhou Painting Record", there were as many as one hundred and dozens of local painters and painters from all over the world who were slightly famous, many of whom were famous artists at that time, and the "Eight Monsters of Yangzhou" was one of the most famous.
Where exactly the "eight monsters" of Yangzhou are, there are different theories. Some people think they are weird, but from a practical point of view, this is not the case. The eight monsters themselves, through ups and downs, have an uneven atmosphere, have infinite anger, and have deep sympathy for the poor class. With the keen insight and good sympathy of intellectuals, they attack ugly things and people, either in poetry or in painting and calligraphy.
Although this kind of thing is not uncommon in Chinese history, it is not uncommon, and it is natural for people to treat it as "strange". But their daily behavior did not go beyond the scope of etiquette at that time, and they were not as indulgent as the literati of the Jin Dynasty--pretending to be crazy and crying and laughing. They communicate with officials and celebrities, participate in poetry and cocktail parties, and behave as normal people. Therefore, it is unreasonable to identify their "weirdness" from their life behavior. Now it is only in their works that they are studied.
Therefore, the "eight monsters" headed by Jinnong are not willing to follow the path that others have already created, but want to find another way. They want to create "the text that exposes the world, the word that shocks the thunderstorm, the talk of the gods and curses the ghosts, and the paintings that have no ancient and no present", which are different from the ancients, do not follow the customs, and have an original style. Their works are contrary to people's appreciation habits, and people feel novel, so they feel a little "strange".
As Zheng Xie himself said: "Don't be a family of your own, calligraphy and painting don't want ordinary people to praise." Decadent Tang yang has its own attitude, and ordinary people laugh at me Banqiao monster. At that time, people had mixed opinions about them, the most important of which was that they deviated from the "authentic", which explained the main reason why it was called "strange".
In art, Yangzhou Eight Monster painters broke through the shackles of "authenticity", on the basis of inheriting tradition, focusing on their own creation and play, spending their lives and striving to create new painting styles. Undoubtedly, they have made great contributions to the development of Chinese painting, and their creative ideas and numerous works are all valuable legacies that we have learned to inherit.
The Eight Monsters of Yangzhou, represented by Jin Nong, show the reflection and criticism of the current social situation by artists in the middle and late Qing Dynasty. With strong and accusatory brushstrokes, they expressed the bitterness in the hearts of that generation of literati. They did not have the nostalgia of the generation in the late Ming and early Qing dynasties for their homeland, whether they had the flattery of the servile literati, they were a group of cynics, borrowing the eyes of art, looking at the country, and returning to the light before the entire feudal civilization was extinguished.