When we read the verses "The ink pond points out the autumn meditation, and the bitter iron painting qi does not paint the shape", "the place of painting is precious and saves me, if the wind meets the fish, it is off the raft" and "straight from the calligraphy acting method, the art does not dare to talk about the rest", it is easy to think of the paintings and personalities of Wu Changshuo, a master of freehand flower painting in the late Qing Dynasty and early Ming Dynasty painting circle of the main alliance.
Wu Changshuo inherited the excellent tradition of China's national painting, especially literati painting, and worked tirelessly to study painting theory, painting history, and painting methods throughout his life, and with large brushstrokes and ink, he integrated poems, books, paintings, and prints in one furnace, creating a large number of works that are rich in personality and full of sense of the times and interest in life.
A painter, especially an accomplished master, is always inseparable from the guidance of theory, and Wu Changshuo attaches great importance to the research and exploration of the theory of national painting in China. Although he did not have a monograph like the Quotations of Shi Tao Paintings, he published many insightful opinions between the lines of poetry, inscriptions, and letters.
In 1905, Wu Changshuo met with Zhang Mingke in Shanghai and told him, "After Guatian Zhengjun (Zhang Geng's) "Painting Records", there are Feng Guangwen (Feng Moxiang) 'Mo Xiang ju painting knowledge', Jiang Xiazhu (Jiang Baoling)'s "Mo Lin's Present Words", and it has been more than fifty years. Why don't you try it?" Zhang Mingke agreed. After three years, more than one hundred and fifty books were recorded. He is the author of "HanSongge On Art Trivia", which is a detailed and practical work of modern art history. When Wu Changshuo's old friend Gao Yong assisted Yang Yi in writing the Merlin on the Sea, he also put forward many useful opinions and provided a large amount of information.
Wu Changshuo has two volumes of manuscripts, the front of which is extended to the imprint of the teachers and friends he interacted with in his hometown and in Youyuhu, Hangzhou, Suzhou, Shanghai and other places, and the back records their names, knights, character, learning, and friendship. It received nearly fifty people, and the manuscript was not signed, nor was it written in the years, probably with the Tuotuo, and in the last verse it is written: "The long summer is long and leisurely, and the old ones in the lishu are printed by the kings." Therefore, after the class of books, for more than a year, I also learned to paint, I was willing to do it, I was interested in myself, people or like Qingteng, or Baiyang, Yu did not know it, and there was no resemblance to the kings, and the only cool and good paintings of the kings, the kings did not abandon the remainder, the so-called smell of the same, ran Yes no yes, away from the contract and also with the kings to participate in it. In the front, there is a preface written by Tan Futang in 1892, which mentions that "... Wu Zicang stone loves ancient ruoxi, knows each other with heart, elegant articles, and seal carvings... Collection of twenty years of engraving of the seal text, writing a thousand miles of heart-to-heart biography, Printing people's knowledge, celebrity books, not similar to the same kind of thinking, intentional or unintentional... The title is Shi Jiaoyun'er". From the prologue, it was written by Wu Changshuo when he was twenty-eight years old and forty-five years old. This manuscript has not been engraved, we call it "Stone Intersection", which can be said to be his memoirs of recording the contacts between the contemporaries of Jinshi calligraphers and painters, and it is also a precious material in the history of modern art.
In the later years of Wu Changshuo's life, Ren's grandson Wu Zhongxiong came to ask him about the principles of painting, and he wrote a poem "Xun Zhongxiong", which clarified his views on the resemblance of form and god, creation and heart, inheritance and innovation.
Now, we can understand Wu Changshuo's paintings from three aspects: "painting qi", "saving me", and "calligraphy and painting method".
"Bitter iron painting qi does not draw shapes". It is the importance of writing God strongly in "writing God in form." Wu Changshuo's old friend Shen Rujin said that his paintings "take the qi lord", of course, not to say that there is no shape, but that it is not only necessary to be familiar with the appearance of "depicting the flowers", but also to become a confidant with the object. For example, Wu Changshuo also loves mei when painting mei, and he once called himself "a bitter railway man Mei confidant". Once, a friend told him that the ancient plums of Dayuling were planted by the people of Qi Liang, and the green moss was full of moss, like a dragon lying between the cliffs, and the incense smelled for miles when the flowers bloomed, but unfortunately they were killed by lightning and lightning one night, and they were cut down for pay. After his friend left, he painted a large plum blossom with great excitement, and the branches leaned on the flowers to flip the air, although it was not a thousand-year-old thing, it was also very impressive, it was his proud work, and inscribed a long song, saying that this was the creation of the soul. He also inscribed on a painting he painted, "Tianzhu Narcissus": "The penmanship is like Fan Lake, but Fan Lake is skilled in color, and it is often known for its boldness, and those who are good at singing have their natural ears." It can be seen how much he attaches importance to courage.
"Where you paint, you save me." This "I" is the original style of the individual. Pan Tianshou once said: "Mr. Changshuo, whether it is poetry, books, paintings, or seals, his works have a strong special style. He also said: "Mr. Changshuo, whether in poetry, books, paintings, and seals, he is determined not to follow the example of his predecessors and to start a family independently." ”
Wu Changshuo admired him very much, and once said to Wang Yachen: "If you paint in the void valley, if you paint like a person, or if you don't start from your own inner experience, you will destroy it at any time." He also inscribed on the "Buddha's Hand" composed by XuGu: "Ten fingers are fragrant, and one punch breaks the past and the present." Wu Changshuo was not opposed to Shi Gu, but he thought that "out of the blue dare to say that he is victorious over his predecessors, and he is a learned pace and loses his old attitude." It is required to learn from the ancients and create their own style on the basis of their predecessors. In one of his paintings, "Tongzi Anji Garnet Porcelain Bottle", he inscribed: "The ancient law is inherent, it is guarded and broken, the ink is quite sloppy, and it is swept by the seal, and people say that the product cannot be, and I like to be clumsy." Humble and ingenious is exactly a style of art advocated by Wu Changshuo, who once wrote in the long ancient poem of "Engraving": "Several people in the world learned Qin and Han, but the shape of the suo seemed to be tired, and I was sparse like a wild crane, not bound in the carving." I don't know what is the positive change, and I am the hero of the ancient void. All reflect his artistic idea of "saving me".
"Straight from calligraphy to the painting method". Is another feature of Wu Changshuo's artistic creation, after he moved to "Wuyuan" in Anji City in his twenties, he continued to study seal carving, calligraphy, poetry, and after a long period of diligent study and hard training, he reached the "realm of one day and one day", he said: "In recent times, he has made seals, Mo Youzhi has used a rigid pen, Wu Ranglao (Wu Rangzhi) uses a flexible pen, Yang Haosuo (Yang Yisun) uses a thirsty pen, he wants to make a difference between the three families, and he has been engaged in it for decades and cannot have a unique magic, and now the old man, who is bent on seeking a straight and straight center and has a pen that does not follow his heart, how dare he hope that rigidity and softness and thirst are not willing" 。
As for painting, he himself once said: "Where you are able to paint in your life, you can paint with the brush of a book." It can be seen that his painting method evolved from calligraphy. The traditional painting theory in China mentions the same origin of calligraphy and painting, because the principles of calligraphy and painting are consistent. Since the Song and Yuan dynasties, the literati have all evolved calligraphy into painting methods. Therefore, Wu Shili, who is in the same company as Wu Changshuo, said in the "Bitter Iron broken gold" that Wu Changshuo's calligraphy and paintings are "the so-called one and god, two and transformation, with the ability to independently open up the town, and the inexhaustible and according to the things.".
While recounting Wu Changshuo's achievements, we cannot but briefly describe his life. Wu Changshuo, a native of Wu Village, Anji County, Zhejiang Province, was born in 1844. Four years before his birth coincided with the outbreak of the Opium War, and soon after the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom Movement arose, and the village of Wu was the main road for the Qing army to defend Ningguo. When he was seventeen years old, the Taiping Army fought with the Qing army in the east, and in the chaos of the war, the village of Wuwu was destroyed, and his grandmother, mother, wife, and younger siblings died of illness and starvation. He experienced hardships in the chaos, and after five years of chaos, he returned from Ewan with his father, his homeland was deserted and uninhabitable, and he moved with his father to the "Wuyuan" in Anji City. Zhu Zhengchu recorded his youth in the "Book of Wuyuan": "Widowed, simple and silent, taking and not scrupulous, long in singing and shouting and the art of jinshi writing is the most refined, the end of the wu is not the essence, the outside of the wu is not in the middle." "Because at that time, some people thought that not working and sticking to the study was to seek the end of the book, so Zhu Zhengchu said that he was the end of the work and not the end of the book.
Wu Changshuo loved talent, regardless of the door, region, nationality, carefully cultivated and influenced many outstanding calligraphy and painting seal engravers, such as: Chen Shizeng, Zhao Shinong, Pan Tianshou, Wang Geyi, and Japan's Kawai Tsuen-lu and so on. He did not have the view of the portal, and actively participated in the activities of the art groups of the time, such as the "Xiling Printing Society", "the Golden Stone Calligraphy and Painting Society of the Maritime Inscription Museum", "the Yuyuan Garden Calligraphy and Painting Society" and so on.
When he was at home, he met Shi Yusheng and Zhang Xingfu. Believing that Shi "has no city government, makes friends with sincerity, strives for poetry, and takes style charm as the sect", Wu Changshuo is very close to him in the past and learns poetry from him. Zhang Xingfu "Learned from The Self-Encouragement", wrote "Speaking of Literature and Making Doubts", and worked on Qin Seal, and Wu Changshuo was influenced by him in the teaching of Jinshi script. Tan Futang was a master of poetry, and after Wu Changshuo met him in Shanghai, he was very praised by the tan family, saying that from his poems, he could see that he was a man of ruggedness and ruin, and he sent his own works to him, and Wu Changshuo said with emotion: "Since Yu Ce's name has been in a small rank for more than ten years, the wind and dust have gone away, the virtue has not advanced, every thought has not been regretted, and the wise and noble elders who have met him are often suitable, and they can not be masturbated in the rock caves. When he first arrived in Huzhou, he entered Zhang Zibo, who was knowledgeable and talented, skilled in painting, and fine identification, and Zhang Shi instructed him to carve a few square seals, and after holding the praise, he said: "Now people make seals but learn Chen Deng, and look in harmony with God; as Jun wrote, in the power of the word, the qi is full of the wrist, the perseverance is unremitting, and it is not easy to measure." He also met Hu Lin, who was also a seal master, and The Hu clan said that his seal could be unique, and Wu Changshuo was very touched, saying: "Yu Guangu has been good at performing arts, and his character is more and more elegant, but on the contrary, he does not work, the world does not know, moving small skills, how can you be a small skill like Hu Shi." ”
Wu Changshuo also has a deep friendship with some painters. Zhang Zixiang, Wu Botao, Ren Fuchang, etc. can see their strengths. Jin, nicknamed Blind Bull, Works to Paint Good Doctor, Paint Plum Blossoms, Landscape Kung Fu is very deep, frank, Wu Changshuo had back gangrene, asked him to heal for fifty days to be good, during the illness, Jin advised him to learn to paint, after painting, he said that he had gold and stone qi. So Wu Changshuo became more committed to painting. He met Pu Zuoying in Suzhou and had a close relationship for fifty years. In 1894, the two collaborated on Mei Zhu, and Wu Changshuo titled "Years of Cold Friendship". After Pu's death in Shanghai, Wu Changshuo and others took care of the funeral and wrote an epitaph to express their mourning. When Wu Changshuo first arrived in Shanghai, he met hu Gongshou, a famous calligrapher and painter at that time, and Hu Shi was very fond of Wu Changshuo's engraving and writing seal books, and painted the "Cangshi Diagram" to give him, and inscribed: "Zhan Pi Cangshi, wind and bone, decadent shape, between its bones." "There was a lot of encouragement to Wu Changshuo.
Wu Changshuo always patiently cultivated young people who had the ability to work hard, and Zhao Shinong of Yushan said in the preface to the "Bai Miao Lu Yin Cun": "Servant is blunt, less out of school, sells medicine with his ancestors in the village and city, in the twenty-fourth year of the year, he began to carve a good golden stone, entered the city to know Mr. Li Yuzhang, knew the Wood Wuyin Sect, followed by Wu Yan Lao Cangshi, Shi Miao's old rule of Han Yin, swept away the Wen, He, Ding, Deng Ji Xi, a unique path, Mai Gu Shuo, the zongzhi at home and abroad, the style of printing studies has changed, but scholars do not have to read more than three generations of Qin and Han Jinshi, so that the calligraphy has a history." Zhao Shinong was a very creative seal engraver, who worked diligently and opened up his own original style on the basis of inheriting Wu Changshuo. He named the room where he was in charge of the seal "Bai Miaolu", which shows how much he respected his teacher.
In 1897, Wu Changshuo received a letter from Japan from the twenty-eight-year-old Kawai Tsuen-ku, whom he did not know, and attached a study of Intuo, asking to learn from him. He replied with a long, enthusiastic letter expressing his willingness. After receiving the letter, Tsuen Lu was very excited, and he wrote in the reply: "The gentleman and the servant do not have half-face knowledge, and the love is thick, so indignant, read it again and again, feel extremely tearful, Mr. Hui Dazuo is even more imprinted, straight Qin Straight Han, simple and simple, wonderful, Gao Yi zhi, Ming Liver does not know what to thank, when the children and grandchildren Yong Bao yan." In the winter of 1900, he traveled to Shanghai with The master of the Bunko Hall, Keitaro Tanaka (Keitaro Tanaka published Guo Moruo's "Two Weeks of Golden Literature Series" edited and published in 1912, which became the first Wu Changshuo album popular in Japan), and was immediately introduced by Luo Zhenyu and Wang Kangnian to Wu Changshuo, who had been admired for many years. Another Japanese native of Takamatsu Gifu, the head of poetry, books, paintings, and seal engravings, Oyako, met Wu Changshuo in 1903 when he was a compiler at the Shanghai Commercial Press, and became a close friend. In 1904, the Xiling Printing Society was established, Wu Changshuo was elected as the president, and Tsuen Lu and Nagao Jia were the first Japanese members of the Xiling Printing Society, which became a good story in the history of Sino-Japanese cultural exchanges and printing studies.
In the year of Wu Changshuo's death (1927), Zhong Jiu wrote a four-word poem: "Calligraphy and painting seal carving, for a furnace smelting, poetry through temperament, Langxian Dongye, bamboo sawdust, not windy and indecent, negative belly He, kind of general, the year of chaos..." Although this poem is mixed with many allusions, it is very much like a summary or motto for his own life, life, and art, and he humbly compares his works to bamboo sawdust that is beneficial to people, and takes the scolding (criticism) of others as a teacher, hoping to be more than Nanshan, tirelessly in art, and his " Absolute Orchid" is as full of brilliance.