Liang Kai, a native of the Southern Song Dynasty, date of birth and death unknown, was born in Shandong, and after crossing the south, he lived in Qiantang (present-day Hangzhou, Zhejiang). He was a famous Chinese and Japanese calligrapher and painter, and served as a painter in the Southern Song Dynasty. He was a painter with a very special personality, good at painting landscapes, Buddhist taoism, ghosts and gods, teaching Fa Jia Shi Gu, and being blue out of the blue. He likes to drink alcohol, and his behavior after drinking is informal, and he is known as "Liang Feng (crazy) son".
Ningzong Jiataijian (1201~1204 AD) was once a teacher of the academy, but because he hated the shackles of the academy's rules, he hung the gold belt over the wall and left his post. Life is indulgent, known as "Liang Madman". Shi Jia Shigu (Jia is famous for learning Wu Daozi), and far more than the teacher. According to the Qing Dynasty official's "Pei Wen Zhai Calligraphy and Painting Notation", "Shiqu Baodi" and Li Yan's "Southern Song Dynasty Painting Catalogue", Liang Kai left no less than dozens of works, but we can only see about ten today, and most of them are not in China. According to the themes of Liang Kai's works, most of them show Buddhist Taoism, ghost gods, and ancient masters and scholars, such as "Right Army Book Fan", "Xi Zhi Guan Goose", "Huangting Jing Changing Goose", "Yuanming Statue", "Ju Kui Statue", "Hanshan Pick-up", "Samzen Tu", "Tian Le Tu", "Zhuang Sheng Dream Butterfly", "Su Wu Muyang", "Confucius Dreaming of Zhou Gong", "Lian Peng Disguise", "Taiyi Sangong Soldier Formation Map" and so on.
Liang Kai, "Splashing Ink Immortals", National Palace Museum, Taipei
Judging from Liang Kai's "Splash ink immortal figure", it is only a few strokes in a hurry, but it can outline the shape of a drunken cute character; the facial features are tangled, the wide robe and large sleeves, the big belly is exposed, it is very funny, and the head and left shoulder parts are rendered with wet pens, which can clearly see the weight and speed of the pen. This painting vividly captures the dynamics of the expressions of the characters, but does not care too many details, this free and elegant painting method, in later Chinese paintings called "freehand" or "splashing ink".
This type of painting attaches great importance to observation, and a few simple strokes need to grasp the charm of people, such as the belt of the "immortal", only four strokes, but the shape of the belly and the flying feeling of the belt when walking are vividly expressed.
The whole of the immortal in the painting is almost written in ink, writing the posture of the immortal's drunken steps, but the simple brushstrokes fully express the ethereal temperament of the immortal. The simple brushstrokes fully express the ethereal temperament of the immortals. The informal painting method shows the unrestrained creativity of the painter and opens up a new realm for the development of traditional figure painting. The whole painting, in less than a dozen strokes, interprets a maverick, squinting and smiling immortal almost perfectly, his painting is completed in an instant, but it is the result of a lifetime of painting skills through a thousand hammers and hundreds of chains. Liang Kai's artistic creation, borrowing wine to help entertain, drunk and unrestrained, is the most authentic self.
In order to express "splashing ink", Liang Kai also specially used "paper" to paint, which is really different from most of the habits of using "silk" in the Song Dynasty! Liang Kai can be said to be a very rebellious painter, with his own thoughts, which may not have been understood at the time, but later greatly influenced the new development of Chinese painting.
Liang Kai "Budai Monk Diagram", Collection of Xiangxue Art Museum, Japan
This painting paints the bust of the cloth bag monk, the composition is simple and powerful, the pen is concise and extensive, especially the cloth bag monk's robe is the most prominent, a few strokes, the look is vivid, as majestic and powerful as the painting of mountain stones, but also does not lose the soft and casual of the robe, full of brushwork, heavy ink rendering.
If you remove the upper body of the cloth bag monk without looking, its composition seems to be a majestic distant mountain, steady and broad, and when the round skull of the cloth bag monk is large, it turns to the use of fine and smooth brushwork, drawing eyebrows, lips and teeth with a work pen, smiling, and its indifferent and laughing demeanor is vividly expressed, although there is a cynical attitude, but it also shows the other side of its generosity, benevolence, compassion, and compassion, which is also a portrayal of Liang Kai's attitude towards the world.
Liang Kai "Taibai Xing Yin Tu", Tokyo National Museum, Japan
In just a few strokes, this painting depicts a free-spirited image of a poetic immortal. Liang Kai is naturally wild, often drinks and enjoys himself, and is known as "Liang Fengzi". His subtractive strokes are a kind of freehand painting using coarse gestures and thick ink, and "Li Baixing Yintu" embodies this bold painting style; the brush is concise and bold, purely expressed in line drawings, but the poet's loose and uninhibited personality and the posture of walking while chanting are vividly portrayed and amazing. "Li BaiXing YinTu" abandons all backgrounds, a simple few strokes, it outlines Li BaiYouyin's flowing and dashing look, with less wins more, and the meaning is far-reaching, fascinating, posterity called it "reduced strokes".
Liang Kai's reduced brush strokes and their influence on Chinese painting: Ancient Chinese painting developed into the Song Dynasty and reached full maturity, producing many influential painters and excellent works. Folk painting, court painting, and scholar painting each form a system, and they influence, absorb and penetrate each other. The pen and ink technique has been significantly improved, showing a prosperous situation of a hundred flowers competing for glory. Liang Kai's miniature character paintings of the Southern Song Dynasty used concise brush and ink to express the sounds and smiles of the characters; and accurately grasped the essential characteristics of things with concise brush and ink, transforming the real natural form into an artistic picture, thus pushing the freehand painting to a new height and making people feel refreshed.
Liang Kai Autumn Willow Double Crow Figure, Beijing Palace Museum Collection
The picture shows a weeping willow swaying with the wind, two crows flying around the tree, and a full moon is faint and dull. The composition is clean and sparse, the artistic conception is quiet, and a few strokes portray the autumn dusk vividly, and the pen is concise and meaningful. His paintings of landscapes, figures, flowers and birds have achieved high achievements and have a great influence on future generations. This painting is
A rare artistic treasure, the whole picture does not have a single rigid line, all composed of circular arcs, full of flow. The composition of the picture rises in the air, leaving no ground, sky, tree peaks, flying crows occupy the picture, novel and unique, giving people a sense of foresight.
Liang Kai ze pan xing yin tu collection of the Metropolitan Museum of Art
"Zepan Xingyin" means walking by the river and chanting (sad) poems. The language version of the "History of Qu Yuan Lie": "Qu Yuan is released, and the yin zepan is issued." "Ze here does not refer to swamps, but to rivers. However, in the Song Dynasty painter Liang Kai's "Zepan Xing yin tu", there is not much sadness.
"Give the golden belt, Kai is not slow, hanging in the courtyard, drinking and enjoying himself, and the trumpet is Liang Fengzi." He has been a "liang madman" who has been ordered by a painting academy and given him a "golden belt", and his painting is also eclectic and never follows the rules. His landscape paintings, like his figure paintings and flower and bird paintings, are full of maverick personality. "Zepan Xing yintu" is more virtual and less real, the artistic conception is high, and it is intriguing.
In the middle of the Southern Song Dynasty, landscape figures were painted in addition to Ma Yuan, Xia Gui, Ma Hezhi, painters influenced by literati ink opera, as well as Zen painter Liang Kai and others. They all use stick figures to paint landscapes, which are different from literati ink plays and different from court painters, and what they pursue in their works is a Zen artistic conception.
Liang Kai once waited for the painting academy, and it is said that at that time, the people in the painting academy saw Liang Kai's works and did not admire them. It can be seen that Liang Kai had a high reputation when he was in the Southern Song Dynasty Painting Academy. Liang Kai inherits the achievements of his predecessors and applies them flexibly. He deeply observed the spiritual characteristics of the characters he painted, showed the sound and smile of the characters with concise brush and ink, accurately grasped the essential characteristics of things with concise brush and ink, and fully conveyed the feelings of the painter, thus pushing freehand painting to a new height and making people feel refreshed.