Why do well-known painters frequently ask others to ghostwrite? What is the entanglement between the painter himself and the ghostwriter? Such a transaction, the painter is not ashamed, but spread as a beautiful thing in the painting world, and why? Is this a distortion of human nature or a moral degeneration?
Today Xiaobian will take you to understand the secret behind "ghostwriting".
(Calligraphy and Painting Tips: Ghostwriter works ≠ fakes, but works with author authorization (with the author's own signature and seal), more like today's "IP authorization". ）
01 Too many manuscripts to repay the "debt"
I asked ghostwriting to deal with this
Such painters are usually well-known, and the people who come to the manuscript are overwhelmed, and the painter himself cannot be so prolific, so he asks ghostwriters to deal with this.
One of the most typical examples is Dong Qichang. There are as many as eight people who write for Dong and have a name to examine.
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Ming Dong Qichang's "Gao Yitu" Collection of the Palace Museum
Dong Qichang was also the leader of the Songjiang painting circle at that time, and he naturally had a lot of socializing, and "could not but beg for ghostwriting."
Among the many painters who ghostwrote for Dong Qichang, Zhao Zuo is undoubtedly the most personal. His original name was Zhao Zuo, and after being admitted to Xiucai, he suddenly found that he did not like to read, so he changed his name to "Zuo" and did not live for life.
Ming Zhao Zuo's "Qiulin Tu" Collection of the Palace Museum
Whether it was then or now, Zhao Zuo, a scholar who had never entered the army, had a disparity in status compared with Dong Qichang, who was an official and a Shangshu. However, Zhao Zuo had a very good relationship with Dong Qichang and was called "fearful friend" by Dong (a respected friend who advised each other in virtue and learning).
In the interaction between the two, not only Zhao Zuo would write for Dong, but Dong also often inscribed on Zhao's paintings.
Ming Zhao Zuo, "Autumn Mountain Mangrove Tree Map", "National Palace Museum" in Taipei. In the upper left corner, there is an inscription of the Dong clan: "Passing Pu Xue, Yang Sheng's mysterious traces are not much, see this is like a tiger Ben Zhonglang.". It can be seen that he appreciates Zhao Zuo.
But even if the nouvre artist's painting skills are high, imitation is re-imaged, ghostwriting paintings are also born to cope with the painter, why does it become a beautiful talk? Aren't the fooled seekers angry?
In fact, many insiders are well aware of the existence of ghostwriting, and what they ask for is really just a painter's name.
The Ming Dynasty painter Chen Jiru once wrote a letter directly to Shen Shichong, who wrote for Dong Shichong: "Brother Ziju (Shen Shichong), send a piece of white paper, run the pen silver three stars, bother to paint the landscape lobby, tomorrow is going to be, do not have to pay, want Dong Silao to be famous also." ”
Ming Shen Shichong,"Hantang Fishing Boat Map" (partial) Collection of the Palace Museum
And the painter himself is not shy about it, Dong Qichang once mentioned: "My friend Yang Yanchong (Yang Jipeng) is good at calligraphy and painting. ”
In this way, the painter has to pay for the painting, the painter has a name to get people's affection, and the substitute writer has to work hard to get rich, but everyone has a bright future.
02 Mass production embraces the market
It has a bit of an assembly line operation
Although ghostwriting can be traced back to the Tang Dynasty, such painters only began to appear in the Ming and Qing dynasties. All this is due to the development of the economy.
Located at the confluence of the Grand Canal and the Yangtze River, Yangzhou is a typical Commercial City of the Ming and Qing Dynasties. There are many merchants, especially salt merchants. They are not short of money, but they lack the name of cultural people, and they are never soft on buying books and paintings, which has led to the extreme prosperity of the painting and calligraphy market.
Qing Dynasty Xuantong three-year Jimeixi heavy salt license Yangzhou Museum collection
The "Guangling Poetry" records such a pair of salt merchant brothers. Ma Yuezhen and Ma Yuelu talked to people and said: Every Dragon Boat Festival, the portrait of Zhong Kui is hung in the lobby and small room of my house, and none of them is the same and repeated. And it's all Ming and former monuments! The paintings of this dynasty are not yet numbered.
Under the influence of this atmosphere, the citizen class of Yangzhou also participated in the trade of calligraphy and painting.
Sometimes there is a folk proverb that "there is no calligraphy in front of the church, not an old family". So many ordinary families, even if they have a swollen face, have to act as "Old Money".
Because the cultural level of these buyers is uneven, there is culture, but not exactly culture. They usually only recognize the representative works of the painter, and do not care about the individual creation of the painter, nor do they care about the "how true" the works received are.
Qing Gao Fenghan's Self-Portrait (Partial) Collection of the Palace Museum
Zheng Banqiao once sighed: Gao Fenghan's paintings on his left hand and Jinnong's calligraphy were all flocked to by people, and they sold well so well that even fake works were never left.
Instead of watching the fakes sell well, it is better to make this money yourself.
Qing Jinnong's "Plum Blossom Drawing" Collection of the Metropolitan Museum of Art
Jin Nong, one of the eight monsters of Yangzhou, has a simple and strange calligraphy and painting work, which is quite sought after by people at the time. After the age of 65, he lived on a shoestring and "traveled to eat and get poor", so he sold paintings to make a living.
Xiang Jun, a disciple who ghostwrote for him, wrote that the old man loved money, but he was too lazy to draw. So I often ghostwrite for him. After completion, he used his characteristic lacquer book to write and sign the painting, which the buyers liked.
Jinnong's calligraphy is originally a flat pen calligraphy, which has both a italic and a subordinate posture, sometimes called "lacquer book", which is very easy to identify. Many buyers only recognize his calligraphy, and do not see or care about the differences in painting between Jinnong himself and the ghostwriter.
Qing Jinnong's "Tao Xiushi Qing Alien Record" Collection of the Palace Museum
Shiren has a poetry cloud: "Hairy love money does not move the pen, and Jun (Xiang Jun) is also willing to paint more than once." The picture is a banner with a beard name, and the thick ink brush characters are shocked. ”
It can be seen that the disciples have written and drawn on their behalf, and the Jinnong inscription has become a fixed process, which has a bit of the meaning of assembly line operation.
03 Vassal elegance
Court painters became ghostwriters
There are also many people who will ask well-known painters to be ghostwriters in order to be elegant, and the typical of them is Empress Dowager Cixi.
As a politician who ruled China for half a century, Cixi not only gained power and photography, but also had a personal hobby - painting. In particular, he loved to reward his courtiers with paintings "of his own making" to show grace and win people's hearts.
Cixi The image comes from the Internet
Of course, Empress Xi is not a person who has studied paintings, and she cannot be so prolific in paintings as she is addicted to power art (rough statistics, Cixi's "Peony Diagram" alone is no less than a hundred pieces). Almost all of these paintings, which were given to relatives of the emperor and the prince and his ministers, were ghostwritten by gongye painters or court ruyiguan painters.
Probably she also knew that her own three-legged cat kung fu was really not enough to make a reward with people.
Qing Cixi", "Finger Painting of the Phoenix", Palace Museum. This "Finger Painting Phoenix Diagram" exposes many problems: the shape of the phoenix is inaccurate; the ink of the feathers is not coherent, the depth of the ink and the wetting and drying conversion are unnatural; the branches and leaves of the laurel tree are not clear enough and lack expressiveness. Most likely, it is Cixi's autograph painting.
In the evening, the wind and rain are shaking, and the building will fall. In order to alleviate the contradictions in the court, Cixi pretended to return to the government of the Guangxu Emperor, and issued a decree to "order Jiangsu and Zhejiang weavers to choose the good painters of the life-preserving women to be sent to Beijing for worship", indicating that she wanted to fade out of the government and study painting to cultivate herself.
And many of these good painters became palace painters around Cixi, of which Miao Jiahui was the most famous.
Part of Qing Miao Jiahui's "Peony Diagram" Picture from "Worship Who Enters the Picture"
Miao Jiahui, a native of Yunnan, has been erudite since childhood, good at painting without bones, and coloring brightly without losing elegance. In his spare time, he often wrote and painted for his relatives and friends, or sold them in the field, and before entering the palace, he was a well-known local boudoir painter.
After entering the palace, Miao Jiahui was quickly appreciated by Cixi. She not only helped Cixi to write, but also taught Cixi to paint, and her status even far exceeded that of the painters in Ruyi Pavilion, with a monthly salary of up to 200 taels!!
Many people may not have a concept of two hundred taels. Let's put it this way, the chief painter of Ruyiguan had to work for a year and a half, and the famous Zheng Banqiao had to sell 100 small paintings to earn Miao Jiahui a month's salary.
Daya Zhai writes folded branches, and Dan Qing outlines imitation Tsuen Hee.
Although the Jiangnan offerings are intended, they are not as good as the female painters of Southern Yunnan.
Not only that, Cixi also spared her from kneeling. Even at the critical juncture when the Eight-Nation Alliance invaded and the imperial family fled westward, Cixi did not forget to let Miao Jiahui accompany him. When she was in the Shaanxi Palace, Cixi also often summoned Miao Jiahui to chat with her to pass the time.
In this way, Cixi not only appreciated Miao Jiahui, but even relied on her somewhat.
Qing Cixi "Peony Figure" Collection of the Palace Museum
Helplessly, Cixi was really not a ruler with high artistic attainments.
Also created by the rulers, the Northern Song Painting Academy can cultivate well-known painters such as Cui Bai, Zhao Chang, and Wang Ximeng, and create ancient masterpieces such as "Han Que Tu", "Sketching Butterfly Diagram", "Qianli Jiangshan Tu", while Cixi's ghostwriters can only mechanically repeat the auspicious intentions such as peony, Lingzhi, deer (harmonic "Lu"), bat (harmonic "Fu") and so on.
Song Wang Ximeng's "A Thousand Miles of Rivers and Mountains" Partial Collection of the Palace Museum
During Cixi's reign, court painting was known for its mediocrity. Her aesthetic interest severely limited the artistic creation of ghostwriters, who neither produced creative painters nor created works that would have an impact on the art world of the time and the future.
The birth of ghostwriting paintings reflects people's appreciation and pursuit of calligraphy and painting to a certain extent. A ghostwriter painting and calligraphy has different degrees of participation of the signatory painter: some are just signed and sealed, some are inscribed, some are the painters who sketch the lines and the substitute writer is responsible for filling in the colors...
Therefore, it is not reasonable to equate the painter's request for ghostwriting directly with the writer's request for a gunner.
【Reference】
Li Hao, "Light and Shadow: A Brief Analysis of the Influence of Forgeries in the History of Chinese Painting and Calligraphy"
Li Xiang, "Worshiping Who Enters the Painting Picture: Cixi's Painting and Ghostwriter"
Lu Shanshan, "A Brief Introduction to the Ghostwriting Phenomenon in Famous Calligraphy and Painting"
Zhang Ning, "Jinnong and His Ghostwriting"
Li Yuruo, "Analysis of the Ghostwriting Phenomenon of Late Ming Calligraphy and Painting Taking Dong Qichang as an Example"
Editor| Child
Reprinted | The museum is authorized to see the exhibition
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