"The strokes are thinner and harder, but the bottom is wider in structure and the long paintings are spread out. They are interspersed in the usual layout and stretched inadvertently, making the body full and swaying, enchanting and colorful, without a sense of rigidity. "
This is the author Zhu Yong's evaluation of it, which is thin and full of loopholes, thus becoming an orphan in China's art history, which is unprecedented. Although countless people have climbed higher and higher since then, few people have won its spirit.
Unfortunately, Song Huizong, who is addicted to the prosperity and comfort of the deep palace, won't believe that in the near future, he can only ruminate on this luxurious time over and over again in his memory, not to mention that he is proud of his skinny body and will eventually become a tool for begging from the gold people.
This seems to have become a normal state. When an emperor's artistic achievements in history are praised by later generations, we will find that the emperor's political situation is worrying.
Song Huizong is like this, and so is Li Yu, queen of Southern Tang Dynasty. Even Emperor Xuanzong of the Tang Dynasty could not avoid this contradiction. In the first half of my life, I devoted myself to serving the country and building "the rule of Kaiyuan". In the second half of his life, he was addicted to poetry and music, but in return, his country was destroyed.
Later generations read it and tried their best to excuse them. "If they are not emperors ..." and "By the standard of an ordinary person ..." are often the preconditions they set when they excuse themselves. But I think this is a historical paradox. If they were not emperors, it would be impossible for Song Huizong to write the unique imperial calligraphy in history-thin gold calligraphy, which is related to the emperor's extreme aesthetics. Li can't write a sad and lonely poem.
Can politicians really not have romance and reality at the same time? The author gives his answer:
"Art is romantic, living in a fantasy world and taking it as the whole truth."
"Art is anti-logic, anti-rationality, and even anti-common sense. An overly rational person cannot become an artist, and politicians often cannot do without reason. "
"Therefore, some scholars believe that the best structure of politics is that realism is in the DPRK and romanticism is in the wild, so as to maximize the practical operation ability of the DPRK and the bold fantasy of people who are no longer there."
I agree with this view, but I also admit that it is difficult for most people, at least among the hundreds of emperors through the ages, to say so little.
Of course, I don't completely agree with the author's understanding of art. In my opinion, reality itself is artistic.
Reality is tragic and complicated, and I think it is far more substantial than fantasy. We embellish fantasy in reality, add fiction in reality, and finally form art.