According to the existing historical records, it was in the Tang Dynasty that bamboo became a painting theme and entered the traditional painting field in China. Wang Wei, a famous writer and poet in the Tang Dynasty, likes bamboo very much, and also likes to draw bamboo. Although we can't find the original bamboo painting in the Tang Dynasty today, a poem by the great poet Bai Juyi can give us a general understanding of the height of bamboo painting at that time: "Don't be born from roots, don't be born from bamboo shoots, look up at the painting and listen down."
Scholar painter Li Yan: The earliest original bamboo painting we can see now was in the Song Dynasty, with the famous painter Wen Tong as the most representative. Wen Tong, a painter, should be said to have occupied a very important position in the history of bamboo painting in China. It can even be said that his bamboo painting style has influenced people's bamboo painting style for hundreds of years to the present.
Painting bamboo bears the imprint of the painter's own spirit in every era, and his spiritual imprint is also the imprint of the times. For example, Zheng Banqiao, a famous painter in the Qing Dynasty, painted bamboo, which was called the head of the Eight Eccentrics in Yangzhou. He is an honest official, and he is very sympathetic to the suffering of ordinary people. So when he painted bamboo, he also showed this idea. There is a small photo album that we will never see again. It is said that there are only two or three bamboo leaves on it, but this poem just gives the best explanation to these two or three bamboo leaves. He "some small officials in Caozhou County always care about their feelings." What do you mean? I was resting in the yamen, and I heard bamboo rustling outside the window, as if someone was complaining to me. But how can I solve so many personal problems for my small state and county officials? But even so, their little sufferings are attached to my heart. "A leaf always cares about feelings" is a great sentence. As an honest official with people-oriented thought like Zheng Banqiao, he experienced the sufferings of the people by painting bamboo. I think it really deserves to go down in history. Such a great painter.
Although bamboo painting is beautiful, we must appreciate it. First of all, we should look at the overall qualification and shape of bamboo in the painting. In China's traditional ink painting, it is the beauty of silhouette and outline, the beauty of momentum and charm; Secondly, people in painting circles are more accustomed to painting bamboo as writing bamboo, because the brushwork and wonderful meaning of China's calligraphy can be seen everywhere in bamboo painting.
Yan Li: For example, if you paint its bamboo pole, you should show its rigidity and flexibility. Generally speaking, you should use official script or regular script to draw bamboo poles, big bamboo poles and bamboo joints, and then use official script to draw bamboo branches. This is a kind of calligraphy between running script and cursive script, so it looks very tall and straight. Generally speaking, bamboo leaves should be painted in regular script, one stroke at a time and sent home with a pen. China's freehand brushwork takes painting bamboo as the theme, and shows the interest of calligraphy in painting, which should be said to be incisive. On the other hand, if you don't have the viewpoint of calligraphy aesthetics, it's hard to appreciate the aesthetic implication of painting bamboo.
Poetry expresses wishes, while painting conveys emotions. The magnificent social changes in contemporary China have influenced the painter's mind and changed the style, temperament and connotation of bamboo painting. Li Kuchan, a famous master of Chinese painting, was invited to draw a huge bamboo painting for the Great Hall of the People in Beijing before his death, which was magnificent and exuded a strong flavor of the times. Such bamboo paintings have long been divorced from the description of bamboo branches and leaves and the expression of personal feelings in traditional literati paintings, with a broader vision and profound themes.
Cui Huimin, a famous painter, studied under Dong Shouping, a master of Chinese painting. While inheriting the artistic essence of his predecessors, he devoted himself to studying bamboo paintings, learning from others and finding a new way of individuality. Before drawing the case, Cui Huimin didn't write, but he had a well-thought-out plan. When the brush falls, it can be said that the pen follows the heart and the heart follows the heart. Therefore, the ink bamboo created by Cui Huimin is lifelike and can be called the best in bamboo painting.
Cui Huimin: There is an old saying: "Painting orchids for half a life, painting bamboo for a lifetime". Bamboo painting is "ripe when born", so the author dare not start writing, but the painting skill is good, and the author's thought has gradually improved to a higher level. I don't think I can finish learning and painting bamboo all my life. Li Yan: The natural ecology of bamboo has not changed much since ancient times, but due to the changes of the times, bamboo painting has also been marked by the times and has undergone great changes.
Yes, for many years, people in China have never stopped being close to and praising bamboo. Bamboo has become a changing theme in China's paintings.