Gu Kaizhi, Lu Tanwei and Zhang Sengyou were the three most important painters in the Southern and Northern Dynasties, representing the rapid development and maturity of figure painting in the Han Dynasty.
Gu Kaizhi's essay On Painting, like his other two works on painting art, is not easy to read, and can only be inferred from its general idea. Among them, the stories are those painted by predecessors: Little Martyr, Zhou Benji, Fuxi Shennong, Han Benji, Sun Wu, Zui, Mao, Brave, Martyr, Dong, seven buddha, Xia Yin, Big Martyr, Beifeng Poetry, Quiet Pool, Seven Sages of Bamboo Forest, Ji's Poem of Virtue, and Chen Taiqiu II. In the first paragraph of the whole article, it is particularly said: "Every painting is the most difficult, the second landscape, the second dog and horse, and the second terrace. It is difficult to do well, it is easy to do well, don't wait for it to become wonderful. " Here, he pointed out that understanding the depth of an object is the highest in figure painting, which is also very important for landscape painting. During the period of Xingning in the Eastern Jin Dynasty (AD 363-365), Gu Kaizhi painted a Vimala statue of "obviously ill, forgetting a few words" at the crock temple in Jinling (now Nanjing), depicting Vimalakīrti's illness and his special expression when talking to people. Although this image of Vimalakīrti has not been handed down, it has been well received. At the same time, this record also shows that the Buddhist images circulating in China do not completely imitate foreign art. In addition, when Gu Kaizhi painted the portrait of Pei Kai, he added three cents to his cheek. It is said that this is how he simply used details to enhance the portrait. It is also recorded that he deliberately painted Xie Kun among rocks, which shows that he tried to compare the characters' personalities with the environment. Moreover, we know that when he tried to figure out how to express Ji Kang's poems, he realized that when playing the piano, it is relatively easy to draw the posture of "waving five strings with one hand", although it is a small gesture of the hand; However, it is more difficult to draw "Looking at Hong Fei" and convey the loss of attachment to the clouds on the horizon through subtle expression of eyes. These are the reasons why Gu Kaizhi, as a figure painter, really realized the boundaries of his works when he tried to describe the subtle psychological changes in detail. In addition, he also explicitly talked about "vivid depiction is blocked" and proposed that depicting eyes is the most important skill in figure painting. All these show that Gu Kaizhi represents the new development of figure painting in this period. Gu Kaizhi's original works have not been handed down so far. Only a few books have been circulated for a long time. Among them, the most exquisite Picture of Women's History (the Sui Dynasty manuscript, now in the British Museum in London, England) and the Picture of Luo Shen Fu (the Song Dynasty manuscript, now in the Palace Museum) can better illustrate the painting style and artistic level of Gu Kaizhi's era. A woman's history can be counted as several illustrations of an article. Women's History Proverbs, written by Zhang Hua in the Western Jin Dynasty. It is said that the purpose of his writing this article is to satirize the dissolute and depraved Queen Jia. Its content is some life experience and moral advice to educate women in feudal courts on how to be human and how to protect themselves. Gu Kaizhi is a picture of women's history, depicting a series of moving images, revealing the identity and elegance of these ancient court women from their postures. The painter's pen and ink are very simple. The ancients called the lines used to outline contours and pleats "like silkworms spinning silk", and in the pictures of women's history, they were also described as "spring clouds floating in the air and running water on the ground". The rhythm of these lines was preserved, which was continuous, slow, natural and very uniform. The Fu Tu of Luoshen is a sentimental poem that Cao Zhi, a famous poet in ancient China, used myth to metaphor the loss of love, and it is an important work of ancient China literature. Zhen Shi, a woman deeply loved by Cao Zhi, was taken away by her brother Cao Pi at the decision of her father Cao Cao. Zhen Shi didn't get a stable love with xelloss and died miserably. After her death, xelloss gave Xia Houdun the Yu Pei gold belt pillow left by Zhen Shi. Cao Zhi passed through Luoshui on his way back to his fief, and dreamed that Zhen Shiyin would pick him up at night. Apart from grief, Cao Zhi also wrote an essay "Feeling Zhen Fu", which shaped the moving image of Luo Shen (the daughter of Fuxi, who was said to be a god after drowning in Luoshui), that is, beautified the image of his lover. Cao Rui, the son of Zhen Shiyin, renamed it "Luoshen Fu". Many painters in ancient times painted the pictures of Luo Shen Fu, and there were many copies in Song Dynasty, all of which were copies of Gu Kaizhi's original works. The characters in the two volumes of the Palace Museum are basically similar, but there are differences in the composition of the scenery. That scene is simple, and the style is more characteristic of the Six Dynasties. At the beginning of the picture scroll, Cao Zhi and his attendants looked at the shore of waterinfo, and the beautiful waterinfo goddess hiding him in Beloved appeared on the calm water. The picture is full of water, Luo Shen is affectionate and seems to come and go. Luo Shen's figure conveys an unattainable infinite melancholy affection. Such a scene is exactly what the poet's affectionate eyes see. In his original poem, Cao Zhi once described Luo Shen's wandering on the water as "a slight step in the waves and dust in his socks". These two poems, full of tenderness and delicate feelings, have long been famous sentences, which also help us understand the poetry in the painting. This literary "Goddess of Luofutu" describes people's emotional activities, so it plays an important role in the development of ancient painting. "Lienv Tu" (a copy of Song Dynasty collected in the Palace Museum) seems to be based on the handwriting of Wei and Jin Dynasties in terms of characters, movements, costume composition and style. The illustrated book Biography of Lienv in Song Dynasty was reprinted in Ruan Yuan in Qing Dynasty. The number at the top of each page is similar to this volume, but with the background added. Also labeled as Gu Kaizhi Map, this illustration confirms this picture scroll, at least we can see a part of the painting art in Wei and Jin Dynasties (or between Han and Wei Dynasties), which is helpful to understand the historical origin of painting in the Southern and Northern Dynasties. Gu Kaizhi's works and Wei Jinsheng's praise of paintings have always been marked as articles by Gu Kaizhi. This paper discusses the method of copying, and matters needing attention in selecting silk, coloring, layout, painting mountains and painters, among which some painting experience is preserved. Another of his works, Painting Yuntai Mountain, is an article of historical value. However, there are many confusions in the article, but it can be seen that it describes a map of Yuntai Mountain divided into three sections. Yuntai Mountain is a famous mountain where Taoist founder Zhang Daoling cultivates immortals. This painting depicts Zhang Tianshi Dowling jumping into a deep valley to pick peaches, so as to test his disciples, among whom Zhao Sheng and Wang Chang are the most confident. The article also describes the steep trend of the mountain stream in the painting. There are solitary pines on the peaks, and the mountains are interspersed with phoenix birds with swaying body, beautiful feathers and fine tail wings and white tigers drinking rock water. This article helps us to understand the content and style of early landscape painting. The early landscape paintings contain strange immortal factors. Zong Bing and Wang Wei, Taoist priests in the Northern and Southern Dynasties, also preserved their landscape paintings, which can be seen from their thoughts of visiting immortals and observing Taoism. The styles of Gu Zhuo's early landscape paintings can be found in some stone carvings and Dunhuang murals in the Southern and Northern Dynasties. We can further understand Gu Kaizhi's figure painting, be good at improving the texture with light ink, outline powerful thin lines with "iron line drawing", describe the five senses of the characters in detail, and deal with nature and generosity dynamically. Combined with the complex facial expressions of the characters, it reveals their rich inner feelings; Clothing lines are smooth and elegant, beautiful and vivid, full of artistic charm. In his later years, the brushwork is like spinning silk in spring silkworm, which seems clever but not clumsy. He is colorful and slightly embellished, but he is full of romance. Lu Tanwei in the Southern Dynasties and Wu Daozi in the Tang Dynasty copied his paintings. Today, there are copies of Gu Kaizhi's works, which praise Cao Zhi's love with Zhenguan and exhort women's virtue, such as a history of women and a picture of women's benevolence and wisdom. Make it clear publicly and donate millions.
During the Eastern Jin Dynasty in ancient China, a Buddhist temple named Crock Temple was built in Nanjing. After the temple was completed, the monks asked for donations. One day, a young man came to the temple and wrote several "millions" in the donation book. People are very surprised, because in the past few days, among many donors, there is no
One person donated hundreds of thousands. Everyone thought that the poor young man named "Tiger Head" was bragging and doodling, so the monk immediately asked him to erase the numbers he had written, but the young man said confidently, "Don't be busy! Find me a blank wall first. " So he closed the door.
Draw a picture on the designated blank wall, except the eyes. At this time, the young man said to the monk, "Everyone who comes to see the painting on the first day should donate100000 yuan to the temple;" Donate 50 thousand the next day. The amount of donations after that is up to you. "When this young man scratched Vimalakīrti's eyes in public,
The temple gate was wide open, like the glory of the gods, and the whole city was in turmoil. People rushed to the temple to see the paintings. They all praised the picture for its vividness. There is an endless stream of people looking at the paintings. It didn't take long for millions to make up. This painter is Gu Kaizhi, a great painter in the Eastern Jin Dynasty.