This "Chrysanthemum Stone Map" is vertical, and the paper is colored, with a length of 173.8cm and a width of 47cm, 1922. It is now in the Palace Museum in Beijing. Before appreciation, we must have a general understanding of the artistic features of Wu Changshuo's paintings. Wu Changshuo's painting aims at "painstakingly drawing iron, not drawing shapes" and "talking about pictographs being intangible", painting with seal script and painting with stones. The so-called "holding seal script is a weed", giving full play to the expression of "writing" in calligraphy, taking "intentional creation" as the method and "being a layman" to achieve the realm of "peace of mind and natural communication" and "Xuan Yu" So his works give people an overwhelming and magnificent feeling. This painting gives viewers a sense of rhythm and rhythm that ordinary painters can't show. Judging from the layout style of this painting, it completely conforms to the artistic style of Wu Changshuo's painting. Pan Tianshou said in "Talking about Mr. Wu Changshuo": "No matter whether the banner is straight or not, it tends to tilt from left to bottom to right, and sometimes from right to bottom to left. Its branches are also oblique, especially like to draw vines, or from the upper left corner to the lower right corner, or from the upper right corner to the lower left corner, flying and dancing ... Its inscriptions are mostly long lines to increase the momentum of the layout. " The layout of Wu Changshuo's paintings is inclined to rise and fall, and the branches are connected to increase the momentum of the picture, paying attention to the intricate reaction of the picture, crossing the branches smoothly and reversely, hiding cleverness in the clumsy. Moreover, in the vertical and horizontal length of the title, the number, size, cinnabar and location of printing are all handled comprehensively and are very particular. Wu Changshuo once said: "The bold and unrestrained place cannot be separated from the statutes, and the implicit place takes care of the charm.". The layout of Wu Changshuo's paintings obviously benefits from a lot of practice in seal cutting. From this "Chrysanthemum Stone Map", we can fully feel the above-mentioned many aesthetic factors.
Next, analyze the title in this picture. According to records, Wu Changshuo's calligraphy has experienced the process of learning from Zhong You, Wang Juesi, Shi Guwen and Li Shu, and finally formed a "Chang Shuo Style" with rich connotation, unique style, vigor and tenacity, which runs through the back of the paper. There is a running script in the picture, and seven words are quatrains. According to textual research, Wu Changshuo's early running script was formed on the basis of writing Zhong You's regular script. By the age of 60, seal script had been injected into the running script. The center is vigorous, but he is confused and rough, and has no interest in truth. In his later years, the running script is even more vigorous and vigorous. Look at these seven-character quatrains again. They are powerful and have a breathtaking power. His name is Wu Changshuo. According to Xing Jie's Appraisal of Wu Changshuo's Calligraphy and Painting, Wu Changshuo abandoned the name of Wu Junqing at the age of 69 and wrote an inscription for Wu Changshuo until his death. So the year in the picture is not much different from the author's age.
Secondly, identify the flowers in the picture. Because chrysanthemum belongs to the theme of "Four Gentlemen" in painting, Wu Changshuo also painted more chrysanthemums. Wu Changshuo's chrysanthemum painting is basically divided into two stages. In the middle of the year, chrysanthemums are mostly painted with double hooks, and in the later years, there are two kinds of double hook petals and point petals. Petals are slender in middle age and slightly wider in old age. In his later years, Wu Changshuo painted chrysanthemums with "clumsy shoulders" in layout (the so-called clumsy shoulders mean that one corner is low and the other corner is high, just as the words in the left and right structure written by him in Shi Guwen are mostly low on the left and high on the right, so that one word forms two centers of gravity, one in the lower left corner and the other in the upper right corner, which are rugged, echoing from afar, strewn at random and beautiful. In painting, Wu Changshuo also used this method. There are two centers of gravity, one is main, the other is secondary, and the other is height. It is spicy and awkward to use a pen, mainly based on "the method of printing". As for leaves and stems, they are more distinctive. The leaves are black and full of water. Ye Jin and petiole were written with the central pen and seal script. The chrysanthemums and branches in the picture have no lightness and floating feeling, and the pen is solid and steady, penetrating the back of the paper. The expression and layout of chrysanthemum are exactly the same as Wu Changshuo's painting style in his later years.
Third, Wu Changshuo likes to draw flowers with huge stones. Wu Changshuo once said, "Painting peonies is vulgar, but painting daffodils is fragile. If you only use stones, you can avoid two diseases. " That's why he used stones as a supplement. Of course, besides daffodils and peonies, boulders often appear in plum, pine, chrysanthemum and other flowers. The main features of Wu Changshuo's megalithic paintings are: from the middle-aged megalithic paintings, there are still similarities with Badashan people, as well as Ren Bonian, Hu Gongshou and Bohua; In his later years, Wu Changshuo's megaliths were sui generis. Although he took off the shell of Badashanren, he still has the spirit of Badashanren. Although Wu Changshuo painted the exquisitely carved Taihu Stone in his middle age, there were many natural and uncut boulders, which became more and more prominent in his later years. During this period, the megaliths in Wu Changshuo's works are not "thin", "exposed", "transparent" and "wrinkled", but "ancient", "clumsy", "dull" and "ugly". Speaking of ugliness, ugliness to the extreme is beauty. Under the background of freehand brushwork flowers in Wu Changshuo, the appearance of this stone is extremely harmonious, which reflects its beauty. Presumably, the expression of this boulder is related to the aesthetic proposition of "seal brush" in his paintings. The boulder in the picture is characterized by light ink with ochre blue flowers, large strokes, no edges and corners, and flexibility, giving people a sense of simplicity and elegance. The expression and color habit of this boulder is exactly the style of Wu Changshuo's boulder painting in his later years. In addition, there is a group of intertwined branches at the top of this picture. These branches are vigorous and energetic with pens. Although unkempt and rough, it is full of vitality, so as to conform to the opposition, dry and wet, complement each other. They are rich in connotation, rich in grass seal characters and extremely rich in stone spirit.
Another feature of Wu Changshuo's painting style is the use of color. The western red color he used is gorgeous and ancient, which is in line with the painting style of Guhoupu Mao, which he benefited from lithograph and lithograph processing. Pan Tianshou said that he "applied the simple taste of lithograph and lithograph processing to the color of painting, which naturally did not fall into fresh and plain, not to mention gaudy powder, but could use red and green to express complexity and changeability, and he was the best expert in using colors in freehand brushwork flowers". The beauty of Wu Changshuo's color lies in being red but not angry, bright but not vulgar. The reason is that colors are coordinated and can restrict each other. Wu Changshuo used to mix ochre, blue flowers and yellow leaves with ink, and often used multicolor when painting flower heads and fruits. The color of this painting is rich and even. Wu Bozhi said: "Wu Changshuo makes good use of various colors, in which red and black play a restrictive and coordinating role, plus the use of white rice paper. The red and black in his paintings are also changing under the influence of multicolor, and they are unified in the change, which makes people feel rich and exquisite. " The chrysanthemums at the bottom of this picture are rich in color, giving people a beautiful and rich feeling. The top white chrysanthemum is fused, and the chrysanthemum leaves are made of natural points of various colors. With a set of ochre, the color matching of the whole work is quite ingenious and natural, seeking unity in change and richness in coordination, which has the habitual characteristics of Wu Changshuo color.
Through the analysis of the above aspects (because the picture 1 is printed, it is impossible to accurately analyze the seal, but it does not hinder the overall grasp of this picture), the author thinks that the picture 1 is an original work of Wu Changshuo in his later years.
With the above criteria, we can compare the other two "Chrysanthemum Stone Map" (Figures 2 and 3). The second picture shows the works sold by Beijing Hanhai Auction House 1996. There is no doubt that the inscription on this picture belongs to Wu Changshuo, which has the characteristics of his inscription in his later years, but besides, there are still many doubts about this picture. First, the composition of this picture has a sense of disorder, which runs counter to the characteristics of composition emphasized by Wu Changshuo. Secondly, the strokes of chrysanthemum are light, floating, clever and stiff. In particular, the performance of the white chrysanthemum above is completely free of Wu Changshuo's handy style of writing, and the color of the leaves is not the usual color of Wu Changshuo, so the color of the whole picture is not a little antique. Thirdly, there is a huge stone in this painting-turtle horn, and there is no Wu Changshuo in shape and brushwork. This "Chrysanthemum Stone Map" can be concluded that it is ghostwritten by others and belongs to a special form of forgery.
Figure 3 shows the auction works of China Guardian 200 1, a typical fake. First, the inscription does not have Wu Changshuo's "shoulder-slapping" style, nor does it have the characteristics of Wu Changshuo's running script in his later years. Second, the performance of chrysanthemum is also rigid. The brushwork on the branches is not exquisite and lacks the spirit of stone. The shape and brushwork of the boulder give people a sense of fragmentation and rambling, which is inconsistent with the characteristics of the boulder in Wu Changshuo. Therefore, the whole picture is chaotic, the pulse is incoherent and lacks a sense of rhythm, which is far from Wu Changshuo's artistic style. This "Chrysanthemum Stone Map" should undoubtedly be a fake (Figure
The above is the author's superficial understanding of several "Chrysanthemum Stone Pictures". It should be noted that this is only the tip of the iceberg in the appreciation of calligraphy and painting. There is a lot of room for calligraphy and painting appreciation, which involves many factors. Therefore, although written appreciation is a kind of spiritual activity and artistic enjoyment beneficial to physical and mental health, it is a long way to go for everyone to study it as a science.