Jin Nong (1687-1763), a calligrapher and painter of the Qing Dynasty, was the first of the Eight Eccentrics of Yangzhou. The names were Shomen, Sinong, Jijin, Mr. Dongxin, Jiliu Shanmin, Qujiang Waishi, Xiye Jushi, Shou Taoist, etc. He was a native of Qiantang (now Hangzhou, Zhejiang), and lived in commoner life.
He loved to travel, but he returned home without encountering anything. Later he lived in Yangzhou and sold calligraphy and paintings to support himself. He is fond of novels and loves to learn, and specializes in poetry and calligraphy. His poetry and prose are ancient and unique, and he is good at identifying them. Calligraphy created a flat-stroke calligraphy style with both regular script and official script, which was called "lacquer calligraphy" at the time. He didn't start painting until he was fifty-three years old. The shapes of his paintings are strange and ancient. He is good at using light ink and dry brush to make flower sketches, and is especially good at painting plum blossoms.
His representative works include "Eastern Calyx Blowing Flowers", "Empty Defense as Sprinkling", "Winter Plum First Blooming", "Jade Butterfly Clearing", "Tiexuan Sparse Flowers", "Bodhisattva Miao" "Phase Picture", "Qiongzi Appreciation Picture", etc. He is the author of "Winter Heart Poems", "Winter Heart Essays", "Winter Heart Miscellaneous Works", etc.
Character introduction
Jinnong, also known as Shoumen, Sinong, Jijin, also known as Dongxin, also known as Jiliu Shanmin, Qujiang Waishi, Xiye layman and so on. There are many nicknames, including: Jinniu, Lao Ding, Guquan, Zhuquan, Jimei Zhu, Lotus Body Layman, Longsuo Xianke, Shaochun Weng, Shou Taoist, Jinjijin, Xin Erliu Lang, Immortal Flower Sweeper, Jinniu Lake Meeting The old man, the rich man Baier Yantian, etc. He was born in the 26th year of Emperor Kangxi of the Qing Dynasty (1686) and died in the 28th year of Emperor Qianlong's reign (1763). He was a native of Qiantang (now Hangzhou, Zhejiang). According to Jin Nong's self-report: "The family has several ridges of fields and several houses. It is on the Qiantang River, with a library in the middle, facing the river and mountains at the back, and beyond the river there are endless mountains."
Jin Nong was a talented person. He studied in the scholar He Zhuo’s family in his early years. He was next to Ding Jing, one of the “Eight Famous Scholars of Xiling”. At the same time as Wu Xilin, he interacted and was influenced by the so-called “Three Scholars in Western Zhejiang”. Jinnong’s erudition and talent were further enhanced. In the first year of Qianlong's reign (1736), he was recommended by Qiu Siqin to be admitted to the Erxue Hongci Department. He failed to pass the entrance examination and was depressed, so he traveled around Qi, Lu, Yan and Zhao, and visited Qin, Jin, Wu and Guangdong, but finally found nothing. . At the age of fifty, he began to study painting. Due to his profound knowledge, numerous famous works, and profound calligraphy skills, he eventually became a famous artist. Later, he lived in Yangzhou and sold calligraphy and paintings to support himself. He was the first of the "Eight Eccentrics of Yangzhou". His wife died without any children, so she never returned.
Most of the life of a gold farmer has been spent in ups and downs. Sometimes, "a lot of gold is gained at the age of one, but it is easily scattered away." In times of hardship, he had to rely on selling antiques, copying Buddhist scriptures, and even carving inkstones to increase his income. He also asked Yuan Mei to write lanterns. Most of them look at it with weird eyes. However, when you meet gay people, you are not uneasy and comfortable." He died at the age of seventy-seven and his first work was seventy-eight.
Jinnong was erudite, fond of the curious and ancient, and collected thousands of volumes of inscriptions and inscriptions. Excellent seal carving and appreciation, good at painting bamboo, plum, pommel horse, Buddha statues, figures, and landscapes. Especially fine ink plum. The plum blossoms created have many branches and flowers, full of vitality, elegant and simple.
Personal influence
The "Eight Eccentrics of Yangzhou" are usually said to be Li Wei (Fu Tang), Wang Shishen (Chaolin), Gao Xiang (Western Tang Dynasty), Jin Nong (Dong Xin) ), Huang Shen (Yinglao), Zheng Xie (Banqiao), Li Fangying (Qiuzhong), Luo Pin (Liangfeng). In addition, there are at least five more theories involving more than ten painters, but no matter which theory, Jin Nong is included, which shows that he is one of the core figures among the "Eight Eccentrics". Why do people refer to "weird" as "weird"? In what aspects are "weird" and "weird"?
The "weird" first refers to the deviant style of the work. After Jin Nong and others wore the title of "Eight Eccentrics of Yangzhou", they were not only recognized by society, but also talked about and widely spread. In addition to the reasons for artistic style, this also includes many unusual factors such as personality behavior, way of thinking, and concepts of life. No wonder his friend Quan Zuwang called him a "freak".
Jinnong has a wide range of friends, ranging from famous officials and wealthy businessmen to poor people who sell pulp and drive carts. They have all kinds of friends. He also has a weird temper when making friends. The people he looked down on not only didn't say a word, but also looked down upon them, let alone ask for his poems, calligraphy and paintings. And when it comes to good friends, never judge them based on whether they are rich, poor, noble or humble.
Among Jin Nong’s many friends, one was Zheng Banqiao, who was living in Yangzhou at that time. The two of them liked to “have a drink and talk together forever,” and “befriend each other like gulls and herons in Tingzhu.” Zheng Banqiao once said, "Only Jinnong is good in Hangzhou."
In addition to having the same outlook on life and art, the two of them had very similar personalities and temperaments. They often visited the Qin Tower and the Chu Pavilion, drank heavily in Jin Nong, and traveled for fifteen years in their middle age, traveling to half of China. Where did the travel expenses come from? In addition to alms from the monastery and funding from friends, he recruited and selected a group of skilled craftsmen to form a self-sufficient "technical tour group". Jin Nong served as the "leader". Everyone in the group had a skill. For example, Yongdong Zhulong is good at carving chisel patterns and inkstones, Xin'an Zhang Xizi is good at black silk fence, Kuaiji Zheng Xiaoyi is good at copying, Wumenzhuang's maid is good at playing musical instruments, Lanling Chen Peng is good at painting ink bamboo, every place he goes to The whole group started activities to raise funds for the trip. This method is also unique among the "Eight Eccentrics of Yangzhou".
Jin Nong possesses the feelings of a romantic poet, the unkempt style of a calligrapher and painter, and the unrestrained temperament of a wild and elegant scholar. Secondly, Jinnong was poor in his later years. Although social reasons cannot be ruled out, there are also reasons of his own. The income of gold farmers is also considerable, but in old age they end up with empty walls and no money for burial. This cannot but be said to be a tragedy.
During the Kangxi and Qianlong eras, the calligraphy world was dominated by "Tie Xue". Jin Nong, Zheng Xie and others set up a banner of rebellion and became the leaders of the revival of calligraphy in the Qing Dynasty. Jin Nong's calligraphy art, like his painting, is distinguished by its simplicity and simplicity, and has the artistic characteristics of "seeking clumsiness for beauty". Judging from the handwriting handed down from ancient times, his official script is ancient and elegant, his official script is simple and thick, and his running script is vigorous and unrestrained. The most influential thing is his pioneering "lacquer calligraphy". The origin of the word "lacquer calligraphy" comes from the fact that the painting cannot be done, so the head is thick and the tail is thin, resembling its shape and ears. Second, Mi Fu, the great calligrapher of the Song Dynasty, said when commenting on his calligraphy: "I brush my calligraphy in calligraphy." "It can be seen that "lacquer calligraphy" refers to a special method of using pen and ink. The ink used by Jinnong to write lacquer calligraphy is "five hundred catties of oil" made from self-selected ink smoke. "Jinnong ink" is thick like lacquer," Looking closely, there seems to be hair where the paper and ink meet, and the faint light is slowly rippling." The written words are convex on the paper, and the ink is stained by the slightest touch of the finger. The brush used is "cut off the end of the hair", flat as The brush is dipped in thick ink, and the strokes are bent but not turned, just like the operation of a paint brush. The characters written by this method may seem crude and simple, without any sense of order or meaning. In fact, it is to focus on the big picture, eliminate details, and get straight to the point. The majestic and majestic structure and the simple and blunt stone texture are all integrated into the dark, thick, heavy and condensed style.
Because of Jinnong's life experience, he sells his characters. Selling paintings as a career inevitably brings commercial habits into the field of art. Many of those who seek fame are not close friends, and many works are obviously for entertainment. There are even "masters borrow money from disciples to sell paintings, and students also rely on the master to pass on their paintings." The situation in which the bearded names and calligraphy were written in thick ink on every picture was shocking, which triggered the controversy of "Jin Nong has no paintings". Although these situations bring certain difficulties to the appreciation and criticism of Jin Nong's calligraphy and painting , however, it cannot be denied that the style of his works conformed to the trend of historical and cultural development at that time, and he made contributions in expressing his personality, attacking the current disadvantages, and advocating new thinking.