Liang Kaihua of the Southern Song Dynasty has become a national treasure of Japan
The Tokyo National Museum, founded in 1871, is the oldest, richest and most representative museum in Japan, with a collection of There are more than 110,000 cultural relics, but at the top of these cultural relics are 87 national treasures and 610 important cultural properties designated by the Japanese government. Some of these top cultural relics come from China, mainly including paintings from the Song and Yuan Dynasties and Chinese calligraphy and other cultural relics. Among the paintings from the Song and Yuan dynasties alone, there are Li Sheng's "Reclining Tour of Xiaoxiang" in the Southern Song Dynasty, "Red and White Hibiscus" by Li Di in the Southern Song Dynasty, "Landscape with Snow Scenery" by Liang Kai in the Southern Song Dynasty, and "Landscape with Snow Scenery" by Liang Kai in the Southern Song Dynasty. Four of Luo's works, "Zen Machine Pictures Broken Slips and Found in Cold Mountains" won the title of "Japanese National Treasure". This article will mainly introduce the works of Southern Song Dynasty painter Liang Kai collected in the Tokyo National Museum.
"Landscape with Snow Scenery" can be called a classic work of courtyard landscape painting in the Southern Song Dynasty
"Landscape with Snow Scenery" is the representative work of Liang Kai's landscape painting. The picture depicts two people dressed in white. A scene of a donkey rider wearing a cloak and a snowman hat riding through a valley. The two old trees on the right side of the painting, with their curved branches and sparse leaves, were painted by Liang Kai with meticulous brushwork. The dense forest is painted with clusters of dots in the middle of the picture, while the mountains are less painted. Against the backdrop of the sky rendered in light ink, it gives people a feeling of white snow. The whole picture presents a desolate and bleak atmosphere, which can be called the courtyard style of the Southern Song Dynasty. A classic of landscape painting. The Tokyo National Museum introduced the painting this way, “The work uses the snow-capped mountains as the background to show the huge landscape space unique to the desert, and the tiny entities such as the donkey rider and the flock of geese are also delicately expressed. It can be said to be a display of Liang Kai is also good at masterpieces of precise painting style." In the mid-14th century, the Ashikaga family, the Muromachi shogun who ruled Japan at that time, was very fond of Chinese art. Therefore, traveling monks traveling between China and Japan collected a large number of art and calligraphy works in China and presented them to the Ashikaga shoguns, including "Landscape with Snow Scenery". "Picture" and many other authentic works of Liang Kai. After "Snow Landscape" was introduced to Japan, it was first collected by the Ashikaga Shogun family, and later passed through the hands of the Sakai family and the Mitsui family. Finally, it was purchased by the Tokyo National Museum in 1948, and was designated as a museum in 1951. national treasure. "Snowscape Landscape", "Dezan Sakata" and another "Snowscape Landscape" said to be painted by Liang Kai were appreciated as a group of paintings by the Ashikaga Shogun family. However, because the other two works were discovered relatively late, only the first "Landscape with Snow Scenery" caught up with the deliberation of the Ministry of Culture and was designated as a national treasure. However, from the perspective of works, these three paintings by Liang Kai are all called It is considered a national treasure of Japan.
"Li Bai's Chanting" is the earliest representative work of Chinese simple paintings
Different from the sophisticated style of "Snowscape Landscape", "Li Bai's Chanting" collected by the Tokyo National Museum It completely demonstrates Liang Kai's other style of painting - "simple brushwork". A simple painting is a painting with a simple background, using only a few strokes to vividly depict characters and landscapes. As the earliest representative work of Chinese simple paintings, "Li Bai's Song" abandons all backgrounds and depicts the poet Li Bai of the Tang Dynasty, looking up to the sky, with a free and easy expression full of poetry. When you first look at this painting, the robe that occupies most of the painting appears simple and sparse with only a few brushstrokes. The head characterization is much more detailed, especially Li Bai's hair and beard, which are almost discernible. The bold and flying ink lines of the painter have the same meaning and effect as the poet's romantic poems. In just a few strokes, Li Bai's elegant and thoughtful demeanor is vividly depicted.
Looking at this painting again, Li Bai’s broad forehead reminds people of his open-minded and straightforward personality; his straight hair and slightly upturned beard remind people of his integrity and proud character. The slightly raised head and the hands behind the back vividly express the theme of "chanting". The whole painting does not have any extra words and ink, and it is extremely simple. However, the image of Li Bai depicted is vivid and lifelike, which is really amazing. Liang Kai applied the simple drawing method to figure painting, which was a major contribution to my country's traditional painting techniques. The "Li Bai Chanting Picture" collected by the Tokyo National Museum is Liang Kai's only simple painting handed down from generation to generation.
However, due to the rise of literati painting style that valued the use of brushes, the paintings of the Southern Song Dynasty were devalued in later dynasties. Liang Kai's simple paintings were also criticized by literati in the Yuan Dynasty as "crude, evil and boneless". Different from the neglect Liang Kai received in China, he was highly praised in Japan and had a huge influence on Japanese painters after the Muromachi period (1338-1573).
After reuniting the three works of Liang Kai, the Tokyo National Museum decided to place "The Sakyamuni" and another "Snowscape Landscape" in the national treasure room of the museum. In order to coincide with this important moment, the Tokyo National Museum recently held a special exhibition called "Famous Products of the East - Tangwu", allowing visitors to enjoy those precious cultural relics from China but placed in Japan.
"Story Pictures of Eight Eminent Monks" Volume
This picture is on silk, ink and color. ***There are 8 sections in the picture, each section is about 26.6 centimeters long and 64 centimeters wide. It depicts the anecdotes of eight eminent monks from the Southern and Northern Dynasties to the Tang Dynasty. On the trees, rocks and ship hulls in the second, third, fifth and eighth sections of the picture, the author's fine regular script signature "Liang Kai" is signed section by section. After each section of the picture, there is a descendant's cursive script. Answers to the story questions. Picture 1: "Dharma Facing the Wall, Asking with the Divine Light"; Picture 2, "Hong Ren's Childhood, Meeting the Old Man with a Staff"; Picture 3, "Bai Juyi's Visit to the Bird's Nest, Pointing to the Bird's Nest"; Picture 4, "Zhi Lei holding a Broom, Looking Back at the Bamboo Forest" "; Picture 5 "Li Yuanze tied up the boat·Women walking for fishing"; Picture 6 "Guanxi drinking water·Tongzi Fangji"; Picture 7 "A corner of the restaurant·Lower paying homage"; Picture 8 "Lone Peng Lu Bank·Monk leaning on fishing" car". The characters in the scroll are vivid and expressive, and the brushwork is neat and bold. It is Liang Kai's early work.
This volume was once collected by the court of the Qing Dynasty. The author of the "Secret Edition of the Pearl Forest in the Secret Palace" neglected to investigate and did not notice the small Liang regular script signatures hidden on tree trunks, stone surfaces and ship hulls, which led to a misidentification. It is an "unprinted painting by the Song dynasty". After identification, it is indeed an authentic work by Liang Kai. It has been renamed Liang Kai's "Stories of Eight Eminent Monks" volume and is now in the Shanghai Museum.