1. "There is a pen and ink, and the water blurs the ink seal." The history of painting and painting theory books of the past dynasties love to quote Jing Hao's words: "Wu Daozi painted landscapes with a pen but no ink, Xiang Rong had Ink but no pen. I should use the strengths of the two sons to form a family." He himself said in "Bi Fa Ji": "Applying colors according to the genre has been capable since ancient times; like water blurring ink seals, we have the Tang Dynasty." These two paragraphs indeed summarize one of the characteristics of Jing Hao's art.
Since the Six Dynasties, landscape paintings have always been green and green, with outlines and colored lines. Ink landscape painting began to appear in the prosperous and mid-Tang Dynasties. Among the pioneers were Zhang Hong, Wang Wei, Wang Qia and others. However, the whole society has not yet formed a trend. By the Five Dynasties, ink landscape painting became increasingly mature. After further development by Jing Hao, it was elevated to a theoretical "pen and ink" style, and it became more particular about the use of water. The combination of brush and ink is more helpful to express the ever-changing weather of nature. It is an expansion of the aesthetics of painting, and it also obviously helps to eliminate the rigid handwriting in terms of technique. As mentioned in Dayu's poem quoted above, "the ink is light and the clouds are light", which is the subtle artistic effect of ink.
According to Jing Hao's own explanation: "Although the author follows the rules, the movement is flexible, without quality or form, like flying or moving. The ink artist's high and low are dizzy, the quality of things is shallow and deep, and the literary color is natural and seems to be different. Because of the pen." He mainly emphasizes the changing movement of the pen and the natural charm of the ink. Wu Daozi only has the power of lines but no change in ink color, and Xiang Rong only has the change of ink but no beauty of the brush. Jing Hao combines these two strengths to achieve the effect of "man thinks it is made by nature", "so it can please everyone who sees it" It's easy to see" (quoted from "Xuanhe Painting Book").
As for the characteristics of Jing Hao's pen, there have been different records and analyses. Some said that he "chopping the chaps with a small ax, outlining the trees and rocks, and writing like seal script" (Li Zuoxian's words); some said that he "reduced You Cheng (Wang Wei)'s sesame chaps into stretched ones and changed them into small ones." (Buyan Illustration); Others said that "the mountains and trees are all written in fine strokes with bare pens, and the shape is like ancient seal script, which is even more ancient" (Sun Chengze's words). These statements show that Jing Hao has integrated the strength of seal and official calligraphy in his use of pen, and is still in the process of exploring the calligraphy method, which has different appearances. Zhou Mi's "Yunyan Passing Eyes" written in the Song Dynasty records that he saw two pictures of Jing Hao's fishing pleasure, and there were several inscriptions on them called "Fisher Father's Ci", which is similar to Liu Gongquan's calligraphy style in the Tang Dynasty. Previous records are worth referring to.
2. "Big mountains and rivers can open up a thousand miles"
In landscape paintings before Jing Hao, it is rare to see majestic mountains and rivers and panoramic layouts. Due to the majestic power of Taihang Mountain, his aesthetic vision underwent important changes, and he realized that "the images of mountains and rivers are related to each other's momentum." Because of his majestic momentum of looking at the vast space, he finally created a new pattern of "opening up a thousand miles".
Shen Kuo of the Northern Song Dynasty wrote in "Picture Song": "The most wonderful thing in the painting is the landscape, the peaks and mountains of Mojie rising from both sides. Li Cheng's pen conquered the chemical industry, Jing Hao opened the picture to discuss thousands of miles. Fan Kuan's stone is deep in the misty forest, It is difficult to compare with the dead wood pass. The monks in Dongyuan in the south of the Yangtze River are all in one, with light ink and light mist..."
Jing Hao looked at the majestic atmosphere of the vast space. This change reflected people's aesthetic appreciation of nature at that time. deepening of understanding. He named the mountain water flows in different parts and shapes observed in reality: peaks, tops, mountains, ridges, Xiu, cliffs, rocks, valleys, valleys, streams, streams, etc., and pointed out that to grasp the overall situation The law of natural landscape: "Although the peaks and ridges above are different, the hills and ridges below are connected, covering the forest and spring, and are vaguely far and near." It is in the all-round inspection from top to bottom, far and near, virtual and real, guest and host, and various objects that the "landscape" is formed. The overall concept of "images and momentum mutually generating each other" is often used in the creation of dangerous peaks and abrupt peaks, overlapping rocks, forest and springs, and majestic momentum.
Mi Fu, a Song Dynasty artist who collected Jing Hao’s works, summed up the characteristics of Jing’s paintings as “the top of the mountain in the clouds, steep and thick on all sides”; he also said that “the top of the mountain is good for dense forests, and the edge of the water is good for large rocks.” . From this we can imagine the majestic pattern. Gu Fu, a native of the Qing Dynasty, wrote in "The Spectacular Life" that "the peaks and mist are repeated, and the momentum seems to be broken, but the mountain is integrated and has no discontinuous shape." What we are talking about here is that we are good at handling the relationship between the whole and the parts, and the details are realistic and concrete, without affecting the integrated mountain form. He also pointed out that most of Jing Hao's works were "looking for Zhang Zhang's pen", so that "the big picture afterward cannot go beyond the scope."
However, Jing Hao can also create small paintings. For example, the album's "Yunsheng Lianxiu" painting was rated as "the power of thousands of hectares can be found within a short distance, and the ink's rich and light colors are unparalleled".
Jing Hao is good at painting autumn and winter scenes. His records in the past include "Autumn Mountain Tower View Picture", "Autumn Mountain Rui Mist Picture", "Autumn Scenery of the Fisherman", "Autumn Mountain Xiaosi Picture", "Chu Mountain Picture" Autumn Evening Pictures" etc. Huang Gongwang of the Yuan Dynasty praised "Chu Mountain Autumn Evening Picture" for its "perfect bones and profound thoughts", and wrote a poem: "The sky is high and the air is solemn, thousands of peaks are green, and the courtyard is filled with passing clouds and smoke. The path is so remote that I suddenly startle under the yellow leaves. , the tree is still listening to the crow of the rooster at noon. The mountain old man has a secret talk, and the wanderer has no intention of waking up. The autumn scenery is beautiful from the window. From the poem, we can imagine that the sky is high and the peaks are green. There are trees in the wilderness, clouds and mist filling the house, mountain men talking to each other, wild tourists drinking, and roosters crowing at noon. Everything revolves around the word "Autumn". This is a realm full of autumn colors and full of life. It can be seen from this that Jing Hao's landscapes of mountains and rivers are full of rich details, which are both powerful and inviting to savor.