Painters in Qing Dynasty (1688- 1753)
The word Fenggang, named Xitang and Tantang, was born in Yangzhou, Jiangsu. He has never been an official in his life.
In his later years, due to disability of his right hand, Gao Xiang often painted with his left hand. Make friends with Shi Tao, Jin Nong and Wang. In the Qing Dynasty, Li Dou recorded in The Original Boat of Yangzhou: "When Shi Tao died, the Western Tang Dynasty swept his grave every spring until his death." It means that after Shi Tao's death, Gao Xiang visited the grave every spring until his death. We can also see the depth of their friendship from here. In addition to painting landscapes and flowers, Gao Xiang is also good at portraits and prints. His landscape paintings are based on Hong Ren and Shi Tao, and most of his small landscape paintings come from sketches. The characters in Jin Nong's and Wang's poems are all written by Gao Xiang, with concise lines and realistic expressions. He is the author of Western Tang Poetry, which is one of the "Eight Eccentrics in Yangzhou".
"Eight Eccentrics in Yangzhou" is the general name of a group of painters and calligraphers with similar styles who lived in Yangzhou in the middle of Qing Dynasty in China. They are also called Yangzhou School of Painting. There are eight people in Yangzhou Eight Monsters. They are Jin Nong, Li, Li Shan, Huang Shen, Zheng Xie, Gao Xiang and Wang. Yangzhou Eight Eccentrics are mostly middle and lower intellectuals. Some of them are dismissed state and county officials, some are scribes who have not achieved fame, and some are poor painters who make a living by painting. They either grew up in Yangzhou or came here to live for other provinces, and each had a bumpy experience. They have gathered in Yangzhou to sell their paintings and calligraphy works in Yangzhou's prosperous painting and calligraphy market.
"Yangzhou Eight Eccentrics" are a group of intellectuals with a sense of justice. They all know the corruption of officialdom and the extortion of wealthy businessmen. Faced with the difference between the rich and the poor in real life, combined with their own experiences, they have a strong dissatisfaction with society. They often show deep sympathy for the suffering people and make angry voices on their behalf. However, because they were educated by feudal culture, and the Qing Dynasty was in its heyday, their feelings and dissatisfaction could not break through the barriers of feudal thought. Among them, officials worked hard to build a number to let the people live and work in peace and contentment in order to maintain feudal order. If you have no intention of officialdom, you will lead an honest and clean life, which is not customary and flaunts that you have lofty ideals. And they can't get rid of the economic dependence on landlords, officials and businessmen, so they are often in extreme pain of ideological contradictions and have to compromise to survive outside cynicism. Zheng Xie, the representative of the Eight Eccentrics in Yangzhou, left many comments, which can be described as a thinker among the Eight Eccentrics in Yangzhou. The contradiction in Shan Li's works is the most painful and intense, and he has become the main target of attack.
The most prominent feature of "Yangzhou Eight Eccentrics" in artistic view is its emphasis on individual expression. They advocate original style and "independence". They openly declared that their works were for selling money to make a living, tearing the veil that literati and painters once regarded painting creation as "elegant things". On the theme of their works, on the one hand, they inherited the tradition of literati painting, taking plum, orchid, bamboo, chrysanthemum, pine and stone as the main description objects to show the lofty, aloof and vulgar painters. On the other hand, they also use symbolism, metaphor and metaphor to write poems, which endows their works with profound social content and unique ideological expression. For example, Li's "Wind Bamboo Map" symbolizes stubborn and unyielding character with strong bamboo that is not afraid of strong winds; Huang Shen's "Seeking a Picture" and Luo Pin's "Selling Cattle Songs" show their careful observation of the real society, which directly or indirectly shows social injustice. In terms of painting style, Yangzhou Eight Eccentrics mainly inherited the freehand brushwork techniques in previous paintings, and further developed their expertise in ink painting, shaping objects in a highly concise way, not sticking to the shape of branches and leaves. In pen and ink, they are unconstrained and unconstrained, galloping freely and expressing their feelings directly. Because their works are contrary to the subtle and elegant style of flower-and-bird painting popular at that time, they are often severely criticized by critics and called "strange".
Although the art of "Eight Eccentrics in Yangzhou" was only popular in Yangzhou and its surrounding areas at that time, it had a far-reaching influence on inheriting and developing the traditional ink and wash freehand brushwork in China.
Most of the interests of "Yangzhou Eight Eccentrics" are integrated into poetry, painting and calligraphy, and will never whitewash peace. They use poems and paintings to reflect people's sufferings, vent their inner anger and anguish, and express their pursuit and yearning for beautiful ideals. This is the case with Zheng Banqiao's Fierce Class, The Road of the Master and Escape from the Wilderness.
In that era when the feudal system was extremely cruel and the literary inquisition flourished, they dared to be different and unconventional. No wonder a governor shook his head and called it "strange, strange".
Deng Tuo once wrote that "the strange names of Yangzhou were blown by the Song Dynasty, and Lan Zhuying was accompanied by the sound of books", which can be regarded as a summary of their "strange" characteristics.
Jin Nong (1487- 1764), whose real name is Shoumen, whose real name is Dongxin, a native of Hangzhou, is called the head of the Eight Monsters. He is well-read and versatile. He began to paint after the age of 50 and was poor all his life. He is good at flowers and birds, landscapes and figures, especially at ink painting and plum blossom. His paintings are simple and simple in shape, elegant in layout and novel in conception. His works include Meme Map and Moon Flower Map. He created a kind of official script, calling himself "lacquer script", which has another interest.
Huang Shen (1687— 1768) was born in ninghua, Fujian. When I was a child, my family was poor and I benefited a lot from learning Huai Su's calligraphy. He painted in cursive, created his own style, was good at freehand brushwork, and had the highest attainments in figure painting. Most of the works are based on immortal Buddhism and Taoism, and there are also many works that reflect the life of the lower classes. His works include Drunk Sleep and Su Wu Pastoral.
Li Shan (1686— 1762), a native of Zongyang, was born in Xinghua, Jiangsu. He liked painting since he was a child and became famous when he was sixteen. He used to be the magistrate of Tengzhou, Shandong Province. Influenced by Xu Wei and Shi Tao, his painting style is extensive, eclectic, dripping with ink and elegant in color, so that "ink and wash blend into interest". His works include "Okra Map" and "Jade Map of Pine and cypress".
Li (1695— 1755) is a native of Nantong, Jiangsu. He served as a county magistrate and magistrate for about 20 years. Be friends with Jin Nong and Zheng Xie, and be good at painting pines, bamboos, plums and orchids. In his later years, he painted plums as a metaphor. He wrote in the poem: "This plum blossom is ordinary and there is no pen to read. The painter doesn't understand the customs at any time and is furious. " His works include Fish Tour Map and Xiaoxiang Wind Bamboo Map.
Wang (1685— 1759) was born in Xiuning, Anhui. My family was poor when I was a child. I live in Yangzhou and sell paintings for a living. I am poor and happy, studying art and good at painting plums. Together with Jin Nong and Gao Xiang, he is also known as the "Four Great Painters of Plum Blossoms", and his works include The Picture of Mei Mei.
Luo Pin (1733— 1799), whose real name is Xunfu, was originally from Shexian county, Anhui province, and moved to Yangzhou. He is a disciple of Jin Nong. He is the youngest of the eight eccentrics, but he has a high level of knowledge and extraordinary writing style. He has been an official all his life, selling paintings for a living and being down and out all his life. His works include Ghost Fun Map and Drunk Zhong Kui Map.
Zheng Xie (1693— 1765) was born in Xinghua, Jiangsu. He is a scholar of Kangxi and Yongzheng, and he is a scholar of Qianlong. He used to be the magistrate of Fanxian County and Weixian County in Shandong Province. He offended his boss by opening a warehouse to help the victims, resigned angrily and lived in Yangzhou to sell paintings for a living. He is particularly active in thought, quite original, highly accomplished in poetry and painting, and good at painting bamboo, orchids and stones. He also created a six-and-a-half-part calligraphy style that integrates original works, cursive script, official script and seal script. People call it "a street paved with stones". He is a painter with strong people's character. When he was a magistrate in Wei County, he drew a bamboo picture for the magistrate. The inscription reads: "Zhai Ya is lying listening to the drizzling bamboo, which is suspected to be the voice of the people's suffering. Some small officials in Caozhou County always care about their feelings. "