This can be understood from the title of another sketch painting "King Kong Slope" completed by Fu Baoshi on the same day. He wrote on the painting: "Yu himself entered Sichuan in Maoxia (1939) , It has been more than six years since I lived here.
This picture depicts fifty-three ancient figures (including 44 main figures and 9 attendants) on a hand scroll more than three meters long, gathering elegantly among the mountains and rivers, with demeanor. Different and vivid. The four characters "Orchid Pavilion Xiu Xie" are inscribed in large seal script at the beginning of the volume. The writing is round and full, and the breath is strong. At the end of the painting, the full text of "Orchid Pavilion Preface" is neatly copied in small regular script. It is carved in gold and stone, dignified and crisp. It is extremely rare among Fu Baoshi's works to combine large-character seal script, inscriptions and small regular script, figures, and landscapes into one long scroll. Although Fu Baoshi has three other works with the theme of "Orchid Pavilion" in addition to them, compared with them, the "Orchid Pavilion Repairing the Harvest" hand scroll auctioned in Yongle this time has more outstanding features.
First, the expressions and actions of the characters are described calmly and affirmatively, and the details are properly described (between the level of detailed description of the characters in the two pictures in 1945 and 1956). In it, the characters' actions and inner feelings are vividly explained. Neither sloppy nor dull.
Fu Baoshi likes and is good at painting ancient figures. The seal "Ancient Clothes and Crowns" often printed on his figure paintings shows his thoughts. He is very familiar with our country's history, especially ancient culture and historical stories. Fu Baoshi uses lines that have the same origin as calligraphy to express ancient clothes, and uses a painting style with pure national interest to be in harmony with the ancients. The important thing is that Fu Baoshi has a deep understanding of ancient figures and a familiarity with the times and historical background. He has a "fascination for history". Although they are separated by time and space, they have close understanding and communication. Therefore, the ancient people in Fu Baoshi's works are full of ancient meaning, and they seem to be ready to come out. The scope of his depictions of ancient characters is very wide, covering thousands of years from the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period, the Han, Wei and Six Dynasties, the Tang, Song, Yuan and Ming dynasties. And Fu Baoshi also has in-depth research on Lanting Xiuxian.
Secondly, because this work is painted on a hand scroll, it gives the author more room to play in the composition, and it is easier to depict the interesting scenes of lush forests and bamboos, and meandering water drinking glasses. Therefore, the balance between characters and scenery is The interspersed relationship between the paintings and the grasp of the rhythm and rhyme of the entire work seem to be better than the "Orchid Pavilion" in 1956.
Fu Baoshi drew on the composition of the ancients in the creation of "Lanting in the Orchid Pavilion". In the dense forest of bamboos, dozens of scholar-bureaucrats lined up on both sides of the bank, sitting and standing at random, drinking and reveling in the winding water of the bamboos, drinking and drinking. The ancient events of the Orchid Pavilion's healing ceremony are presented to the readers one by one. The works also reflect Fu Baoshi's strong personal style. The period from 1939 to 1946 was the most mature and brilliant "Jingang Slope" period of Fu Baoshi's creation. In the landscape painting of Orchid Pavilion, the landscape is affected by the lush and foggy Bashan Shu River, making it even more wild and vivid. Although this scroll is less than a foot high and not even ten feet long, it has high mountains, lush forests and bamboos, and it feels like it is so close and thousands of miles away. The creation of the characters not only drew on the techniques of Gu Kaizhi and Shi Tao, but also used smooth and concise lines to express the bohemian appearance, charm and spirit of the scholar-bureaucrats. The characters in the novel are full of ancient meanings and reveal an extraordinary state of being. Looking at this picture, I feel that Fu Baoshi must have met with the ancients.
Thirdly, the full text of "The Preface to the Lanting Collection" is copied in extremely neat small regular script at the end of the volume. It is organically combined with the large-character seal script at the beginning of the volume and the painting in the middle. With the addition of four seals, the whole work is like a book. The symphony of painting, writing and sealing is full of strong opening and closing, ups and downs, and quite rhythmic.
Fu Baoshi advocated "the same origin of calligraphy and painting" throughout his life. He believes that the inherent brush usage rules of Chinese calligraphy and painting are interconnected with each other. He has developed the excellent national tradition of incorporating calligraphy into painting since ancient times, and has integrated the aesthetic rules of calligraphy into the brush and ink of painting. Calligraphy cleverly combines the abstract beauty of pen and ink with the concrete beauty of painting, greatly improving the artistic effect of the picture. This work is particularly outstanding in this regard. Regardless of the background landscape or the description of the characters, the brush and ink treatment reflects the various laws of calligraphy structure, such as "arrangement", "avoidance", "interspersion", "backward", "response" and other rules.
As a result, the placement of characters and scenery is staggered and layered, reflecting the maximum sense of space in the long and narrow scroll, making people feel relaxed and happy. The characters' clothing patterns are alternately dense and dense, giving full play to his artistic expressive power of drawing lines and ink with rhythm and capturing images without confusion. Carefully analyzing these lines, it is like the peak of a sword trembling, soft yet strong, and a thin line of hair making people feel the power of the pen. The depictions of mountains, rocks and trees are made with graceful brushstrokes and the ink is used smoothly. The heavy ink is dark and translucent, while the light ink is hazy and elegant. The varied pen and ink form a beautiful rhythm, which is exquisite and fascinating everywhere.
Fourth, what is even more rare is that this volume has been collected by Mr. Li Yimeng, a connoisseur and close friend of Fu Baoshi for many years; the end of the volume also brings together five modern Chinese calligraphy and painting masters: Xu Beihong, Wu Zuoren and Liu Hai. The long titles of Su, Zhu Qizhan and Tang Yun are spread over three meters in eloquent ink, praising the exquisiteness of this painting, which shows the great admiration of the masters for this work.