Appreciation of Zheng Banqiao’s Ink Bamboo Works
In the early Qing Dynasty, a cluster of shining art superstars emerged in the art world of Chinese calligraphy and painting. This is the famous "Yangzhou" in the history of painting. "Eight Monsters". On the basis of inheriting the excellent traditions of ancient Chinese calligraphy and painting, they creatively developed my country's literati paintings and actively advocated the comprehensive art of poetry, calligraphy, painting and sealing, thus creating a new style of Chinese painting and contributing to the development of the history of Chinese painting. made new contributions. Among these famous stars, the brightest one should be Zheng Banqiao.
Zheng Banqiao (1 695-1 765), whose name was Xie, whose courtesy name was Kerou, and whose name was Banqiao. A native of Xinghua County, Jiangsu Province. He was born into an increasingly declining scholarly family. He lost his mother when he was young and was raised by a wet nurse. His father's origin (named Li'an) was born in the county, and he taught many disciples at home. Banqiao learned from his father when he was young. 16-year-old Lu Zhenxue, a native of Yi, composed the lyrics. When he was about 25 years old, because he was married and had children, and his father was old, he set up a school in Zhenzhou Zhijiang Village (also known as Xicun) to make a living, and worked as a teacher for three or four years. When he was 30 years old, his father passed away and his life became even more difficult. The meager income from teaching could no longer support his family, so he made a living by selling paintings and worked as a professional painter in Yangzhou for ten years. In the tenth year of Yongzheng's reign (1752), Banqiao went to Nanjing to take part in the provincial examination and passed the examination. In the first year of Qianlong's reign (i 736), Banqiao went to the capital to take part in the imperial examination and won the imperial examination. He specially painted "Okra and Stalagmites" to congratulate himself. In the spring of the seventh year of Qianlong's reign (1742), he was appointed magistrate of Fan County, Shandong Province. Five years later, he was transferred to Wei County and served as magistrate for seven years, and served as county magistrate for 12 years before and after. According to historical records, when he was the magistrate of Fan and Wei counties, he was very helpful in his administration. There was no backlog of documents in any case and no one was wronged by the people, thus gaining the support of the people. Zheng Banqiao was an upright and upright official with considerable political achievements.
Zheng Banqiao is good at painting orchids, bamboos, and stones, with plum blossoms, ancient pine, etc. in between. He is not only a famous painter, but also an excellent realistic poet. His calligraphy is unique and unique, making it a rare treasure. Therefore, people at that time called him "the three most outstanding poets, calligraphers and painters", which is not an exaggeration.
Zheng Banqiao’s paintings have very high artistic attainments, and their origins mainly come from two aspects: First, he learned from the ancients, mainly the patriarchs Zheng Sixiao, Xu Wei, Chen Chun, Shi Tao and Gao Qipei, but not from them. It is not limited by the old laws, but it is about learning and applying them flexibly. He wrote in "Orchid, Bamboo and Stone Pictures": "I have always loved Mr. Suo Nan and Chen Gubai's paintings of orchids and bamboos. I have also seen Da Dizi painting bamboos. Some are cracked according to the law, some are not cracked according to the law, some are whole or broken, some are intact or If it is not finished, he will take its meaning and form a stone shape, and then add orchids and bamboos to intersect it. Although he has learned two styles, his brushwork and ink are all the same..." This is the secret of his imitation of the ancients. He strongly advocated learning painting. "Learn what he means, don't follow the signs", "Learn half of it, leave half of it", "Don't follow the same family". The second is to learn more from nature. He wrote in "Ink Bamboo Pictures": "Whenever I paint bamboo, I have no teacher. I mostly get it from paper windows, pink walls, sunlight, and moon shadow." He studied society ． The patriarchal nature is natural, but it does not engage in pure naturalism. Instead, it takes the data collected from nature and removes the rough and selects the essence, eliminating the false and retaining the true. From here to there, from the outside to the inside, analyze and compare repeatedly, find out the rules, and then create. at the same time. Based on his long years of creative practice, he summarized three different stages of creation: "bamboo in the eye", "bamboo in the heart", and "bamboo in the hand". "Bamboo in the eye" is an objective natural scene, an inspiration for observing and experiencing nature; "bamboo in the heart" is the conception of artistic creation, and "bamboo in one hand" is the realization of artistic creation. It is precisely because Zheng Banqiao has the right With his theoretical guidance, he formed a fresh, elegant and vigorous artistic style in the large number of excellent works he created throughout his life, thus making new contributions to the development of literati painting.
Ink bamboo is mostly a freehand work. It has a strong sense of life. No matter whether it is a dead bamboo, a single branch, or a bamboo in the wind, it is full of changes. The heights and depths of the paintings are scattered, and the dots and touches are all delicate and elegant, giving people a unique feeling. Those outside the paper. This time, there are more bamboo poles than bamboo leaves. They are swaying in the wind and rain, and the frost is exposed, all of which are hidden on the outside of the paper!
He also said: "Wen Yu can draw bamboo, and he has a mature bamboo in his heart; Zheng Banqiao painted bamboo, Not confident.
There is success with it. It is said that thousands of acres of Weichuan are in the chest; the undeveloped bamboo in Banqiao is like thunder and thunder, and the vegetation grows angrily. There is nothing like this, which will prevent the spread of great changes. The way is like this, the existence of the right and the non-existence of the Banqiao is the one and two interpretations that people will understand. "In fact, Banqiao's "unprepared" and Wen Yuke's "understood" are not fundamentally inconsistent. Zheng Banqiao paid attention to the fact that the idea must be combined with skilled skills before creation. However, this kind of freehand painting There are differences in techniques between Wen and highly realistic ink bamboo paintings, that is, there are differences between freehand brushwork and realism, abstraction and concreteness, spiritual similarity and physical similarity. What is particularly eye-catching is that Zheng Banqiao's bamboo painting also pays attention to the organic combination of calligraphy and painting. Jietai is "transformed by the long vertical strokes in cursive script." He said: "Calligraphy has lines, bamboo has to have lines, calligraphy has shades, bamboo has to have shades, calligraphy has density, and bamboo has density. There must be more density. "For this reason, people can appreciate it from his calligraphy and paintings. The strange rocks painted by Zheng Banqiao first outline the stone, and then do a little horizontal chapping or light rubbing, but never scratch the moss. The shape is like a stalagmite, with straight and steep edges, straight into the In the clouds, bamboos and stones often intersect, creating a surprising effect, giving people a feeling of "powerful", "uninhibited" and "drying natural beauty, full of smoke and clouds". The orchids painted in Banqiao in the suburbs are mostly orchids from the mountains and fields, and are painted with heavy ink. The cursive brush strokes fully describe the radiant nature of orchids. The flowers and leaves are painted one stroke at a time, and the flowers are painted like butterflies. The brushwork is free and elegant, which is very interesting. The painting style is based on Shi Tao's but innovative.
Zheng Banqiao's paintings. The compositions are strange and eclectic, some towering into the clouds, some plain and innocent, such as the orchids he painted, some growing on cliffs, some growing on flat slopes beside thorns, full of vitality and interest. It not only has a perfect art form, but also has rich and profound ideological content. He said: "Every time I paint orchids, bamboos, and rocks, I paint them to comfort the working people of the world, not to provide the world with comfort." "In the era of feudal autocracy, these ideas that focused on "working people" all sparkled with democratic ideas. He also wrote in "Bamboo and Stone Pictures": "I was lying in the Yazhai listening to the rustling bamboos, which was suspected to be the sound of folk suffering. "The author associates the sufferings of the people from the fluttering bamboo leaves, which shows that the author does have thoughts and feelings that sympathize with the lower class people. He painted unknown thorns and elegant orchids together, and wrote the inscription in the painting: "Full painting All gentlemen end up with thorns, why? A gentleman can accommodate villains, but without villains he cannot become a gentleman. The orchids among the thorns will make the flowers more luxuriant. "The idea of ??"the people are important but the king is light" is clearly visible in "The Picture of Thorns and Orchids". He was dissatisfied with reality and cynical about the world. He wrote in "Picture of Plum Blossoms": "I have never painted plum blossoms in my life, and I don't know the scholar's family in Gushan. Today I paint plum blossoms and bamboos, and my heart is filled with mist when the cold comes." He wrote in a painting The self-titled poem in "Ink Bamboo Picture": "The autumn wind crossed Xiaoxiang last night, and it went crazy when it touched the rocks and penetrated the forest. Only the bamboo branches were not afraid, and they fought with each other for a thousand times." He used the strength and tenacity of bamboo to metaphorically fight against the old forces. The tenacious spirit of struggle. One of his paintings with the title "rarely confused" has been widely circulated. It not only contains profound philosophy, but also expresses the author's resentment towards the darkness of officialdom.
In addition to painting and calligraphy, Zheng Banqiao also has in-depth research on poetry, lyrics, songs, rhymes, chants, etc. Especially his poems have high artistic attainments and are in the poetry circle of the Qing Dynasty. occupies an important position. Zheng Banqiao's poems broke away from the shackles of some poems in the early Qing Dynasty that focused on the charm and style, inherited the excellent tradition of realism in the "Book of Songs" and "Du Shi" in the Tang Dynasty, and had democratic ideological content and beautiful expression forms. Zheng Banqiao's representative poems. For example, "Tough Officials", "Lynching Evil", "Escape", "Returning Home", "Returning Home", etc. are all works that actively pay attention to society and worry about the country and the people.