Ming Dynasty painting was in a period of collision between learning from the past and innovation. During this period, ink painting was the most popular. Among them, ink masters represented by Xu Wei have pushed painting to another astonishing peak with their talents.
Chrysanthemum painting of Xu Wei
Although Xu Wei had a bumpy career and failed to realize his ideals and ambitions, he made great achievements in painting, calligraphy, drama, poetry and other arts. Xu Wei's freehand flower and bird paintings are the most prominent among freehand ink paintings. It is bold, majestic and realistic. It's amazing.
Xu Wei's freehand flower and bird painting style is unique and unmatched. Xu Wei's flower and bird paintings are bold and innovative, absorbing the advantages of his predecessors. It not only explains the similarity of things themselves, but also explains the similarity of things. Xu Wei's freehand flower and bird paintings are not ordinary copying, but artistic processing in order to better interpret the inner meaning of things, allowing viewers to be immersed in the scene when appreciating the works. Although the plane trees he painted are only a small part of them, they can remind people of towering trees and make people fall into them. Xu Wei uses delicate brushwork to paint many fascinating pictures that are hard to extricate themselves from.
Xu Wei lived a difficult life in his later years and was impoverished. But because the bamboo was of high quality and clean, Xu Wei did not stoop to eat five bushels of rice. Even if Xu Wei had a lot of money, he would not paint a picture for those dignitaries. Xu Wei's freehand flower and bird paintings are handed down to this day, such as "Ink Grape Painting", "Landscape Figures and Flowers Painting", "Peony and Plantain Stone Painting", "Chrysanthemum Stone Painting", "Chen Nudu Ni", etc.
Xu Wei's poems
Many people who like and appreciate Xu Wei know that Xu Wei calls himself "Book One, Poetry Two, Article Three, and Pictures Four." It's just that many people are now more interested in the achievements of calligraphy and painting than Xu Wei's achievements in poetry. Although Xu Wei's calligraphy and painting are outstanding, his poetry is by no means ordinary. Xu Wei's poetry can also be said to have great achievements.
Xu Wei's Poems on Plum Blossoms
So, when others are studying the vague characters in Xu Wei's calligraphy and paintings, it is best to concentrate on studying Xu Wei's poem "Xu Wei's Unknown Things". Although Xu Wei's poems are not as famous as other famous poets, his poems are highly rated in the literary history of the Ming Dynasty. From Yuan Hongdao's compilation of Xu Wei's poems into a book, we can also see that Xu Wei's poems have high literary value. Xu Wei pursued innovation, change, and difference throughout his life, and the same goes for his poetry, which is unique and unforgettable.
In Xu Wei's five-character poem 0: "Youth is just a passing cloud, hair is cut into a turban, other mothers wear makeup, teachers rest their eyebrows. The illusion of reality is in front of the mirror, and the life and death of flowers are known to everyone. Today It is impossible to achieve. Who is the predecessor? "It seems very popular on the surface, but it is actually full of emotions. Xu Wei used the first two sentences to describe the scene at that time, and the last four sentences raised the connotation of the poem to a higher level, expressing his feelings at this time: his understanding of Buddhist philosophy and his disillusionment with life.
In short, Xu Wei’s poems, like his human poems, do not need too much embellishment. In his works, they show everything in the world in their most natural state, express the thoughts and feelings he wants to express, and vent his anger and boredom.
Xu Weide's calligraphy
As we all know, Xu Wei claims to be "the first in calligraphy, the second in poetry, the third in literature, and the fourth in painting." Xu Wei's cursive script is majestic, but it is difficult for people to accept it, and it is difficult for ordinary people to see clearly what Xu Wei wrote. But Xu Wei is very confident in his calligraphy and likes it very much. It can be said that he has reached the point of arrogance.
Xu Wei’s calligraphy works
Xu Wei’s calligraphy was particularly prominent in the dull literary world of the Ming Dynasty. Xu Wei, Zhi, Rainbow, Shaoxing. Xu Wei especially admired Wang Xizhi's calligraphy. Therefore, Xu Wei, Zhi, and Hong were good at cursive writing. However, it was not Wang Xizhi who had the greatest influence on Xu Wei's calligraphy, but Fei. Xu Wei has done a lot of research on Mi Fu's calligraphy and has his own unique views on Mi Fu's calligraphy.
Xu Wei's calligraphy innovated on the basis of inheriting his predecessors and formed his own style, which brought the calligraphy of the Ming Dynasty to another peak. As we all know, Dong Qichang destroyed the method of calligraphy, and Xu Wei destroyed the brushwork of calligraphy. Xu Wei destroyed the brushwork of calligraphy and painting. It can be said that Xu Wei's research on calligraphy and painting is extremely in-depth. This also achieved Xu Wei's great achievements in art and calligraphy.
Xu Wei only has calligraphy works handed down from generation to generation, not so many paintings. The representative works of Xu Wei's calligraphy include sword script and cursive script, ink script and cursive script. But on the scroll, we can also appreciate Xu Wei's calligraphy. Because Xu Wei usually likes to write a poem on a scroll to express his feelings on a deeper level and fully demonstrate his calligraphy ability.
What kind of person is Xu Wei?
Xu Wei is an outstanding writer, calligrapher, painter and poet. No matter which art field he is in, Xu Wei has very good works to present to the world. It can be said that Xu Wei was an artist who was born lonely and was admired by the world after his death.
Portrait of Xu Wei
Xu Wei was born in a declining bureaucratic family, and his wisdom became prominent when he was young. There is a folk story about how smart Xu Wei was when he was young. Although Xu Wei was very talented, he failed the imperial examination. Xu Wei was bold by nature and liked a free and unrestrained life as well as literature. Therefore, Xu Wei doesn't like stereotypes. Stereotypes are boring and lack new ideas. This also led to Xu Wei's frustration in his official career and failure in the imperial examination. By the time he was 40, he had yet to pass the exam.
Xu Wei was also praised for his talent by Hu Zongxian, the leader of the Southern Patrol. However, after the governor was killed, Xu Wei became mentally weak and even went crazy, suspecting that his wife had cheated on him. In the end, madness broke out. Xu Wei killed his wife and was arrested and imprisoned. Xu Wei spent many years in prison. Xu Wei was 53 years old when he was released from prison. From then on, Xu Wei even hated high-ranking officials and dignitaries. In his later years, he made a living by selling calligraphy and painting, but he never made calligraphy and painting for high-ranking officials and dignitaries.
However, due to Xu Wei's experience and his aversion to restraint, Xu Wei has achieved such outstanding achievements in the fields of calligraphy, painting and other arts. On the basis of his predecessors, Xu Wei created a new era of ink painting with his own talent and founded a new school of painting - the Ivy Painting School.