Judging from the history of painting, people painted plum blossoms in the Northern and Southern Dynasties, and in the Northern Song Dynasty, painting plum blossoms has become a trend. The most famous monk is Zhong Ren, who created the ink plum blossom. He painted the plum blossom without color, but only with the shades of ink. It is said that he once saw the shadow of plum blossom reflected by moonlight on enough paper, and was inspired, so he created ink plum that was smudged with thick ink and ink painting. Since then, another painter, Yang, has further developed this painting method. Create a double hook method to draw plum blossoms, so that plum blossoms are pure, elegant and full of wild interest. Since the Yuan and Ming Dynasties, more people have painted plum blossoms. Wang Mian, the greatest master of plum blossom painting in Yuan Dynasty, should be the first. He claimed to be the owner of the plum blossom. His ink-and-wash plum blossom paintings have changed the habit of Song people to be cold, and turned into dense flowers, giving people a warm and vigorous feeling. Wang Mian's masterpiece is one of his masterpieces handed down from generation to generation, which vividly conveys plum blossom's muscle-clearing pride and entrusts the literati's aloof feelings.
There are countless painters in Ming and Qing Dynasties, such as Liu, Shi Tao, Jin Nong and Wang. In terms of style, they generally inherited the two painting styles of Song and Yuan Dynasties.
However, not everyone can draw plum blossoms well. Plum blossom painters should also have the character of painting plum blossoms. Some people call it "plum spirit", a noble sentiment, a clean and honest character. As the saying goes, "painting plum blossoms must have the spirit of plum blossoms, and people are as clear as plum blossoms."
Look at orchids again. When people draw orchids, they usually place a delicate and noble sentiment on them.
For example, Qu Yuan, a poet of Chu State, used the poem "Autumn is blue and clear, green leaves and purple stems are beautiful for everyone" to chant orchids. However, orchids entered the painting later than plum blossoms, probably starting in the Tang Dynasty. In the Song Dynasty, more people painted orchids. It is said that Su Shi once painted orchids with thorns in them, which means that a gentleman can tolerate villains. At the beginning of the Southern Song Dynasty, people often painted orchids to express a kind of integrity that did not rise and fall with the world after the death of the Song Dynasty. At that time, Zhao He was called Master Moran.
Zheng Suonan painted orchids in the Yuan Dynasty, which is the most famous and has the clearest meaning. It is said that he will sit in the south to show his nostalgia for the first dynasty and his shame as the second minister of the yuan dynasty; His orchids never draw roots, just like floating in the air. For human reasons, he replied, "My land has been taken away by the people. Can I still own it?" Therefore, to appreciate painting, we should also understand the historical background. Zheng Banqiao, one of the Eight Eccentrics in Yangzhou, was the most famous painter in Qing Dynasty. Zheng Banqiao is a person who pays attention to learning from nature. He drew a pot of orchids. But he especially likes painting wild orchids in the mountains. To this end, he planted dozens of orchids himself, and often transplanted them to the shade of wild rocks after the third spring, so that they could grow up in the second year, watching them stand upright and smelling their rich and pure fragrance, thus obtaining the beautiful essence of wild orchids in the mountains.
Bamboo painting, roughly equivalent to orchids, also began in the Tang Dynasty. Tang Xuanzong, painter Wang Wei and Wu Daozi all like to paint bamboo. It is said that in the Five Dynasties, Li Furen also created the Mohist bamboo method. It is said that she often sits in bed at night and sees the bamboo shadow shown on the window paper, which is copied by the window paper. In the Song Dynasty, Su Shi developed the method of painting bamboo, giving up the double hook coloring method of previous painters, and painting branches and leaves with ink, with deep ink as the leaf surface and light ink as the leaf back. During the Yuan, Ming and Qing Dynasties, famous bamboo painters came forth in large numbers. As long as they are landscape or flower-and-bird painters, they don't paint bamboo, and they begin to emphasize the overall momentum of bamboo. However, among many painters, Zheng Banqiao's bamboo painting is also a must.
For painting bamboo, Zheng Banqiao once wrote down his own experience: "The pavilion in the middle of the river is clear in autumn, bamboo is seen in the morning, and smoke and light are exposed, all floating among the sparse branches and dense leaves. All I can think about is paintings. In fact, the bamboo in the chest is not the bamboo in the eye. Therefore, grinding ink to spread paper, putting pen to paper is disguised, and the bamboo in the hand is not the bamboo in the chest. In short, it means to write first, and the rules are also; This machine is also available if you are interested in staying out of the law. Draw clouds alone! " Therefore, we can get inspiration from all kinds of natural scenery of bamboo, stimulate emotions, transform it into bamboo in the chest through bamboo in the eye, and brush it into bamboo in the hand, that is, bamboo in the painting. Zheng Banqiao's works have been handed down many times and widely circulated. Since the Qing dynasty, they have been lamented by experts all over the world and become treasures of "everyone vying for treasure".
Chrysanthemum entered the picture a little later, probably starting from the Five Dynasties. Compared with Mei, there are relatively few works that show chrysanthemums. According to the history of painting, Xu Xi and Huang Quan painted chrysanthemums in the Five Dynasties, but few people painted chrysanthemums in the Song Dynasty. Su Mingyuan and Ke also had chrysanthemum works in Yuan Dynasty. Not many people painted chrysanthemums in Ming and Qing Dynasties. At present, the Capital Museum has a "Chrysanthemum Stone" by Chen Chun, the most famous painter in Wu Pai in the Ming Dynasty, which is a rare chrysanthemum work.
The introduction of Mei Lan and Zhu Ju enriched the theme of art and expanded the aesthetic field. They are both rich in formal beauty and reminiscent of people's character, which is not only convenient for literati to display their interest in pen and ink, but also convenient for literati to express their ideas by borrowing things. Therefore, the wind of describing "Four Gentlemen" has never stopped.