also known as "scholar painting", is a kind of Chinese painting. Generally refers to the paintings made by Chinese scholars and literati in China feudal society. Different from the paintings of folk painters and professional painters in the Palace Painting Academy, Su Shi put forward the "scholar's painting" in the Northern Song Dynasty, and Dong Qichang praised the "scholar's painting" in the Ming Dynasty, with Wang Wei as its founder and the ancestor of the Southern Sect (see "Southern and Northern Sect"). But in the old days, it was often used to raise the painting art of the literati class and despise the folk painters and institutional painters. Zhang Yanyuan in the Tang Dynasty once said in "Notes on Famous Paintings of Past Dynasties": "Those who have been good at painting since ancient times are not well-dressed and elegant, and they are superior to others, which is beyond Yan's power." This statement has a long influence. Modern Chen Hengke thought that "literati painting has four elements: character, knowledge, talent and thought, and with these four elements, it can be perfected." Usually, "literati painting" is based on landscapes, flowers and birds, plum blossoms, bamboos, chrysanthemums, wood and stones, etc., so as to express "spiritual spirit" or personal ambitions, and sometimes it also contains feelings of oppression of the nation or resentment against decadent politics. They extol "morale" and "yi pin", advocate the taste of algae, stress the interest of pen and ink, get rid of the similarity, emphasize the charm, and attach great importance to the cultivation of literature and calligraphy and the creation of artistic conception in painting. Mang Fu Yao's Preface to the Study of Literati Paintings in China once had a high evaluation: "You Cheng (Wei), the king of the Tang Dynasty, helped the poems to enter the paintings, and then the interest was born by the pen, and the method was changed at will. It is not necessary to talk about the palace merchants, but the hills and mountains are all rhyming, and the righteousness is not necessary to compare with the prosperity." Literati paintings of past dynasties have a considerable influence on the aesthetic thought of Chinese painting and the development of ink painting, freehand brushwork and other techniques.
the characteristics of literati painting
literati painting has different pursuits in subject matter, ideological interest, pen and ink skills, and forms numerous styles and schools. Landscape painting and ink freehand brushwork are popular, and many schools of different styles have emerged.
historical development
before the song dynasty
the origin of literati painting can be traced back to the Han dynasty, and both Zhang Heng and Cai Yong had painting names. Although the paintings are not handed down from generation to generation, they are recorded in ancient books. During the Wei, Jin, Southern and Northern Dynasties, Yao Zui's "not learning to be a man, just entertaining himself" became the central argument of literati painting. Scholars of all ages respected it as the purpose of painting. Zong Bing's ambition is to "view the Tao with a clear mind and lie down to swim". It fully embodies the mentality of literati to entertain themselves. Poetry prevailed in the Tang Dynasty, and the great poet Wang Wei painted with poetry. Make later generations regard him as the originator of literati painting. His paintings have become models for later literati painters. There are pictures in poems, and there are poems in paintings. It has become a common practice and has been passed down from generation to generation. Before the Song Dynasty, China's paintings had made remarkable progress, and there were "three landscapes" and "Xu Luti's different" flower-and-bird paintings.
Song Dynasty
The Royal Academy of Painting was established in Song Dynasty. According to Deng Chun, the author of "Painting Following", Song Huizong personally presided over the Painting Academy, emphasizing "likeness" and "statutes". Statutes are to learn from tradition, and likeness is to truly and meticulously reproduce objective things. Song Huizong takes realism and likeness as the leading ideology, and develops the style of meticulous carving. The above-mentioned painting style of Xuanhe Painting Academy continued to develop in Shaoxing Painting Academy in the Southern Song Dynasty, and painters pursued vivid images and refined composition. Generally speaking, the court painting in the Song Dynasty pursues a high degree of "realism", and some art historians call the court painting in the Song Dynasty "the pinnacle of oriental realism". Realistic art is easy to go to the opposite side when it develops to the extreme. In Song Dynasty, some painters with extensive cultural accomplishment discovered this shortcoming, and found a new way in theory and practice, and put forward the theory of literati painting for the first time.
Su Shi was the first to comprehensively expound the theory of literati painting, which played a decisive role in the formation of literati painting system. First of all, he put forward the concept of "scholar painting". "Looking at scholar painting is like reading the horses in the world, taking what one feels. However, if you are a painter, you often just take a nap in the fur trough, and you will be tired after seeing a few feet. Han Jie really painted. " ("Dongpo Inscription? Postscript Song Hanjie's Painting), secondly, he raised the historical position of the painter Wang Wei, showing the desire to separate the literati painter from the professional painter (painter): "Although Wu Sheng is wonderful, he still regards painting as a painter. It' s like a fairy to thank Long Fan. " (Fengxiang eight views? Thirdly, he advocates the poetic and picturesque style of literati painting, and opposes the painter's style of completely pursuing the shape. "There are pictures in the poem. Watch the painting, there are poems in the painting.
From the perspective of painting practice, Su Shi's "Dead Wood and Strange Stones" can show his aesthetic practice. In addition, Wentong's ink and bamboo drawings and Su Shi's * * * created the theme of literati painting. In terms of figure painting, Li Gonglin, who has great ability in appreciating Gao Wenxue, calligraphy and antiquities, creatively developed the "white painting" in the Tang Dynasty into a simple drawing. This line that is out of color puts more emphasis on calligraphy skill and abstract aesthetic taste, which is more in line with the aesthetic standards of literati. Mi Fei and Mi Youren in the Southern Song Dynasty created "Yun Shan Xi Mo" and "Mi Dian Tuan", which marked the change of landscape painting from simple to dense, and was inherited and developed by Gao Kegong in the early Yuan Dynasty, which had a great influence on literati painting in Yuan, Ming and Qing Dynasties.
Yuan Dynasty
The literati in Yuan Dynasty were in a rather humble situation, and the literati gave up official career and neglected personnel. In the Song Dynasty, literati paintings, which were mainly used as the amateur cultural life of official literati, began to be transferred to the hands of opposition literati, becoming their kind voyage beyond the depressed life and returning to nature. The landscape in the painter's heart embodies the painter's ideal of being far away from the world, blends into the painter's free state of mind of being indifferent to nature, and also permeates the helpless depression and indifference.
With the Yuan rulers absorbing the adherents of the Song Dynasty to participate in the political power and cultural construction, Zhao Mengfu emerged in the art exchange between North and South, which influenced the painting atmosphere of a generation in the transformation. If Su Shi was an active advocate of literati painting, then Zhao Mengfu was the leader of literati painting in Yuan Dynasty. As an art theorist, Zhao Mengfu advocated "taking Yunshan as a teacher", "painting is expensive with ancient meaning" and "painting and calligraphy are of the same origin" in Song Xue Zhai Ji, which laid a theoretical foundation for the creation of literati paintings. Dong Qichang explained: "Zhao Wenmin (Zhao Mengfu) asked Qian Shunju (Qian Xuan) how he could be called morale. Qian said, "If you can distinguish the history of painting from the body, you can fly without ink, or you will go astray, and the more you work, the farther you will go." "It is also extended as:" When scholars paint, they should take the method of cursive script as the basis, the trees are like bending iron, the mountains are like painting sand, and they should never go to the sweet and vulgar way, which is for morale. Everyone attaches importance to introducing the pen and ink interest of calligraphy into painting, and sketching lines also has the elegant style of literati.
In the practice of painting in the Yuan Dynasty, the scholar-bureaucrat painters, represented by Zhao Mengfu and Gao Kegong, advocated restoring ancient ways and returning to the traditions of the Tang and Northern Song Dynasties, and advocated painting with the brushwork of calligraphy. Therefore, they set up a yuan painting atmosphere of attaching importance to charm, ignoring rhythm and paying attention to subjective lyricism. In the middle and late Yuan Dynasty, painters such as Huang Gongwang, Wang Meng, Ni Zan, Wu Zhen and Zhu Derun carried forward the literati painting atmosphere, promoted the development of painting circles with the aim of relying on freehand brushwork, reflected the secluded landscape of passive seclusion, and became popular with themes such as plum, orchid, bamboo, chrysanthemum, pine and stone, which symbolized lofty and faithful personality spirit. Ni Yunlin, its representative figure, has a representative theory of literati painting: "Yu Zhizhu's talk to write about escaping from the air in his chest is no more than his paradox, the complexity and sparseness of leaves, and the inclination and straightness of branches!" Or smeared for a long time, others regard hemp as a reed, and servants can't argue for bamboo. There is really no one to look at. " (Ni Zan: "Zhang Yi Painting Bamboo in China") The typical style of literati landscape painting was thus formed.
Ming Dynasty
Painters in the early years of Ming Dynasty were divided into two schools, one was loyal to the tradition of literati painting in Song and Yuan Dynasties, and the other was the retro school, that is, Dai Jin, Wei Wu and others who inherited the tradition of "Maxia" courtyard landscape painting in the Southern Song Dynasty in the Royal Painting Academy revived in the early Ming Dynasty. However, the literati painting in Ming Dynasty, represented by the "Wu Men School", swept away the "restored" courtyard painting, and pushed the literati ink painting style established by the Yuan people to a higher stage, with Shen Zhou, Wen Zhiming, Tang Yin and Chou Ying as its main figures. Most of the main members of Wu Pai's painters belong to the literati who have three unique skills in poetry, painting and calligraphy. They are sensitive to or personally experience the sinister career, so they are indifferent to the scholars and travel in the forest to amuse themselves with poetry, painting and calligraphy. They are still interested in painting, inheriting the tradition of "morale" and expressing their own character and feelings.
The appearance of Dong Qichang in the late Ming Dynasty expanded the new realm of literati landscape painting. At this point, literati painting has matured both in practice and theory, and Dong Qichang summed it up, thus making the traditional landscape painting in China, which is characterized by literati painting, reach a completely mature position. Dong Qichang's greatest influence on painting is that he put forward the theory of landscape painting "Northern and Southern Sect" and "Literati Painting": Literati painting began in Wang Youcheng, followed by Dong Yuan, monks Ju Ran, Li Cheng and Fan Kuan as his sons, Li Longmian, Wang Jinqing, Minangong and Tiger Son all came from Dong Ju, and all of them were handed down to Yuan Sijia Huang Zijiu, Wang Shuming, Ni Yunzhen and Wu Zhonggui. Ruoma, Xia, Li Tang and Liu Songnian are also sent by General Li, not by Cao Yi. ("Painting Zen Room Essay? The origin of painting)
The theory of Southern and Northern Schools uses Zen as a metaphor for painting, and borrows the characteristics of Zen's "Southampton spreading to the north", which means that the Southern School of Landscape Painting advocates morale, simplicity and emphasis on pen and ink, while the Northern School of Painting is a painter's painting, emphasizing skill and similarity; The theory of southern and northern sects emphasizes the concept of literati painting and combs its sectarian system. Judging from Dong Qichang's own painting practice, this means that calligraphy cultivation is integrated into painting practice. "When scholars paint, they should take the method of cursive strange characters as their basis"; Replace the modeling principle with pen and ink charm. Dong Qichang also emphasized the "morale" of literati painting.
Dong Qichang's theory of southern and northern sects and his painting practice have nurtured a large number of landscape painters in Ming and Qing dynasties, among which the outstanding one is the "Four Kings and Wu Yun" in painting history. Drawing lessons from Dong Qichang's theory of Southern and Northern Schools, the four kings carried out and described the movement of Southern Schools of Landscape Painting. They systematically summarized the creative practice of Southern Schools of Painting in the name of antique. In addition to the orthodox school of the Four Kings, there are also reformists represented by Shi Tao, Badashanren and Yangzhou Baguai, the simplicity of Badashanren and the strangeness of Shi Tao. However, in essence, the paintings of Si Wang and Shi Tao, Badashanren, etc. are different, but they are all aimed at expressing their own pen and ink interest and unique personality. Therefore, the four kings painting school and Shi Tao are two ways within literati painting. One is to summarize and refine their creative practice, so that China's painting will move towards a stylized road; The other way is to continue the artistic experiment and bold innovation of pen and ink in order to further develop. Both of them have remarkable historical achievements and reflect the dialectical relationship between change and inheritance.
Qing Dynasty
During the heyday of literati painting in Qing Dynasty, many top literati painters emerged, the most prominent being the "four monks", among which Badashanren and Shi Tao were the most prominent. As adherents of the late Ming Dynasty, they expressed the pain of the country's ruin and death in their paintings and calligraphy. The eight brushstrokes were unrestrained, indulgent, concise and concise, exaggerated in shape and cold in artistic conception. Shi Tao tried to observe nature, despised Chen Xiangyin, and followed suit as a painter. He advocated "pen and ink should keep pace with the times", "law should stand on its own" and "search for strange peaks and draft" for life. His ideas had a profound influence on the later generations of "Yangzhou School of Painting", "Eight Eccentrics of Yangzhou", Xugu, Zhao Zhiqian, Ren Bonian and Wu Changshuo.
Modern times
Since modern times, there have been three debates about Chinese painting, the core of which is how to treat the traditional painting of China, which is characterized by literati painting, whether to inherit or abandon it, whether to westernize it or completely inherit the tradition. In the first debate, Kang Youwei, Chen Duxiu, etc. demanded an art revolution, and completely adopted western realistic methods to transform painting, while Chen Shiceng and others defended the status and value of China literati painting, and published the article "The Value of Literati Painting", which systematically summarized and explained China literati painting in theory. The second time was that Xu Beihong put forward "Sketch is the foundation of all plastic arts" in the 194s and 195s. He advocated that the study of China's painting in art colleges must start with sketch, while Pan Tianshou and others advocated the restoration of the Chinese painting department, and Chinese painting should be developed and taught independently without the influence of western painting. For the third time, since the 198s, Wu Guanzhong put forward the concept of modern painting, and wanted to completely change Chinese painting. From the creative practice, there are three paths in modern China painting, and each of them has produced a master. First, Wu Changshuo, Qi Baishi, Huang Binhong and Lu Yanshao who completely inherited traditional painting and continued to explore and innovate; Second, Liu Haisu, Pan Tianshou and Li Keran based on China's traditional painting and drawing lessons from western painting skills; The third is to adopt western painting skills and integrate Xu Beihong and Lin Fengmian from various schools in China and the West.
representative figures
There are many painters in contemporary China who are engaged in the creation of literati paintings and have made certain achievements, such as Bian Pingshan, Zhu Xinjian, Wang Heping, Zhao Beixin, Beiyu, Yiran and Wang Weixin.