Written with sincerity - The Picture Scroll of the Three Kingdoms that came out | "Picture Book of the Three Kingdoms" | Mitsuya Anno
The blend of cultures and historical reference have made Japan very fond of and obsessed with the culture of the Three Kingdoms. Various games and film and television works about the Three Kingdoms emerge in endlessly. The picture book master Mitsuya Anno's "Picture Book of the Three Kingdoms" touches people not only with the eighty-three scrolls of exquisite and unique style, but also with the frankness and sincerity that Anno poured into the painting.
"The Picture Book of the Three Kingdoms" is an out-of-the-box picture of the Three Kingdoms. Mitsuya Anno traveled more than 10,000 kilometers to search for traces of the past Three Kingdoms on the land of China. So among these eighty-three paintings, half are today's landscapes, and half are the stirring Three Kingdoms in Anye's mind. An Ye is an artist who connects the East and the West. His works "Wonderful Country", "The Story of Heaven's Movement" and "Picture Book of Journey" all have obvious cultural fusion styles. Quite different from his usual painting style of delicate lines and elegant and fresh colors, the style of "Picture Book of the Three Kingdoms" is more of a fusion of Chinese traditional painting and Japanese painting. In "The Picture Book of the Three Kingdoms", the fusion of landscape painting styles is particularly obvious. The picture emphasizes planes and artistic conception, weakening light, shadow and perspective elements, and has a strong oriental charm. Anno's compositions and images are Chinese-style, and the projection of Japanese paintings can also be seen in the colors and details. For example, in Anno's misty West Lake, the layers of hazy pus and blank space in the distant mountains are typical of Chinese painting style, and the use of blue to express the large clouds of mist steaming from the lake gives people a sense of freshness. The picture of Qu Yuan throwing himself into the river and the stone waterfall in the middle of the river is Chinese-style, while the painting method of water flowing out of lines is closer to Yamato-e. The depiction style of historical stories is closer to Japanese paintings, focusing on the description of the story and the creation of atmosphere. The facial features of the characters in Anno's paintings are downplayed, and the atmosphere is created by the layout of the picture and the posture of the characters. In traditional Chinese paintings, the main characters are generally drawn large and eye-catching, with clear facial features.
An Ye is straightforward in using the soil of the Yellow River to paint the Yellow River, and most of his words are inspired by his feelings. Half of the text in "The Picture Book of the Three Kingdoms" is about his thoughts on the history of the Three Kingdoms, and the other half is about his feelings and thoughts during his travels. Compared with the paintings, the text seems unremarkable at first glance, which is what I wanted to briefly mention at first, but the more I read, the more I can appreciate Anno’s sincerity. People's thoughts cannot be completely divorced from their past experiences, so Anya must have a different perspective from us when looking at the history of the Three Kingdoms. Anno's thinking is not limited to comparing the history of the Three Kingdoms with Japanese history and humanities. He often has his own thoughts on the history that happened on this land. He will compare Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty's eradication of superstition with European witch hunts, link Liu Bei's borrowing of Jingzhou with the cession of concessions in modern times, and will also question the fact that Sun Quan's sister was a strong character in the history books but was willing to be a political victim. Anye's keen insight, active curiosity, and sincere and rich heart are all expressed on paper and pen word by word.
Anno’s writings are not only macro-thinking about history, but also generously reveal many personal emotions. What he saw in the Three Kingdoms was not only the majestic mountains and rivers and their great achievements throughout the ages, but also the people who struggled to survive in the cracks in the history books, and the cruel and cruel side of human nature. From the Three Kingdoms to modern times, Anno unreservedly expressed his reflection on history and his concerns about the fragile balance between good and evil in human nature. In addition to the magnificent and exciting history in history books, he also saw the silent side of history.
When I learned that Mr. Anno passed away in December 2019, I couldn’t help but sigh that it was too late to meet his works. As a reader, I also hope to respond to Anno's sincerity with sincerity.
References:
[1] Jin Shengxiong. Research on the creation of Japanese travel picture books [D]. Jiangxi Normal University, 2019.
[2] Huang Di . Interesting visual expressions in modern popular science picture books [D]. Central Academy of Fine Arts, 2018.
[3] Wang Ning. Analysis of the artistic creation of Japanese contemporary picture book master Mitsumasa Anno [D]. Liaoning Normal University , 2017.
[4] Liu Yixin. Research on Mitsuya Anno’s Picture Book Series [D]. Shanghai Theater Academy, 2016.