Traditional painting methods of Chinese landscape painting
A traditional painting method of Chinese landscape painting:
1. Before the early Tang Dynasty, the gongbi painting method was mainly characterized by outlining and coloring. Since the chamfering method had not been invented at that time, there was no His brushwork and lines were relatively monotonous, and most of them were drawn with ancient hairsprings. Although the techniques were not very mature at the time, he meant that landscape painting had broken away from the background of figure painting and became an independent painting discipline, and its influence was extremely far-reaching. His representative works are the green landscapes of Li Sixun and Li Zhaodao.
2 From the end of the Tang Dynasty to the Northern Song Dynasty, the Chuan method was widely used in landscape painting, and many painting methods were developed for lines. In particular, Wang Wei invented the ink rendering method, and Wang Mo and Xiang Rong invented the splash-ink painting method. Ink painting has also been widely used, laying the foundation for the development of landscape painting. Jing Hao, a landscape painter at the end of the Tang Dynasty and the beginning of the Five Dynasties, said, "Wu Daozi painted with brushes but no ink (line drawing method), and Xiang Rong painted with ink but no brush (splashed ink method). I should learn from the strengths of the two sons." He combined the above techniques with each other. The fusion created the freehand ink painting techniques of hooks, chaps, dots, dense dyeing and intricate work, which became a painting technique with great influence. The so-called dense brushwork means that the calligraphy is mostly dotted, with thousands of dense strokes; the so-called fine workmanship means that the brushwork is delicate, or there are no large ink blocks in dots or lines; the so-called freehand brushwork means that the calligraphy is more casual and the lines are rich in changes. The leaves are often painted using mixed painting methods such as ribbed dots and clusters; the so-called ink painting means that the color is not dyed, but ink is used to replace the color with different shades of ink. Especially after the development of Guan Tong, Li Cheng, Fan Kuan, Guo Xi, Wang Shen and others who were known as the three masters of Northern Song Dynasty in the Five Dynasties and early Song Dynasty, Song painting became the pinnacle of the Northern School of landscape painting and became a classic painting method of Chinese landscape painting. Through the ages.
3. The Southern Song Dynasty inherited the basic brush and ink techniques of the Northern Song Dynasty such as hooking, chamfering, dotting, and dyeing, but there were new developments, especially the vigorous ink and wash courtyard painting method represented by Li Tang, which influenced the freehand painting of later generations. The so-called vigorous ink painting method has a great influence. The so-called vigorous ink painting means that this painting method is not as delicate and neat as the painting method of the Northern Song Dynasty. It mostly uses broad strokes to create clear, rough and bold textures of mountains and rocks, especially those of Ma Yuan and Xia Dynasty. Gui, one is more wild than the other. Since these people all work in the Southern Song Dynasty Painting Academy, this style is also called courtyard painting to distinguish it from folk painting. The representative works are Li Tang, Liu Songnian, Ma Yuan and Xia Gui, known as the four masters of the Southern Song Dynasty. Vigorous ink landscape.
4. Zhao Mengfu of the Yuan Dynasty advocated the use of calligraphy in painting. Since Zhao was a great calligrapher and a painter, he integrated the brush and ink techniques of calligraphy into landscape painting, thereby creating the southern style simple freehand painting method, especially among his disciples. Huang Gongwang achieved the highest achievement. This painting method takes the hills, lakes, flowers, willows and trees in Jiangsu and Zhejiang as its objects. There are no longer mountains, ridges, pines and ancient trees. The painting method is mainly line drawing with hook, chaff, and dots with less dyeing. The chaffing method is not like In the Song Dynasty, most of the stippling and ink-blocking were transformed from calligraphy lines. Almost all the paintings were made of lines, which made them appear gentler and less ostentatious than those in courtyard paintings. The representative works are the Southern style ink landscapes of Huang Gongwang, Wu Zhen, Ni Zan and Wang Meng, known as the Four Great Masters of the Yuan Dynasty.
5 The Ming Dynasty basically imitated the Song and Yuan Dynasties, especially the Southern Song Dynasty painting style, with little change in techniques. Speaking of changes, they are mainly of the fusion type, with some merging the styles of the Northern and Southern Song Dynasties into one. For example, the landscapes of Tang Yin, Dai Jin, and Wang E combine the tall and majestic compositions of the Northern Song Dynasty with the vigorous ink painting methods of the Southern Song Dynasty. There are also paintings that integrate the painting methods of the Song Dynasty and the Yuan Dynasty. For example, the fine-brush landscapes of Shen Zhou, Tang Yin, and Qiu Ying use Song style compositions and Yuan people's pen and ink.
6 The landscape painting circles of the Qing Dynasty showed two extreme tendencies. One pole was the imitation school represented by the Four Kings, which may have been influenced by Dong Qichang’s authentic theory of the Southern School, especially those who imitated the Southern School paintings of Dong Ju and the Yuan Dynasty. The wind is the dominant style, and the other extreme is the Self School represented by the Four Monks, or the Weird School, which does not follow the traditional routine at all, breaking the procedures of hooking, chapping, dotting, and dyeing, and mostly uses plain painting methods of hooking or chapping but not dyeing. The paintings are random and the ink is very sloppy, each of which has its own characteristics: Shi Xi uses the scratching method to directly create the mountain shape, and the picture is dark and thick; Shi Tao's brushwork is unpredictable, the composition and shape are all kinds of strange, and he paints in the style of a sketch. The method of painting is more random; Hongren uses geometric square linear patterns to outline mountains, rocks and trees, which is simple and ethereal and unprecedented; Zhu Da takes Ni Zan's simple and plain painting method to the extreme, using dry brush and light ink to paint a mountain shape and outline a few trees Just a tree stump, extremely simple and light.
7 Although the style of imitating the past and the anti-traditional painting methods of the Four Monks during the Ming and Qing Dynasties were highly praised, in fact they were abnormal and extreme manifestations, indicating that the development of landscape painting has not yet found the correct direction. approach, and thus went astray, because this painting method became more and more sloppy, paid less and less attention to appearance, and more and more entered the ranks of sketches, which was not suitable for the requirements of the majestic era, so that people in the circle issued Chinese painting A lament about where to go. For this reason, modern painters continue to explore, and there are two major camps. One is the traditional school represented by Jincheng, Wu Hufan, Chen Shaomei, etc. who stick to tradition; the other is represented by Huang Binhong, Fu Baoshi, Lu Yanshao, Li Keran, etc. The reformists were exploring new painting methods and created the black-body ink painting characterized by thick ink, thick strokes and freehand brushwork. Each was thicker and darker than the other, thus creating an era of thick and thick black-body ink.
The biggest feature of the reformist art is that it maintains the technical characteristics of traditional ink and wash, and integrates the light and shadow, realism, and heavy color painting methods of Western oil painting, which has a strong visual impact. Most of the contemporary painting circles are affected by this, and the mainstream is still dominated by Chinese and Western color ink and realistic painting methods, which are colorful and dazzling. The truly typical traditional painting methods are rare, but this painting method is incompatible with tradition. The characteristics of freehand brushwork and ink painting are completely opposite to each other. It can be seen that every change in the painting world always goes in the opposite direction.
2. The Development and Innovation of Chinese Landscape Painting
The changes in landscape painting have changed with the changes in aesthetics. There have been several turning points in aesthetics in history. Landscapes in the Tang and Song Dynasties were mainly influenced by Gu Kaizhi Influenced by the theory of conveying spirit through form, they pay attention to the beauty of form, so they are very particular about composition and modeling. The mountains and ridges are spectacular, and the ancient pines and trees have unique charm. After the Yuan Dynasty, the aesthetics was influenced by Su Dongpo's aesthetics, and gradually shifted to the aesthetic beauty of the Southern style. Poetic paintings are popular, with simple pictures, a lot of white space, emphasis on interest, and full of poetry. After the Ming Dynasty, influenced by Dong Qichang's theory of pen and ink, no longer paid attention to the beauty of form, and the beauty of pen and ink became people's preference. Painting focused more on the changes in pen and ink techniques. Therefore, various paintings The techniques are diverse and ink-wash is vivid; contemporary landscapes are mostly influenced by Xu Beihong, who integrates Chinese and Western elements to transform traditional Chinese painting, and develops the beauty of color, making realistic painting techniques in color and ink very popular.
Traditional landscapes are the result of thousands of years of painstaking exploration by countless literati and poets, and are China’s national treasures. These national treasures, which are made of silk paper, are extremely fragile and difficult to preserve for a long time. Therefore, true preservation depends on the passing down of techniques from generation to generation.
Although traditional Chinese painting pays attention to innovation, innovation should all originate from tradition. Without tradition, it will become water without a source or a tree without roots. It will lose its direction and will not have long-term vitality. Therefore, those who aspire to traditional Chinese painting should study the tradition deeply, and those who aspire to landscape painting should seriously practice traditional landscape techniques and lay a solid foundation. Huang Binhong once said that Tang paintings are like music, Song paintings are like wine, Yuan paintings are like alcohol, Ming and Qing paintings are wine with water added, while contemporary paintings only have water but no wine. Landscape paintings of the Song and Yuan Dynasties are classics of Chinese landscape painting and the pinnacle of Chinese landscape painting.