A painting in the Southern Song Dynasty, painting a boat without depicting water is known as a masterpieceA closer look reveals the mystery
At that time, there were many talents in the poetry circle of the Tang Dynasty. Although Liu Zongyuan's "Snow River" reached a certain artistic level, it did not cause much of a sensation in the vast sea of Tang poetry. "Cold River Snow" reflects Liu Zongyuan's inner world and arouses people's imagination of Liu Zongyuan's unique life situation, but it is more of an interpretation of later literati.
Hundreds of years later, the literati of the Tang Dynasty have long since disappeared, and the Southern Song Dynasty painter Ma Yuan has emerged. His talent is not outstanding among many painters, and it can be said that he does nothing. But in the world of painting, fame does not necessarily require genius, sometimes a pair of appreciative eyes and a heart that can perceive are enough to grasp the ordinary in the extraordinary.
In "Jiang Xue" in Liu Zongyuan's "Fishing Alone in the Cold River", Ma Yuan delicately portrays a person who fishes alone in a robe. There is no vast river in the painting, only a lonely fishing boat, but the intimate design makes the painting full of artistic conception.
Ma Yuan's paintings do not pursue subtle elegance, but focus on depicting a deep and peaceful artistic conception with simple brushes. Each stroke of his painting is full of poetry, revealing deep sadness and loneliness in simplicity. This special style of painting made Ma Yuan stand out in the calligraphy and painting circles of the Southern Song Dynasty, and was called alongside Li Tang and others"The four families of the Southern Song Dynasty"。
Because of Ma Yuan's "Fishing Alone in the Cold River", Liu Zongyuan's "Jiang Xue" has also received more praise and attention, and the poems and paintings reflect each other, giving people a deeper artistic enjoyment. In this way, the Tang poems and oil paintings that have passed through the millennium will be lonely and solemn"Weng Fanggang"Together, they express the silence and loneliness that transcend time and space.
Jiang Xue" is a poem deep and lonely, and although the imagery depicted is full, it focuses on the picture of an old fisherman fishing alone, and Ma Yuan further refined and carried forward this image under his pen. In his paintings, he prefers to depict scenes of fishermen fishing silently, and cleverly omits other scenes.
Ma Yuan's painting technique is so consistent with the poetry of the Snow River that later generations have no doubt that he was inspired by the Snow River. Ma Yuan's paintings embody the unique style of Song Dynasty painters - the close combination of painting and poetry. Another artist who combined poetry and painting was Wang Wei – but his ink paintings were more famous.
However, it is not only the skillful painting technique that makes people think deeply, but also the creative inspiration behind it. Liu Zongyuan, the author of Living Snow, was a representative of a special group of poets in the Tang Dynasty. Frustrated by their political ambitions, these poets devoted their lives to the piano, chess, calligraphy and painting, and showed extraordinary talent in various art forms.
They are so talented that they have left a swan song for future generations. Jiang Xue borrowed the image of a fisherman in the poem, revealing Liu Zongyuan's deep resilience of reluctance to compromise with **.
The fisherman fishing alone in the cold river and snow symbolizes Yanagi's struggle against the forces of darkness. The wind and snow in the cold river are like Liu Zongyuan's insistence on political conspiracy. The fisherman is not afraid of wind and snow, and similarly, when his career fails and his life falls to the bottom, Liu Zongyuan still sticks to his inner belief.
Ma Yuan's brushes give life to the fictional images in Jiang Xue. His art style is always detail-oriented, and then the whole picture is revealed through the details, which is fully reflected in "Fishing in the Cold River".
If you change the painter and style, the elements of this painting may be richer, but the transition from simple to complex and the mood of the fisherman when he sees the whole picture cannot be repeated. Ma Yuan's unique painting style won him over"A corner of the horse"may be because his painting style is closely linked to poetry, so he chose "Snow River" as inspiration**.
The Hanjiang Solo Fishing Picture was admired by the Song people for its exquisite composition, but later generations admired Ma Yuan's grasp of details and called it a divine product. In addition to the spirit of the poem, the painting has been studied in great depth, using modern technology to zoom in on it to discover more details.
In fact, this extended research method is very common in the field of ancient painting and calligraphy. In ancient times, there were not many cultural relics of calligraphy and painting, so researchers often decided to enlarge the relics they already knew and re-study them using magnification technology. While zooming in on the Diaoyutai of Hanjiang Temple, they discover some new secrets.
After magnifying the image tenfold, the researchers found that Ma Yuan left many gaps in the depiction of water waves. These gaps are difficult to see with the naked eye, but they make the water in the painting appear extremely vivid and real, reflecting Ma Yuan's superb painting skills and profound artistic accomplishment.
The blank space not only brings the waves to life, but also subtly emphasizes the contrast between static and dynamic. These blanks create a striking contrast between the flowing river and the lonely fisherman, deepening the fisherman's loneliness and loneliness. The rippling waves of the water hide hidden secrets, and the details of the fishing rod are even more eye-catching.
After magnifying 10 times, we saw something surprising - a wheel made of fishing line. This is a very modern fishing tool, and its appearance completely breaks our imagination of the Song Dynasty.
Although we know that the people of the Song Dynasty attached great importance to the enjoyment of life, it is still difficult to imagine that an ordinary fisherman would use such advanced tools at the level of technology at that time. Because of this, we are amazed by Ma Yuan's precision and thoughtfulness.
These details are enough to prove that Ma is far from an artist who can easily be misunderstood as lazy. Some people once suspected that Ma Yuan chose such a composition because he did not want or could not paint these details. But when we see that the painting is magnified tenfold, these misconceptions are naturally dissolved.
Ma Yuan's artistic talent is undoubted, but his skillful use of reality and lies makes the picture more dynamic. These details fully show that Ma Yuan has put a lot of effort into this painting, which can be called a masterpiece.