Speaking of Wen Zhengming, many people immediately think of the Jiangnan landscape garden he painted. Those who are familiar with the style of his works will know that he is very creative and paints far more than one kind of landscape. For example, this painting "Ancient Wood Cold Spring" adopts realistic painting method, and the scenery painted is not magnificent mountains and rivers, but a small scene that can be seen randomly on the roadside in front of the door. Wen Zhengming pursues a natural and subtle aesthetic style, and he integrates the leisure of Jiangnan literati into his paintings, making people yearn for a more exquisite and elegant life.
Only by absorbing the strengths of others can the lyricism seem to come naturally, and the painters of the Song and Yuan dynasties have painted such small scenes. The painters of the Song Dynasty liked to be extremely subtle, but they were too beautiful. The painters of the Yuan Dynasty did not seek to resemble the form, but they seemed cold and lonely. Wen Zhengming attaches great importance to the details of the depiction and highlights the sense of realism, and he portrays Xiaojing as an individual life, so he has a unique literati temperament. He is peaceful and introverted, and his painting style is delicate and elegant, which belongs to the era of Wen Zhengming.
The foreground is the main foreground of the whole painting, supplemented by the middle ground. It's easy to feel like the composition is incomplete in this way. In order to prevent this from happening, Wen Zhengming left the source of the flowing water outside the painting. At the same time, he uses smooth lines to give the picture a sense of movement, creating a sense of extraordinary. There is endless space outside the painting, and there is a literary interest outside the painting, and the limited visual space has become the characteristic of this painting.
There are three ancient trees in the painting, two large and one small. The contrast between the big trees and the small trees is very strong, from the big to the clouds, and the small to break through the ground. Many painters like to use the contrast between virtual and real, opening and closing, and sparse density to emphasize the three-dimensional sense of space. Wen Zhengming started from the comparison of size and drew a sense of freshness. The formation of the style of the times is mostly to show the indifferent temperament of the literati, and Wen Zhengming found a different method.
The Song Dynasty painted small scenes to depict the beauty of reason, the Yuan Dynasty painted small scenes to express seclusion, and Wen Zhengming painted small scenes to be leisurely and indifferent, with the unique temperament of Jiangnan literati. The Song Dynasty painter Guo Xi painted a "Picture of Twin Pines", and Wen Zhengming's painting "Ancient Wood Cold Spring" has the meaning of paying tribute. Compared with objective depiction, Wen Zhengming has more demands in his creation. vigorous and handsome, vigorous and delicate, such an elegant small scene is estimated to be only able to be drawn by Wen Zhengming.
In the middle of the Ming Dynasty, the Wumen area was economically prosperous, allowing painters to have a good creative environment. Wen Zhengming was born in a scholarly family, and he seemed at ease in the pursuit of pen and ink. He is not extreme, and he does not express joy and sorrow in his paintings. After observing the natural scene, he first had to please himself, piggybacking on the literati who had the same aesthetic as him.
Wen Zhengming did not completely let go of the sense of seclusion, he depicted ordinary scenes, so that the lyricism and the form are more balanced. This is the state he has reached after learning from others. In other words, the taste of brush and ink is not the only thing in literati painting, which needs to express spiritual appeals. There is no deliberateness, no loneliness, and there is peace and calmness left in the painting.
Literati painting can not be vivid enough, and it must not be natural enough. Literati painting can express confusion and ignorance, and must not be hypocritical. Wen Zhengming absorbed the composition of Song painting and devoted himself to the study of Yuanren's brush and ink, so that he had "Ancient Wood Cold Spring", which eliminated the bitterness and sweetness. If you can see that Wen Zhengming is enjoying life, then you can understand why he painted such a simple scene.
Wen Zhengming studied under Shen Zhou, and his calligraphy and painting were excellent. The small scenes he painted are portrayals of the soul. He painted the scenery of his hometown and the ordinary scenery, inspiring future generations to think about the nostalgia and hometown in landscape painting.
Further reading
Fused with the ancient, Wang Hui's Qinghui landscape.
Boldly use ink and cherish ink like gold, see how Wang Yuanqi understands.
How beautiful and how to paint, the beauty expressed by the court painter.
The court painter has an elegant and gorgeous painting style, and Tang Dai paints the scenery of Autumn Mountain.