The "truth" of Song Dynasty flower and bird painting is unique in the history of Chinese painting, which is well known, but how to realistically? If it were not analyzed from the perspective of modern bird science, it is difficult to imagine that the naturalist achievements of the Song Dynasty were so developed.
Zhejiang Ancient Books Publishing House recently published this book "Shape and Reason: Birds in Song Paintings", which will lead us back to the world of birds and flowers 1,000 years ago, break the barriers of science and art, and learn from the Song Dynasty flower and bird painting microcosm Song Dynasty naturalism.
Form and Reason: Birds in Song Paintings", by Chen Shuihua, published by Zhejiang Ancient Books Publishing House.
This book is a popular book created by Chen Shuihua, Ph.D. in ornithology from Beijing Normal University, winner of the "Subaru Focus on Ecological Contribution Award" of the China Wildlife Conservation Association, chief science communication expert of national bird diversity conservation and ecological civilization, outstanding expert of the Ministry of Culture, and director of the Zhejiang Provincial Museum.
In the book, the author uses the methods of scientific research to observe Song paintings from the perspective of his own evolutionary aesthetic theory and Western art history, and not only describes in detail the historical background of each Song Dynasty painter and the creation of each Song Dynasty flower and bird painting, but also conducts exhaustive statistics, category identification, and size measurement of the birds depicted in Song paintings, unifying the birds in the paintings, the environment, and the seasons, and truly restoring the ecological environment of birds in the Song and Song dynasties. With popular and vivid language, exquisite and informative, it opens the door to the art of reading flower and bird paintings in the Song Dynasty for readers.
This is not only an art appreciation book, but also a popular science book on bird knowledge. The book provides first-hand information on field trips by experienced birdwatchers, including 75 species of birds, 101 bird photographs, and explains the morphology, living habits, and distribution areas of different birds. From wetlands, plains, mountains to forests, birds in the cameras of modern photographers vs birds in classical paintings, birdwatchers will take you to see together!
Southern Song Dynasty] Li Anzhong's "Wild Chrysanthemum Autumn Quail" (collection of the National Palace Museum, Taipei).
In the book, a total of 174 Song Dynasty flower and bird paintings are included, including almost all the Song Dynasty flower and bird paintings currently known. The author exhaustively counted 174 Song paintings, of which 88% could identify specific species, including 67 species of birds!
What is this concept? You must know that these 174 Song paintings are only survivors of the changes of the years, accounting for only a very small part of the actual number of flower and bird paintings in the Song Dynasty. Moreover, for most people, there are not many bird species that they come into contact with on a daily basis, about 100 species, and the number of bird species that they really know and can name is generally within 10 species. In the Song Dynasty, when there were no modern scientific means of bird watching, it was impressive to be able to leave such a wide variety of flowers and birds with such accurate depictions. Among them, there are not only familiar birds, such as sparrows, mandarin ducks, starlings, dark green embroidery-eyed birds, red-crowned cranes, etc., but also a large number of birds that occasionally break into the field of vision, such as white-fronted geese, wedge-tailed shrikes, mercerized starlings, blue-crowned noise thrushes, yellow-browed flycatchers, black-headed waxbills, etc., and even record internationally endangered species. These birds make up a considerable proportion.
Not only that, but the author has also carefully selected 68 of them for breakthrough interpretation, and sometimes there are amazing new discoveries. For example, sparrows are the most frequent birds in Song painting; Huizong's "Crane Picture" incorrectly painted the color of the red-crowned crane's secondary flight feathers; The quail became a common motif of flowers and birds in Song painting because it is related to traditional Chinese auspicious culture; The thousand-year-old unsolved case of the emu and the mandarin duck has finally been solved......
Southern Song Dynasty] Muxi "Bamboo Crane Picture" (collection of Daitokuji Temple, Kyoto, Japan).
The reason why the flower and bird painting of the Song Dynasty can reach the artistic height that we are still amazed by today is inseparable from the rigorous style advocated by the Huang (Quan) family, which is also the reason why the Huang family's painting style has become the artistic standard followed by the court painting academy and the mainstream of art for a century. As a scientist, the author conducts research on Song Dynasty flower and bird paintings, not only limited to the Song paintings themselves, but also spreads to plants, environment, and climate according to the information provided in the paintings, showing the face of Song Dynasty naturalism. It can either provide material for the history of science, or provide new ideas for the identification of Song paintings. For example, Song Huizong's "Hibiscus Brocade Chicken" must be familiar to everyone. But the golden pheasant in this picture is very special, it belongs to the hybrid of the red-bellied golden pheasant and the white-bellied golden pheasant. In 1872, the American zoologist Daniel Eliot first reported the existence of this hybrid in the Pheasant Atlas. Huizong's "Hibiscus Brocade Pheasant" provides us with an earlier hybridization record, that is, more than 900 years ago.
As Mr. Gao Shiming, President of the China Academy of Art, said, "This is a systematic interpretation of Song painting by an ornithologist, and it is also a unique mutual learning between contemporary naturalism and Chinese painting." This book is well-organized and eloquent, so that readers can fully appreciate the beauty, freshness and agility of the flower and bird paintings of the Song Dynasty, and always marvel at the subtle observation and profound observation of all things in nature by the ancients. Behind this art of 'both form and reason' is the sincerity of the painters of the two Song Dynasty Dynasty to the world, and it is also the great tradition of famous objects, naturalists, and objects that have been lost in the Chinese art world for a long time. ”
Author: Photo: Provided by the publishing house Editor: Zhou Yiqian Responsible editor: Zhu Zifen.