«——【Preamble】】 ——»
Xu Daoning is the most accomplished person of the Li Cheng School, inheriting the techniques and style of landscape painting of the previous generation; It can also be used as a teacher of natural creation, creating its own wonders, creating the landscape technique of "simple brushwork" and "straight peaks" and the painting style of "steep peaks and steep forests". How did Xu Daoning do it?
«——【Combing of Existing Literature·】——»
The general experience of Xu Daoning's life is: in his early years, he sold medicine and donated paintings in Duanmen, Beijing, and became famous for a while: the middle-aged painting academy took Li as his teacher and became the most accomplished person of the Li Cheng painting school: in his later years, he moved to Chang'an, took nature as his teacher, got rid of his old learning, and became a family.
Regarding the question of Xu Daoning's origin, at present, there are four main views. The first adopts the statement of Liu Daool of the Northern Song Dynasty in the "Commentary on Famous Paintings of the Holy Dynasty", which believes that Xu Daoning is a native of Hejian, Hebei. Representative scholars who hold this view include Chen Shizeng, Zheng Wuchang, Yu Jianhua and others.
Guo Ruoxu of the Northern Song Dynasty said in "Pictures and Stories" that Xu Daoning was a native of Chang'an. Scholars such as Tenggu, Li Lincan, Gao Musen, and Xu Jianrong hold this view. There is no clear tendency towards Xu Daoning's origin, but only objectively presents two statements.
Pan Tianshou's History of Chinese Painting, Ren Bomin's General History of Chinese Painting, and Bai Wei's History of Song, Liao, Jin, and Xixia Paintings. Xu Daoning's early years of "City Medicine Duanmen" and its "neat and exquisite" painting style.
«——【·Painting Style·】——»
There is a close relationship between the trajectory of Xu Daoning's early, middle-aged and later life and the evolution of his painting style. This has become the basic path for us to analyze the evolution of Xu Daoning's painting style. The evaluation of Xu Daoning's early paintings shows that there are two different and even "contradictory" "voices".
Xu Daoning's early paintings were "vulgar and evil". The most representative is Tang Yuan's evaluation of Xu Daoning's early paintings in the "Painting Guide": "Xu Daoning sold medicine in Chang'an City at the beginning, painting landscapes to gather people, so the flea New Year paintings are too vulgar.
Xu Daoning's early painting style and understanding of the aesthetic changes in landscape painting in the Northern Song Dynasty. These two different evaluations represent the aesthetic tastes of different classes in different periods. Tang Yuan of the Yuan Dynasty thought that Xu Daoning's early paintings were "vulgar and evil".
He "painted landscapes to gather people", and was not purely to express the ease of the chest as in later literati paintings. Secondly, it is the audience of Xu Daoning's early paintings. It can be seen from this that the audience of Xu Daoning's early paintings was generally ordinary people and ministers, rather than literati and doctors.
Gao Yi, another heavyweight painter in Hebei during the Song Dynasty, had a very similar experience to Xu Daoning. Gaoyi's fame is as legendary as Xu Daoning. When he first came to Bianjing, Gao Yi made a living selling medicines, and in order to attract customers, he improvised a painting of "ghosts, gods, dogs and horses" from drug buyers.
The name was important for a while, and then he was valued by Sun Sihao, a noble relative at that time. Through Sun Sihao's recommendation, Gao Yi was appreciated by Song Taizong, and he was awarded the post of Hanlin Painting Institute to be edicted and "painted" the murals of Daxiangguo Temple by looking at his painting "Ghost and God Search Mountain Map" (a moment) "shifted" (moment) by his painting.
The evaluation of Xu Daoning's early paintings by the people and the powerful is "very good" and "all of them are wonderful", and the evaluation of Gao Yi's early paintings is "amazing for the winners". Xu Daoning's early paintings are wonderful in the "neatness" and "exquisiteness" of landscapes, trees and stones.
Gao Yi's early paintings amazed at the "vividness" of ghosts, gods, dogs and horses. Whether it is "neat", "exquisite", or "Bi Xiao" and "realistic", they all conform to the aesthetic taste of courtyard paintings and clan paintings at that time, but they do not conform to the aesthetic taste of literati and doctors.
«——【Yuan Dynasty Aesthetics·】——»
In the view of Tang Yuan Dynasty, most of Xu Daoning's paintings in his early years were for the purpose of secular utilitarianism, and his evaluation of his paintings was that "the vulgarity is too much", and he believed that after becoming famous in middle age, he "checked himself a little" before he was created.
The Yuan Dynasty was an era when literati paintings shone brightly, and the coexistence of courtyard paintings and clan paintings in the Song Dynasty had long been broken, and the aesthetic taste of literati and doctors occupied a dominant position. Through neat methods, the pursuit of an artistic effect similar to that of Bishaw is often regarded as a worldly atmosphere.
Su Shi once pointed out: "On painting, it is similar to the form, and it is seen in the neighborhood of children." The great painter Ni Zan of the Yuan Dynasty called "the brush is sloppy, not seeking to resemble" is the embodiment of the aesthetic taste of literati and doctors. It was under the influence of the aesthetic tastes of literati and doctors.
The "boundary painting", which once had a place in Chinese painting in ancient times, has disappeared since the Yuan Dynasty. In the Song Dynasty, the Hebei painter Guo Zhizhao was famous for his "boundary painting". Deng Chun has a very brief record of it in "Painting Succession".
The white cranes and Yidemen painted in Song Huizong's "Crane Picture" use the technique of "boundary painting". The implication is that this kind of painting, which attaches great importance to the grid method and pays attention to the precision of the scale, is considered to be too "ingenious", and later generations admired the Yuanren painting that expresses the ease of the literati's chest, so the boundary painting gradually disappeared.
From Xu Daoning's early life experience and people's evaluation of the two "contradictions" in his early paintings, to the fading of boundary paintings, we can see that Chinese painting gradually moved from the coexistence of multiple painting styles in the early Northern Song Dynasty to that of literati and doctors.
Xu Daoning's middle-aged teacher Li Cheng and his painting style of "Xiao Shu Qing Kuang", the so-called "slight self-examination" mainly refers to Xu Daoning's abandonment of the "neat" and "exquisite" painting style, and increasingly approaching the painting style of literati doctors.
This is mainly reflected in the fact that after Xu Daoning entered the Painting Academy, he consciously studied under Li Cheng, the most prestigious landscape painting master at that time, and was able to "achieve the spirit of success" and gradually form a painting style of "sparse weather and clear smoke forest".
Xu Daoning has a natural sensitivity and endowment for the art of painting. In his early years, he made a living from "city medicine", and was able to win the favor of the people and the powerful through the "neat" paintings of mountains, rocks and trees. After entering the art academy in middle age, although he took Qu Ding of the art academy as his teacher, he was not limited to this.
Li Cheng, who was able to consciously learn more creatively, eventually became a leader in the academy. Su Shi's "Dongpo Inscription" records: The Qin people have Qu Ding's author, Xu Daoning's teacher. Good distribution of valleys, sometimes see twists and turns, but there is a pen and no thought, the forest is smoke.
Doning's temperament seems to be excessive, and he can't learn it. It can be seen that although Xu Daoning took Qu Ding as his teacher in the painting academy, he was "like a good character", and he was far superior to Qu Ding in terms of painting talent and achievements, and even Qu Ding's grandson had to change his studies to Xu Daoning in order to make a living.
According to the record in "Sending Qu with Cheng Preface", Qu Ding's paintings were not popular at that time, but Xu Daoning, as a disciple, was more respected and marketable. Therefore, in the painting market, Xu Daoning, who entered the art academy, still showed his super appeal when he sold medicine and gave away paintings in his early years.
Zhang Shixun, who paid homage to the prime minister three times in the Renzong Dynasty, gave poems is the most powerful manifestation of this super appeal. Zhang Shixun was a three-year jinshi of Song Taizong's Chunhua, and had deep contacts with Chen Yaozuo, Fan Zhongyan, Su Zhe, etc., and had a great influence on the political arena of the Northern Song Dynasty.
This is recorded in the "Commentary on Famous Paintings of the Holy Dynasty" and the "Yihe Painting Spectrum". The record of "Commentary on Famous Paintings of the Holy Dynasty" is: "Zhang Wenyi of Xiangguo Temple ordered Daoning to paint his residence wall and screen, etc., and Wenyi deeply appreciated it and gave it a song."
The record of "Yihe Painting" is, "Zhang Shixun admired the song for a long time at first sight, because he gave a song, and his slight cloud: Li Cheng Xie Shifan Kuan died, and only Xu Daoning of Chang'an was proud of it." Zhang Shixun's gift poem undoubtedly pushed Xu Daoning to the pinnacle of the Northern Song Dynasty painting circle.
This reflects Xu Daoning's keen perception of the aesthetic tastes of different classes and his strong talent for painting. Xu Daoning's life trajectory is closely related to his painting creation. In his early years, Xu Daoning sold medicine and donated paintings in Bianjing, and his neat and exquisite painting style became famous among the people and the powerful.
«——【·Conclusion·】——»
This style of painting does not conform to the spiritual purpose of literati doctors. When he entered the academy in middle age, he was able to consciously take Li Cheng as a teacher, forming a painting style of "the weather is sparse and the smoke forest is clear", and became the most accomplished person of the Li Cheng school.
In his later years, he visited Zhongnan and Taihua two mountains, took nature as his teacher, and finally got rid of his old learning, and created the painting techniques of "simple strokes" and "straight peaks" and the artistic style of "steep peaks and steep peaks, strong forests", and finally achieved the body of a family.
Information sources:
"History of Paintings"