The composition of "Traveling in the Mountains and Streams" not only shows Fan Kuan's personal painting characteristics, but also is a common composition in the landscape of the Northern Song Dynasty. What are the characteristics of Fan Kuan's personal paintings?
The reason why the mountain peak is compared to a tripod rather than other objects is because the tripod is not easy to shake, and the thick mountain peak like a heavy tripod stands in the center of the façade, so that the face gives people a stable and inclusive visual sense. Because of its "standing", "stable" and "heavy", this tripod mountain peak transcends the limitations of time and space.
The central mountain peak is like a monument, recording the majesty and greatness of the universe and the vitality contained in it. To the right of the peak there is a deep valley, and Fan Kuan drew a thin line with a blank space: a deep waterfall.
Whether it is birds, plants or mountains, the spirit of life is an indispensable theme of Chinese painting. Chinese painting pursues the rhythm of life. That is, the Song Dynasty painter Han Zhuo said, "It is natural charm to complete its business".
The noisy Fei Er and the nature of the literati in "Traveling in the Mountains and Streams" -- the neutral and peaceful attitude of the literati of the Northern Song Dynasty. There is a saying in "Painting Succession": "The painter is also the best of the text." Wen refers to Wenxin, Wensi; Extreme, to also. To some extent, the landscape is the artist's ultimate expression of literary thinking.
The artistic conception presented by landscape painting is a comprehensive reflection of the painter's cognition, perception, temperament, philosophy, and charm. The painting is a condensed expression of the painter's continuous exploration of brushwork, techniques and understanding of life.
For the viewer, when he appreciates a work and is touched, it is not so much that he is moved by the painter's brushwork and lines, but that the viewer feels the painter's spiritual world through the brush and ink, and achieves a certain resonance with the painter's spirit, so that the viewer feels something.
The sense of high mountains, introverted and calm created by the composition of the "middle peaks" style of the Xishan Travel Map reflects the neutral and peaceful attitude of the literati of the Northern Song Dynasty who are rich in abundance and solemn in the outside.
The majestic and solemn environment presented in "Traveling in Streams and Mountains" conveys the nature of a literati who is neutral and peaceful. Fan Kuan, also known as Zhongzheng, is neutral. The famous paintings of the Holy Dynasty commented: "Gentle and generous, so the eyes of the people at that time were wide."
It can be seen that Fan Kuan is not his real name, but because of his generous and open-minded temperament, people at the time called him "Kuan", and he also named himself Fan Kuan. Guo Ruoxu of the Northern Song Dynasty commented on Fan Kuan's "Entering and Stopping the Wilderness, and Being Addicted to Alcohol".
Fan Kuan is neutral and peaceful, sparse and bold, and his works naturally exude a sense of solemnity and grandeur. The solemn spirit of neutrality and peace was also the common personality pursuit of the literati and doctors of the Northern Song Dynasty. Compared with its predecessors, the scholar class of the Song Dynasty had two characteristics.
The two Song scholars were more comprehensive in terms of articles, scriptures, and political affairs. Fan Zhongyan, Ouyang Xiu, Sima Guang, Wang Anshi and others are talented, all of them are literary masters, and they have all shown their skills in politics.
The scholars of the Song Dynasty attached great importance to moral life and had strong moral moderation. During the Northern Song Dynasty, moral self-discipline became a social trend. For example, Cheng Mei and Wang Anshi both believe that sitting in a sedan chair is equivalent to "replacing animals with people".
Moral self-discipline became the literati of the Northern Song Dynasty, the pursuit of spiritual quality replaced material enjoyment, and the pursuit of neutrality and peace was the style of the times of the scholar class in the Song Dynasty.
Feng Shixing of the Song Dynasty commented on Fan Kuan: "Painting mountains and bones is more soulful, and Fan Kuan is higher than the group." The difficulty of painting landscapes is not in depicting the shape of natural landscapes, but in creating the momentum and charm of landscapes.
The composition that does not deviate from the central axis, the questioning that does not leave the middle way, and the comfort of returning to normality, these three are reversed layer by layer, and together constitute the solemn painting environment in "Traveling in Streams and Mountains". The solemn painting of Zhongzheng is a picture composition that does not deviate from the central axis.
The purpose of landscape is to create the environment, and composition is the primary condition for the production of artistic conception, which occupies an important position in painting. Zhang Duyuan of the Tang Dynasty said: "The business position is always the key to painting." Li Rihua of the Fourth Ming Dynasty once said: "Most of the painting methods are based on the arrangement of images.
As the protagonist of the face, the distant mountain suddenly emerges and stands in the center, and this composition that does not deviate from the central axis gives the face a constant and inclusive appearance, thus forming the realistic basis of the solemn painting of Zhongzheng. The solemn painting of Zhongzheng is an eternal question that does not deviate from the middle way.
Looking at the "Journey to the Mountains and Streams" from a distance, people can only see the mountains and rivers, but if you look closely, you will find the existence of people in the mountains: there is a group of caravans and a monk who are in a hurry. Compared with the majestic and eternal landscape, the individual is so small and its life is so short.
Although the ancients had long recognized the finitude of the individual and the non-development of the universe, whether it was timely pleasure or the sorrow and depression of "thinking about the world and the world, alone and weeping", the ancients mostly held a negative attitude, or avoided, or felt powerless.
The literati of the Song Dynasty faced the transience of life with a fair and positive attitude, so the "Journey to the Mountains and Streams" is not gloomy but majestic, and it is solemn without sadness. In the face of the eternal and great landscape and the short life, Fan Kuan seems to have a firm and peaceful tone.
The landscapes in the painting are either desolate, desolate, smoky, or ancient, all of which are the embodiment of the painter's state of mind. Fan Kuan's "Journey to the Mountains and Streams" is the "spiritual picture" of the literati of the Northern Song Dynasty. The composition of "Traveling in Streams and Mountains" records the solemnity and eternity of the universe with the peaks like giant monuments.
Information sources:
Ancient Chinese Painting Theory
