Traditional Chinese Painting·Aesthetic Thoughts between Similarity and Dissimilarity

Regarding the issue of painting shapes, during the Warring States Period more than 2,200 years ago, Han Feizi wrote "Wai Chu Shuo Upper Left" On painting, he said: "There is a guest who is a painter for the King of Qi. The King of Qi asked: 'Who is the most difficult to paint?' He said: 'Dogs and horses are the most difficult.' 'Who is the easiest?' He said: 'Ghosts and ghosts are the easiest. Husband, dog and horse. As people know, it cannot be compared to the past, so it is difficult. The ghosts and ghosts are invisible, so they are easy to change." Liu An of the Han Dynasty also said in his book "Huainanzi": "Why do today's painters like ghosts and ghosts but hate dogs and horses? Ghosts and ghosts never come out of the world, but dogs and horses can be seen every day." It can be seen that it is difficult to draw shapes, so Ma Yuan of the later Han Dynasty said in "The Book of Yan Dun" of the Later Han Dynasty: "The so-called It is also recorded in "The Book of the Later Han·Zhang Heng Zhuan·Shang Shu Discussing the Illusion of Drawings and Wefts Is Not the Way of a Sage": "It is like a painter who hates drawings of dogs and horses but likes to create ghosts. It is hard to describe things honestly." And there is no end to hypocrisy. "Wang Yanshou of the Later Han Dynasty said in "Anthology of Lu Lingguang Palace": "The world is full of strange things, and the shapes of mountains, gods, and seas are described in various ways. Shape. According to the color and image, the emotion can be derived from the song. "Jin Luji's "Shi Heng's Theory of Painting" said: "There is no way to express things more than words, and no one is good at painting."

The above list only discusses painting in terms of "shape", and is still in the primary stage of painting. Those who can get the true meaning of painting should be in the Jin and Tang Dynasties. Gu Kaizhi of the Eastern Jin Dynasty wrote "Praise to the Shengliu Paintings of the Wei and Jin Dynasties": "In painting: people are the most difficult, landscapes are second, dogs and horses are second, and pavilions and pavilions must have tools and ears. It is difficult to achieve but easy to do well. You don't need to change your imagination to achieve the wonderful result." "Wonderful" has risen from simply writing forms to pursuing aesthetic thoughts beyond forms. Wang Wei, a native of the Song Dynasty in the Southern and Northern Dynasties, pointed out in "Reciting Paintings": "People who paint are just looking for appearance. Moreover, the painting of the ancients was not based on mapping city areas, identifying Fangzhou, marking towns and cities, and delineating rivers. This book The form is what blends, the spirit is what changes the heart." He advocated that painting should pursue momentum, not a map. To adapt to the shape, you need to use your "heart" to paint. "Records of Famous Paintings of the Past Dynasties" records that Zhang Hong of the Tang Dynasty said: "Foreign masters are created by nature, and the source of the heart is found." These eight words express the samadhi of traditional Chinese painting. The "Preface to Guanzhang Yuanwai's Painting on Pine and Stone" written at the same time as "Guanzhang Yuanwai's Painting on Pine and Stone" says: "The art of Guanfu Zhang Gong is not painting, but the true way. When he has something to do, he has left behind his ingenuity and his meaning is mysterious, and the things are in the spiritual house. It is not in the ears and eyes. Therefore, it is obtained from the heart, and corresponds to the hand. It is so lonely that it comes out from the touch, and the energy is mixed with the desert. "The Preface to the Famous Paintings of the Tang Dynasty" said: "I heard that the ancients said. : "The painter is a saint." The sky and the earth cannot be reached, and the sun and the moon are not shining. With a slender brush, all kinds of things come from the heart. The light ink and plain elements are used to create the image, and the intangible image is created due to it."

Bai Juyi emphasized "similarity". His "Painting Notes" says: "Painting is impermanent, with resemblance as the craft; to learn from impermanence, truth is the teacher." He advocated that "...the form is true and round, the spirit is harmonious and complete, bright and clear, as if it comes from Before the picture...". Zhang Yanyuan's "The Origin of Narrative Painting" quotes: "Guangya" says: "Painting - type." "Erya" says: "Painting - shape." "Shuowen" says: "Painting - type. "Painting" says: "Painting means hanging objects with colors." Zhang Yanyuan said in "Six Methods of Painting": "Old paintings may be similar in shape." Respecting one's integrity and pursuing paintings other than physical resemblance is difficult for ordinary people to understand."

Su Shi's famous saying "When discussing paintings based on physical resemblance, one can see that one is close to a child." From the surface of this sentence, it seems too naive to only look at the likeness when evaluating paintings. If you compare it with a passage of his quoted above, you can have a deeper understanding. He said: "People, animals, palaces and utensils all have constant shapes. As for mountains, rocks, bamboos, trees, water, waves, smoke and clouds, although they have no permanent shape, they have common principles." Han Qi in the Song Dynasty paid special attention to "lifelikeness". He said: "The art of viewing paintings is It is only realistic, and the complete truth is the best. The one with more is the best. If it is not true, it is inferior." ("Anyang Collection of Chao Yuanjian Lei Han") Shen Kuo's "Mengxi Bi Tan" is different from his view: " The beauty of calligraphy and painting must be understood by the spirit, and it is difficult to find it in form. Most of the observers in the world can only point out the position of the images and the flaws in the colors; as for the mysterious creators, they are rare. ”

The third method in Xie He's "Six Dharma" theory is "Yingwuxiang". Ancient painting theories all advocate that "nature is the teacher" or "teaching nature". Jing Hao of the Five Dynasties recorded in his "Bi Fa Ji" that he saw ancient pine trees in the flood valley of the Taihang Mountains. "I was surprised at how different they were, so I admired them all over. I will write them down tomorrow with my pen, and tens of thousands of them will be as authentic as they come." He also said: "Measure the appearance of things and get their true state." He also said: "There are two types of diseases: one is invisible, and the other is tangible. For those with tangible diseases, flowers and trees are not there, the house is small and people are big, or the trees are higher than the mountains, and the bridges are not Standing on the shore, you can measure the shape and so on. Such a disease cannot be modified. It is an invisible disease, the charm is lost, and the objects are all bad. "The person with the physical disease he said can draw the shape, but the seasonality is bad and the proportions are wrong. The original text of this disease is "the picture cannot be changed", and the "Chinese Painting Theory" compiled by Yu Jianhua has a note that "it seems that the picture should be changed but the picture can be changed". As for the invisible disease, the objects in the paintings are completely wrong, and a dead painting is not worth changing.

Fan Kuan in the Northern Song Dynasty first learned from Li Cheng and then from Jing Hao. Later he sighed and said: "The methods of the predecessors are not close to all things. Those who learn from others are not like teachers of things. Those who learn from things are not like teachers of minds." Wang Lu of the Ming Dynasty said: “My heart is my teacher, my heart is my eyes, and my eyes are my teachers Huashan.

"Mo Shilong's "Painting Theory" pointed out: "The painter takes the ancients as his teacher and has already mastered himself. When you enter here, you should take heaven and earth as your teachers. "Tang Zhiqi's "Miscellaneous Words on Painting" also emphasized: "Anyone who studies painting will see the real mountains and rivers, and have great knowledge, so they will be able to escape the trap of people's brushwork... "

The Qing people discussed the nature of teachers in more depth. Shi Sheng's "Records of Traveling to Streams and Mountains" said: "Both poetry and painting are helped by rivers and mountains. If it is confined to the inner door and cannot trace its traces a hundred miles away, and the wonders of the world's famous mountains and rivers have not been seen, how can one expand one's mind? Shi Tao believes that it is necessary to "go deep into physics" in order to "bend all the states of matter" and achieve "the blending of things and myself". Jin Nong paints bamboo, "there is no calculation in planting bamboo" and "writes its appearance day and night" ("Winter Heart Painting Bamboo" "Inscription"), "Take bamboo as my teacher" ("Winter Heart Sequel"). Zheng Banqiao said: "Whenever I paint bamboo, I have no teacher. I mostly learn from the sunlight and moonlight on the paper window. "("Banqiao Inscription on Painting Bamboo")

The above is a discussion about writing shapes and learning from nature. The purpose of learning from nature is to pursue the similarity of shapes. When painters of all ages discussed "similarity", they were inseparable from it. "Not similar". Although similar and not similar have opposite meanings, they are closely related in ancient painting theory. Ni Yunlin, the most representative figure in the Yuan Dynasty, said that his own paintings are just careless. Don't seek resemblance in form." Wang Fu of the Ming Dynasty said in "The Biography of Calligraphy and Painting": "...Those who don't seek resemblance in form are not resemblances. Shen Hao said in "Huaqu": "Copying the ancients is not about copying, but about understanding." No matter what the eyes and mind are bound to, not even a single speck of dust can enter it. Similar but not similar, not similar but similar, incredible. ”

There were more writings on this issue in the Qing Dynasty, such as Yun Shouping’s “Not like, seek like”, Shi Tao’s “Not like like,” and “Not like like like”. Zheng Banqiao said it More specifically: "Mr. Zheng Suonan and Chen Gubai are good at painting orchids and bamboos, but Xie has never learned from them; Mr. Xu Wenchang and Gao Qieyuan are not very good at painting orchids and bamboos, but Xie has been learning from time to time, which reflects his master's ideas. There are signs. "The orchids painted by Shi Tao are not like orchids, which means they have transformed; the orchids painted by Banqiao are very similar to orchids, but they have not yet transformed." Just like me, I am not like the ancients, hehe, it's hard to say!" Regarding the above issue, we can use a passage from Dong Qi of the Qing Dynasty in "Yangsuju Painting Study Gou Shen". He said: "The reason why painting is solid Although pictograms cannot be found within pictograms, they should be sought outside pictograms. "

Several modern masters have further developed the "similarity" and "dissimilarity". Chen Hengke pointed out in "Research on Chinese Literary Paintings": "Literati paintings do not seek resemblance in form, but rather Progress in painting. Qi Baishi said that the value of painting lies between resemblance and dissimilarity. Too much resemblance is considered vulgar, and too little resemblance is deceiving the world. Huang Binhong said: "Those who are absolutely similar to objects are deceiving the world and steal their reputation; those who are absolutely resembling objects are often freehand impressions in the name of others." , a fish-like thing, a painting that deceives the world and steals its reputation; but if it is absolutely similar and never resembles the object, this is a real painting. ” He also said: “The author should regard the similarity that is not similar as the true similarity.

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