The first person to draw a famous monkey.

The first painter famous for painting monkeys in history was Yi Yuanji in the Northern Song Dynasty.

Yi Yuanji is from Changsha, Hunan. His date of birth and death is unknown, except that he was active in Song Yingzong and Renzong.

He studied painting since he was a child and copied historical sites with superb techniques, especially flowers, birds, bees and butterflies. His paintings were particularly good and famous at that time. But it is said that he was shocked when he saw another painter, Zhao Chang's flower-and-bird paintings. He feels that studying hard and painting to the extreme can't surpass Zhao Chang. Yi Yuanji didn't know how old he was at that time, but his mood was not small. He didn't want to be the second place, so he stopped painting flowers and birds and decided to run a school. Before the Song Dynasty, famous artists painted cattle and horses. Yi Yuanji didn't want to imitate others, so he drew deer and apes, places that few people involved.

Yi Yuanji really risked his life in order to be the first in this field. Over the years, he sketched in the deep forests of Hunan and Hubei, observed the living habits of roe deer and apes, and made a detailed description. Sometimes he just hangs out with deer and apes, and he goes wherever the animals go. According to historical records, he returned to his hometown in Changsha, and there was no wilderness. Instead, a small garden was built behind the house, a pool was dug in it, a rockery was built, all kinds of trees and flowers were planted, and all kinds of small animals were domesticated and observed in detail every day.

A lot of things have happened. Yi Yuanji really made a name for himself. 1064, Yi Yuanji was called into the palace to paint the newly-built mourning hall, and he went to Beijing happily. When Yan Dian finishes painting, let him paint Shenle Temple. The more he paints, the more famous he becomes. When Yi Yuanji went on painting "Hundred Apes" in Kaixian Hall, he only drew a dozen and suddenly died. Some people say that he was poisoned. He has a habit of putting a brush in his mouth to adjust the ink color when he is happy, which is faster and easier than putting it in a water tank. The painter who was jealous of him in the painting academy put arsenic in the ink.

Less than a hundred years after Yi Yuanji's death, Jin Bing invaded the capital of the Northern Song Dynasty and the palace was set on fire. Most of Yi's works in the Forbidden City have been reduced to ashes, and only a few have survived to this day, and have been recognized by most experts. Among them, the pictures of monkeys and cats are in the National Palace Museum in Taipei. There is no inscription on the painting by the author, but there is an inscription on Song Huizong's "Yi Yuanji Monkey and Cat Picture", which is also covered with "Neifu Book Seal" and can be traced back to past dynasties.

This picture depicts a monkey and two kittens. The monkey with a rope around his neck was tied to a small stake and was holding a kitten in his arms. The kitten may have just passed by and caught it. Another kitten looked down at them in horror. The monkey's eyes and the kitten in his arms are all high above him, which makes people wonder whether they are the savior or the enemy. The brushwork of the whole painting is implicit, and then the color is smudged, and the fluffy texture is very strong, which shows Yi Yuanji's superb painting skills.

Apes are gentlemen, monkeys are villains.

But for a long time, in the field of literati painting, apes and monkeys are separated, and there are more apes than monkeys.

Only Shen Quan of the Ming Dynasty likes to draw monkeys. His most famous painting is a picture of a bee and a monkey, which means "after the wind". It's in the Palace Museum now. In the picture, one monkey pokes a hornet's nest in the tree, and the other two monkeys are watching under the tree, which is very interesting and nervous. Shen Quan traveled to Japan for three years and had a great influence on Japanese painting circles.

This literati's habit of valuing apes over monkeys is most vividly manifested in several painters in modern times.

Qi Baishi once painted a group of Zodiac animals, among which the peach monkey was written in 1944. Draw a monkey. He has a gazebo and a huge peach in his arms. This monkey is very interesting. Just looking at the pictures is humorous and auspicious. In fact, there is another meaning in it. At that time, War of Resistance against Japanese Aggression was drawing to a close. Qi Baishi saw that the Japanese invaders sang "Sino-Japanese goodwill" on the surface, but the aggression did not change, so he drew "Monkey Stealing P"

The painter Zhang Daqian didn't like monkeys all his life, but he had an incomprehensible "ape". It is said that when Zhang gave birth to a child, she dreamed that an elder gave her a big copper basin with a little black ape curled up in it. Therefore, Zhang Daqian is called the reincarnation of the black ape. When Kloc-0 went to Shanghai to study calligraphy at the age of 2/0, his teacher named him "Ti" according to this statement. Later, Zhang Daqian simply changed his name to "Sui".

In the early 1930s, Zhang Daqian painted Two Apes Imitating Yi Yuanji Oak and 8 1 year-old painted Climbing Ape. In his life, he painted many pictures of apes. He once wrote: "Apes are the most spiritual and emotional animals in the world, but they are most afraid of sadness. Apes are different from monkeys, so most people can't tell them apart. Monkeys are promiscuous, so it is difficult to distinguish good from bad. What you feed monkeys will bite people and litter. Take a bite when you are full, spit it out, take it away and throw it away. Apes are different. I don't want them when I'm full, and apes don't rob children of food, but monkeys can mess around, so I like apes and never keep monkeys. "

When Zhang Daqian paints, he likes to sign a distorted "so" at the signature. It looks like a little black ape curled up, dragging its tail and leaning its head back. In his later years, he settled in Mo Ye Jingshe, Taipei, and there was always a white-faced ape next to his paintings. When going out, Zhang Daqian always hugs an ape.

Xinyu Pu, who is also called "Southern Zhang Pubei" with Zhang Daqian, is a monkey, but he also likes apes more than monkeys. In his book "Han Yutang on Calligraphy and Painting", he also analyzed the difference between apes and monkeys: "When the ancients painted apes instead of monkeys, monkeys were manic and quiet; Monkeys like disabled creatures and sometimes disturb their journey. Apes in the mountains, climbing vines and drinking water, have no competition with people; Apes are not as good as gentlemen, monkeys are not as good as villains. "

Cheer for Sun today.

Nowadays, in the eyes of painters, the image of monkeys is undoubtedly much more positive, which is inseparable from the charm of the "Monkey King". People like the Monkey King, and his magic is bold and powerful, so the image of monkeys is more and more positive.

1956, Liu Wenji -30, the founder of New chinese comic, created the painting "Noisy Heaven" based on the story of Journey to the West. The eight paintings of the whole group depict eight scenes, including Bima Temple of Heaven Riot and Qitian God of War Warrior. The Monkey King in the painting is arrogant, hidden and handsome.

Liu Jiyou also painted many freehand brushwork monkeys, all of which were based on golden monkeys. Monkeys have clear eyes, thick hair and a long tail. They are cute and powerful. 1963, his Chinese painting The Golden Monkey was issued as a stamp.

The painter Lai Chusheng also painted a portrait of the Monkey King at 1964, with the inscription: "Today, I cheer for Sun because the demon fog is back. I came to Chu in May 1964 and was born in my room. " At that time, in the revolutionary era, the poem calling for the Great Sage came from Mao Zedong's poem the Monkey King. That year, Sino-Soviet relations became increasingly tense. Lai Chusheng painted a majestic ancient costume the Monkey King with extremely concise pen and ink. The Monkey King lifted his robe with one hand and grabbed Turing's tail tip with the other, as if he were going to fight.

1974, collector Chen Ying went to Shanghai to meet the painter Guan Liang. Guan devoted his life to the creation of figure painting in traditional Chinese opera. The two chatted about opera and had a good time. Guan Liang painted a picture of Thousand-stringed Golden Monkey with the theme of "Monkey King Thrice Defeats the Skeleton Demon" in the year of Journey to the West.

On the screen, the Monkey King held high the golden hoop, jumped up, glared at him, and severely hit the beauty white. White was frightened and ran away in a panic.

Later, Guan Liang also painted several works with the same theme, expressing his desire to eliminate evil for the world in the name of "Golden Monkey".

Painter Zhang Ding painted a golden monkey in 1976. After the downfall of the Gang of Four, Zhang Ding created this painting with great joy. The Monkey King in the painting, dressed in a tiger skin skirt, half kneeling on the ground, thin and weak, looks incomplete, but righteously punches a tall and strong demon.

Since then, the monkey's "villain" habit is no longer mentioned in the painting world, and painters continue to describe more agile, dignified and festive auspicious Mo.