(Yuan) Huang Gongwang's "Dwelling in the Fuchun Mountains"
"Four Masters of Yuan Dynasty" is known as the crown of Chinese landscape painting, Huang Gongwang is known as the crown of "Four Masters of Yuan Dynasty", and "Dwelling in Fuchun Mountains" is known as the crown of Huang Gongwang's works. Although the statement is a bit exaggerated, its value It is conceivable that in the inscription and postscript of Zou Zhilin in the Ming Dynasty, this picture was compared with Wang Xizhi's "Lanting Preface", and the evaluation was very high.
Fuchun Mountain is located on the north bank of Fuchun River about 15 kilometers west of Tonglu County, Zhejiang Province.According to legend, this is the place where Yan Guang, a high official in the Eastern Han Dynasty, lived and fished in seclusion, so it is also called Yanling Mountain.Standing on Yanziling Diaoyutai, looking down at the clear water and white clouds, and looking at the beautiful mountains and clear waves from a distance, it is pleasing to the eye and the heart.
When Huang Gongwang was preparing to paint this painting, it was the seventh year of Yuan Huizong Zhizheng (1437), and he was nearly eighty years old.In order to paint this painting well, he traveled almost everywhere in Fuchun Mountain.When he "appreciated the victories of fishing and beach fishing in the mountains and rivers", he "carried a pen and paper in his sleeve, and memorized everything he encountered when he stopped."It is not clear when the painting was completed. Qing Dynasty Wang Yuanqi said in "Lutai Painting Draft" that he had been in business for seven years before finally completing it.It can be said that Huang Gongwang devoted all his energy in his later years to this painting.The ancients said in calligraphy, "When the meeting is held, everyone's calligraphy is old" (Sun Guoting's "Book Book"), Huang Gongwang's painting can probably be called "when the meeting is held, everyone's painting is old".
The scattered perspective of Chinese painting makes it possible to draw pictures of mountains and rivers on paper with a ruler.Especially long scrolls can capture thousands of miles of wind and clouds in the pen. "Dwelling in the Fuchun Mountains" is such a work, which captures the autumn scenery on both sides of the Fuchun River in the scroll.
Slowly unfolding the picture scroll, you are like walking along the Fuchun River, with undulating mountains, beautiful forests, calm waves, and beautiful wind and sunshine. Villages, small bridges, pavilions, and fishing boats are scattered among the water waves at the foot of the mountain. Those who put the boat in the heart of the river seem to be the image reproduction of Tao Yuanming's "paradise".
The arrangement of mountains and water is well-dense and well-defined, and there are large blanks in the picture, which makes it appear transparent and ethereal.Huang Gongwang took the example of Dong Yuan and Ju Ran in his brush and ink techniques, but he has completely transformed it into his own style. The strokes and textures of mountains and rocks are made with brushstrokes and twists.The brush and ink of the picture are clean and refined, and the artistic conception is simple and far-reaching. The combination of long and short dry brushes and wet brushes is integrated into one.The whole painting uses light and elegant ink, only a thin layer of very light ink is used on the rocks, and a slightly darker ink is used to dye the sand stains and wave shadows of distant mountains and riversides, and thick ink is used only for spotting moss and leaves.This is the crystallization of the painter's lifelong pursuit of art, which is enough to set an example for future generations. No wonder Dong Qichang would exclaim when he saw it: "My teacher! My teacher! One hill and five mountains are all perfect!"
Fuchun River, the scenery on both sides of the river is sometimes dense with mountains, sometimes flat and flat, which is not very similar to the scenery in the painting, but this is Huang Gongwang's high-level artistic generalization based on his life.Huang Gongwang advocates learning from nature, but he does not aim at depicting real mountains and rivers, but uses the shape of mountains and rivers to express emotions through brush and ink.In "Dwelling in the Fuchun Mountains", Huang Gongwang expressed his implicit sustenance of extraterrestrial feelings and the ideal realm he yearned for with his simple and simple composition and unique ink style.
This painting was given to Zen Master Wuyong by Huang Gongwang. It was owned by the great painter Shen Zhou in the Ming Dynasty, but he was deceived.During the Shunzhi period of the Qing Dynasty, it was acquired by collector Wu Hongyu. Wu Hongyu loved this painting so much that he ordered it to be burned for his own funeral when he was dying.The painting had been thrown into the fire. Fortunately, his nephew Wu Jingan took the risk to snatch the painting out of the fire, but it was burned in two.Afterwards, it was remounted, and after remounting the first half volume, it was named "Remaining Mountain Picture", with a length of 31.8 cm and a width of 51.4 cm.It is now in the Zhejiang Provincial Museum.The second half of the roll is 33 cm long and 636.9 cm wide.It is now in the National Palace Museum, Taipei, China.
