Chapter 27 Section 3 Yangzhou Eight Monsters

Yangzhou, Jiangsu, located at the mouth of the canal, has been an important town in the southeast since the Sui and Tang Dynasties.In the late Kangxi period of the Qing Dynasty, it was unprecedentedly prosperous because of the development of the salt industry.Merchants gathered, water transportation was swift, and the commercial class developed rapidly. Many emerging giants, merchants and scholars, often spared huge sums of money to build gardens, invite poets, poets, and poets to feast, sing and dance, recite poems and paint to add elegance.Many talented painters also gathered here to exhibit their strengths and gain fame.

At that time, the painting world was orthodox with the "Four Kings" and their sects, and all painters in the world took "Loudong" and "Yushan" as their sects.After repeated copying, over time, their painting style tends to become rigid.Yangzhou is far away from the conservative and powerful Beijing. Most of the painters are far away from officials and close to businessmen. They pay attention to the publicity of individuality and pursue eclectic, lively and free artistic expression.The "Yangzhou School of Painting" was formed with Jinnong, Wang Shishen, Li Kai, Zheng Banqiao, Li Fangying, Gao Xiang, Huang Shen, Luo Pin, Bian Shoumin, Gao Fenghan, Yang Fa, Min Zhen and others.Orthodox painters regard them as "crazy" and "weird", so they are also called "Eight Monsters of Yangzhou" (generally referring to the first eight).The representative painters Jin Nong and Zheng Xie among the "Eight Monsters" are introduced as follows.

Jinnong (1687-1764 A.D.) was born in Renhe (Hangzhou), Zhejiang, with the style name Shoumen and the name Dongxin.He is erudite and talented, good at poetry and calligraphy.The self-created official script with a square and flat shape, thick horizontal strokes and thin vertical strokes, harmonious collocation, full of gold and stone flavor, was very famous at that time.According to records, Jin Nong was fond of traveling and traveled all over the country, famous mountains and rivers, but he disdained being an official. In the fifty-ninth year of Kangxi (AD 1720), he went to Yangzhou, where there were many literati, and made friends with many innovative painters. Engaged in painting creation after the age of 50.Because of his profound calligraphy skills and high literary accomplishment, he has extraordinary skills and has his own style.His paintings have a wide range of subjects, including figures, Buddhas and ghosts, pommel horses, plums and bamboos, and most of them combine poetry and painting.He strongly opposes the established methods of imitating the ancients.In the society at that time with a strong habit of imitating ancient times and sticking to ancient times, his innovative artistic ideas and artistic creations were not understood by people, but were regarded as "weird people".Jinnong also often used calligraphy and painting as an excuse to play, alluding to the disadvantages of the times, complaining, and complaining about grievances. Therefore, his life was rough and he often lived in nunneries and temples. Stone to maintain life, until old and poor to death.

There are many handed down works of Jin Nong, such as the "Momei Tu" now in the Palace Museum in Beijing, which can represent his painting style.In the painting, there is an old plum tree with copper branches and iron trunk, curving upwards.The white plum blossoms like pearls and jade are in full bloom in Ling Han.Looking from a distance, the flowers are like weaving, full of vitality.When the evening wind blows, there seems to be a faint fragrance wafting, which reminds people of Wang Anshi's famous poem about plum blossoms, "I know it's not snow, because there is a dark fragrance." , painting plum blossoms must be painted late in the cold. The tree has no ugly appearance and fragrant sleeves, and people who don’t love flowers should not look at it." It means: In the cold winter, I dipped in the frozen water and half-dried ink in the inkstone pool, and painted These plum blossoms that bloom in the cold evening wind are not only beautiful in shape, but also fragrant.I don't show it to those who don't like it and don't understand it.The painter paints the old stems with dignified and thick strokes, draws new branches with moist and smooth strokes, and circles the petals and buds with light and smooth strokes.The style is simple and elegant.In addition, he also has works and books such as "Two-color Plum Blossom Picture", "Jade Pot Spring Scenery Picture", "Cai Ling Picture" album, "Mr. spread in the world.

Zheng Xie (AD 1693-1765), styled Kerou and nicknamed Banqiao, was born in Xinghua, Jiangsu, from a declining scholar-bureaucrat family.His mother died at the age of three, and his family was poor when he was young, but he was naturally intelligent and wrote good articles.When he was young, due to the pressure of life, he once opened a Mengguan as a teacher, and also sold paintings in Yangzhou to supplement his family. He won the Juren examination at the age of 40, and was admitted as a Jinshi at the age of 44. Since the age of 49, he has successively served as the magistrate of Fanxian County in Shandong Province (now in Henan Province) and Weixian County.During his tenure, he embraced the idea of ​​"successful ambitions will benefit the people", understood the people's sentiments, punished evil and promoted good.In times of famine, he pleaded for orders for the people, opened warehouses to release grain, and was deeply loved by the people.But what he did was envied and hated by the powerful, who falsely accused him of unwarranted charges.Zheng Banqiao witnessed the darkness and corruption in the officialdom, so he resigned angrily in 1753 and returned to Yangzhou to make a living by selling paintings.From then on, he devoted himself to artistic creation, and put all kinds of grievances in his heart on the pen.Most of his poems are based on folk sufferings, with a simple style of writing, easy to understand, and often lively and humorous.His calligraphy skillfully combined the flatness of official script, the squareness of regular script, and the slenderness of running script, creating his own "Six and a Half Script", also known as "Banqiao Style".Its characteristic is that the brushwork "waves and stays at the festival", taking Huang Tingjian's long strokes into eight points, exaggerating its sway.The characters are slightly flat, low on the left and high on the right, with a picturesque posture.He also used paintings in calligraphy to seek the artistic meaning of calligraphy.Jiang Shiquan [quanquan] from the Qing Dynasty said: "Banqiao's writing is like orchids, and the waves are strange and elegant in ancient shapes", which most vividly expresses this characteristic.In terms of composition, size, length, radius, fat and thin, and density can be interspersed in random order, like a street paved with chaotic stones, and there are rules in the indulgence.It seems to be swaying randomly, but it produces a sense of jumping and agile rhythm when viewed as a whole.In terms of painting, Zheng Banqiao opposed blind imitation, and advocated that after learning, he can "build his own banner".Even for the great painters you admire, you have to "learn half of it, leave half of it, you don't have to learn it all, if you don't want to do it all, you can't do it all, and you don't have to do it all." He has a poem on painting: "If you learn seven, you have to throw away three." , Each explores their own spiritual seedlings", which means that painters each have their own spiritual roots, and only by exploring their own paths can they be independent of Yilin.

Zheng Banqiao likes to paint bamboo the most.Because bamboo is not only deeply loved by people because of its green branches and leaves and delicate shape, but also it is tall and straight, and it does not wither in cold and heat, which is reminiscent of noble thoughts and characters.Therefore, it has always been honored as one of the "Four Gentlemen".Since the Song Dynasty, literati and artists have often painted bamboo and used it as a metaphor for themselves.After the Yuan and Ming Dynasties, famous bamboo painters emerged one after another, and Zheng Banqiao can be called a master bamboo painter.

Zheng Banqiao's hometown is warm and humid, with many flowers and bamboos. He started painting bamboo in his 20s and never tires until he is old.He once described his love for bamboo and said: "There are several poles of bamboo and several feet of stalagmites... But there are sounds in the wind and rain, shadows in the sun and moon, love in poetry, companionship in leisure and boredom, not my only love." Bamboo and stone, that is, bamboo and stone also love me." In order to paint bamboo, he planted bamboo in the south of his house, and tried to put a small couch in the bamboo forest in summer, and lay down to watch the new huang [huanghuang] first bloom, and feel the coolness under the shade of greenery. A sense of fit.In autumn and winter, bamboo poles are cut into small sections to make window lattices, and then pasted with white paper.The wind is warm and the sun is warm, and the bamboo shadows are reflected on the window paper, just like natural pictures.Zheng Banqiao relied on observing and pondering these paper windows, powder walls, bamboo shadows under the sunlight and moonlight, coupled with repeated practice, and constantly refining and summarizing, he achieved his chic, clear, solid and elegant style.For example, Zheng Banqiao painted "Bamboo and Stone Picture" when he was 66 years old. In the picture, there is a long and thin stone standing on its own.The whole picture is not colored, but it makes people feel that the branches and leaves are green and beautiful; the few strokes have vividly portrayed the strong, proud and never-withered charm of bamboo.This picture has the artist's own poem: "I have painted bamboo branches for forty years, and I have written about my thoughts at night. I have cut away the redundant and complicated and left thin, and I have been painting when I was born." It means that I have been painting bamboo for 40 years. During the day, I keep painting with a brush, and at night I have to think over and over again, how can I draw better.I finally realized that it is necessary to remove the complicated and ugly parts, and refine and summarize the lean and straight shape that best expresses the characteristics of bamboo.To achieve this goal, it is necessary to practice repeatedly to create an extraordinary new look with 12-point proficiency.This poem is in the typical "Banqiao style", unrestrained, unrestrained, light and elegant. It not only complements the bamboo and stone, but also plays a balancing role in the composition, becoming an inseparable part of the whole painting.

Zheng Banqiao's works have been widely circulated, and museums all over the world almost have his collections.There are "The Complete Works of Zheng Banqiao" and "The Collection of Zheng Banqiao" handed down to the world.