How did the famous painter Gong Xian's cumulative ink landscapes of the late Ming and early Qing Dynasty come into being? Stylistic Characteristics of Gong Xian's Paintings

Gong Xian, an accomplished painter of landscape painting in the late Ming and early Qing dynasties, created unprecedentedly profound, rich, and interesting landscape paintings, especially his later work, "Hei Gong," which gives people a sense of serenity and lightness. His personality and aesthetic thoughts on Gao Zhiyuan expanded the unique spiritual realm of Ming and Qing landscape painting, realizing the harmony and unity of spirit and natural landscape. Gong Xian specializes in ink painting, and is adept at utilizing multi-layered ink accumulations that are deep, rich, strong and clear, effectively shaping the image and atmosphere of landscapes and enhancing their artistic appeal. His representative works include Thousand Mountains and Ten Thousand Waters, Mu, and Summer Mountain Rain. Many of his paintings were new and unique not only at that time but also today. The beauty of ancient brushwork penetrates the soul, which is very rare among ancient Chinese painters.

County **** River Village Fishing and Hidden Picture Vertical Axis on Xuan paper

I. Characteristics of Gong Xian's landscape painting style

Gong Xian's deep style of landscape painting is related to Gong Xian's brush and ink techniques, especially the use of ink. Gong Xian is particularly good at ink painting.

Ink accumulation refers to the accumulation of ink colors, layering, staining, layering, thickness and fineness. The most important feature of Gong's ink paintings is the piling up and coloring of layer upon layer, all the way up to seven or eight minutes later. When the ink is piled up, the gaps between the brushes should be set empty. The second and third time when the ink is accumulated, the thickness and the sense of flower child should be increased, so as to make it rich and beautiful, until it is accumulated more than seven, eight or ten times, and the accumulation is getting thicker and thicker. So wet ink can not be used, easy to die. If you use too much wet ink, it will not be rich and beautiful, nor will it show the volume of the rock. I am afraid that only a black paper will remain. Gong Xian's paintings don't use wet ink to rub. Instead, they are drawn with light wet ink. You have to add them slowly and gradually, one by one, first dry and then wet, to achieve a bright, dark and shiny effect. His ink drawings are unique in style, deep and profound.

This painting is well lit.

In Gong Xian's paintings, the structure of the gravel is represented by the "ink gathering method". The lower part of the stone is dark and gradually becomes brighter, with a strong sense of light, while the upper part of the stone is still dark on the lower part and brighter on the upper part.

The head is fresh and transparent, with a strong contrast between light and dark, and a rich sense of light. Gong Xian painted a tree that goes well with the rock. Whereas he used dry brushes to paint the rock and stained it repeatedly, he painted the trunk of the tree with few or no brushes, let alone rendered it, with only wet brushes and centers. Often there are a few white trunks that stand out against the thick black rock, or white trunks surrounded by thick black foliage. Painting thick black foliage on light-colored rocks creates a stark contrast between black and white, deepens the ink color, develops "bright" ink, and establishes a picture filled with bright light, a unique contribution to Chinese painting.

Seek moisture, don't get wet.

Gong Xian was particularly fond of using ink that could be "wet" rather than "damp". That's why the narrator says, "What's unique about Five Thousandths is that it uses a lot of ink." Gong Xian's ink-based works can be old or new, beautiful or wet. "Wet" is not the same as "wet." The difference between the two is that ink is bright and shiny and commercialized. It expresses the natural consciousness of life, making it possible to "see it in beautiful colors, but in five."

The hierarchy is obvious.

Gong Xian's polymerized ink landscape paintings pursue light and dark, but his expression of light and dark is different from that of Western paintings. Chinese yin and yang painting, virtual reality, light and shadow, and Western light and shadow painting are two different concepts. The yin and yang of Chinese painting addresses the relationship between localized three-dimensional structure and layers. Gong Xian painted trees and mountains at different levels, and he addressed the distance between blank spaces when showing the layers. Regarding painting trees, Gong Xian drew detailed explanations in class. He also explained how to count the leaves, how to count once, twice, three times, five times and even seven times. All these methods he explained were to improve the level and overall awareness of the students

Gong Xian's landscape paintings pay great attention to the flexible use of water. Gong Xian's landscape paintings are all paper and clouds, except for his skill in using ink. It is impossible to paint such moving clouds, rain and fog. Gong Xian in painting more emphasis on moist, against wet, but this does not mean that he excluded the water in the painting. Gong Xian's so-called "wet" is relative to "wet". For example, to indicate that the coloring should be wet, "wet" means excessive. In other words, when the humidity exceeds the degree of wetness, it becomes "dead ink". Gong Xian splashes water boldly and meticulously, not only on the front of the picture splash water, but also add ink on the picture in turn, increasing the permeability of the ink, so that the picture is more deep and smooth.

County Gongwen Mountain waterfall landscape scroll

Two, Gong Xian landscape painting style formation process.

Gong Xian's life painting can be divided into three stages: the early stage is before the age of 30, is the learning stage, there is no style; the early stage is 30 years old to 38 years old, simple brush outlined in the "White Gong" has become a style of painting; later from 38 to 40 years old, constantly improving the style of painting brush figure painting, at the same time, the complicated painting method of rubbing a number of attempts. In the later period, from the age of 38 to 40, Gong Xian continued to improve his style of figure painting, and at the same time made many attempts at rubbing and coloring this complex painting method, eventually forming the "Heigong" style of painting that was pale and moist. Gong Xian's early paintings tend to be simple landscapes. This painting was created in Gong Xian's early years. This painting is painted with the method of superimposing heights. There are mountains, waterfalls and magnificent weather in the forest. From the method of painting, the painting is dominated by the outline of the mountains, with rounded and elastic lines, and the whole picture is dominated by gray tones, slightly showing the "white work" style.

This painting of "Ink Landscape Picture Book", with clear veins of mountains and rocks, gives a clear, elegant and boundless atmosphere, and the center of gravity of the brush and ink is far above the mountains and rivers. The exploration of divinity, ink and brushwork, and grooves in painting reflects his pursuit at this stage. This painting can be taken as a sign of the initial formation of Gong Xian's early painting style. Gong Xian's early paintings follow the path of minimalism. Simplicity does not mean simplicity of composition, but simplicity of brushwork, so much so that there are only a few lines on the screen, which are then rubbed and colored a little. The entire painting seems to be characterized by outlines, and works in this style do not appear until later in life. The works of the "White Work" style are rich and full of fluctuations, and the brush and ink tend to be moist and perfect. Whether it is the ink and brushwork, the layout and composition, the mood, or the establishment of the style, it is quite mature. The works of the "Bai Gong" style are more inclined to the study of the "brush". In this type of works, the brush strokes and lines are exposed and visible, which is a good preparation for a better transformation from "ink" to "black palace" in the future. The middle and late paintings perfected the style of the early "Bai Gong", Gong Xian created the "ink" mood, which is the most need to accumulate and efforts of the subject.

Brush and ink in Chinese painting is not a simple technique, but a realm. It has an independent life. Therefore, any kind of mature brush and ink can show us the heritage and intellectual background of the painter's brush and ink, as well as his personality, taste, artistic pursuit and aesthetic tendency. Without mature brush and ink, without vividness, even the best composition is useless. Thus, it seems that the path Gong Xian chose was the inevitable way for his landscape painting style to mature.

Improving the brush and ink style of "Hei Gong" landscape paintings.

The landscape painting "Heigong" was painted with the method of gathering ink. The picture is colorful, varying in intensity, strong and moist, and begins to show the boundlessness of heaven and earth. There are many Gongxian landscape paintings in this period, including "Axis Painting of Landscape in Tibet", "Smoke and Rain in Heavy Mountains", and "Autumn Stream Bookstore". The establishment of Gong Xian's "Black Gong" ink method, a unique understanding of the interplay between ink and water, demonstrates his sensitivity to black and white images. His landscape paintings, from simple to complex, from white to black, from vivid to mysterious and unfathomable, are the result of a long and painstaking exploration. On the basis of traditional black-and-white, Gong Xian introduces various mysterious and subtle gray levels of black-and-white, which are determined by the depth of the brush and ink and the number of accumulations. For example, Gong Xian painted a stone "white on top and black on the bottom." The lower end of the stone has been built up many times, and the ink is thick and black. The number of accumulations is inc