Riding the wind of rebirth

Chapter 1434 Ma Yijiao and Xia Banbian

As a preserver of historical classics, Jingjiatang has much more experience in preserving and repairing paper books than the Fujita Museum of Art. Even the "Wind and Rain Landscape" from the Southern Song Dynasty is still in pretty good condition.

"Wind, Rain, Landscape" is generally used to express character under adversity. In fact, it is one of the traditional themes of painters. There are several paintings not only in China, but also in island countries.

One is Xia Gui's and the other is Ma Yuan's.

However, they all have doubts. After expert research on Xia Gui's painting, it can be proved that the word "Xia Gui" on the painting was added later. However, Xia Gui's paintings originally did not leave names, so this painting is based on style and technique. , the research on pen, ink and silk are all in line with the characteristics of Xia paintings.

In other words, the addition of the word "Xia Gui" after the word "Xia Gui" is most likely a clumsy superfluity by the former painting seller. Without adding the word "Xia Gui", everyone is more convinced that this is the original work of Xia Gui. Adding these two The words are rather suspicious.

That painting is a national treasure, and the one in Jingjiatang is earlier than Xia Gui's painting. Xia Gui's paintings mostly adopt the brushwork of this person, Ma Yuan.

Ma Yuan and Xia Gui were both representative figures of the "courtyard style" landscape painters in the Southern Song Dynasty, and were among the "Four Great Masters of the Southern Song Dynasty". Both of them studied under Li Tang, and they had the most outstanding achievements in landscape painting, and their painting styles were very similar, so later generations called them "Ma Xia".

Ma Yuan is good at leaving blank space, and Xia Gui is good at using ink. The two of them blended their own painting concepts and aesthetic attitudes in their respective paintings. Both of them still have their own characteristics in the painting. Later generations based on their painting characteristics , calling one "Ma Yijiao" and the other "Xia Banbian" is the most intuitive summary of their paintings.

Ma Yijiao refers to the exquisite composition and strong expressiveness of Ma Yuan's paintings. Later generations also like to praise Ma Yuan's unique painting style as "remaining mountains and rivers", which is not famous for majesty, but for freshness.

Some steep peaks go straight up without reaching the top, or cliffs go straight down with no feet visible, or there is only one figure in the sky on all sides... Smart and light, from complex to simple, abandoning the whole and only taking part, changing the previous macroscopic and atmospheric painting style to the meaning of meaningful sketches. The style is no longer as overwhelming as the previous landscape, but instead advocates freshness and nature.

This style also coincides with the transformation of poetic styles in the Tang and Song dynasties.

This "Wind and Rain Landscape" is also taken from a corner of the mountain scenery. Surrounded by pine trees and miscellaneous trees, there are towers and pavilions, and by the water's edge, a solitary boat can be seen moored.

Between the middle distant view and the main scene of the steep mountain cliffs, subtle light ink is used to create traces of wind and rain. The pine trees and miscellaneous branches and leaves form a complementary posture to support the wind.

On the mountain path, there is a person hunched over, holding an umbrella, and walking quickly against the wind and rain, which makes the painting full of meaning.

The distant mountain cliffs are carved with a big axe, which is extremely wonderful.

This painting vividly expresses what is known as the "corner" of the composition of Ma Yuan's landscape paintings. The brush strokes are round, thick and tough, and the rendering is neat and clear. The rippling water adds a natural charm, making it a masterpiece.

After carefully looking through the entire work, I discovered the direction of the wind and rain, the offset direction of pine trees and miscellaneous trees, the docking position of the half-leaf boat, the direction of pedestrians' umbrellas against the wind, and even the angle of the body tilted to resist the wind. Although there are some details. changes, but overall remains the same.

Let the wind and rain, filled with smoke and clouds, be miraculously harmonious for half a day, making people feel cold and wet on the face and wind in the armpits at a glance.

Therefore, although it is not signed, most scholars from the island country believe that this is Ma Yuan's original work. At the very least, the possibility of it being an original work is even higher than that of Xia Guina's "Wind and Rain Landscape".

The level is really too high.

Zhou Zhi and Ma Ye stayed for a long time in front of this painting. Zhou Zhi not only looked at the painting skills, but also carefully examined the mounting craftsmanship and preservation state.

The answer is that it is very intact. Although the scroll was once broken into countless pieces, it was repaired by skilled craftsmen. However, in the end, the traditional "filling ink and color" method of ancient Chinese calligraphy and painting restoration was not used to restore the scroll to a brand new look. The viewer could not tell Despite the degree of damage, the cracks are deliberately preserved so that people can taste the "ancient" flavor. This kind of restoration style was also somewhat popular in modern China. Now that I think about it, it is more in line with the island country's aesthetic philosophy - "Wabi Sabi".

Frustrated, lonely, and lonely, this is not what it feels like.

This also shows that ancient Chinese mounting technology has also been introduced to the island country, because according to the introduction, this silk ink and light color painting was introduced to the island country during the Kamakura period. That was seven or eight hundred years ago, and Zhou Zhi It is determined that this painting was last framed three to four hundred years ago.

Because of the careful preservation, from that time until now, there is almost no damage on the scroll except normal oxidation marks.

After admiring the oldest Song painting here, Zhou Zhi and Ma Ye could not help but heave a sigh of relief.

It can also be seen from this that the foundation of Jingjiatang is indeed deeper than that of the Fujita Museum of Art, and its management is also more perfect.

At least there is no need to sell off collections to raise funds and maintain operations.

As an important guest, the reception area will naturally not be placed in the academic hall on the basement floor of the new building, but will be introduced to the staff office area and ancient book collection area of ​​the old building.

There is also a conference room for employees there, where Ono Tetsuo arranged for Zhou Zhi and his party to have a discussion.

Various academic achievements of Jingjiatang are displayed in the conference room, mainly publications. A very important category among them is photocopies of important ancient books of Jingjiatang and more precious antique copies.

A photocopy is a book in which the original book is photographed as a typesetting image and then printed using the laser phototypesetting method of modern books for publication.

Antique books are amazing. They are also reprinted using photographed pictures, but the paper used for reprinting is antique book paper, such as antique rice paper, bamboo paper and other traditional paper printing, and then made using traditional binding methods. The shape, specifications and even book It is an antique book that is very close to the original style.

Of course, such books are generally not for reading, but as high-end gifts for others.

Zhou Zhi is a book lover, and he started reading as soon as he saw these. He didn't even hear Ono asking him to sit down.

It was Ikeda Qiu who came over and tugged at the corner of his clothes. Zhou Zhi finally reacted and said with a smile: "These kinds of imitation ancient books are so powerful. "Zhou Li", "Shuowen Jiezi" and "Li Taibai's Collected Works" are all from the Song Dynasty. Among them, "The Rites of Zhou" is from Shu and "Shuowen Jiezi", and "Collected Works of Li Taibai" is from Hangzhou. My master has been talking about it for a long time. "

Having said these shameless words, Ono could only laugh and said: "Although these three antique editions are reprints, they were also completed by our Jingjiatang in 1927. It takes a lot of energy and financial resources to produce a close book.”

"There is not much inventory of these three books now, but since the teacher of Zhou Sang is worried about it, the library will give one set of each to Zhou Sang. Please pass it on to Zhou Sang."

"I just hope that after our digital library is established, it will not be difficult to print such books in the future."

(End of this chapter)