2019.01.29

史珏丽 (Julie Segraves)展评 | 工笔画历史 Julie Segraves | The History of Gongbi Painting

在中国,被认为最保守、最耗时的笔法,即细线或工笔画法,是将细黑线与多层墨水底纹以及透明和不透明的颜色结合在一起。

历史上,工笔画法一直被用来描绘人物、鸟和花的主题。唐代(618-907),细线画蓬勃发展,张璇(713-755)、周芳(750-800)等著名画家描绘了宫廷生活的辉煌。

到了北宋(960-1127),工笔画也被广泛地用来画鸟和花。但到了元代(1271-1368),中国文人开始对写意产生偏好,认为这种更为自发的笔法更适合于传达艺术家的内心感受,工笔法中的现实主义在许多艺术家中失宠。

尽管著名的明朝(1368-1644年)艺术家如唐寅(1470-1523年)和仇英(1494-1552年)继续将工笔列入他们的绘画作品中,但直到18世纪工笔法才受到兴趣和关注的更新,这是由耶稣会传教士朱塞佩·卡斯蒂格里翁(1688-1766年)的到来所引发的。

卡斯蒂格里翁被委以重任,在帝国画院创造一个综合欧洲方法和中国传统媒介和格式的任务。中国工笔宫廷画家很快就将西方写实主义的线性透视与中国传统绘画相结合,完善了绘画技法的融合。

其他优秀的清代(1644-1911)艺术家继续使用工笔技法,包括袁守平(1633-1690)和任雄(1823-1857)。

然而,随着清朝的没落,传统的赞助人制度和皇家画院的消亡,许多中国工笔和写意艺术家被迫寻求新的收入渠道,并使他们的绘画技术现代化。一些艺术家到日本和西方寻求新的灵感和收入。其他住在上海的艺术家转向商业,将他们的工笔画技艺与西方技术结合起来,为流行的日历版画创作商业作品,月份牌。

随着1949年中华人民共和国的建立,以及政府对社会主义现实主义油画的喜爱,工笔技法的普及程度进一步下降。

文革(1966-1976)后,艺术家们开始探索西方艺术、媒体、技术和原则,认为工笔画的实践实在太过时了,要求也太高了,工笔画的风格需要回归到中国的过去。

然而,在20世纪90年代初,新一代年轻的、受过传统训练的水墨艺术家通过将几个世纪的古老技术与他们自己的技术结合起来,复兴了工笔传统。这些新的工笔画反映了艺术家个人的关注,以及他们所生活的中国社会的变化,使这三位展览艺术家的作品更加令人惊讶和引人注目。

 

 

金沙 Jin Sha


1988年是工笔画家金沙的关键,有两个原因:他对文艺复兴艺术产生了兴趣,这将影响他未来许多年的创作过程;同时,他被中央美术学院的艺术学位课程录取。

他被文艺复兴及其艺术的吸引是基于文艺复兴时期欧洲和当代中国所具有的各种重要特征:健康的经济和随之而来的许多公民的繁荣,快速的社会和文化变革,超级富豪的迅速崛起,以及随后以消费为基础的文化的出现,贪婪和腐败。

展览作品都展示了艺术家完美的标签式风格:完美的线性透视写实绘画技术,以及文艺复兴时期油画和蛋彩画中常见的三维造型。然而,金沙是通过在丝绸上使用水墨工笔和水彩画来创作他的杰作,从而达到了这一效果。

在这次展览中,金沙将四位15世纪文艺复兴时期的艺术家桑德罗·波提切利、莱昂纳多·达芬奇、罗伯特·康宾和阿莱索•巴尔多维内蒂的作品作为艺术灵感。其中四幅是关于天使长加百列向圣母玛利亚揭示她儿子耶稣即将降生的著名圣经故事。第五幅画描绘了玛丽和小耶稣。

然而,金氏的绘画主题与文艺复兴时期的杰作的主题发生了碰撞和对比,他选择了集中在完美观念的真实性、当代不孕问题以及艺术中围绕人工授精的问题上。

金氏的两幅油画是在桑德罗·波提切利的两幅木板画上的“报喜蛋彩画”之后制作的。金的画《向大师致敬:与桑德罗·波提切利的对话》,1489年波提切利的构图中,圣母玛利亚恭敬地跪在大天使加百利面前。事实上,波提切利和金都坚持传统的西方艺术金字塔形式,这在界定加百利和玛利亚的位置的集合线中是显而易见的。加百利的影子在地板上,一个放在玛丽右边的书桌,加百利手持代表圣母纯洁的白色百合花,这两幅画都有插图。玛利亚和加百利被安置在一个非凡的景观远景,从他们身后的敞开的门可以看到。但是金沙已经消灭了波提切利原作中的中心树,并将田园诗般的风景变成了战争的景象,用柔和的灰色来描绘今天的喷气式飞机飞过阴郁的山峰,摧毁了的建筑物。在这些人物中,金还包括两个诱惑,一个是悬挂在空中的诱惑苹果,另一个是地板上的一袋钱。

虽然最初的波提切利身体是三维模型化的图像,但金沙巧妙地将两个主体的身体形态完全消除了,只留下了他们的空衣服和观看者来思考金氏作品的真正意义。

金还使用了波提切利更大的1481年绘画作为模型。在《金》和《波提切利》这两幅作品中,一幅飞行的加百利被描绘成双臂交叉,在画的左侧迎接玛利亚。加百利穿着波涛汹涌的衣服,抓着一朵白百合。玛利亚跪在加百利对面,得知自己即将怀孕和意外怀孕之后,顺从地鞠躬。

这两位艺术家都以其高超的绘画技巧为指导,并表现出以精确姿势呈现人物的倾向。这两幅作品的内部装饰也很华丽,包括错综复杂的雕刻石柱、嵌入式大理石地板,每个艺术家都将自己的人物与从敞开的门与观看的迷人景观相对比。然而,金在他宁静的风景环境中增加了两座污染严重的山。

金也巧妙地消除了他的三维模型对象的外形的物理形式,削弱了这两个数字所代表的完美概念的信息。更重要的是,金在《报喜2》中直接解决了当代不孕问题,他把玛利亚的子宫放在一张精心雕刻的床上,似乎在解决当代不孕问题的同时,实际上质疑了基督教完美观念的现实性。

金用达芬奇传奇般的告辞作为指导,他的两部分工作,敬礼大师:与达芬奇交谈。在这两个艺术家的版本中,加百利都被描绘成拥有风格化的翅膀和华丽的服装,同时手持百合花。他跪在玛利亚的面前,打断她念圣经。在莱昂纳多的作品中,玛利亚有一个震惊的表情,难以置信地举起手,当听到她神秘怀孕的令人担忧的消息时,她似乎真的畏缩了。这两幅画都在人物之间有一张雕刻精美的石桌。莱奥纳多把他的作品放在一个开阔的景观中,背景是丰富的树木,前景是加百利周围的许多盛开的小花。相比之下,金用莱昂纳多的草地置换了大理石地板,减少了远处的树木数量,并把剩下的两棵灌木砍成两半,顶部和底部之间有空隙。尽管金保留了达芬奇原作中两个人物的服装和姿势,但他消除了大天使和圣母玛利亚的实际身体,改变了原作的意义。此外,金还创作了第二幅小一点的绘画来配合这幅较大的作品,这幅作品展示了加百利的缩影,加百利似乎在反抗诱惑的苹果。

金被15世纪佛兰芒艺术家罗伯特·康宾在《报喜三联画》中所描绘的家庭内部装饰所吸引。事实上,康宾的作品展示了他对哪怕是最小的内部细节的迷恋,他精心绘制了这些细节,以复制15世纪后期的佛兰芒式住宅。金把三联画的中心面板作为他的绘画指南,他的作品也以细致的工笔室内元素为特色,创造了一个与康宾原作相似的典型舒适的家。

在房间的后面,两位艺术家的作品都包括一个三拱门的石雕壁龛、一个带毛巾的架子和一个顶部镶有家族徽章的木窗框,以及几扇带图案的木百叶窗,它们半开着,可以看到外面的天空和云朵。这两幅艺术家的画作都包括上面的格子天花板,下面的木板地板,右边是带防火屏的壁炉,还有其他的室内细节。在这间屋子的内部,玛利亚躺在一张木头长椅上,一边阅读圣经,一边画插图。

在这两幅画作中,带光环的天使似乎告诉玛利亚她莫名其妙的想法。然而,金取代了康宾的有翼加百利,以佛兰芒服装为特色,一个不知名的有翼女子天使穿着传统的明朝非正式长袍,配以中国织锦图案的腰带。金还取消了康宾的六边形桌子,这张桌子上放着一个花瓶,但是放着打开的书包。尽管康宾画中的石头壁龛中有一个装满水的悬挂容器,象征着玛利亚是婴儿耶稣的容器,但金已经完全消除了这个象征性的水壶。

金选择了他自己的一种艺术惯例,把他的作品分成中间部分,以展示房间的镜子形象以及绘画左侧的天使。金增加了一个上部的窗户,在玛利亚的两侧都有明亮的光线。但在左镜绘画的一面,玛利亚的身体和衣服都被完全丢弃了,质疑耶稣奇迹般诞生的前景。

细致的造型,准确的光线描绘,以及对15世纪佛罗伦萨风景画的贡献,都是阿莱索·巴尔多维内蒂作品的特点。所有这些元素都存在于巴尔多维内蒂的画作《玛利亚和孩子》中,并激励了金。在原画中,一位坐着祈祷的玛利亚正含情脉脉地注视着婴儿耶稣,他似乎是躺在一个红色的枕头上,向她献上他那洁白的衣带。这两个场景都被放置在一个迷人的景观前,一个真实的河流场景退到了背景中。

金不仅消除了原画中的某些元素,还添加了一些完全改变了原画意义的特征。现在,一个没有身体的玛利亚似乎全神贯注于一个诱惑的苹果而不是祈祷。婴儿耶稣被一本打开的书取代了,他的书页也以诱惑苹果为特色。当小耶稣的白色腰带还在时,它穿过他丢弃的光环,把诱惑和贪婪的苹果符号从印刷版上系到一个真实的人身上,这意味着即使是有道德的女人也常常与诱惑和腐败作斗争。

 

 

 

吕鹏 Lv Peng


20世纪90年代初,吕鹏以充满活力的绘画进入了中国当代艺术的舞台,这些绘画反映了中国社会、文化和传统在面对西方化和全球化时的重组。

吕生于1967年,1991年毕业于首都师范大学文学学士学位,2003年获中央美术学院博士学位。面对一段模棱两可、不清晰的中国当代文化政治风貌变迁之旅,吕鹏运用独特的工笔画技法,将工笔画技法与对中国传统文化的仰慕相结合,巧妙地记录了他复杂多变的国家的独特反映。

在他的艺术生涯中,吕也一直受到文艺复兴时期艺术的启发,他的强有力的展览《何以欢聚》是基于达芬奇15世纪的画作《最后的晚餐》,由米兰公爵委托创作的。尽管莱奥纳多在干石膏上用蛋彩画,当时被认为是一种非正统的混合媒介,但吕还是选择了中国传统绘画材料的水墨和水彩画,在四大幅面的中国宣纸上,精心创作了自己独特的杰作,展示了他卓越的线条工笔画。

与莱奥纳多一样,吕在他的绘画视角和中心人物后面的消失点之间取得了平衡。吕把莱昂纳多的格子天花板换成了黑白格子图案的天花板。在两个长的水平工程中,上面的涂漆天花板和下面的覆盖表提供了对称性和比例。吕用两幅敞开的侧幅窗帘代替了莱昂纳多中心场景两侧渐行渐远的绘画嵌板,这两幅窗帘是他绘画舞台上主要图像的边界。

这两幅作品都以不同的姿势展示了12个支撑人物,围绕一个中心人物,两位艺术家都为每个人物创作了独特的个人肖像。但是,吕并没有使用莱昂纳多的四位数字组(每组三位使徒),而是展示了六组,每组两位数字。

不同于莱昂纳多的绘画使徒谁与耶稣有特殊的关系,每个吕的人物都有偶然的联系,主要人物以及彼此,他们的互动类似于那些陌生的人参加朋友的聚会。

吕用一个身穿白色T恤的年轻人取代了莱昂纳多的耶稣,这位年轻人代表了“凡夫俗子”。吕的绘画光源来自这位年轻人的上方,他被放置在一扇开着的窗户上,窗户上有一幅风景背景,这也是莱昂纳多原作中的一个元素。每个人的手势和覆盖在右臂上的长袍都与列奥纳多的《耶稣》中的相似。吕的中心人物被描绘成观看一本无标题的浮动书籍。事实上,在吕氏的画面中,所有的书都没有标题,都隐藏了内容,经常遮住人物的脸,从而掩盖了人物的表情和对文本的反应。

吕的其他绘画人物包括许多看似无关的人物。在普通人面前,桌子中央是一个中国艺术家的小雕塑,穿着中国传统的服装和发型,还有西方天使的翅膀,拿着一幅卷轴画。

一个年轻人站在画桌子的最左边,穿着20世纪的中华民国服装,拿着一盏明灯,看着一本打开的书和一幅展开的卷轴画,他显得很惊讶。在他身后,一个裸体的女孩和一只长寿的鹤面对着一个中国人,穿着一身带有西方天使翅膀的中国历史军人制服,手上拿着一个不道德的桃子。

一个戴着与流行的反资本主义西方游戏人物大富翁先生戴的帽子相似的帽子的角色,手里拿着一本身份不明的开放式白皮书,他站在一位当代画家的身后,手里拿着一把刷子,读着一本无标题的红书。两个人物的脸都被他们打开的书遮住了。

在画的右上角,一只白色的鸟在三组人中间飞翔。在西方宗教绘画中,一只飞翔的白鸟代表着圣灵,三位一体的三个人,其中包括上帝、父亲和他的儿子耶稣。类似的鸟在中世纪的宗教绘画中经常被描绘成一种象征,来宣布圣母玛利亚对耶稣的完美构想。但在吕的画面中,这只鸟只是一只鸟,没有任何信息可以提供,只有谁在观察画面的场景。

右上角是一位身穿20世纪中国旗袍的妇女,躺着,脸上被一位画有风景画的中国扇子遮住了。她下面的那个穿中国紧身衣的男人,有天使的翅膀和眼镜,他焦急地做手势以引起聚会者的注意。下面,一位手持鲜花的裸体妇女试图引起普通人的注意,她站在另一位参加派对的人后面,坐在桌旁,戴着西式领结和背心,在试图观看和欣赏他手中未烧焦的中国山水画卷时,她似乎被墨镜挡住了。

在右边的桌子尽头是一对年轻人,一个穿着西服和天使翅膀,另一个穿着传统的20世纪中国服装。两人都喜欢喝酒,同时全神贯注地看书。

吕的整个绘画场景都是在一个花园场景中,桌面上点缀着花瓶中的花朵,并散落在桌面上,还有几株盆景植物放在桌子的左侧。对于吕来说,鲜花象征着生活、庆典、优雅和温暖。宴会上有丰富的食物和葡萄酒供所有参与者享用。事实上,吕认为人们分享食物和葡萄酒象征着对家庭和持久友谊的希望和信仰。

在吕鹏的创作中,他的绘画表面的人物之间确实发生了奇怪的互动。身体错综复杂,艺术元素纠缠不清,让吕的观众思考自己对他的绘画的诠释,以及当代西方文化和中国传统文化在中国新的、动荡的社会中的地位。

在一幅名为《春山读书图》的展览作品中,吕运用了西方和中国艺术的艺术精华。《春山读书图六》中,一个小女孩倚在一张桌子上,手肘搁在一幅中国山水画卷上,这幅画卷是中国元代画家王蒙的同名画作。这个女孩全神贯注地读着她的书,也叫《春山》,把自己的想法和评论写在一块写字板上。吕将这名年轻女子放在一个西方格子图案的地板上,她身后是一丛灌木。画中的洞察之光从画中的右侧洒向女孩身上,越过仙鹤仔细观察着现场,一本随意翻开的书被画出来,似乎漂浮在空中。在整个绘画中,一条细细的黑色植物藤线蜿蜒穿过各种细节,连接着不同的绘画元素。

这幅画的另一幅作品《春山读书图五》画的是一个年轻男人,他穿着一件中国裤子和天使翅膀,一只脚在桌面上摇摇欲坠地平衡着,桌面上装满了一支西方鹅毛笔,盛在一个中国彩绘的瓷瓶里,一盘剩菜,半杯酒,还有一本名为《春山读书》的书。丁。当他一手全神贯注于一本无标题的书,另一手拿着一张未翻过的中国画宣纸,知识之光也在他身上层出不穷。其他几本无标题的开放书籍飘浮在人物的右侧,一幅以中国传统卷轴装裱为特色的元代画家王蒙之后的中国山水画也是如此。整个场景以文艺复兴风格的景观为背景,并伴有云朵滚动。

在这两幅作品中,吕的主题都可以追溯到传统的中国,但吕的风格是独一无二的,他将中国古代绘画大师的笔触影响与当代元素相结合,探索了他在当今中国动荡时期对知识和理解的主体追求。

尽管吕鹏的艺术具有中国传统艺术和西方艺术的双重特征,但吕鹏的灵感来源于南宋画家夏贵的山水画《溪山清远图》,以其自己的同名画展系列。然而,吕鹏也采用了明朝工笔画家邱英的蓝绿配色方案。其结果是杰出的风景画,很大程度上归功于中国的绘画大师,但吕鹏巧妙地重新诠释了这些著名的实践者的个人技巧,创造了今天完全当代的风景画。

 

 

朱伟 Zhu Wei


朱伟是中国人民解放军医生的儿子,文化大革命前夕出生在北京。他的父母希望他也能进入医学界。但是,朱伟由自己的想法,他十六岁就参军了。随后,他开始在解放军艺术学院学习,擅长创作宣传艺术和海报。1989年毕业后,朱伟先后就读于中国画院和北京电影学院,1993年毕业。尽管朱伟接受过各种各样的艺术训练,但他仍然是中国传统艺术的勤奋学生,尤其是他备受赞誉的工笔画的富有挑战性的技法。

20世纪90年代初,对于中国的艺术家来说,是一个特别动荡的时期。像他的许多同行一样,朱选择不加入任何政府机构或艺术学院。尽管朱伟同时期的许多艺术家都转向油画或丙烯画,这是西方艺术市场的首选媒介,但朱伟选择了发展其标志性的工笔画风格,通过运用古典和巧妙的新绘画基础,重塑、改造和超越这一百年来的绘画技术,以实现他的艺术成就。关于中国社会和政治的陈述,朱伟有着独特的创作能力,他的作品起初看似简单,甚至是异想天开,但他1000多幅作品中的许多实际上都是解放军士兵、党的干部和普通公民的强有力的政治肖像,以及他们在中国的生活。

朱伟最早的工笔画之一是1998年创作的《中国日记》19号。起初朱选了一张很重的宣纸,画出有趣的凹处和凹痕,然后在纸上涂上亚麻色。这幅作品的特点是一位躺在床上的党政官员睡在舒适的枕头上,并用毯子盖住。在朱伟所画的政治戏仿中,这位党的官僚具有所有典型的身体特征:大头、手、脚和鼻子,但闭着看不见的眼睛和小耳朵。朱伟认为,大多数中共代表从这些集会中收集到的实际信息很少,许多与会者只是睡在令人厌烦的集会中。朱伟对这一政治干部的描述虽然具有讽刺意味,但也似乎是准确的,说明了一个对如何使过去服务于当代中国几乎没有梦想的被动的政党人士。

春分11号画于2007年,是朱伟当代中国社会景观之一。朱伟画了一个黄色的表面,上面有六个漂浮的蛋形图案,看起来好像没有系在地上,类似于西方的劳利塑料玩具,当被推倒的时候,这些玩具往往会自动复原。事实上,一些中国民间艺术家也制作出类似的空心粘土形状,使其看起来像丰满、愚钝的官僚,从而嘲笑官员的无能和无力。

朱伟的六个人物在春游时都显得孤立无援,所有的人物都有一双小脚丫向内转,双手插进他们的软垫夹克口袋。风扫过头发,所有的人物似乎缺乏实际的个性。有些人面部特征模糊,而其他人的脸则显得沮丧或冷漠。事实上,朱的风化和报纸表面的人物细节是由艺术家通过反复浸泡在水中,他的强大,宣纸实现的。画中的人物两侧都有几枚画家用笔迹书写的印章,其中一枚印着“www”,但缺少实际的互联网地址。左边的画上点缀着桃花,右边的画上点缀着一片叶子的桃花,这不仅象征着春天和不朽,也象征着爱情和浪漫。尽管如此,对这部作品中人物的热情似乎难以捉摸,他们所有的梦想和对爱和感情的渴望似乎都没有得到回应。

朱伟多次将重叠的红帘作为其“水墨研究课徒”系列绘画中的一种持久的艺术元素,不仅向观众呈现了一幅抽象的绘画背景,而且呈现了一幅红色的绘画背景,在中国传统和当代都充满了象征意义,象征着幸福和共产主义身份。地缘学。在一幅作品中,红窗帘为朱伟自己的政治漫画提供了一个背景,一个普通的中国公民,一只羊,一种驯服的动物,以胆怯、容易被引导和愚蠢著称。朱的阴沉的绵羊在艺术家的黑漆薄雾中窥视着,这进一步阻碍了动物的视力和洞察力。

另一个“水墨研究课徒”系列绘画集中在一个不太可能的主题:一只脚-对红窗帘背景。朱伟的主题是否真的借鉴了西方流行艺术的领军人物安迪·沃霍尔的艺术还不得而知。沃霍尔招募了朋友、情人、收藏家和名人,在他自己的异想天开的艺术中把他们的脚作为一个主要的主题,这与他揭露美国消费文化的琐碎的个人追求有关。但与沃霍尔不同的是,朱伟的单脚画仅仅是一只脚,或者它代表了艺术家对当代中国追求自己蓬勃发展的消费文化的个人陈述,这一点并不明显。

在最后的水墨研究课徒系列展览绘画中,朱伟通过对一只像中国公民一样温顺、易于引导的绵羊进行政治模仿,探索了历史与当代文化之间的关系。朱伟把自己独特而独特的宣纸换成了普通的、无例外的新闻报纸作为自己的绘画表面,也许暗示着政府对日常媒体的控制,改变了公民对当代中国日常新闻和生活的看法。

这是该系列十二幅新闻纸画之一,所有这些都显示了一幅模糊的中央人物形象,在红色窗帘背景前有着模糊的特征。在这幅画上,艺术家用一层层的芥末色颜料覆盖了人物和旗帜,掩盖了两者的细节。然后,艺术家进一步扭曲了绘画表面,扭曲了两种艺术元素的真实形象,同时对中共不切实际的社会主义社会发表陈述。

 

文:史珏丽 (Julie Segraves)于美国丹佛

翻译:棉布

2019年1月28日

 

注:史珏丽 (Julie Segraves),美国亚洲艺术协会主席,中国新工笔画研究专家,收藏家。本次在3画廊新工笔三个展特邀学术。

 

Regarded as China’s most conservative and time-consuming brush technique, the fine line or gongbimethod of painting combines fine black lines with multiple layers of both ink-shading and unmixed transparent and opaque colors.

Historically, the gongbi method has been used to depict figure, bird and flower subjects. During the Tang dynasty (618–907), fine line painting flourished, with well-known artists like Zhang Xuan (713–755) and Zhou Fang (750–800) depicting the splendors of court life.

 By the Northern Song dynasty (960–1127), gongbiwas used extensively to illustrate birds and flowers as well. But by the Yuan dynasty (1271–1368), the Chinese literati began to exhibit a preference for xieyi, believing that this more spontaneous brush method was better suited to communicating the artist’s inner feelings, and the realism of the gongbimethod fell out of favor among many artists.

Although well-known Ming dynasty (1368–1644) artists like Tang Yin (1470-1523) and Qiu Ying (1494–1552) continued to include gongbi in their painting repertoire, it was not until the 18th century that the gongbi method received renewal of interest and attention, sparked by the arrival of Giuseppe Castiglione (1688–1766), a Jesuit missionary.

Castiglione had been charged with the task of creating a synthesis of European methods and traditional Chinese media and formats at the Imperial Painting Academy. Chinese gongbi court painters were soon perfecting a fusion of painting techniques, combining the linear perspective of Western-style realism with traditional Chinese brushwork.

Other excellent Qing dynasty (1644–1911) artists continued to use the gongbi techniques including Yuan Shouping (1633–1690) and Ren Xiong (1823–1857). 

However, with the fall of the Qing dynasty and the demise of the traditional patronage system and the Imperial Painting Academy, many Chinese gongbi and xieyi artists were forced to pursue new avenues of income and modernize their painting techniques. Some artists looked to Japan and the West for new inspiration and income. Other artists living in Shanghai turned to commerce, combining their gongbi skills with Western techniques to create commercial pieces for the popular calendar prints, Yuefenpai.

With the establishment of the People’s Republic of China in 1949, and the government’s fondness of Socialist Realistic oil painting, the popularity of the gongbi technique declined even further. 

After the Cultural Revolution (1966–1976), artists began exploring a host of Western art, media, techniques and principles, believing that the practice of gongbi painting was simply too old fashioned and too demanding, and that the gongbi genre needed to be relegated to China’s past. 

Yet, in the early1990s, a new generation of young, traditionally trained ink artists emerged to revitalize the gongbi tradition by mixing the centuries-old techniques with their own. These new gongbi paintings reflect the artists’ personal concerns, as well as the changing Chinese society in which they live, making the work by the three exhibit artists all the more surprising and compelling.

 

Jin Sha

The year 1988 was pivotal for the gongbiartist Jin Sha for two reasons: he became fascinated with Renaissance art, which would influence his creative process for many years to come, and he was accepted into the art degree program at the prestigious Central Academy of Fine Art.

 His attraction to the Renaissance and its art is based on the various significant traits which Renaissance Europe and contemporary China share: healthy economies and the ensuing prosperity of many of their citizens, fast paced social and cultural changes, the swift rise of the super rich, and the subsequent emergence of culture built upon consumption, greed and corruption.

The exhibit paintings all showcase the artist’s flawless signature style: a perfection of realistic painting techniques of linear perspective, as well as three- dimensional modeling often found in Renaissance oil and tempera painting. However, Jin Sha has achieved this effect by using ink and watercolorgongbi brushwork on silk to create his masterpieces.

In this exhibit Jin Sha has used the work of four 15thcentury Renaissance artists, Sandro Botticelli, Leonardo Da Vinci, Robert Campin and Alesso Baldovinetti, as artistic muses. Four of these paintings are devoted to the topic of the Annunciation orMessage, the famous biblical story of the Archangel Gabriel revealing to the Virgin Mary the impending birth of her son Jesus. The fifth painting illustrates Mary with baby Jesus.

However, the themes of Jin’s paintings themes collide and contrast with those of the Renaissance masterpieces, and he has selected to focus on the veracity of the Immaculate Conception, the contemporary problem of infertility, and issues surrounding artificial insemination in his art.

Two of Jin’s paintings have been patterned after Sandro Botticelli’s two Annunciationtempera on wood paintings.  Jin’s painting, Salute to the Masters: Conversation with Sandro Botticelli,and the 1489 Botticelli Annunciationfeature the Virgin Marystanding as the Archangel Gabriel reverently kneels before her. Indeed, both Botticelli and Jin have adhered to the traditional Western art pyramidal format, apparent in the converging lines defining the placement of both Gabriel and Mary. Gabriel’s shadow is on the floor, a bookstand positioned to the right of Mary, and the white lilies held by Gabriel representing the purity of the Virgin, are illustrated in both paintings.  Mary and Gabriel are placed against an extraordinary landscape vista visible through the open doors behind them. But Jin Sha has eliminated the central tree found in the Botticelli original, and has transformed the idyllic landscape into a vision of war, employing muted grey tones to depict present-day jets flying over smoldering mountains and destroyed buildings. Between the figures Jin has also included two enticements, painting an apple of temptation suspended in the air, and a bag of money featured on the floor.

Although the original Botticelli bodies are three-dimensionally modeled images, Jin Sha has ingeniously eliminated the physical forms of both subjects altogether, leaving only their empty garments and the viewers to contemplate the true meaning of Jin’s work.

Jin has also used Botticelli’s larger 1481 Annunciation painting as a model. In both the Jin and Botticelli paintings, a flying Gabriel is depicted with folded arms greeting Mary on the left side of the painting. Gabriel is shown in billowing garments and grasps a white lily. Mary kneels opposite Gabriel, bowing submissively after learning of her impending and unexpected pregnancy.

Both artistsare guided by their superb drawing skills and display penchants for presenting their figures with precise poses. Both compositions also feature ornate interiors, including intricately carved stone columns, inset marble floors and each artist has place his figures against a luscious landscape scene viewed through an open doorway. However, Jin has added two polluting mountains to his serene scenery setting.

Jin has also ingeniously eliminated the physical forms of his three-dimensionally modeled subjects’ shapes altogether, undercutting the message of the Immaculate Conception that both figures represent. More importantly Jin has addressedcontemporary infertility issues directly in Annunciation 2 by placing Mary’s womb on an elaborately carved bed to the right, seemingly to actually question both the actuality of Christianity’s Immaculate Conception while addressing the contemporary problems of infertility.

Jin has used Leonardo da Vinci ‘s legendaryAnnunciationas a guide for his two-part work,Salute to the Masters: Conversation with Leonardo Da Vinci. In both artists’ versionsGabriel is depicted with stylized wings and lavish clothing, while holding a lily. He knees in front of the figure ofMary, interrupting her as she reads the bible. In Leonardo’ s work, Maryhas a shocked look, raising her hand in disbelief and appearing to actually cringe upon hearing the alarming news of her mysterious pregnancy. Both paintings include an intricately carved stone table between the figures. Leonardo has placed his subjects in an open landscape scene with abundant trees in the background and numerous small blooming flowers in the foreground surrounding Gabriel. In contrast, Jin has exchanged Leonardo’s grass ground for marble flooring, has reduced the number of trees in the distance, and has slashed two of the remaining shrubs into halves, featuring empty spaces between the top and bottom portions. Although Jin has kept the clothing and the poses of both figures featured in the Leonardo original, he has eliminated the actual bodies of both the Archangel and the Virgin Mary, altering the meaning of the original work. In addition, Jin has created a second smaller painting to accompany this larger work, which shows a reduced image of Gabriel who appears to raise his hand against the offered apple of temptation.

Jin was attracted to the home interiors featured in the Annunciation Triptych by 15thcentury Flemish artistRobert Campin. Indeed, Campin’s work showcases a fascination with even the smallest interior details, which he has meticulously painted to replicate a late 15thcentury Flemish home. Jin has focused on the center panel of the triptych as his painting guide, and his work, too, features minutely detailed gongbi interior elements, creating a typical comfortable home similar to Campin’s original. 

In the back of the room, both artists’ works include a three -arch carved stone niche, a rack with a towel, and a wooden window frame inset with a family crest at its top, and several patterned wooden shutters positioned ajar, opening to a view of sky and clouds beyond. Both artists’ paintings include a coffered ceiling above, a wood planked floor below, and to the right a fireplace with a fire screen, among other interior details. Against this room interior, Mary is illustrated, reading a bible as she reclines against a wooden bench.

 In both paintings, angels with halos appear to inform Mary of her inexplicable conception. However, Jin has replaced Campin’s winged Gabriel, featured in Flemish attire, with an unknown winged woman angel wearing a traditional Ming dynasty informal robe accessorized with a Chinese brocade patterned sash. Jin has also eliminated Campin’s six-sided table, which holds a vase with flowers, but has kept the open book and bag on which it rests. While the stone niche in Campin’s painting includes a hanging vessel filled with water, which symbolizes Mary as a vessel for the baby Jesus, Jin has eliminated this symbolic water pot entirely.

 Jin has selected one of his own artistic conventions, dividing his composition down the middle, to reveal a mirror image of the room as well as the angel on the left side of the painting. Jin has added an upper window with beams of bright light shinning on both of the side representations of Mary.  But on the left mirror painting side, both the body and clothing of Mary have been discarded altogether, questioning the prospect of the miraculous birth of Jesus.

Careful modeling of form, the accurate depiction of light, and a contribution to 15th century Florentine landscape painting are characteristic of Alesso Baldovinetti work. All these elements are present in Baldovinetti’s painting Madonna and Child,and served to inspire Jin. In the original painting, a sitting, praying Mary is lovingly gazing down at the baby Jesus, who appears to be offering her his white garment sash of purity while lounging on a red pillow. Both are positioned before a luscious landscape with a river scene that realistically recedes into the background. 

Jin has not only eliminated certain elements of the original painting, he has added features that have changed the painting’s meaning entirely. Now a bodiless Madonna appears to be engrossed in holding an apple of temptation rather than praying. The baby Jesus has been replaced with an open book, whose pages also feature apples of temptation. While baby Jesus’ white sash remains, it threads through his discarded halo and ties the apple symbols of temptation and greed from the printed page to an actual person, suggesting that even virtuous women often struggle against temptation and corruption.

 

 

Lu Peng

Lu Peng emerged onto the fledgling Chinese contemporary art scene in the early 1990s with dynamic paintings that mirrored the restructuring of Chinese society, culture and traditions in the face of Westernization and globalization.

Born in 1967, Lu graduated with a Bachelor of Arts degree in 1991 from Capital Normal University, followed by a Ph.D. from the Central Academy of Fine Arts in 2003. Faced with an ambiguous and unclear journey through the shifting cultural and political landscape of contemporary China, Lu uses exceptional gongbi painting skills, combining them with his admiration for Chinese tradition and culture, to skillfully document distinctive reflections of his complex and unpredictable country. 

Throughout his artistic career, Lu has also been inspired by Renaissance art, and Party,his powerful exhibit painting, has been based on Leonardo Da Vinci’s 15thcentury painting, the Last Supper, commissioned by the Duke of Milan. Although Leonardo used tempera oil on dried plaster for his fresco painting, at the time considered an unorthodox mixed media, Lu has opted for the tradional Chinese painting materials of ink and watercolor on four large expanses of Chinese paper to carefully create his own unique masterpiece showcasing his exceptional fine line gongbibrushwork.

Lu, like Leonardo, balances the perspective of his painting with the vanishing point behind his central figure. Lu has exchanged Leonardo’s coffered ceiling for one with black and white checkered-board patterns. In both long horizontal works, the painted ceilings above and covered tables below provide symmetry and proportion. Lu has substituted the receding painted panels flanking Leonardo’s central scene with two open side curtains that act as borders on the principal images on his painted stage.

Both paintings reveal 12 supporting figures in various poses around a central character, and both artists have created unique individual portraits of each personage. But instead of using Leonard’s four figure groups of three apostles each, Lu presents six groups of two figures each. 

Unlike Leonardo’s painted apostles who had special relationships with Jesus, each of Lu ‘s characters have accidental associations with the main figure as well as with each other, and their interactions are similar to those of unfamiliar people attending a friend’s party.

Lu has supplanted Leonardo’s Jesus with a young man wearing a white T-shirt who for the artist represents “everyman”. Lu’s painting light source comes from above the young man, who is placed against an opened window with a landscape scene backdrop, an element also found in Leonardo’s original piece. Everyman's hand gestures and robe covering the right arm are similar to those shown on Leonardo’s Jesus. Lu’s central figure is depicted viewing an untitled floating book. In fact in Lu’s Partypainting, all books are without titles, concealing their content and often blocking his figures’ faces, thereby obscuring their expressions and reaction to the texts. 

Lu’s additional painted figures include a wide cast of seemingly unrelated characters. In front of Everyman, on the center of the table is a small sculpture of a Chinese artist, wearing traditional Chinese garb and hairstyle, as well as Western angel wings, holding a rolled scroll painting.

A young man standing on the far left side of the painted table is shown in 20thcentury Republic of China garb and appears surprised as he holds a lamp of insight over an open book and unfurled scroll painting. Behind him, a nude girl and a crane of long life confront a Chinese figure, dressed in a historical Chinese soldier’s uniform with Western angel wings, who holds a peach of immoratality.

A character wearing atop hat similar to the one worn by the popular anti-capitalist Western game figure Mr. Monopoly, holds a unidentified open white book, and he stands behind a contemporary painter grasping a brush and reading an untitled red volume. Both figures’ faces are concealed by their open books.

On the upper right side of the painting a white bird is featured flying among three groups of people. In Western religious paintings a flying white bird represents the Holy Spirit, thethird Person of the Trinity, which includes God, the Father and his Son, Jesus. Similar birds are often featured in Middle Ages religious  paintings as asymbol to announce the Virgin Mary’s Immaculate Conception of Jesus.But in Lu’s painting the bird is simply a bird, with no announcement to offer and who is simply observing the painted scene.

The upper right corner includes a woman wearing a 20th century Chinese Qipaodress lounging in a swag of fabric, and her face is obscured by a Chinese fan painted with a landscape scene. The man below her, wearing a Chinese tunic, has angel wings and glasses, and he anxiously gestures for the partygoers’ attention. Below, a nude woman holding a flower is featured attempting to get the notice of Everyman, and she stands behind another party goer, sitting at the table wearing a Western bow tie and vest, and who appears hindered by dark glasses in his attempt to view and appreciate the unfurled Chinese landscape scroll painting he is holding.

At the right table end are a pair of young men, one wearing Western clothing and angel wings, and the other sporting traditional 20thcentury Chinese dress. Both are featured enjoying wine while absorbed in reading their books.

Lu’s entire painted tableau is set in a garden scene, and the tabletop is punctuated with flowers in a vase and scattered on its surface, along with several bonsai plants that are positioned on the table’s left side. For Lu, flowers symbolize life, celebration, elegance, and warmth.The Partybanquet has abundant food and wine for all participants to enjoy. Indeed Lu believes that people sharing food and wine symbolize the hope and faith in family and enduring friendships. 

In Lu’s Party,strange interactions do occur among the figures on his painting surface. Bodies areintertwined and artistic elements are entangled, leaving Lu’s viewers to contemplatetheir own interpretation of his painting andthe place of both contemporary Western culture and traditional Chinese culture in China’s new and volatile society.

In a pair of exhibit paintings, Spring Mountain Reading Five and Six, Lu has used artistic essentials from both Western and Chinese  art. Spring Mountain Painting Reading Sixfeatures a young girl leaning over a table with her elbows resting on a Chinese landscape hanging scroll painting patterned after Yuan dynasty Chinese artist Wang Meng’s painting of the same title. The girl is engrosses in reading her book, also entitled Spring Mountain, and writing her thoughts and comments onto a tablet. Lu has placed the young woman against a Western check-board patterned floor, and a cluster of shrubs is illustrated behind her. Painted rays of insight shower the girl from the right painting side, beyond a crane scrutinizes the scene, and a random open book is illustrated, seemingly floating in air. Throughout the painting a thin black plant vine line meanders through the various details, to connect the disparate painting elements.

The painting’s companion piece, Spring Mountain Reading Five,features a young man, wearing a Chinese tunic and angel wings who is precariously balanced on one foot on a tabletop replete   with a Western quill pen in a Chinese painted porcelain ink container, a leftover plate of food, a half glass of wine, and a book entitled Spring Mountain Reading. Beams of knowledge also cascade over the figure as he is absorbed in an untitled book in one hand, while holding an unfurled piece of Chinese painting paper in the other. Several other untitled open books float to the right of the figure, as does a Chinese landscape painting patterned after Yuan dynasty artist Wang Meng, which is featured on a traditional Chinese scroll mounting. The entire scene is set against a Renaissance style landscape, complete with rolling clouds.  

In both paintings Lu’s theme can be traced to traditional China, but Lu’s style is uniquely his own, combining the brushwork influences of Chinese past painting masters with contemporary elements to explore his subjects quest for knowledge and understanding during the turbulent times in China today. 

Although Lu’s art typically features elements of both tradional Chinese art and Western art, Lu has been inspired by Southern Song dynasty artist Xia Gui’s landscape painting Xishan Qingyuan Tufor his own exhibit painting series with the same title. However, Lu has used the Ming dynasty gongbi  artist Qiu Ying’s blue- green color scheme as well.  The results are exceptional landscape paintings, owing much to past Chinese painting masters, but Lu has ingeniously reinterpreted these celebrated practitioners’ individual techniques to create completely contemporary landscape visions of today.

 

 

Zhu Wei

The son of a People’s Liberation Army (PLA) doctor, Zhu Wei was born in Beijing on the eve of the Cultural Revolution. His parents hoped that he too would enter the medical profession. However, Zhu had other ideas, and he enlisted in the PLA at the age of sixteen. He then began a course of study at the Art College of the PLA, where he excelled in creating propaganda art and posters. After graduating in 1989, Zhu attended the China Painting Academy and the Beijing Film Academy, where he graduated in 1993. Despite his disparate academic art training, Zhu has remained a diligent student of traditional Chinese art, especially the challenging technique of gongbipainting for which he is acclaimed.

The early 1990s was a particularly volatile time for artists in China. Like many of his colleagues, Zhu chose not to be affiliated with any government institution or art academy. While many of his fellow artists did turn to oil painting or acrylic on canvas, the preferred media of the Western art market, Zhu chose to develop his signature gongbi painting style,reshaping, transforming and transcending this centuries old painting technique by employing both classical and ingenious new painting fundamentals to achieve his artistic statements on China’s society and politics. With his formable painting skills, Zhu has the unique ability to create work that initially appears deceptively simple, even whimsical, yet many of his more than 1000 paintings are, in fact, powerful political portraits of PLA soldiers, Party cadres and ordinary citizens, and their life in China today

One of Zhu’s earliest gongbipaintings featured in the exhibit is China Diary Number 19, created in 1998. Initially Zhu has selected a heavy sheet of Xuan painting paper, creating interesting hollows and indentations, before painting the paper ground with a flaxen color. The work features a reclining party official lost in slumber on a comfortable pillow and covered by a blanket to guard against drafts. The party bureaucrat has all of the physical attributes typically found in Zhu’s painted political parodies:  large head, hands, feet, and nose, but closed unseeing eyes and small unhearing ears. Zhu believes that most CCP representatives glean little practical information from these gatherings and that many attendees simply sleep their way through the wearisome assemblies. Although Zhu’s depiction of this political cadre is satirical, it also appears to be accurate, illustrating a passive party person who has few dreams of how to make the past serve the present in contemporary China.

Spring Equinox Number 11 was painted in 2007 and illustrates one of Zhu’s contemporary China social landscapes.Zhu has painted a yellow-colored surface with six floating egg-shaped figures seemingly not tethered to the ground, similar to Western roly-poly toys that tend to right themselves when pushed over. Indeed, some Chinese folk artists craft similar hollow clay shapes to resemble plump, dimwitted bureaucrats, thereby mocking the officials’ incompetence and ineffectiveness. 

Zhu’s six figures all appear to be isolated in their spring outings and all are featured with miniature feet turned inward and with hands shoved into their padded jacket pockets. Sporting wind-swept hair, all figures seem to lack actual personalities. Several have indistinct facial features, while the remaining figures’ faces register dejection or indifference. Indeed, Zhu’s weathered and distressed paper surface figure details are achieved by the artist through repeated immersions into water and subsequent crunching of his strong, Xuan paper. The painted people are flanked on both sides by several of the artist’s seals in clerical script, with one featuring  “www” but missing the actual Internet address. Peach blossoms punctuate the left painting side and a peach with leaves is featured on the right painting side, both considered symbols not only for spring and immortality, but also forlove and romance. Still, passion seems elusive for thefigures featured in this work, and all their dreams and desires for love and affection appear to have gone unanswered.

Zhu has repeatedly used overlapping red curtains as a persistent art element for many of his Ink and Wash Research Lecture Seriespaintings, presenting his viewers not only with a painted abstract backdrop, but one that is also red, a color full of symbolism in traditional and contemporary China, synonymous with both happiness and the communist ideology. In one painting the red curtains offer a background for Zhu’s own political caricature for the average Chinese citizen, a sheep - a tamedanimal famous for being timid, easily led, and stupid. Zhu’s somber sheep peers piercingly through the artist’s black painted haze, which further hinders both the animal’s eyesight and insight.

AnotherInk and Wash Research Lectures Seriespainting focuses on an unlikely subject - a foot- against the red curtained backdrop. It is not known if Zhu actually drew upon the art of Andy Warhol, the leading figure in Western Pop Art, for his theme. Warhol recruited friends, lovers, collectors, and celebrities alike, using their feet as a major subject in his own whimsical art, which was tied to his personal quest of exposing the triviality of the United States’ consumer culture. But unlike Warhol, it is not apparent if Zhu’s single painted foot is simply just a foot, or if it represents the artist’s personal statement on contemporary China’s pursuit of its own burgeoning consumer culture.

In two recent Ink and Wash Research Lecturespaintings Zhu features one simple, red, hanging curtain and he has joined this art element with two unassuming images. In one work, a white scarf is draped on the left red curtain side. White scarves have special meaning in various cultures. In China, female opera figures use them when performing, and in Tibet white scarves are presented as gifts and are used for special offerings. In traditional China the white color was viewed both as a sign of purity and also as a symbol for death. But in this painting, the color white and the scarf itself are purely art elements, without any elusive connotation. Indeed, the artist is simply playing with forms, art elements, and the materials that he has used on his painting surface. In the other Ink and Wash Research Lecturespainting, an indistinct, abstract form is featured on the left red curtain side.  Zhu has painted over both images with a murky black wash, obscuring the art elements and creating a feeling of mystery and unease. 

In the final Ink and Wash Research Lecture Series exhibit painting, Zhu explores the relationship between history and contemporary culture by creating a political parody of a sheep, who like a Chinese citizen, is typically meek and easily led. Zhu has exchanged his distinctive and exclusive Xuan paper for common, unexceptional newsprint as his painting surface, perhaps hinting that the government’s control over everyday media alters its citizen’s perception of daily news and life in contemporary China.

This is one of twelve newsprint paintings in the series, and all reveal a blurred image of a central figure with indistinct features in front of a red curtain backdrop. On this painting, the artist has applied layers of mustard-color pigments cover both figure and flag, obscuring the details of both. The artist then further distresses the painting surface, distorting the actual images of both art elements while making his statement on the Communist party’s unrealistic socialist society.

Julie Segraves  in Denver, USA