In the late Ming and early Qing dynasties, there appeared in the history of Chinese painting a painting genre with the style of dry, quiet, cool, and clean – Xin’an Painting School. This school of painting has a strong character, poetic flavor, and emphasizes learning from nature, which has a great impact on future generations.
“The Painter’s Mountain – Anhui Museum’s Collection of Fine Works of the Xin’an School of Painting” was recently launched in the Ningbo Museum. 77 paintings fully demonstrate the artistic style of the Xin’an School of Painting during the Ming and Qing dynasties, enabling the audience to deeply understand the charm of the pen and ink of the Xin’an School of Painting and the noble character of the painter, as well as the artistic spirit of traditional Chinese painting. The exhibition will continue until December 15th.
Presenting the characteristics of the painting school of “lonely and desolate”
Xin’an, an ancient county name, has jurisdiction equivalent to today’s She County, Xiuning, Qimen, Jixi, Yi County, and Wuyuan, Jiangxi Province, later known as Huizhou. The economic prosperity brought about by the rise of Huizhou merchants in the Ming and Qing dynasties and the beautiful geographical scenery built by the local two mountains and one river (Mount Huangshan, Qiyun Mountain, Xin’an River) made the painters at that time follow and learn about the historical sites collected by the Huizhou merchants, while at the same time, they are full of hills and valleys and painting, forming a unique poetic school of painting.
“Xin’an School of Painting originated in the Ming and Qing Dynasties, and flourished in the 17th century. Its representative painters took the Xin’an River basin as the center of activities, and the painting subjects were mostly Mount Huangshan and the mountains and waters in southern Anhui. They put forward the artistic idea of ‘dare to say that heaven and earth are my teachers’, which pushed landscape painting to the peak of learning from nature.” Yesterday, Xu Qin, the relevant director of the curatorial department of Ningbo Museum, said.
The leaders of the Xin’an Painting School are mostly the descendants of the late Ming Dynasty. They boast of integrity, express affection for landscapes, specialize in painting, love to use strong lines, alternate composition, square and sharp strokes, and dry and simple ink, presenting the characteristics of the “desolate and desolate” landscape in their paintings. Looking at their works, one can imagine the sadness and helplessness of the painter’s heart.
Have a profound impact on modern Chinese painting
The Xin’an Painting School, represented by Zengjiang, Zha Shibiao, Wang Zhirui, Sun Yi, Cheng Shen, and Cheng Jiasui, has inherited and enriched the lineage of Chinese literati painting, and has had a profound impact on the later Yangzhou Painting School, the Maritime Painting School, and the New Huizhou School.
In the late Ming and early Qing dynasties, social unrest caused Xin’an painters to appreciate the world’s affairs and human relationships like scholars in the Wei and Jin dynasties, and “character” also came from it. They emphasized integrity and adopted a way of not cooperating with the Qing regime, either cutting their hair to become monks or retreating from the market. Their painting techniques derive from the sadness of their inner emotions and the aloofness of their spirit, disdaining heavy makeup and painting peace.
This kind of strength gives a kind of vitality to the depressed picture, just like the Greeting Pine on Mount Huangshan Mountain, standing on the cliff, remote and lonely, but if you are in the scene, its vigorous vitality will shock people. As Guo Yin, an aesthetician, said in My View of Xin’an School of Painting: “It shows the character, conscience, blood and heart of a group of upright people with the wonder of Mount Huangshan Mountain and the wonder in his chest, the bone of Mount Huangshan Mountain and the bone of his self. Although it can not turn the tide of collapse in society and the painting world, it shows a sweet spring of hope, inspiration and courage in the turbulent currents all over the country.”