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In the showcase, there are the color-matching samples of Fuchun Shan Jutu (left) and Thousand Miles of Mountains and Rivers (right). Photo by Tong Xiaoyu
The Tang Dynasty’s “Walking Picture”, “The Lady with a Hairpin Flower”, the Five Dynasties’ “Han Xizai’s Night Banquet” and the Song Dynasty’s “A Thousand Miles of Mountains and Rivers” … These rare ancient paintings, spanning thousands of years, have appeared in the same exhibition by digital means in the form of color matching samples.
On November 2nd, “Revision in the Prosperous Times-Exhibition of Phased Achievements of’ China Painting Series of Past Dynasties'” opened in Zhejiang University.
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Exhibition site. Photo by Tong Xiaoyu
“China Painting Series of Past Dynasties”, compiled and published by Zhejiang University and Zhejiang Cultural Relics Bureau for 16 years, is a collection of images and documents of ancient paintings in China with the most complete collection of works, the truest image records, the best printing quality and the largest publishing scale.
This time, about 500 painting samples used in the compilation and publication of “China Painting Series of Past Dynasties” (hereinafter referred to as “Series”) were exhibited. The exhibition mode of combining images, characters and new media reproduced the ancient China painting classics that have survived since the pre-Qin period.
See thousands of years of paintings in one day.
It’s hard to see the masterpieces in China’s painting history. Some of them have been lost in history, while others have survived to this day, but they are either scattered in foreign countries or collected, which is not common easily. But at the exhibition site, it’s not empty talk to see thousands of years of paintings in one day.
Walking into the exhibition hall, under the bright light, the images of famous paintings printed at the ratio of 1:1 “hit my face”.
According to Wang Lijian, curator, about 500 color-matching samples of paintings used in the compilation and publication of “China Painting Series of Past Dynasties” are the main display contents of this exhibition, including more than 160 works of Tang, Song, Yuan and previous years.
Paintings and color-matching samples of famous national treasures such as Five Cattle by Han Yun, Riverside at Qingming Festival by Zhang Zeduan, and Scenery of a Thousand Miles by Wang Ximeng are either lying in the showcase or hanging on the ordinary wall, waiting for the unexpected meeting with the audience.
“Although it is a color matching sample, the similarity with the original painting is as high as 95%.” Qu Lian, curator of Zhejiang University Museum of Art and Archaeology, said that after thousands of years, the details of some famous paintings are hard to see clearly, but the samples on display can meet the most demanding research needs.
Through the showcase, the reporter can see many details that are difficult to find in the original works, such as the Analects of Confucius written on the Three Holy Pictures collected by Confucius House in Qufu; After enlarging the palm-sized inscription in the original painting, you can still see every word on it clearly.
In addition to reappearing the famous national treasure paintings in museums, many national treasure paintings that have been separated for many years are “reunited” here in another form. For example, Fuchun Shan Jutu, which was collected in Zhejiang Museum and Taipei Palace Museum after 1949, appeared in a complete form.
Qu Lian said that Emperor Qianlong of the Qing Dynasty had named Song Mo’s Illustration of Women’s History and the three illustrations of Shujiang River, Jiuge and Xiaoxiang, which were handed down as Li Gonglin’s works, as “four beauties”. Nowadays, all the “three beauties” have been lost overseas, except Nine Songs and Picture Volumes, which is kept in the National Museum.
He said that this exhibition, with the help of the color-matching sample of “Big Department” publications, allowed the National Museum’s Nine Songs Picture Book to be exhibited together with other “three beauties” scattered in the British Museum, Friel Art Museum and Tokyo National Museum, and also made the audience have a glimpse of the “four beauties”.
Sixteen years of “cultural hardship”
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At the exhibition, the paintings originally stored in different places were “reunited” by way of painting and color matching samples. Photo by Tong Xiaoyu
How are these ancient paintings presented to readers in the form of exhibitions? This originated from a simple cultural ideal, which was a 16-year “cultural trek”.
Almost all paintings handed down from ancient times are faced with such an embarrassing situation: as precious cultural relics, they need to be protected; As cultural masterpieces, they need to be studied. How are the cultural relics in the storehouses of museums known and used?
Based on such a simple cultural ideal, in 2005, as the first project of Zhejiang Cultural Research Project, the Complete Works of Song Paintings began to be compiled. The Complete Works of Song Paintings is the beginning of the compilation of “China Paintings Series of Past Dynasties”.
From the initial contact with 102 cultural institutions at home and abroad, 23 volumes are planned to be published, and 827 Song paintings will be compiled. By 2020, there will be more than 260 contacts, more than 230 volumes will be published, and more than 12,250 paintings of past dynasties will be compiled. The volume of “big series” is gradually expanding, and the completion of high-precision image collection is a consistent “difficulty” in the compilation and publication.
“It is extremely difficult to ask one cultural institution at home and abroad to open the warehouse door for a project team that has never had contacts before to photograph the treasures of its town hall.” Qu Lian said.
In addition, the project team also determined the most ideal technical standard for image publications at that time: try to shoot the original works with a large technical landline of 8×10 inches. In order to make the ancient painting images present in front of the world with the highest definition, the book should not only have the whole picture, but also present partial original and enlarged pictures. High standards will inevitably lead to high difficulty.
Because the calligraphy and painting cultural relics are extremely fragile, there is a risk of damage every time they move. For this reason, the project team strictly stipulates that it is not allowed to touch cultural relics when shooting collections, and it is not allowed to violate intellectual property rights and copyright regulations.
In addition to shooting high-definition images, the project team members also became “restorers”, and repaired the works with high image damage without damage. “Generally, it takes 3-5 days to adjust the picture, and it takes ten days for the complicated one. We have to smooth out the creases on the painting.” Qu Lian said.
At the exhibition site, the reporter saw the comparison before and after the sample draft was adjusted.
For example, now in the Palace Museum in Beijing, “The Stone Wall of Tianchi” created by Huang Gongwang, a painter of Yuan Dynasty, was originally photographed with folds, which made it difficult to see the picture clearly. However, after the restoration, the mountains and houses on the painting can be clearly seen, and there is almost no color difference between them.
Wang Shen, curator of Zhejiang University Museum of Art and Archaeology, said that it is precisely because of the persistence of the project team that these famous ancient China paintings can be clearly displayed in the exhibition hall.
“We also hope to do a good job in the digital dissemination of China culture.” Wang Shen said that many works in the exhibition have made QR codes, and at the same time, the inscriptions of many famous Ming and Qing paintings have been enlarged, so that the audience can see the famous paintings more clearly.
It is reported that this exhibition was held on the first floor of the Museum of Art and Archaeology of Zhejiang University. (Tong Xiaoyu Ke Yineng Wu Yalan)