Li Liufang

Li Liufang

Li Liufang (1575-1629), who was born in Shexian County, Huizhou (now Shexian County, Anhui Province), lived in Jiading (now Jiading, Shanghai), was a poet and painter of Ming Dynasty.

He was elected at the age of 32, but later he lost his official career. Most of the poems are about scenery, with a fresh and natural style. Together with Tang Shisheng, Lou Jian and Cheng jiasui, they are called "four Jiading masters". He is good at landscape painting, learning from Wuzhen and Huang Gongwang. He is one of the "nine friends in painting" and also works in calligraphy. In the second year of Chongzhen, he died in Tanyuan at the age of 55.

(overview photo source: Portrait of Mr. Jiading, painted by Shen Shao of Qing Dynasty, collected by Beijing Palace Museum)

Life of the characters

In 1575, Li Liufang was born to an official family in Nanxiang, Jiading. He was originally from Shexian County, Huizhou Prefecture, nanzhili (now Nanfeng County, Shexian County, Anhui Province). His grandfather, Li wenbang, was the first ancestor of Qianxiang. He served as commander of chengshanwei and presented it to the Duke. His father, Li Ruyun, was a county student. Uncle Li Rujie was a Jinshi of Jiajing and an official of Anji Prefecture. Li Xianfang, a cousin, is a Jinshi of Wanli and a counsellor of Sichuan. Li Liufang has four brothers: Li Yuanfang, elder brother, Zhusheng, poet; Li Mingfang, elder brother, Wanli Jinshi, scholar of Imperial Academy; Li Sanfang, younger brother, county magistrate of Dinghai. Li Liufang ranked third, known as Li sanchangzhen. when Li Liufang was a teenager, he sneaked into Donglin nunnery, studied hard, and sought to become an official in the imperial examination. In the 34th year of Wanli (1606), he won the imperial examination at the age of 32. Later, he went to Beijing twice to take part in the imperial examination. At that time, the imperial court was controlled by eunuch Wei Zhongxian and his party members. Frustrated, he went back to his hometown and built his own "Tanyuan" which was his last official career. He often toured the West Lake in Hangzhou, painting while touring the lake, and wrote a series of postscripts, a school of elegant demeanor. He is upright, fresh and natural in poetic style, and is the best scholar in literature. Wei Zhongxian Jiansheng temple does not worship, and people said: "worship, a current event, do not worship, eternal things." Li Liufang and Cheng jiasui are equally famous in poetry, calligraphy and painting. He once said to his friend Qian Qianyi, "it's the first pleasure in my life to see Meng Yang (Cheng jiasui) reciting poems and painting Qian Qianyi said: "I have two quick, and see brother and Meng Yanger." In the first year of Chongzhen (1628), Qian Qianyi was released and sat on the account to discuss the documents. Li Liufang, who was ill, heard the news and supported the pillow and sighed: "it's impossible to do it!" On April 3, 1629, Li Liufang died in Tanyuan at the age of 55. Qian Qianyi wrote the epitaph of Li changjue, Cheng jiasui wrote the epitaph of Li changjue, song Jue wrote the seal seal, and Hou Dong wrote the article of sacrifice to Li changjue. Lin Dazhong, a poet of Jiading in the Qing Dynasty, wrote a poem praising him for "recalling the late Ming Dynasty, he had many official ways.". Gao Shiduo is contemptible, but he can't stand alone. Poetry can be halal, painting is also super Yi. Do not worship the eternal things, the famous saying is very simple. Filial piety and honesty worried about the country, so he died with blood. " Dong Qichang, a great calligrapher, said, "his art is eternal."

Main achievements

Outstanding poets

Li Liufang is a famous litterateur in the late Ming Dynasty. He is famous for his poems and essays. Tianqi, during the reign of Chongzhen, the atmosphere of Jingling was flourishing in the literary world, and the aftereffect of public security was not over. Li Liufang's poems and essays are not only different from Li Panlong and other "the last seven sons" who seek innovation by restoring the ancients, but also different from Zhong Xing and others who are mysterious and obscure. He writes his true feelings in a natural, simple and fresh style. Li Liufang's poetic style is similar to Tao Yuanming's youxiechuan and Bai Juyi's xiangshanji. He is also deeply influenced by his good friend Cheng jiasui. He thinks that poetry should be the true expression of temperament, and temperament is the life of poetry. To write poetry, one should cultivate one's own temperament. As for the expression form of poetry, it is the natural expression of the poet when he seeks to express his temperament. His works follow this view. For example, his five character poem "passing through the standard Pavilion, staying in Yongqing Buddhist temple in Longju Bay, the same Lian Cheng's heart can always be the master's step on the moon" records the scene of "going out of the West Lake", "facing the Yellow Crane", and going to Yongqing Buddhist temple in Longju bay to get together with Yilian and other monks and friends who have been separated for a long time, which is a beautiful scene of "shallow mountain, clear sky and thin sea atmosphere", expressing the good fate of "stopping the dust for a while, only then can we know the joy of solitude" and the joy of "long and deep night" And the artistic conception and verve of singing poems with monks and friends at the time of "thousands of forests flowing plain" can be compared with Su Shi's well-known poem "night tour of Chengtian Temple". Li Liufang's articles are also valued by scholars. The content includes the narration of nostalgia for people, the travel notes of mountains and rivers, and the inscription and preface of paintings, most of which are paintings. These articles are not long, but they are all fresh and natural, with different styles, plain writing and sincere feelings. Just as Huang Zongxi said: "Changhe has no other great works. His picture books, natural and unrestrained, make readers out of them. It's true that there are paintings in the works." His bamboo scroll on the lantern is an example. The style of this essay is very similar to that of the small strokes it has drawn. It's easy to write and full of interest. There is no trace of carving, but the beauty of light forever. The author recalls the process of knowing the master, and talks about it in a few words. After leaving, the feeling of missing overflows on the paper. The three sentences of "you Chuang Ji Jing" are integrated with the past, the present and the scenery. When it comes to painting, I feel sorry that thousands of real bamboos have turned into nothing, which is a contrast to my friend's gratifying progress in bamboo painting. From this, I have a fantastic idea that bamboo painting is made of real bamboos. It's true and false, it's false and real, and it's funny in the fantasy. I'm glad to see my friend's painting progress. In 1628, Li Liufang chose 12 volumes of poems and Essays (6 volumes of ancient and modern poems, 366 in total; 4 volumes of essays, 2 volumes of painting postscripts, 90 in total) from his illness, and named them Tan Yuan Ji. He ordered his nephew Li Yizhi and his son Li Hangzhi to collate them. In the third year of Chongzhen reign (1630), the collection of four gentlemen in Jiading was compiled and published by Xie Sanbin, the magistrate, and Tang Shisheng, Lou Jian and Cheng jiasui. In 1781, Tan Yuan Ji was officially designated as Si Ku Quan Shu and Ji Bu Liu. In 1993, Tan Yuan Ji was selected into Siku Mingren Anthology Series, which was published by Shanghai ancient books publishing house.

Great success of calligraphy

Li Liufang's calligraphy originated from Su Shi. He is good at running script and cursive script. He is a famous calligrapher of a generation. Dong Chang's calligraphy is as rigorous and natural as his ancient painting. In his postscript copy calligraphy, he has a very refined discussion on the art of calligraphy. He thinks: to learn calligraphy, we should not become a calligrapher, learn from the essence of tradition instead of being similar in shape; we should learn from the ancient but innovate, and have our own style. He also attached great importance to the influence of literary taste and academic accomplishment on calligraphy and painting, and his calligraphy and painting were full of long literati atmosphere. Taking Su Shi as an example, he took the flat shape of Su characters instead of their plumpness and naivety, and changed his style into a fine and strong style. As the experts say, he can get the essence of Su characters and have his own features. the poem axis of Li Bai's visit to Dongting Lake, which is collected in Shanghai Museum, has the running script "Tianmen breaks the Chu River, the water runs out, and there is no cloud in Tiannan.". Sunset in Changsha, autumn far away, I do not know where to hang Xiangjun The pen is mellow, winning by the charm, benefiting from the body fat and thin, naturally stretching without affectation; the pen starts with a sharp end, calm and sharp, with a degree of vertical and horizontal, with a smooth and orderly rhythm; the horizontal and vertical strokes are quite Su's style, and the subtle points are also the masterpieces. Learning Su characters is not exactly the same as Su characters, so it should be the top grade of learning Su characters in Ming Dynasty. Another example is the self written five character poem axis of the national treasure canon, which is selected as the national key book of the ninth five year plan. The running script contains 40 sentences, which is a work of persuading the world by borrowing the scenery. The whole composition is well proportioned, the structure is rigorous, and the punctuation is precise. The style is between Su Dongpo and Zhao Fu. On the other hand, Chang Chen's book has its own unique features: first, it has more square strokes, more edges and corners at the beginning, and it still has a sense of flexibility due to the smooth drawing between the pens and the momentum of the strokes; second, it is more reserved and enhances its sense of strength, which seems to be Zhao character. Li's calligraphy is changeable and unique in style. Li's running script is an outstanding scholar in the Ming Dynasty. He made some beneficial explorations in the aspect of entering ancient times and creating new ones, which had a certain influence on later generations. Most of his paintings are written in running script, which is implicit and fluent, and complements his paintings. Li's cursive script uses the cup element method, but never indulges. But it only increases the look, loop and pull between dots. The structure is horizontal and vertical, increasing the upward tilt, so as to enhance the overall dynamic of the text. It is said that in his later years, he wrote dozens of volumes of poems by the sages of Tang and Song dynasties in cursive style. He not only studied poetry, but also practiced calligraphy. We can see his diligence in calligraphy and his ability in refining calligraphy. Li Liufang has a large number of handed down ink treasures, including fans, letters, vertical shafts and paintings. Most of them are collected in Jiangsu, Zhejiang, Shanghai and Suzhou museums. His works have been compiled into the "Grand View of Chinese calligraphy" and "national treasure canon" and other classics.

Master of Art

The painter Li Liufang is good at landscape and flowers. His paintings are mainly inherited from Dong Yuan and Ju ran of the Five Dynasties and Huang Gongwang, Wang Meng, Wu Zhen and Ni Yunlin of the Yuan Dynasty. On the axis of Li Liufang's the painting of Pavilion in autumn forest, there is a poem with seven unique themes: "the mountain is made of alum, the water has few lines, and the color of Dong Yuan's Cun is huge. It's a leisure pavilion with mountains and waters. It's divided equally with the old friends. " This is tantamount to declaring that he learned from Dong and Ju. In fact, Li Liufang's traditional study is not limited to one or two schools. In the past three hundred years, mustard garden painting manual (Shangshui part), which has been popular at home and abroad, is based on his works of imitating the styles of the ancients. in painting, Li Liufang not only advocated various schools of song and Yuan Dynasties, but also paid attention to learning from nature, emphasized sketching, and created new ideas in his paintings. "Ten scenes of Wuzhong" is one of his representative works. From the artist's perspective, he draws pictures of ten scenic spots in Wuzhong and depicts the reality

Chinese PinYin : Li Liu Fang