Xiang Shengmo

Xiang Shengmo

Xiang Shengmo was born in Jiaxing, Zhejiang Province. He is a famous calligrapher and painter in the late Ming Dynasty.

Brief description of characters

Xiang Shengmo was born in the 25th year of Wanli in the Ming Dynasty (1597) and died in the 15th year of Shunzhi in the Qing Dynasty (1658). His first name is Yi, and his later name is kongzhang. There are many other names. The known names are Zizhang, Zipi, xushanqiao, Xuqiao, guxushanqiao, Tu mingsou, Liantang Jushi, Songtao Sanxian, Dayou Shanren, cuncunjushi, Yanbo Diaoyu, kuangyinke, Yuanhu Diaoyou, yisou, etc They are sergeant of no night building, drunk madman, fisherman beside Yanyu building, etc. they are from Jiaxing, Zhejiang Province. His grandfather Xiang yuanbian was a famous calligrapher and painter in the late Ming Dynasty. My uncle Xiang Dexin is also good at painting. Xiang Shengmo was influenced by his family since childhood, and he studied ancient famous paintings and calligraphy. Although he was recommended by a scholar as a student of the Imperial College, he did not seek to be an official, but devoted his interest to painting and calligraphy. As a result, he showed many talents in painting creation. He was excellent in landscape, characters, flowers and birds. He was highly praised by Dong Qichang and Li Rihua, the two most famous connoisseurs in the late Ming Dynasty Evaluation. Dong Qichang wrote a postscript in his picture album, saying that "the ancients discussed painting, and there was no doubt that taking things as a whole was not a complete set of thirteen subjects. Fan Kuan's mountain and water products are still famous figures, so he knows how difficult it is to be both good and bad. Xiang kongzhang's book is a collection of beautiful trees and stone houses. They all fought with the people of Song Dynasty. They were in the middle of the mountains and rivers, and they were also popular in the Yuan Dynasty. Although they had their own strengths, they were also very diligent. They had both morale and writers. Xiang Zijing has such a grandson that he can appreciate the food newspaper for a hundred years. "Li Rihua praised his painting style as a" rising hero ".

Xiang Shengmo's works are mainly landscapes, which is also the main aspect of his achievements. In his early years, he began to learn from Wen Zhengming, but he soon got out of the limitation of his painting style and directly learned from the ancients. This is mainly due to his family's rich collection of famous paintings in the past dynasties, which enabled him to quickly learn from the meticulous and rigorous style of the song people and the charm of the Yuan people. In addition to the rich family collection of his ancestors, he also had his own experience in observing nature and sketching from afar, which made the layout of his paintings open and close, the artistic conception clear and elegant, the structure rigorous and varied, the style simple and elegant, the charm elegant, and the style of writing highly scholarly, with high quality and ideological connotation.

There are two most praiseworthy aspects of his paintings, which are beyond other painters at that time. One is the strong political color. He used paintings to reflect the sufferings of the people and to express his sympathy for the people and loyalty to the Ming Dynasty. After the changes of Jiashen and Yiyou, Xiang Shengmo no longer wrote the annals of the dynasties in his paintings, but only used the branches and cadres, and stamped with the seals of "officials in the south of the Yangtze River", "people from Liaoxi county since the Southern Song Dynasty" and "Jiahe Chushi in the royal family" to show his integrity. During this period, most of his works used paintings to express his indignation and strong feelings of adherents. Xu Shuming wrote a Book of landscape poems and paintings by Xiang Shengmo in the third year of Shunzhi reign of Qing Dynasty (1646): "the snow in June sometimes changes. I hope that Fusang has thoughts of his homeland and Dong Hu in the history of poetry." In the painting, it reflects the times and takes painting as history. Li Zhujin believes that his works after the subjugation contain the pictorial symbols of allegiance to the former dynasty and expressing the pain of subjugation, such as: red, with "Zhu" as the Ming Dynasty; trees with strong branches but no leaves, which are compared to the country, stand upright despite the wind and rain, with unyielding spirit; birds living in the twilight have no place to return, where is home, etc. The inscription and postscript of the picture of wind number of big trees in the Palace Museum of Beijing is "the wind number of big trees stands in the sky, the sun sets, the West Mountains and the seas are lonely.". Short strategy and at any time Dan Mo, can't bear to look back, looking at zizanpu "can be his mood portrayal.

The second is the extremely rigorous painting style and realistic attitude. Xiang Shengmo is good at drawing materials from life. His paintings are close to reality, accurate in shape, serious and meticulous, contrary to the sloppy painting style of that time and the pursuit of "easy brushwork". Wu Shantao once said in the title of Shengmo's autumn sound painting axis: "Mr. Kong Zhang, in order to give his old friends painting, he must be attentive and meticulous, and always sneer at his overwork. You said: my generation's pen and ink, if you want to spread for thousands of generations, how can you be careless? What a purpose it is. " It can be seen that Xiang Shengmo's serious and good style had a direct impact on his painting style, which made his painting unique in the painting world at that time, and won the reputation of "having both morale and writers".

Xiang Shengmo likes to paint tall trees, especially pines. The trees are hooked, rubbed and dyed finely. The trunks are rugged and have a strong concave and convex feeling. The light receiving part is quite specific, which is quite different from the schematic painting of ordinary literati. Therefore, Xiang Shengmo was known as "Xiang Songzhi is famous in Southeast China" in Ming Dynasty. The tree trunk in his painting is straight, strong and powerful, and the personification image is bright and strong, with strong personality power.

In the creation of flower and bird painting, Xiang Shengmo also has his own distinctive characteristics, especially paying attention to modeling, careful composition, good at showing the level of leaves and petals, back and the light and shade of light receiving points, which is different from the painting style of other flower and bird painters at that time. Xiang Shengmo seriously absorbed the spirit of careful examination and creation of the Huang Fang School of painting, but in painting, influenced by freehand brushwork, he formed a form of combination of work and writing, which created a new development trend of the fine brushwork flower and bird painting of the Huang Fang school. In terms of techniques, most of them use ink or light color, and sometimes they use pure color for boneless technique, which is light but not thin. In the use of the pen, it is very dignified and elegant, so although it has a beautiful color, it has a rugged style. The whole tone and atmosphere are very elegant and elegant. It is different from the common customs. It seems that there is a cool fragrance floating in it. His style is reflected in the later works of Yun Shouping, Jiang Tingxi and others.

Besides painting, Xiang Shengmo is also good at calligraphy and poetry. His calligraphy is dignified and rigorous. Most of his poems are painting poems. Apart from describing the scenery of mountains and rivers and natural beauty, there are also many poems expressing his sympathy for the suffering of the people and his nostalgia for his motherland. His solemn diction and solemn style reflect his personality. Because his country was broken and his family died, he was poor in his later years, but he was determined to be noble and clean, didn't make friends with powerful people, and was self-sufficient by selling paintings. His works include the collection of langyuntang, the collection of Qinghe thatched cottage, the research on the surnames of painters in past dynasties, and the words of Mojun.

His life

Chinese sun of Teana Pavilion

Xiang Shengmo is a very noteworthy figure in the field of Chinese painting in the late Ming and early Qing Dynasties. His paintings are collected in museums all over the country, and many of them are scattered abroad. The total number of paintings handed down or recorded in literature is more than 600. His works are large in quantity, high in quality and unique in style. His artistic skills were no less than those of the first-class painters at that time. What is more outstanding is that his works have ideological content and the flavor of the times.

Xiang Shengmo was born in Jiaxing, Zhejiang Province. He was named Yi'an at the beginning and Kong Zhang at the end. He was also named Xu Shanqiao, Cun Cun Ju Shi, zuifeng Ren, da you Shan Ren, Liantang Ju Shi, Yanbo Diao Tu, Songtao Sanxian, yisou, Kuangyin Ke, Yuanhu Diao sou, buyelou sergeant and so on.

Jiaxing Xiang family is a big family. From Xiang Shengmo's seal of "Liaoxi county people since the great Song Dynasty's southward migration", we can see that Xiang's ancestors in Jiaxing were originally from the north, and they fled to the south to settle down when the Northern Song Dynasty perished. After the middle of Ming Dynasty, there were many well-known figures in this family, either high officials or literature and art. Xiang Zhong, the fifth ancestor of Xiang Shengmo, was a Jinshi in the orthodox period, who was an official to the Ministry of war. His uncle Xiang Dushou was a Jinshi in Jiajing, and also a doctor in the Ministry of war. His grandfather Xiang yuanbian was a famous collector, connoisseur and painter of ancient calligraphy and painting. Xiang Zijing has a very special character. He is very indifferent to the imperial examination. When Wanli asked him to be an official, he didn't go either. However, he has a special hobby for ancient cultural relics. His collection of ancient calligraphy and famous paintings, as well as the jade of Dingyi, is in the sea. The quantity and quality of them are not only at that time, but also in future generations. Now we can see that many of the famous paintings handed down from ancient times were collected by him. He once got a Guqin engraved with the word "Tianlai", so he named the house where he stored his antiques "Tianlai Pavilion".

Xiang Zijing has six sons named Dechun, Deming, Dexin, Decheng, Deda and Dehong. Dong Qichang said: "Yuan Bian Liuzi got his calligraphy, painting, and natural resources, while Ji (Deming) got his Dunxing." Xiang Shengmo's father Xiang Deda is also a famous collector and painter.

Xiang Shengmo was born on August 18 of the lunar calendar in 1597, the 25th year of Wanli in the Ming Dynasty. This is the eighth year after his grandfather Xiang yuanbian died. Xiang yuanbian, on his deathbed, gave his six sons his collection of ancient books, paintings and other artifacts. Xiang Shengmo's father naturally got a share. Xiang Shengmo copied the painting of five oxen by the famous Tang Dynasty painter Han Fu in 1631. Xiang yuanbian once collected the painting of five oxen, which has his inscription and many collection marks. It is very likely that this famous painting was given to his father when yuanbian died, and later it was collected by Xiang Shengmo. There is a long seal of "archaeological evidence today" in today's wuniutu. Is it Xiang Shengmo's seal? To be tested.

Because Xiang Shengmo was born in such a family and influenced by his family environment, he loved painting and calligraphy very much and often wrote and drew. He also hoped for the imperial examination career. He was recommended by a scholar to study in Guozijian, and he was a great student. However, his ambition is like that of his grandfather, and his greater interest is in the study and creation of poetry, calligraphy and painting. He wrote it at the age of 33

Chinese PinYin : Xiang Sheng Mo