Causerie
——Zhang Yuejian

Better excessively expressive than inadequately, and better concise expression of mind than detailed, which is the guideline that I’ve been acknowledging and observing in creating paintings.

The beauty of a painting lies in its ability in spiritual conveyance. To this end, the painter has to depict and process the shape in a somewhat exaggerated and generalized way. In a word, proper transformation is needed. Absolutely accurate scale and structure does not necessary contribute to extreme vividness.     

For freehand painting, “lively spirit and charm”, the first principle of six methods of Chinese painting, must run through the creation process. Where does the spirit come from? It comes from life. Deep understanding of the inner and superficial characteristics of the object can help the painter foster emotions, stimulate the desire of creation, and take on the “role” before actually starting to paint. During the creation process, the shape to be painted has emerged and what the painter needs to do is to keep going and catch the spirit in one stretch. When there is spirit, there is life; when the spirit is smothered, there is no life. The painter should complete the life in the work with brush and ink instead of being trapped in similarity in shape.

Love life. Always observe life with a keen eye. Capture the essence of art in ordinary life and learn it by heart or sketch it or write it down. Do not simple imitate the sketch material but add something to it or take something out of it to make it more artistically appealing. In this way, the daunting task of “conveying spirit out of shape” is fulfilled.

Watching TV and movies, visiting exhibitions, reading pictorial albums and literary books are indispensable daily spiritual nourishment. We should be an observant and conscientious person to memorize scenes, pictures, images, quotes and reflections that may benefit creation of arts for reference. These may be only trickles of creation rather than sources, but trickles can merge into sea.

Knowledge depends on gradual accumulation. In addition to memory, diligent note taking is more needed. Every scholar has cards that keep tremendous information, while painters should also accumulate numerous sketch materials. Without readily available materials, a painter can not make something out of nothing. Store the materials that is sketched and written down by classification in case of need; indicate the date, location, category, and variety of the materials to evoke emotional memory, expand the imaginary thinking and help conception when they are referred to.

Freehand paintings and elaborate paintings have different characteristics. The spirit in freehand paintings is often expressed without having to be painted by the brush, as it is the imaginary spirit that is valued; while elaborate paintings stress on complete, meticulous, and realistic depiction of shape. Spaces are often left between strokes and colors in freehand paintings to convey a sense of light and dark, a stereoscopic impression, and an empty feeling. How to make the picture feel ethereal? Technically speaking, calligraphy can be used to feature discontinuous rising and falling hollow strokes. The key lies in writing rather than sketching. Writing provides clear strokes. Impression comes from clear strokes. When space is left between strokes, the spirit will densely outflow. If the space is eliminated, the work will be dull, blocked and lack of appeal. The flowers in the paintings of Wu Changshuo and the landscape in the paintings of Huang Binhong best demonstrate their beauty in this way.

In addition to the “imaginary spirit” that is stressed, the technique of contrast is also valued in freehand paintings, for example, conflicting relationships between major and minor, virtual and real, light and heavy, sparse and dense, black and white, long and short, big and small, thick and slim, square and round, rigid and soft, slow and quick, dynamic and static, thick and thin, dry and humid, cold and warm, skillful and clumsy, scattered and concentrated. Once these conflicts are properly addressed and unified in the painting, a feeling of colorfulness and fun will be conveyed. The key is to grasp the central part of major v.s. minor to adjust the other pairs. The major part and the minor part should be observed both generally and locally in a painting. However, the local major-minor parts should be subject to the general, and meanwhile they two should interconnected and echoing with each other. The minor part should not usurp the major one while the major part cannot leave the minor one to take the lead alone.

Creation of painting should seek new theme, new conception, new shape, new composition, and new use of brush and ink. Among them, the innovation in the use of brush and ink is most difficult.

The emergence, spread, development, and change of Chinese painting are related to ethnic, historical, geographical, tool and other factors. The inheritance and change of Chinese painting vary with the ups and downs in the political, economical and cultural conditions in different times. Innovating the Chinese painting is a trend in today’s era and no one can resist it. However, it should not be done in a rush for quick result. Chinese painters who aspire to innovate should first conduct in-depth comparison and study of the characteristics of Chinese and Western paintings and thoroughly understand the origin and evolution of Chinese painting. They should learn from Western painting in both theory and technique, establish a sense of national honor and pride, persistently study, inherit and innovate the Chinese painting with a down-to-earth attitude to obtain fruitful results.

Chinese literati painting integrates poetry, calligraphy and painting in a whole, with rich use and brush and ink and presenting a unique style. From Su Dongpo in Song Dynasty to Xu Wei and Chen Chun in Ming Dynasty, the painting world reached its heyday; the rise of Zhu Da, Shi Tao and Eight Eccentric Artists in Yangzhou in Qing Dynasty even excelled more than the previous generations, making the art world acclaimed as the peak of perfection. However, half a century later, Wu Changshuo, Qi Baishi, Huang Binhong, Pan Tianshou and other masters opened a new era and broke a new path in literati painting. Literati painting is a treasure in the Chinese national art and should be inherited, perfected and carried forward. We should not stand still and refuse to make progress in literati painting and nor should we deny it easily. If we have the ability to create another painting genre beyond literati painting, that will make a difference.

In 1982, five contemporary painters, Wu Changshuo, Huang Binhong, Pan Tianshou, Fu Baoshi and Chen Zhifo, held a big exhibition in Paris, France. It was said that visitors came in continuous stream for a feast of eyes. Many visitors expressed their admiration and appreciation in calligraphy and believed that the landscape painted by Huang Binhong was blended into a harmonious whole with skillful use of brush and ink. The artistic style was highly similar to that of Monet, the French impressionist painter, in his late years. Thus, Huang Binhong was also called Monet of China. The visitors also praised the works of Pan Tianshou as firm and unique, in which particular attention was paid to the stability of the structure. The style was similar to that of Cezanne, the French post-impressionist painter. When they were first spread into China, Western paintings became fashionable for a time, and Huang and Pan must have learned about them. Yet, they were mainly specialized in the study and creation of theories and techniques of Chinese painting and its combination with calligraphy and poetry. The development of new style owed by them was native. As their artistic realm reached the peak of perfection, the French visitors felt the Chinese and Western paintings were “uncannily parallel” with different approaches but equally satisfactory results. “Different approaches but equally satisfactory results” could be seen as the motto of those who were dedicated to innovating Chinese painting. With “different approaches” but “equally satisfactory results”, the inherent unique style of Chinese painting was brought into full play.

In the creation of Chinese painting, many modern artists learned from the techniques of Western painting for Chinese use and strived for change. They achieved considerable success. For example, Xu Beihong painted horses by learning from the merits of sketch technique and anatomy principle from the Western painting, and worked out accurate structure, presented stereoscopic impression between light and darkness, and provided lifelike pictures. Another example was Gao Jianfu and Gao Qifeng from Lingnan School who painted flowers and feathers. They also learned from the techniques of Western painting and created realistic and absolutely lifelike shapes. Lin Fengmian was good at both Chinese and Western paintings. The flowers and birds he painted were products of learning from techniques of Western painting and were characterized by unique style. His famous works included Ducks Flying from Reeds, Double Egrets in Clean Stream, and Homing Birds on Maples. Some of his works, such as still life sketch, seemed belong to the scope of Western painting in terms of style and genre. Due to his skilled Chinese painting techniques, he applied the freehand approach of Chinese painting while creating Western still life sketch. His natural and unrestrained strokes were impossible for ordinary Western painters to catch up.

Some people sought to innovate the Chinese painting by learning from the techniques of Western painting, believing that the Chinese painting would take on a new look once they had absorbed the techniques from the Western counterpart. Admittedly, Western painting had a unique style and rich techniques which made it a worthy source of learning. However, we have to thoroughly study its characteristics. We have to learn its essence instead of appearance for our use. We need to blend the Chinese and Western in complete harmony rather than mechanical application.

There was no lack of such people who sought to innovate Chinese painting in the traditional road over generations. Take the late Huang Binhong, Pan Tianshou, Wu Fuzhi and Zhu Lesan from the contemporary Zhejiang Academy of Fine Arts. They have made remarkable achievements in Chinese painting. They will always be my teachers and have much for me to learn. However, it is undeniable that they vary in the degree of innovation to Chinese paintings, and their efforts were worth reviewing, studying, analyzing and referring.

Mr. Huang Binhong was a late bloomer who was outstanding in landscape painting. He read a lot and had deep knowledge on the theory of Chinese painting, epigraphy, calligraphy, and poetry. He wrote books and was knowledgeable. He traveled a lot around famous mountains and great rivers to gather landscape manuscript. In his sixties, he still diligently copied ancient landscape masterpieces, studied and inherited good traditional skills. In his seventies and eighties, he came into a sublimity stage with a solid foundation and skillful techniques. His works were increasingly inky, profound, mature and smooth. He created a new artistic form that was characterized by contrast between “scattered and collective”, “ordered and disordered”. His paintings of trees, stones, peaks and ridges were created with structural using of brush. The brushwork was discontinuous, scattered but ethereal, ordered. The use of techniques like splash-ink, breaking-ink, light-ink and shade adding presented a picture of trees, stones, peaks and ridges in a harmonious whole. The objects were as seasoned as withered by the autumn wind and as moist as lubricated by the spring rain. The artistic effect of contrast between scattered and collective was shown in the works of Shi Xi in Qing Dynasty, but it was innovated and freshened in those of Mr. Huang Binhong. “Scattered and collective” is namely “regular and irregular”, from law to lawless, and from lawless to supreme law. As can be observed in the art road and achievements of Mr. Huang Binhong, tradition, life, learning and cultivation, innovation, and seniority were important factors. Without longevity, his artistic style may not have been as remarkable as it was in his late years and the evaluation of later generations on him may have been affected.

Mr. Pan Tianshou had displayed extraordinary artistic talent and wisdom since youth. His works marveled at uniqueness, and he developed his own artistic styles early. Mr. Wu Changshuo, a master in freehand flower and bird painting, sent his seal character calligraphy work, praising his “earthshaking brushwork and ability to make street gossip poetry”.

Mr. Pan Tianshou had painstaking research and thorough insight of the theories and techniques of Chinese painting, and learned widely from others’ strong points for his own creation. He emphasized on wise borrowing and discarded faithful copy of ancient masterpieces. Even if he intended to imitate a masterpiece, he added his own idea and made innovation. Mr. Pan thorough analyzed and studied the “uniqueness and grotesqueness” in the works of Zhu Da, Shi Tao and Wu Changshuo, especially the gist, the method and the application of the works. He learned from them and developed them. He was taught by these masters and strived to exceed them. In terms of shape, brush and ink, and principle, he learned flexibly and even “did exactly the opposite”. For example, Zhu Da used round brushwork, while Pan Tianshou transformed the round brushwork into square to create square shapes and strokes; Zhu Da was good at the use of light ink, while Pan Tianshou excelled in coke ink. The flowers painted by Wu Changshuo were powerful and valued ordinary uniqueness. Pan Tianshou absorbed his merit, but showed more forceful brushwork and engraving. The technique that he developed from appreciating part of the skill in the landscape paintings of Shi Tao was often applied in flower and bird paintings to foster a unique style of combining landscape with flowers, birds and cypresses. The works were full of breath of life and filled with artistic personality. Pan Tianshou not only valued the learning from ancient predecessors, but also attached importance to the experience with Nature. He travelled extensively around famous mountains and rivers, including Mount. Taisha, Yandang Mountain, Mount. Huangshan. He portrayed the flowers in Yandang Mountain and vividly painted the ancient pines in Mount. Huangshan. All of these works were vital and unconventional. He also had deep research and made outstanding achievements in painting theories, calligraphy, engraving and poetry. Similar to his paintings, his calligraphy was renowned for its uniqueness and grotesqueness. He had deep understanding of the secret in the calligraphy of Huang Daozhou, Chen Laolian, and Zhu Da, but his works were more exaggerated in character form, strokes, and echoing between characters and lines. His variations in character size, direction, and contraction were more apparent. He mastered the gist of conflict to refresh his reader and convey strong artistic feeling. Being temperate and refined while fierce and sharp, his works afforded food for thought.

Given the innovation he made to the Chinese painting and his remarkable achievements, his keen insight, flexibility in learning, efforts in innovation and pursuit for extreme perfection provided a good source of learning, research and reference.

Mr. Wu Fuzhi also took innovating Chinese painting as his duty, utilizing multiple channels, achieving mastery through comprehensive study, and working diligently to obtain success. In his late years, he often stamped “Breaking the routine” and “Better than myself” on one corner of his painting works to mark his determination in innovation. First, he paid attention to the exploration of theme. He often portrayed various flowers and herbs and even tried mulberry, castor and other objects that had been tried by predecessors. Secondly, he strived to add breath of life and spirit of the times in the conception. Thirdly, his brushwork was delicately beautiful, with ups and downs, with both skillful and clumsy but graceful strokes. He was particularly renowned in orchid paintings. 

There were generations of painters who portrayed orchird. The famous ones included Zheng Suonan, Shi Tao, Zheng Banqiao, Li Fangying, and Wu Changshuo. The orchid of Shi Tao was elegant and unpredictable, while that of Wu Fuzhi, who learned from Shi Tao and Wu Changshuo, was not restricted by the established technique. Mr. Wu often learned from Nature and went to observe or portray orchids in mountains. Thus, he was familiar with the nature, features and disposition of orchids. The orchids he painted was not only full of delight of life, but also reflected the morality of tenacity. Some of the orchids he painted were non-root orchid in mountains. For example, he created an orchid painting in 1933 and wrote a poem on the painting about how an orchid refused to please visitors as peony and grew quietly in the valley with grass as its companion. Shepherd boys fed it to his cows for not being able to appreciate it, and the only one who could appreciate its beauty was a beautiful girl who picked it as a decoration. Mr. Pan Tianshou delightfully wrote two poems on this painting, and one of them condemned the absurd theory in painting critic and praised the forceful morality of orchid portrayed by Mr. Wu Fuzhi. In the postscript, he wrote: The orchid portrait by Brother Fuzhi is excellently structured. It is a real reflection of nature and true picture of mind. It is an admirable and awesome creation! Mr. Wu Fuzhi also painted orchid growing by flowing fountain in misty mountains, dense orchid with bundles of leaves, wild orchid that withstood storms, graceful orchid that smelled fragrant, orchid under moonlight, and vanilla orchid accompanied by a beauty. All of these were portraits created from life experience to express feelings with orchid as the carrier. This was how he was different and distinguished from others.

When ancient artists painted orchid, they often added calligraphy. Mr. Wu Fuzhi was no exception, but he had deeper pursuit of the charm of brush and ink to achieve ​​an exciting artistic effect. For example, when he painted wild orchid, he used cursive script to create a powerful picture with splashing ink. When he painted elegant orchid growing lonely in empty valley, he used regular script that was shown in quiet and graceful strokes to create a smooth atmosphere that seemed moistened by spring rain. His brushwork was full of ups and downs, with frontal, oblique, refrained, and inverse attacks. Sometimes the cursive characters was vigorous and nimble; sometimes the strokes were as leisure as birds flying into the woods, as gentle as a dragonfly skimming the surface of the water.  Inadvertently works were naturally written. Mr. Wu Fuzhi was particularly good at painting orchid. The flowers that he painted varied in different gestures. He often said, “The flavor of Chinese painting is light”. Thus, he often used light ink and soft ink to paint flowers and the orchids were like delicate hands of adolescent girl, luxuriant, smooth and full of youthful vitality. These techniques of brush and ink were used to conveying spirit out of shape more precisely instead of simply playing the trick. This was another testimony of his uniqueness. 

First published in New Arts, 1985, Vol.3