New Mustard Seed Garden Manual, Volume 1: Landscape Scroll

Author: Chief Editor: Jiang Zhengmeng
Publisher:
Publishing Date: 2001-03-01
Features: Preface
Three hundred years ago, the Jieziyuan Huapu (also known as Jieziyuan Huazhuan) was hailed as the "golden needle of painting studies," guiding countless beginners to gradually enter the world of art through step-by-step copying. Many renowned Chinese painters, when recalling their early days of learning to paint, still consider obtaining this painting manual as "a treasure found," demonstrating its immense influence and contributions. However, history inevitably moves forward, and traditional Chinese painting techniques have evolved through the practices of generations of artists.
Today, when we revisit this manual, its shortcomings become undeniable. Due to the limitations of printing technology at the time, its colorless and monochromatic illustrations fail to showcase the subtleties of Chinese painting techniques. Moreover, the low starting skill level of its copyists and their monotonous brushwork could not convey the spirit and charm of works from different schools. Additionally, its outdated modeling methods, no longer in sync with the times, have led to its neglect and abandonment by many beginners of Chinese painting. They urgently seek a new manual that can help them quickly and effectively grasp the essence of Chinese painting.
In light of this, we have compiled the New Jieziyuan Huapu. The New Jieziyuan Huapu is divided into three volumes: Volume I: Landscape, Volume II: Flowers and Birds, and Volume III: Figures. Each volume presents the development of its respective subject—landscape, flowers and birds, and figures—with distinct emphasis on the origins of each genre, historical painting theories, brushwork techniques, modeling methods, and learning approaches. It combines text with illustrations, methods with steps, progressing from simple to complex, and systematically introduces the fundamental techniques of Chinese painting. The manual emphasizes copying, stresses observation from life, and advocates for creative expression.
The New Jieziyuan Huapu includes a wealth of masterpieces by renowned artists from past generations, featuring both full-page views and detailed close-ups, as well as black-and-white and color illustrations. These provide excellent examples for beginners to study and copy.
Presented in a completely new format, the New Jieziyuan Huapu serves not only as a textbook for beginners learning Chinese painting techniques but also as a systematic and practical teaching manual for both professional and amateur artists. It is also a valuable reference and resource book for researchers and practitioners of Chinese painting.
Wuhua Art Publishing House
October 1996
Excerpt:
Li Sixin's surviving works include River Boats and Pavilion, which primarily uses line outlines and fills, with mountains and rocks showing early texture techniques. Another school, represented by Wu Daosi, focuses on ink and wash landscapes. Legend has it that Emperor Minghuang Li Longji once ordered Li Sixin and Wu Daosi to paint murals in the Dading Hall, depicting the Jialing River. "Li Sixin's months of work and Wu Daosi's single day's effort were both exquisite," it is said. This highlights Wu Daosi's unique, unrestrained brushwork, which stood out among the crowd. From another perspective, the ability to capture the scenery of three hundred miles within a few feet of wall painting, transcending time and space, and expressing one's emotions with ease, itself marks the maturity of landscape painting. Thus, Zhang Yanyuan concluded that "the transformation of landscape painting began with Wu and was perfected by the two Lis." This "transformation" signifies that landscape painting had entered its mature phase.
Following Wu, Wang Wei played a pivotal role in the development of Tang Dynasty landscape painting. A renowned lyrical poet, he channeled his tranquil and leisurely thoughts into his art due to political setbacks. He advanced ink and wash landscape painting, depicting poetic pastoral scenes that blended poetry and painting, marking the beginning of literary-oriented Chinese painting. His works, such as Wangchuan Map and Snow Creek Map, show mountains and rocks rendered with shading but lack distinct texture techniques.
Another Tang Dynasty landscape painter, Zhang Bo, though his works are lost, his famous principle, "Learn from nature and express the heart," has endured to this day, summarizing the fundamental principles of ancient painting creation and concisely explaining the subjective-objective relationship in Chinese painting. His broken ink technique and Wang Mo's expanded lines into surfaces, using ink instead of color to highlight the role of ink, advancing expressive spaces and brushwork techniques, greatly enriching the expressive power of Chinese painting. This school was later called the "Southern School of Landscape Painting." Wu Daosi later became famous for figure painting, while Wang Wei was revered as the founder of the Southern School of Painting.
Representing the Five Dynasties period was Jing Hao, who transformed line-and-fill and line-and-stain techniques into texture techniques, marking a significant revolution in Chinese landscape painting techniques. His Kuanglu Map is a large-scale panoramic landscape painting with clear layers, combining texture and shading, and exuding a majestic atmosphere., in History of Tang and Song Painting, remarked: "After the long efforts and gradual development of landscape painting in the late Tang, its fruits finally manifested in Jing Hao's works. He synthesized various strengths and was one of the key figures who inspired the particularly flourishing landscape painting of the Song Dynasty."
By the Song Dynasty, landscape painting had reached complete maturity, a period of unprecedented prosperity and brilliance. This era saw a galaxy of masters, with the most influential figures being Dong Yuan, Ju Ran, Li Cheng, Fan Kuan, and Guo Xi. Stylistically, Dong Yuan and Ju Ran shared a similar approach, while Li Cheng and Fan Kuan were close in style, representing the two major schools of early Song landscape painting: the "Northern School" and the "Southern School." The Northern School was bold and upright, embodying the bone structure of Qinling and Shannan landscapes, represented by Li Cheng, Fan Kuan, and Guo Xi. The Southern School, with its "light ink and misty mountains," captured the essence of Jiangnan landscapes, led by Dong Yuan and Ju Ran, and later regarded as the authentic tradition of the Southern School. Dong Yuan, Li Cheng, and Fan Kuan were collectively known as the "Three Great Masters of Northern Song."
During the Southern Song Dynasty, Li Tang, Liu Songnian, Ma Yuan, and Xia Gui emerged, known as the "Four Great Masters of Southern Song," creating a new, vigorous ink and wash style that merged the bold brushwork of the Northern School with the clear and rich ink techniques of the Southern School. The landscape paintings of the two Song dynasties blossomed like flowers in spring, vibrant and colorful, showcasing the immense creative talent of the artists. Many expressive methods of landscape painting originated in the Song Dynasty. In terms of texture techniques, Dong Yuan and Ju Ran pioneered the pima (cotton-wool texture), Fan Kuan the yidian (raindrop texture), Mi Fu the midian (rice-grain texture), and Li Tang the d (great axe texture), all of which became widely used in later generations. Regarding brushwork, dry brush, wet brush, broken ink, accumulated ink, and splashed ink were all employed. In composition, both panoramic and edge-and-corner scenes were utilized. Thus, Tang Huo remarked in Painting Canons: "Tang Dynasty landscape painting was not fully realized until the Song Dynasty."