Rongbaozhai Huapu. 156. Part of Figures: Part of Figures

Author: Fan Zeng
Publisher:
Publish Date: 2003-08-01
Features: "Taking poetry as the soul and calligraphy as the bone" is the eight-character maxim I proposed for Chinese painting. Here, "poetry" does not refer to ancient or modern styles but to the essence and realm of poetry. Thus, the Records of the Grand Historian is the unrhymed Li Sao, and the Zhuangzi is the profoundly understood Book of Songs—there is good reason for this. With the meaning of "poetry" expanded in this way, then the profound and lofty insights of Chinese ancient sages, the erudite and vast thoughts of historians, and the powerful and unrestrained works of poets all become the living source of Chinese painting. Moreover, when painters delve into the universe and human life, entering within and stepping outside, observing things with the eyes of a poet and speaking of them with the tongue of a poet, with broad minds and fresh styles, their creations will naturally move away from the vernacular and toward elegance, without much hesitation. Fragments of classicism may be mere scattered pieces of jade, while the dregs of modern trends are likely truly broken bricks and dilapidated walls.