Chinese Painting and Calligraphy Masters' Interpretations and Explanations of Paintings · Zheng Banqiao

Author: Yang Yinglin
Publisher:
Publish Date: 2006-01-01
Features: Shi Tao's paintings of orchids are not like orchids, for he has transformed them; Ban Qiao's paintings of orchids are extremely like orchids, yet he has not yet transformed them. He aims to learn from our resemblance to imitate the unresemblance of the ancients. Haha, it is hard to put into words. — From the preface to Painting and Calligraphy Combined Scroll
My family has two thatched houses facing south, with bamboo planted outside. In summer, when the new bamboo shoots first unfurl, their green shadows shade the people, and placing a small couch among them is very cool and comfortable. In autumn and winter, I take the frames of screen partitions, cut off both ends, and set them horizontally as window lattices, covering them with even, thin, and white paper. On sunny and warm days, when frozen flies touch the paper, they make a tiny drumming sound. At that moment, a scattered bamboo shadow—is it not a natural painting!
I have never had a master to learn from when painting bamboo; I have mostly learned from the sunlight, moonlight, and shadows on paper windows and white walls. — From the preface to New Bamboo Shoots on a Screen
Shi Tao, the monk, stayed in my Yangzhou for decades. He saw many of his orchid paintings, which were all excellent. He learned half and left half, never fully imitating; it was not that he didn’t want to imitate fully, but that he simply couldn’t. And indeed, he didn’t need to. — From the preface to Painting Orchids