From Dong Qichang to the Four Heavenly Kings in Qing Dynasty, although they lived in different political, cultural and economic environments, the ways of asking questions and responding to them were quite different, but the inextricable relationship between them became the key to the internal evolution of the neo-orthodox schema of Nanzong landscape painting.
Both Wang Shimin and Wang Jian were directly educated in Dong Qichang, especially Wang Shimin and Dong Shi. According to the cloud "Ou Xiangge Inscriptions on Paintings", Wang Shimin studied painting with Dong Qichang since childhood, and Dong Qichang taught most landscape paintings in Nanzong.
It can be seen that this is of enlightening significance to the young Wang Shimin. On the premise of inheriting Dong Qichang's painting thought, Wang Shimin began to intentionally modify Dong's painting style with Zen into one that conforms to the Confucian aesthetic ideal. Compared with Dong Qichang, he paid more attention to the inheritance and research of the sages, demanded the preciseness and origin of statutes, pursued elegance, simplicity and lightness, and avoided all strange expressions.
It is this new pursuit, which evolved from Dong Qichang, that is not accidental, but closely related to the "halal and elegant" style advocated by the rulers in the literature and art policy during the reign of Kangxi, and the painting theory and creative practice of the whole Four Kings are also the concrete implementation of this aesthetic orientation in the field of painting.
Although Wang Jian studied painting from Dong Qichang for a short time, Dong Qichang's theory and schema still play a decisive role in Wang Jian's artistic view. But compared with Wang Shimin, Wang Jian still has his own understanding and creation in inheriting and developing the neo-orthodox schema.
Wang Jian emphasizes that the painting tradition and the positive pulse are consistent with Wang Shimin's, but his understanding of the "positive pulse" of Nanzong landscape painting is slightly different from Wang Shimin's, or they have their own spiritual preferences for inheriting and developing the new orthodox schema of Nanzong landscape painting. Wang Shimin took Huang as the center, overtook Dong Ju, reached Ni Zan, merged with other factions, and returned to Yazheng, which had a decisive influence on his grandson. However, Wang Jian's choice of neo-orthodox schema of Nanzong landscape painting is much broader than Wang Shimin's. He was partial to Huang Zhi's law, and attached great importance to the philosophers of the Southern Sect, and borrowed from the philosophers of the Northern Sect extensively and eclectically, and then returned to Yazheng, which integrated the new development of the two schools.
Wang Shimin and Wang Jian seem to have a little more factors in their artistic thoughts, but under their guidance and inspiration, Wang Yi and Wang maintained the continuity of the neo-orthodox schema of Nanzong landscape painting, and also had their own creative colors.
As the symbol of the maturity of orthodox painting school in the early Qing Dynasty, Wang Yi and Wang Jian inherited the painting ideas and schema norms of Wang Shimin and Wang Jian. Judging from their schema origin, Wang Shimin and Wang, Wang Jianzhi and Wang Yi just formed two different systems within the Four Kings. Wang Yi developed the career of the first two kings, especially Wang Jian's multi-faceted interpretation of traditional painting. On the basis of combing and constructing the landscape painting tradition of the Southern Sect, Dong Qichang absorbed some factors of the Northern Sect, followed Wang Jian's careful study of the ancient Sect, and made continuous progress, thus forging a set of pervasive and uncomfortable formal rules.
Wang Yi is a master who is good at copying. In the process of collecting antiquities, he can trace back to the source, integrate impetuousness, sum up the essence and evolve a new fusion, which fully shows his great exploration of comprehensively reflecting and sorting out the tradition of China landscape painting.
"Using the pen and ink of Yuan Dynasty to convey the mountains and valleys of Song Dynasty, and using the charm of Tang Dynasty to make a great difference" is basically a high summary of Wang Yi's artistic value orientation in his life. His "Sikuquanshu" exploration is to try to put the procedural norms and nature jointly constructed by the ancients in the same object position, and to control and adjust them with heart. This kind of work is the same as the work of summarizing traditional culture at that time, such as compiling Sikuquanshu and Pei Wenzhai's Calligraphy and Painting Spectrum.
On the basis of Wang Shimin and Wang Jian's development of the Southern School of Painting, Wang Yi used some techniques of the Northern School for reference, comprehensively combed the tradition of landscape painting, and formed a comprehensive and generalized law. Wang Yi perfectly combined the brushwork of Huang and Wang Meng with the composition of Fan Kuan, creating a magnificent landscape painting style. Therefore, the small scenes he painted in the south of the Yangtze River are often interesting, quiet and smart. Wang Yi likes to use both dry pen and wet pen in painting, and often rubs with fine pen, so the picture effect is stronger. Some people say that it is a great achievement to use the pen and ink of Yuan people to convey the mountains and valleys of Song people and the charm of Tang people.
In his early days, his painting style was beautiful and beautiful, but in his later years, it tended to be broad and vigorous. The composition is rich and varied, and the ink and light crimson are well rendered. Some critics also pointed out that Wang Yi's pen is too mature, but some of his paintings are exposed, his ink method rarely changes, and his composition is a little congested. And Wang is Wang Shimin's grandson. While actively cultivating Wang Xueren, Wang Shimin injected more feelings of communication in the sense of pedagogy. As an outstanding official and literati painter, Wang not only realized the social function expected by the first two kings, but also accelerated the stylization of Nanzong neo-orthodox landscape painting very appropriately and really pushed it to an extreme. If the new aesthetic schema of "halal elegance" under Confucian aesthetic norms was initiated by the first two kings, then Wang deepened and developed this new aesthetic schema norm, which is more in line with the process of Chinese painting itself and has academic unity in theory and practice, value orientation and formal structure. The "Four Great Painting Kings" headed by Wang Shimin and the "Loudong Painting School" headed by Wang had a profound influence on the painting world. Among the four kings, Wang is the youngest, but his achievement is the highest. The left assistant minister Wang once served as was called Wang Sinong. 1705 was ordered to edit Pei Wenzhai's calligraphy and painting spectrum and served as the president.
This painting spectrum, with a total volume of 100, is the first treasure in the history of ancient painting. Wang was deeply appreciated by Emperor Kangxi, with many students, and later gradually formed an independent painting school.
Wang is a native of Taicang, Jiangsu Province, and Taicang is also called Loudong, hence the name "Loudong Painting School". This school of painting was so powerful that it almost ruled the art world at that time. Their landscape paintings occupied the mainstream position in the early Qing Dynasty, and they learned from the ancients in conception, layout and color, and reached a high level.
However, in the inheritance of artistic tradition, there is a rigid atmosphere, and the creative consciousness of the works is not strong, giving people the feeling of repeated picture styles, which naturally coincides with the conservative tendency of the Qing Dynasty and the ancient royal family. It is no exaggeration to say that Wang promoted China's landscape painting, which has experienced many twists and turns since the Sui and Tang Dynasties, the Northern Song Dynasty, the Southern Song Dynasty and the Yuan and Ming Dynasties, to a new height according to the logical process of painting itself.
Their common feature in artistic thought is ancient style, with the brushwork of famous artists in Song and Yuan Dynasties as the highest standard. This idea was recognized and advocated by the emperor, so it was regarded as "authentic".