Gu Kaizhi's outstanding achievement is that his figure paintings are vivid and vivid with daily life as the theme. The brushwork is like silkworms spinning silk, with both form and spirit. His paintings inherited and developed the fine tradition of ancient realism, broke the previous atmosphere of paying attention to religious themes, and became the most precious heritage in the art treasure house of the great motherland.
Vivid expression is to make works of art come alive. Although it is a work of art, it looks real, that is, it gives the work of art a "soul". As the story in "Make the finishing point" says, when the eyes are on the dragon, suddenly the dragon overflows the stone wall and flies into the sky. It is said that Gu Kaizhi, a famous painter in the Eastern Jin Dynasty, didn't draw eyes for several years when painting characters, perhaps in pursuit of this effect. "
Gu Kaizhi's paintings are scattered in the records of the Tang and Song Dynasties, but the pictures of women's history, Luoshen and Nvrenzhi that have been handed down to this day are said to be copies of later generations. As can be seen from the above three pictures, Gu Kaizhi pays attention to line modeling in his paintings. Its lines show a sense of rhythm in a continuous, leisurely and natural form, and the strength of the lines is slightly controlled, such as "silkworms spinning" and "flowing clouds". This line is called "Spring Silkworm Spinning", also called "Gogu You Simiao". In this description, the pen is straight, holding your breath, and the pen is calm. The lines drawn are sharp, round, thin, long and smooth. This description, used in figure painting, quite aptly expressed the texture and movements of the figure's clothing at that time.
There are three works of Gu Kaizhi's painting theory handed down from ancient times, namely On Painting, Painting Yuntai Mountain and Wei Jinsheng's Painting Praise. Reading through these three paintings and combining with other records, I think Gu Kaizhi's painting thoughts mainly include the following points:
(1), vivid theory
A, "Write God in form." B, "vivid and occluded." C, "It's easy to wave five strings, but it's difficult to watch them return to the flood."
(2) "The idea is wonderful."
3. "Chen Bu Shi".
(4), "The mountain has a face, then it has a shadow on its back" and "The bottom is a stream, and the scenery is below."
The influence of Gu Kaizhi s "vividness theory" on later generations;
After Gu Kaizhi, painters of all ages regarded "vivid" as the highest standard of figure painting. After Gu Kaizhi, Zong Bing and Wang Wei in the Southern Dynasties put forward the theory of landscape painting on the basis of Gu Kaizhi's figure painting theory. Zong Bing said: "As for the landscape, it is interesting, it is interesting", "the beauty of Song Hua, the spirit of Xuanzang" and "the spirit should be felt, and the spirit is beyond reason." Wang Wei said: "It is the body that melts the spirit, and it is the actor who changes his mind." Gu Kaizhi said: "Write God in form", Zong Bing said: "God is unprovoked, living in a sense of class", and Wang Wei said: "Stop at the spirit, so you can't move."
During the Qi and Liang Dynasties, Sheikh divided Gu Kaizhi's "Qi" into "Qi" and "Rhyme", which were interpreted as "Qi and Rhyme: Vivid and True", and regarded it as the highest standard for judging a painting, ranking it as the first of the "Six Methods". As a result, this standard has become the supreme law that has influenced China painters for more than 1000 years. The so-called "six methods are refined and will remain unchanged through the ages." Later, Hao Jing of the Five Dynasties put forward "Six Essentials" in Notes on Style, in which "Charm" was the further development of this theory.
In the Song Dynasty, Su Shi put forward that "paintings are similar in shape and children's neighbors can be seen." Chao also said: "However, if you try to look at things with relics, things often can't meet their shapes ... Size only represents meaning, not shape." And pointed out: "When drawing the shape of an object, keep the shape unchanged." These theories were deeply influenced by the predecessors' theory of "vivid charm" and further developed, which laid a solid theoretical foundation for later literati painting thoughts.
Gu Kaizhi was a great painter in Wei and Jin Dynasties, but not necessarily the greatest painter at that time. Because the records in ancient books have disputed his evaluation, and the paintings of other painters have not been handed down for our comparison at the same time, and several paintings supplemented by his works are not his original works, the status of Gu Kaizhi's paintings remains to be discussed. What we can recognize now is his painting theory. Chen Chuanxi is quoted as saying: "China has had a formal and detailed painting theory since Gu Kaizhi, which marks the complete awakening of China's art, and Chinese painting has become an art with independent aesthetic significance."