Author:Luo Liping
Fujian is a special region in the history of Chinese regional art development.It seems there have been no schools in strict sense here(not means untraceable)since ancient times.Therefore,Fujian artists are free from many burdens and tend to be more open-minded,inclusive,progressive and innovative.The travel around to learn from various factions and schools and absorb others’artistic essence into their creation and finally form their own style of art.Since Northern and Southern Song dynasties,more and more Fujian calligraphy and painting masters emerged,such as Cai Xiang,Cai Jing and Zheng Sixiao in Song dynasty,Zhang Ruitu,Huang Daozhou and Bian Jing zhao in Ming dynasty,Zeng Jing,Shangguan Zhou,Huang Shen,Hua Yan,Yin Bingshou,Lin Zexu and Xie Guanqiao in Qing dynasty,Lin Shu,Li Xia,Zheng Xiaoxu,Li Geng,Xie Touba,Song Shengyu,Chen Zifen,Zheng Naiguang in modern times.Till nowadays,Fujian artists have always upheld the good tradition of the ancient artists and kept progressing in the artistic path.A group of Fujian artists with international visions like Cai Guoqiang,Huang Yongping,Fan Dian,Xu Jiang,Qiu Zhijie,Zheng Gong are rather active in the art circle.Within domestic region,there are also some excellent artists,of which Wang Laiwen is an outstanding representative.Over the past decades,he has been devoted to freehand brushwork painting of flowers and birds,mainly focusing on the study and practice of lotus,begonias and wisteria ink-wash paintings.Especially,his recent great freehand ink-wash paintings of lotus series have drawn wide attention.Wang Laiwen was born in end of 1960s in Zhangpu county of Fujian province which is also the hometown of Chinese calligraphy master Huang Daozhou.The place had a very good cultural atmosphere.Thus,Wang was well nourished with traditional cultural classics.In 1987,he was enrolled into the Department of Fine Art of Fujian Normal University.Fujian Normal University has a long history of over 100years.The Department of Fine Art was founded in 1941 by the scholar Mr.Xie Touba who used to study abroad in France.Famous flowers-and-birds painters such as Wu Fuzhi,Chen Zifen,and Song Shengyu used to teach there.After decades,it has developed its educational tradition of integrating Chinese and Western,ancient and modern and cultivating talents of expert in one field while possessing all-round knowledge and ability and become an influential art department in Fujian province and even in the southeast region.Wang received systematic art education there.During his four years in the university,he studied hard and was very good at thinking.No matter it was mountains-and-waters painting,figures painting or flowers-and-birds painting,no matter it was fine brushwork drawing or freehand brushwork drawing,he studied diligently and acquired solid basic skills.He was aware of the importance to study the tradition and classics for learning Chinese painting well.Therefore,he utilized his spare time to copy the Mustard Seed Garden painting book to practice his skills and study the essentials of ancient artists’paintings and writings.In mid and late 1980s,a new wave of art movement swept the country.Many students were seeking for novelty and change and desired to become famous overnight.During such special time,Wang devoted himself to studying the tradition and won scholarships every year.He had kept an independent mind and showed outstanding potential.
Traditional Chinese paintings,neither fine brushwork nor freehand brushwork can avoid the two conceptions of“form”and“spirit”.The former mainly indicates the visual language of the picture,the latter mainly the spiritual level.To see an artist is successful or not,we judge from how much he masters the skill on the two.As indicated in Erya(the oldest surviving Chinese dictionary or Chinese encyclopedia)“Painting is a form.”The litterateur and calligraphy master in Western Jin dynasty Lu Ji also said“No way can be better to keep the form of any object.”Chinese painter give more attention to the form and advocate that the main function of painting is to depict the form and seek for the similarity in form.However,Wu Daozi(a great painter in Tang dynasty)emphasized that artists should“express the spirit by form”;artists should convey the temperaments and spirits of the objects through accurate capture and depiction of their forms.Therefore,in traditional Chinese painting,“form”includes two levels of connation.One refers to the natural form and state of an object which is not constant and can be various along with the change of time and space.In this respect,Guo Xi raised an opinion that painters should bear in mind“the form of a mountain changes with every step you take”“observe the mountain as you move each step.”“the landscape changes in different seasons.”“the form at dusk is unlike that at dusk”while depicting the form of mountain.A mountain can have as many forms as that of tens of hundreds of mountains.(Lin Quan Gao Zhi,a landscape painting theory wrote by Guo Xi).Therefore,painters need to go deep into life to observe the forms of the objects and their changing law.The other refers to the humanistic form the object,mainly the painter’s understanding and mastery of the object and the way how he conveys it.The Chinese painters’expression of the form is unlike taking photos.They take the way of“write”to depict the object.Zhang Yanyuan propsed the idea of“spirit comes before the brush”.He said“the similarity to the object requires the similarity in form;the similarity in form requires the moral integrity in its inner bones and air.All these are based on the determination of spirit and finally go to the use of brush.That’s why fine-brush painters are good at writing(calligraphy).”With the help of“write”in calligraphy to convey the“spirit”.“Spirit”is placed at the first in painting.Painters pay more attention to the subjectivity and individual experience and often attach spiritual symbol to the object to observe themselves.Till Northern Song dynasty,Su Shi and other artists deepened the connotation of the“spirit,developing it into an aethestic synthesis of quality,personality,spirit and temperament.Therefore,the artists advocated“forget the form and keep the spirit”and pursued the spirit and aethestic interest of the literati.“Forget the form”does not mean to ignore the form,but to break through the constraint of the appearance of the object.And it requires painters to give a high-level summarization of simplication of the object to reach high-level unification between the form and the spirit.The great painter Ni Zan in Yuan dynasty said“As I say,painting is just casual brushing to entertain myself,no desire for the similarity in form.To paint the landscape,twists and turns can tell its fascinating details,but I can do it.But if I just casually dot and dye with ink and abandon the forms and colors of the flowers,it is not the intention of painting then.”So as we can see,the subtleness between the form and the spirit is not an easy thing to master.Such“spirit”painting was further developed in Ming and Qing dynasties and became dominant in Chinese art history.It even put emphasis on a kind of spirit painting language that the painter’initiative and aesthetic interest should fully play its role,i.e.brush-ink.The brush-ink which can be light or heavy,slow or fast,dry or moist,dark or light,builds a colorful bridge between the form and the spirit and provides the literati with unlimited space to express their emotions.Attributed to the independent aesthetic value and unlimited expressive force of“brush-ink”,Chinese freehand(spirit)painting has been developed very well and is still thriving today.The academy has given Wang Laiwen knowledge and opened his artistic view.After graduation and stepping into the society,he devoted himself to the study and copy-practice of freehand flowers-and-birds paintings of traditional literati from Xu Wei,Shi Tao,Bada,Yun Nantian to Ren Bonian,Qi Baishi,Pan Tianshou.He fully understood their shaping of form and conveyance of spirit and absorbed the essence of traditional Chinese literati’s painting,and finally achieved outstanding success through integration of the experimental use and exploration of brush-ink language into practical painting.Wang Laiwen has his own views on learning from the ancients artists.He points out that we should understand and digest it from aspects of brush-ink language,form composition and the aethestic feeling,humanistic personality,moral character and innovative spirit it conveys;traditional Chinese literati’s paintings should be considered under the background of Chinese history and culture.In his opinion,tradition is no longer a“dead end”burden,but an inexhaustible source.When we read Wang’s works,we can always find the“origin/source”of his uses of brush-ink.For example,in hiswistariawe can catch a glimpse of Zhang Xu and Xu Wei’s overwhelming wildness;in his lotus,Bada’s ink lightening and elegance,Zhang Daqian’s splashing brushwork and Pan Tianshou’s vigorous brushwork;in his begonia,Yun Nantian’s boneless brushwork.Thus,his artwork is also quite academic.Lotus,wistaria,begonia are the main subjects of Wang Laiwen’s paintings.These flowers were also favored by ancient literati and can be enjoyed by both the refined and vulgar alike.Lotus,the symbol of purity.In Buddhism,the Buddhist realm is called“Lotus realm”,endowing lotus with divinity.Chinese literati even endow her the noble and pure personality as written in a poem“she grows in mud,yet never contaminates with it”,and entitle her“Gentleman of flowers”.Wistariais also a common plant in southern China,which has curve and clinging stems and leaves.Its blossoms are cool and amazing.A poem by Li Bai has vividly depicted the elegant pose and amazing beauty.Begonia has a reputable title,i.e.“Beauty of the Nation”as well as agraciousnickname“Miss Considerate”.Poets wrote many poems in praise of begonia.Su Dongpo loved begonia and wrote in his poem“I am afraid the flower would fall asleep as the night get late;so I light the candles for her.”Lu You wrote in his poem”Gorgeous but no vulgar posture;Taihuang is really wealthy and noble”Yang Wanli wrote in his poem“Today begonia blossoms in the old garden.I dream of going into the flowers in Jiang Xi.”to express his homesick emotion.Instead of saying that Wang chooses these subjects as his lyrical objects,he chooses a way to get close to the ancient people and dialogue with them.What’s more important is he takes it as“the object and subject of his exploration with brush-ink language”.Wang has profound understanding of the traditional freehand spirit.He never paint any object that he is not familiar with,not to say the object he never see.He pays much attention to observation and study of the object to depict.Every piece of lotus,wistaria,begonia work under his brush originates from his familiar surroundings.No matter of cold winter or hot summer,he persists in on-site study and painting,to make sincere dialogue with nature.Many works were created in face of the landscape.Attributed his loyalty to life and individual experience,his freehand flowers-and-birds paintings are vivid and can endure observing and appreciating again and again.Since the beginning of 19c,traditional literati’s ink wash painting as the important part of traditional culture has suffered unprecedented impact under the influence of western art thoughts.Under such new circumstances,many artists have started to make reforms and innovations on traditional ink wash painting and make continuous explorations on modern ink-wash language.For example,Huang Binhong and Li Keran seeked for heaviness and quality of brush ink and integrate the style of Ling Nan school with western colors and decorations;Xu Beihong and Wu Zuoren absorbed accurate expression of light and shade and physical shape;Lin Fengmian and Wu Guanzhong developed a new style to reform the image of brush ink.Even the new conception and experiments of brush ink of“new literati painting”in the new Tide in 1985.The brush ink language of Chinese painting has greatly extended and enriched through striving efforts of exploration and practice by several generations of artists over the recent 100 years.Over the years,Wang Laiwen has also been concerning the modern transfer of the ink wash language of traditional literati painting all the time and have put into practice.He tried to start from the traditional Chinese“write”culture,to de-structure the natural forms.His works are pure and simple yet a little“abstract”,conveying an antique,elegant yet modern humanistic spiritual temperament and aethestic interest.It seems very difficult to find an accurate word to summarize the style of Wang Laiwen’s freehand flowers-and-birds painting.His painting style is rather open.His painting changes with material,time and emotion.Under his brush,different subjects have different pursuit and different form language.Wisteria is a subject he engaged very early and has formed his relatively mature and stable style.Under his brush,wisteria has a strong trace of writing(calligraphy).He imagines wisteria as his object of writing and tries to figure out orderliness from the complicated vines of wisteria.The lines,whether short or long,curly or straight are well arranged.Therefore,reading his ink wash wisteria is just like appreciating a piece of“grass script”(a calligraphy style),wild yet not breaking the rule,wherein we can see that painter has profound understanding and concise master of Chinese traditional writing language.His exploration of freehand ink lotus painting can be divided into two stages.At the first stage,he focused on the combination of ink splashing and freehand sketching.Compared with wisteria,the appearance of lotus’s leaf is relatively simple and limits the lines drawing.Therefore,he basically followed a safe traditional technique of ink-splashing and great freehand brushing,to present the form changes of the lotus leaf with the heavy or light and dry or moist ink use,to present the aquatic weeds and the petals with relatively neat lines and to compose the whole picture by combining lines and planes.However,he realized that if this was not well handled,it would feel like“doing it deliberately”.So he did not stay on such performance which get matured gradually.He kept trying another more free approach.His recent ink lotus paintings have made a big breakthrough,no more limited to presenting the natural form of lotus leaves with multi-levels of ink.Leaf veins,stems,petals,seedpod,aquatic weeds and fence all became the carrier of his wisteria painting style.The ink levels were reduced.He applied the study achievements of writing language over the years in the painting.His use of brush ink became wild yet calm,concise yet free.The brush and ink are well integrated.The appearance of the painting carries a distinctive stretching force and modern atmosphere.The begonia under Wang’s brush looks charming and elegant.His begonia painting is quite different from lotus and wisteria in painting skill and style.In his begonia painting,he mainly absorbs the traditional boneless brushing technique and combines with the modern technique of watercolor and ink wash.If we say Wang Laiwen is releasing his passion while freely sketching wisteria and lotus,then while painting begonia he is listening to a minor at his leisure,or may be expressing his homesickness?Wang Laiwen’s excellent master of writing language is attributed to his hard work in calligraphy study in his early ages.He started to practice calligraphy as early as in Grade 3 at elementary school.He began with Kai Shu(regular script)of Yan Zhenqing style,turned to study Li Shu(official script)by copying Zhang Qian and Hao Daiwang’s inscriptions in high school and university.He also studied Xing Shu(running script)by copying the scripts of“Two Wang”(Wang Xizhi and Wang Xianzhi),Mi fu and Su Dongpo.Calligraphy practice became indispensable in his life.Therefore,as soon as he engaged in traditional ink wash painting he realized the importance of calligraphy to Chinese artists.He believes that Chinese painting is a shaping of spirit and imagery which depends on the structure and combination of lines.Thus,the quality of the lines often conceals a painter’s understanding and mastery of traditional art.Even strokes of lines can reveal the comprehensive quality of an artist.Without calligraphy foundation,Chinese painting is hard to reach such high level.Thus,Wang understands the shaping of spirit and imagery in traditional Chinese ink wash painting through calligraphy.Besides,as he immersed himself in the sea of books and kept thinking,he can come out with a lot of fantastic ideas.Wang Laiwen said“Knowledge,self-cultivation and painting skill shoulddevelopsimultaneouslyand complement each other.Start with the base of painting skill and improve it with knowledge and self-cultivation.I spend a lot of time in reading various books of my interest,not only Chinese painting art books but also philosophy,literature,drama,music and dance,etc..they seem not related to my Chinese painting work,but can improve my self-cultivation.Many things are interconnected.I am seeking for more inspiration from music and literature….”
“Things have their root and their branches.Affairs have their end and their beginning.To know what is first and what is last will lead near to what is taught in the Great Learning.“(the Great Learning).Wang Laiwen did so.In this age of uncertainty,he always faces life and nature with sincerity and the sentiment and responsibility of intellectuals,insists forward in his own way,comes from the tradition,writes between form and spirit,and moves forward in exploration and experiment.
(Luo Liping,associate professor and postgraduate supervisor of College of Art,Fujian Normal University,member of Theory Art Committee of Fujian Fine Arts Association)