Understanding Xu Wei’s Painting Theory The Master of Splashed-ink Plantain through the Flowers of the Four Seasons Style - On Xu Wei’s Plantain Works Scroll in the Collection of the

Zhao Bingwen 趙炳文 Ren Daobin 任道斌 Staff Member Professor Palace Museum, Beijing China Academy of Art

Xu Wei, born in the late — Wen Zhang, sobriquets Tian Chi and Plantain (bajiao) is a kind of perennial herbaceous plant growing in the Jiangnan and Lingnan Qingteng Daoren — was a native of Shanyin (today ) in Province. He was an out- areas. Recognized by its broad, elegant leaves, emerald green colour and vigorous vitality, it was re- standing Ming Dynasty painter of flower-and-bird scenes in the great freehand style. His brushwork is garded as one of the 14 treasures by ancient Chinese literati. During the Northern and Southern Dy- concise, sweeping and natural. His forms are highly condensed, and he avoids excessive attention to nasties, the subject of Bajiao was introduced into poems. Later in the Southern Dynasty, Su Hanchen, detail aimed at achieving likeness in form and appearance. Lofty and heroic, the focus is on express- Liu Songnian and Li Song painted it as a background image for figure and landscape paintings. Some ing his interests and his own nature. People regard Xu Wei as the initiator of a painting form that is of the Yuan masters, like Zhao Mengfu and Wang Meng, and the Four Ming masters, also depicted now referred to as the “great freehand style” painting method. Yet Xu Wei experienced frustration and Bajiao in paintings. However, their works employed the technique of “shuanggou” (double hook) and tragedy his entire life. colouring, which created a very exquisite effect. This situation did not change until Xu Wei appeared.

His unusual character imbued his paintings with a unique style, strongly coloured by subjec- From Xu Wei’s trip to Lingnan in his early years, his Qing Teng Study surrounded by Bajiao, as tive emotion. Either he mocks or rails furiously as he warns mankind with his message or, with an well as his poems, we can learn that Xu Wei had a special love of this plant. Through analysing of Xu angry, indignant heart, he pours out his feelings. It was a new and original form, with unhindered Wei’s extant Bajiao paintings, three characteristics of these works are found apparent: the splashed- and galloping brushstrokes, his unrestrained and odd style giving his painting a distinct character and originality. He initiated the ink freestyle technique, which would constitute a new avenue of ink skill that constituted his individual free-style, the symbolic meaning in his works, and lastly, art expression from the Ming-Qing period onward, and he pushed great freehand flower ink painting creation as a way to relieve his depressed spirit. Xu Wei’s Bajiao works actually offer an insight into to its zenith. The school of art he established is referred to in art history as the Qing Teng Painting the pure nobility of his literati painting. School. It had a huge influence on freestyle flower-and-bird painting for four centuries beginning in the Qing Dynasty and stretching into the early modern period. With such a spirit of innovation, Xu Wei’s Bajiao works expressed a distinctive personality and untrammelled artistic talents, which not only accorded with his tenet in the creation of flower-and- Xu Wei painted flowers, grass, trees and rocks, and he treated these objects as if they were think- bird painting, but also corresponded with his individual character. For these reasons, Xu Wei’s art had ing, spiritual and emotional entities. In this way, the forms and manner of his works all originated a great influence on the work of and Shi Tao of the “Four Monks” in the Qing dynasty, in his mind and exited through the use of the brush and painting materials. The subject’s implied Li Shan and Gao Fenghan of the “Eight Eccentric of Yangzhou”, Ren Bonian and of meaning already existed in his heart, and when the brush contacted paper the subject’s emotional the “Shanghai Painting School”, and and Pan Tianshou of recent times. energy flowed forth. For this reason, it is said that each brushstroke in Xu Wei’s paintings is an im- age. In reality, the spirit in the image is a manifestation of his own character, interests and thoughts.

This text will discuss Xu Wei’s painting theory through analysis of the scroll Flowers of the Four Seasons in the collection of the Palace Museum and explore Xu Wei’s achievements in Confucian ide- alism, Taoism, Chan Buddhism, poetry, calligraphy and drama.

* The author is now an Associate Researcher of Palace Museum, Beijing.

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