Wang Ximen ( Chinese 王希孟 ; born around 1096 - died around 1119 ) is a Chinese artist .
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No information has been preserved about Wang Ximen in Chinese literature, so the exact dates of his birth and death are unknown. Of all his work, only one scroll has survived to this day, on which Tsai Jin, the Prime Minister of the Government of Emperor Huizong (1101-1125), left his colophon . This is the only source of information about the artist. In it, Tsai Jin reports that the scroll “Mountains and waters for a thousand li” was created in 1113 by Wang Ximen, who was then about 18 years old, and that the artist died very young a few years later. He was a student at the Art Academy, founded by Emperor Huizong , who himself was a good painter and made very high demands on landscape painting . It is likely that Wang Ximen was under his highest auspices, since the painting was painted in full accordance with the basic artistic principles of Huizong. These principles were significantly different from the aesthetics of the landscape of the X - beginning of the XI centuries, expressed in the works of such masters as Fan Kuan , Kuan Tong , Guo Xi , their gravitation towards decorativeness and grace. Some researchers believe that the excellent scroll created by the artist was something like an examination work during his studies at the Academy. For many centuries, the name of Van Ximan was almost forgotten; the true value of his talent was revealed only in the 20th century.
"Mountains and waters for a thousand li"
A scroll about 12 meters long and more than half a meter wide is one of the largest paintings created in the history of Chinese painting. The artist depicted a grandiose panorama of mountains and waters in accordance with the old style of the so-called blue-green landscape, developed during the Tang Dynasty by aristocrats from the reigning Li family. This style with the characteristic use of deep blue and green pigments and gold as a symbol of aristocracy and sophistication was adopted from the Tang imperial house by representatives of the Zun imperial family Zhao, and was maintained by them even after the fall of their state (this is evidenced by the works of Zhao Menfu ). The painting of the scroll is executed in a detailed style (gunbi), it differs to a large extent from the foggy landscape technique that was prevalent among intellectuals of that time, which was carried out by washouts of the carcass, making the outlines of mountains and other objects fuzzy. The artist gave a picture of the grandeur of the universe, clearly expressing the original essence of the Chinese landscape “ shan-shui ” - the harmony of opposites: mountain solidity and fluidity of water, eternal and changeable, yin and yang . Van Ximen with a subtle brush wrote a lot of life phenomena generated by this harmony, depicted people, animals and birds, water in different states, details of life, trees, and fishermen’s boats, houses and a magnificent bridge with covered terraces where travelers can rest and so on. The artist combined the classicism of the old blue-green style with elegant realistic patterns characteristic of the Song period and a luminous golden atmosphere that gives the landscape a deep poetry. This work can be considered secular, and, perhaps, a somewhat superficially detailed reading of the deep philosophical and religious essence of the Chinese landscape "shan-shui", which has always been an expression of a fundamental spiritual idea.
Scroll details in high resolution.
Bibliography
- Postrelova T. A. Academy of Painting in China in the X — XIII centuries. - M.: Science, 1976 p. 89
- The spiritual culture of China. Encyclopedia, T. 6, M. 2010. p. 535
- Three Thousand Years of Chinese Painting. Yale University Press. 1997. pp. 124-125