Yan Wengui (whale. 燕文; also sometimes Yan Gui whale. 燕 貴; end of X - beginning of the XI centuries) - a Chinese artist.
Content
Biography
Information about the artist is scarce and sometimes contradictory. The exact date of his birth is unknown (different authors make different assumptions about this date), but it is known that he came from Usin, Prov. Zhejiang. All sources report that initially Yan Wengui was listed in the army, where he held the quartermaster position. When Emperor Tai-Tsung came to power (976-997), he left the army service, and moved to the capital of the Bianlian Empire (this is believed to have happened in the late 970s). There he began to earn by selling his paintings with landscapes and genre scenes on the street leading to Tian Men (Heavenly Bridge). It is believed that his teacher was a little-known artist Hao Hui.
As often happens in Chinese biographies, Wengui was helped by chance: the court painter Gao Yi saw his paintings in the street. He was an active member of the Hanlin Academy, specialized in the painting of temples by deities, and appealed to the emperor to allow Yan Wenguya to be used as an assistant for painting the wall with a landscape. The emperor gave permission, and soon the artist was enrolled in the Imperial Academy. It is curious that Gao Yi himself became a member of the Hanlin Academy also by chance: he sold medicines that he wrapped in paper with his own hands painted by various deities and demons until the relative was seen by a relative of the future emperor Tai-tsung, who recommended him to the emperor. These examples give an idea of what, sometimes, quite unexpected, ways the state of the Imperial Academy was formed.
In the historical annals there is a record that in 988 Yan Wengui painted a fan, which the emperor liked very much. Information about ancient Chinese masters is usually colored by various anecdotes and legends, to distinguish truth from fiction in which it is very difficult. In connection with the fan and Wenguy, there was a joke about how the emperor punished Yan Wengui to write on a fan a portrait of his minister with a hint that this should be a portrait of Gao I. Wengui presented a white silk fan to the emperor, and when he turned the fan over by the other side, he discovered there is a self-portrait of Yan Wenguya himself. The emperor was located to Wengui and not without a sense of humor, so he liked the joke.
In ancient Chinese sources there are reports that Yan Wengui took part in the painting of the Xiangguo temple, as well as the Yuqingzhaoin monastery. The Chinese historian and art critic Go Zhosui (XI century) in his work “Notes on Painting” reports that they began to build this monastery under the motto “Dazhong Xiangfu”, that is, in 1008-1016, when the third emperor of the Sung rule ruled the country the Zhen Zong dynasty (997-1022). Guo Zhosui writes that in his spare time at the monastery, Yan Wengui wrote a landscape scroll that saw Dong Liu Du. He recommended the artist to a higher position “daizhao” (“waiting for imperial instructions”) at the Hanlin Academy, and the emperor Zhen-tsung immediately approved this recommendation. In this position, Yang continued to serve in the court Academy, becoming close to one of the leading artists Gao Keming , with whom he later had close friendship.
The exact date of the death of the master is not known. According to some authors, he died in the 20s of the XI century, according to others, survived Zhen-tszun (997-1022) and died during the reign of the next emperor, Ren-tszun (1022-1063), approximately in the 40s XI century.
Creativity
Yan Wenguy belonged to the greatest masters of the landscape. Initially, his work was strongly influenced by one of the founders of the Sung landscape school, Li Cheng . This is evidenced by the roll "Buildings among mountains and rivers" (ink, paper. Osaka, Municipal Museum), which is considered one of the earliest works of the artist. On it you can see the majestic mountains, contrasting with the water surface, a variety of topography of the soil, as if purposely designed by the artist, and among this magnificence are traces of human presence in the form of houses and ships. The painting was written by three varieties of brushstroke, which used in his time, Li Cheng. This scroll is considered, if not the original, then at least a copy of Yan Wengui, which conveys the essence of creativity.
Another example of a majestic landscape is the scroll "Houses near the mountains and rivers" (Gugun, Taipei). On it you can again see a variety of natural elements - mountains, several different valleys stretching into the distance, a river, and traces of human presence. It was the ability to construct diverse natural textures into a single artistic fabric that was a feature of Yan Wengui's creativity. His landscapes were so different from other works that the expression “landscape in the style of Master Jan” or simply “Landscape of Yan” began to be used in circles of the Academy. “Yang's Landscape” and “Fan’s Landscape” (i.e. Fan Kuan style) were the two main areas of the North Sun Landscape School.
Temple murals in which Yan Wengui participated did not reach our days. However, the artist was not only a master of the monumental landscape, but also perfectly felt himself in such an applied form of painting as fan painting. Copies have been preserved which are attributed with varying degrees of authenticity to those made from its originals.
Researchers at Chinese painting also note Yan Wengui’s achievements in the architectural landscape (tzehua). He is considered the master who approved the panoramic version of the “architectural landscape” and the immediate predecessor of Zhang Zeduan . At one time, Yan Wenguy wrote one of the masterpieces of the architectural genre - the scroll "City Market on the Night of the Seventh Day", but this work is known only from historical sources, because did not live to this day.
Creativity Yan Wenguy has influenced a number of his students and followers. Among them was Qu Ding, who, according to the remark of art historian Go Zhosuyu (XIv), "achieved similarity with Yan Gui." The magnificent Summer Mountains landscape from the Metropolitan Museum, which was previously considered the work of Yan Wengui, was attributed to his student Qu Ding today, since the scroll bears the seal of Emperor Hui-tsung, and in the Xuanhe Huapu catalog, compiled in his time, there are only three landscape with the same name and all listed as Qu Ding. Nevertheless, this excellent work gives an idea of the level and quality of painting, which were characteristic of Yan Wengui.
List of Works
(according to the book by James Cahill “An index of early Chinese painters and paintings: Tang, Sung, and Yüan” University of California Press. 1980, pp 194-196)
- "Houses near the mountains and rivers." Mountains rising above the river, temples in the valley. Has a signature. Wonderful job. The gongun, taipei.
- Temple in the middle of the autumn mountains. Has a signature. The inscription of the Yuan Guo Bi. The gongun, taipei.
- Three immortals in a cave. Attributed to. Strange picture of the Minsk period. The gongun, taipei.
- Fishing net. Attributed to. Late copy of the Southern Sung work (?). The gongun, taipei.
- The temple among the autumn hills. 17th century scroll (?). The gongun, taipei.
- Mountains and rivers in the snow. Scroll, silk, mascara. Late imitation of the type of landscape, which according to the general opinion is inherent in Yan Wengui. The gongun, taipei.
- Many trees on strange mountains. Painting fan. Attributed to. Lee Tan's style. The gongun, taipei.
- Traveling along a winter river. Painting fan. Attributed to. Late Sung or Yuan work. The gongun, taipei.
- Travelers in the autumn mountains. Scroll. Has a signature. Minsk work. Private collection, Taipei.
- The winding river that flows among the mountains. Long scroll Attributed to. Jin or Yuan work carried out in the North Sung tradition. The colophones of Ni Tsang, Lu Guan and many others. Previously stored in a private collection of the Manchu ruling house.
- "Buildings among the mountains and rivers." River landscape with high mountains and temples. Scroll, ink, paper. Signed by. The beginning of the 12th century (?). Made in the tradition of Yan Wenguya. Osaka, Municipal Museum.
- Two landscapes. Attributed Yuan Work (?), National Museum, Tokyo
- Enlightenment on the river after a snowfall. Free version of the old Wang Wei composition. Signed by author. Lou Guan's colophons, Song Ke, and Shen Zhou. Seals Xiang Yuanbyan. Coll. Fuji Yurinkan, Kyoto.
- Wind on the river. Mountains by the river with temples and human figures. Scroll on dark silk. Attributed to. Late work. Coll. Cheng Qi, Tokyo.
- Winter landscape. Scroll on silk. Signed by. Probably created based on the "enlightenment after a snowfall," Wang Wei. Copy. Freer Gallery, Washington.
- Summer mountains. Attributed to. The seals of Liang Qingbyo, emperor Qianlong and others. Well done work. The Metropolitan Museum (now attributed to Qu Dinu, but Cahill does not agree with this attribution).
- Wind on the river. Scroll on paper. Attributed to. The seals of Liang Qingbyo, emperor Qianlong and others. Late work. The composition is the same as in the roll from the private collection of Cheng Qi, Tokyo. Collection Dzhankank, Chicago.
- Stony shore with pine trees in the rain. Painting fan. Attributed to. Good South Song work. Crawford collection.
- Several album sheets, mistakenly attributed to Yan Wengui from the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York.
Bibliography
- Posrelova, TA The Academy of Painting in China in the 10th — 13th centuries. - M .: Nauka, 1976 p. 41, 44, 46, 52, 56.
- Guo Jo-sui. Notes on painting: what he saw and heard. M. Science. 1978, pp. 78-79, 81
- Wen fong. Summer mountains. The Timeless Landscape. The Metropolitan Museum of Art, 1975, pp.18-19
- Various authors. Three Thousand Years of Chinese Painting. Yale University Press, London, 1997. pp 102, 104
- Watson, William, The Arts of China 900–1620. Yale University Press, London 2000, p. five