Chen Shizeng Plum Blossom Chart Axis

[Chen Shizeng’s Plum Blossom Painting Axis]

The Plum Blossom Painting Axis, in modern times, is painted by Chen Shizeng in paper, with colors, 132.5 centimeters vertically and 40 centimeters horizontally
Self question at the top of this page: “Plum painting has a noble style, and it is better to be thin than fat, as Jin Dongxin said. The method is based on promoting and supplementing, and the method was learned from the monk Hua Guang. It is said that painting plum with flowers in circles began with Hua Guang. The faint ink on the outside of the flowers is called the inverted halo quality. His nephew Tang Zhengzhong passed on his method. Most of the paintings before the Song Dynasty were made with hook and brush, and the Hua Guang ink brush was used to cover the creation. The circle of Hua Guang painting began to be round ten years ago, so it can be seen that the use of bone techniques is not easy. I once saw the scroll of Yang Bu in Changsha, with its branches and delicate branches, and the flowers covered with ink.” Light ink, that is, its teaching method. Although I have not seen the true work of Huaguang, observing it is enough to explore its origins and believe in the rare things in the world. During the Yuan Dynasty, Wang Mian’s red plum blossoms were popular in the art forest, and here they bloomed a bit. Since then, there have been many abnormalities in circles or points, and there are countless people who have made a difference. Huaguang has a painting of Mei Jue, which can be found in the “Painting Manual of Peiwen Zhai”. It is the ancestor of the past generation and is the ancestor of all generations. However, literati use their pens freely and freely, creating a sense of elegance. “If one grasps too much, or flows rough, or takes a soft and charming posture, then one becomes ill and delicate. The style of Mei is far from being lost.”. “It is always appropriate to be strange without harming integrity, and to be strange without harming elegance. It is called a masterpiece.”. Xue Yang intended to ask the blind and talk about what he knew. Is it right? “Under the spring lamp of Renxu, Chen Hengke, the decadent one.” Seal “Chen Shizeng”
“Renxu” was the 11th year of the Republic of China (1922)
The picture depicts a plum blossom rising diagonally, with beautiful bones and clear spirits, and a solitary and upright shape. The flowers are painted with the method of circling flowers and dotted stamens. The picture includes a paragraph by Chen Shizeng, which briefly describes the origin of plum painting and the changes in painting techniques since ancient times (its narration is slightly different from historical facts), and then discusses the drawbacks of literati painting plum and their own methods of painting plum. He believes that painting too rough cannot express the elegance and purity of the plum blossom, while painting too soft cannot express the wind spirit of the plum blossom, which is cold and proud of snow. Both of them deviate from the character of the plum blossom, and only “strangeness does not harm integrity, and strangeness does not harm elegance” can be considered a masterpiece.