Sat, Aug 26, 2017 page14

• Bilingual Arts: The shared origin of painting and calligraphy: I 雙語藝術：書畫同源（一）皴法與體積營造

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  In the previous Bilingual Arts we introduced a piece of calligraphy to explore the interrelation of subject matter and the visual form of the characters within the calligraphic medium. Chinese characters and the brush form the core of the East Asian culture. The brush is not only an instrument for writing and expressing ideas: it is also an implement used for painting.

  The Chinese literati would speak of how painting and poetry resonated with each other, one evoking the other, and of the relationship between poetry, painting and calligraphy. The artist’s approach was informed by the concept that poetry and painting have a shared origin, a theory originating from the essay “On the use of the brush by Gu, Lu, Zhang and Wu” in Famous paintings through History by the Tang writer Zhang Yanyuan (815-875 AD). The concept of yongbi — the use of the brush — is first seen in the Record of the Classification of Old Painters (completed approx. 532-552 AD) by Xie He (dates unknown) of the Southern Qi dynasty, who wrote of the “six principles of Chinese painting,” which are interpreted as resonance (qiyun shengdong); outlining compositional elements with the brush (gufa yongbi); accurate depiction of form (yingwu xiangxing); fidelity of form and color (suilei fucai); composition (jingying weizhi); and transmission through copying (chuanyi moxie). Zhang’s concept of the shared origin of painting and calligraphy laid the theoretical foundations for the calligraphic use of the brush to be applied to painting.

  Calligraphy is more than a linear representation: through variations in the amount of ink on the brush the calligrapher creates the impression of spatial depth on the two-dimensional surface of the paper or silk.

  

  Detail of a mountain in Pure and Remote View of Streams and Mountains. 南宋‧夏圭《溪山清遠》局部。

  Photo: Wikimedia Commons
  照片：維基共享資源

  The Chinese character cun originally meant the tiny lines or cracks that appeared in the skin of the face dried out by long exposure to cold winds. The cunfa — texture stoke — technique is used in landscape painting to represent trees and rocks.

  During a painting, cun entailed dipping the brush in ink and water and then wiping it on a separate piece of paper to absorb some of the liquid. The artist would then draw the semi-dry brush, perpendicularly or obliquely, across the textured surface of the paper or silk. This would naturally create a dry brush effect, leaving textured traces of ink reminiscent of axe cuts.

  The precipice shown in this central section of Pure and Remote View of Streams and Mountains by the Song Dynasty painter Xia Gui (active approx. 1200~1230 AD) is painted using the fupicun — axe-cut texture stroke — technique to create a layering effect and to differentiate rocks, while also giving them the impression of substance and weight. The artist would draw in the outlines of the precipice with a brush liberally loaded with ink, using it to differentiate the different layers of rock, and then paint on the finer lines on the rock surface using a lighter tone of ink and employing the zhongfeng — perpendicular to the paper, using the the brush along its central axis — method. Finally, he would have etched on the surface texture of the rock, with protrusions and crevasses, in the axe-cut texture stroke using the cunfa technique.

  

  Detail of Pure and Remote View of Streams and Mountains, painted by Xia Gui of the Southern Song dynasty, in the collection of the National Palace Museum. 南宋‧夏圭《溪山清遠》局部—中段巨巖，台北國立故宮博物院藏。

  Photo: Wikimedia Commons
  照片：維基共享資源

  This cunfa technique lies somewhere between rendering lines and textures: if using the zhongfeng method, one can depict lines; if using the cefeng (oblique attack) method, one can give the impression of a surface texture.

  (Translated by Paul Cooper)

  上回雙語藝術單元我們簡介了一件書法作品，說明在書法這媒介中，詩文內容以及文字視覺形象的並陳。漢字與毛筆，構成了東亞漢字文化圈的核心。而毛筆不僅用來書寫、表意，更是繪畫的工具。

  不僅是文人標榜的詩中有畫、畫中有詩，或詩書畫合一，在創作實踐上，更有「詩畫同源」說——此為唐代張彥遠（西元八一五～八七五年）在其《歷代名畫記》中的〈論顧陸張吳用筆〉所提出。「用筆」一詞，最早見於南齊謝赫（其生平不詳）《古畫品錄》（成書年代約為西元五三二～五五二年）的繪畫「六法」：氣韻生動、骨法用筆、應物象形、隨類賦彩、經營位置、傳移模寫。

  張彥遠的「書畫同源」論奠定了以書法「用筆」入畫的理論基礎，也開展了未來以「筆法」作為中國繪畫創作基本教義之一。

  書法不僅是線性的，利用墨汁之濃淡乾溼變化，便可在紙或絹上堆疊出立體感。皴法即為山水畫中用以描繪樹石紋理的技法。皴（音村）的原意為人在寒冬經冷風長久吹襲，臉上皮膚缺少油脂保護，受凍所形成的細小粗糙之裂紋。

  皴在繪畫造形上，是筆蘸墨與水，以另一張紙捻吸使筆半乾，然後以中鋒或側鋒擦過紙絹面，因紙絹面本身即有紋理高低，受墨不平均，因而形成類似皴破之裂紋肌理。

  南宋夏圭（約活躍於一二○○～一二三○年）的《溪山清遠》中段的巨崖，即用斧劈皴呈現不同量塊的風貌與萬鈞的厚實感。先以較濃之墨勾勒出巨巖不同塊面之輪廓，並區別出石塊前後之位置，再以淡墨中鋒勾勒石上絡脈，然後以乾筆皴擦出狀如斧劈陰陽凹凸的石面紋路。

  皴之表現，可介於線與面之間，如以中鋒皴擦，則類似線；如以側鋒為之，則成小的面。

  （台北時報林俐凱）
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