In the 20th century, Chinese painting faced not only changes in techniques, but also the question of how traditional Chinese culture can re-establish its own value in the modern world. Although artists such as Qi Baishi, Gao Jianfu, Huang Binhong, Fu Baoshi, and Guan Shanyue have different paths, they are all responding to the core proposition of "how ink and brush face the times" in their own ways. Huang Binhong did not simply stay within traditional painting, but attempted to find the deep cultural basis for the modern transformation of Chinese painting through a re examination of the relationship between epigraphy, paleography, Confucianism, and painting. He is not just a painter, but more like a character with a strong sense of cultural change. Today, people are accustomed to understanding Huang Binhong from the perspective of the auction market and the classicization of art history, but in fact, the truly important part of Huang Binhong may not only be in the painting itself.
From 'painter' to 'revolutionary'
Lu Yi believes that if Huang Binhong is only regarded as a landscape painter, then his understanding is actually greatly simplified. In the historical context of the late Qing Dynasty and the Republic of China, Huang Binhong was first and foremost a person who strongly cared about the changes of the times. He was wanted by the Qing government for privately minting coins in his early years and was forced to leave his hometown for Shanghai. This experience is not simply an "anecdote", but rather indicates that Huang Binhong has been involved in the social change trend since the late Qing Dynasty since her youth. He is not a traditional literati who completely retreats from the study and is far away from reality. On the contrary, he has always been thinking about how Chinese culture can face the problems of the modern world. In this context, the relationship between Huang Binhong and important cultural groups in the late Qing Dynasty, such as the Journal of Chinese Classics and the Association for the Preservation of Chinese Studies, became particularly important. Based on the literature collected by the Zhejiang Provincial Museum, Lu Yi sorted out the interactions between Huang Binhong, Deng Shi, Huang Jie and others, and pointed out that they were not simply "literary collections" in the sense of the word, but an important part of the national cultural trend since the late Qing Dynasty. The Journal of Chinese Classics is a cultural movement platform in the context of the late Qing revolution. Deng Shi, Huang Jie, and others attempted to re-establish the subjectivity of Chinese culture through the preservation of national essence. In this context, Huang Binhong began to publish articles on printmaking, calligraphy and painting, and epigraphy, gradually forming her own overall thinking on the development of Chinese painting.
historical perspective formed during this period. Lu Yi pointed out that this theory has long been highly controversial. Because in the narrative of traditional Chinese painting history, the periods of Daoguang and Xianfeng are often regarded as the relatively low stage of Qing Dynasty painting: there was the "Four Kings" system before, followed by the rise of the maritime painting school, and it seems that there were not enough dazzling masters during the Daoxian period. Therefore, why Huang Binhong insists on "promoting the revival of Dao Xian" has become a very worthy issue for discussion.
To illustrate this issue, Lu Yi starts with the changes in the academic environment in Guangdong since the late Qing Dynasty. She specifically mentioned the impact of Ruan Yuan's establishment of the "Xuehai Hall" in Guangzhou on the academic development of Lingnan. Ruan Yuan advocated the study of epigraphy, emphasizing the mutual verification of ancient texts, inscriptions, and classics, which promoted the development of Confucianism and epigraphy in Guangdong region. At the same time, with the intensification of internal and external troubles in the late Qing Dynasty, the academic community gradually began to reflect on the limitations of the study of textual criticism in the Qianlong and Jiaqing periods, and the idea of studying the world emerged again. Lu Yi believes that the truly important aspect of the Daoxian period is not whether there was a traditional "peak of painting", but rather whether it marked the beginning of a change in the traditional academic structure of China: firstly, the resurgence of the consciousness of learning from the world; Secondly, the scope of academic research has significantly expanded; Thirdly, new connections have begun to form between epigraphy, philology, calligraphy, and painting. It was in this context that Huang Binhong rediscovered the value of the Daoxian period.
Huang Binhong's emphasis on "stone and stone" is not limited to the level of subject matter or interest, but rather sees it as an important foundation for the modern transformation of Chinese painting. He once divided painting into three categories: literati painting, master painting, and master painting, and particularly emphasized the important position of "epigraphers" in literati painting. Lu Yi believes that the rise of epigraphy since the late Qing Dynasty has had the most profound impact on Chinese painting, as it has changed people's understanding of "brush and ink". Painting is no longer just a simulation of natural scenery, but has begun to emphasize the artistic form changes brought about by cultural relics such as text, inscriptions, and rubbings. This change has, in a sense, promoted the development of a new formal language in 20th century Chinese painting.
Re understand the concept of "brush and ink"
The Zhejiang Provincial Museum not only houses a large number of Huang Binhong's calligraphy and painting works, but also a remarkable collection of Huang Binhong's works, including those of Xie Lansheng, Wu Rongguang, Chen Pu, Feng Minchang, Wu Dacheng, and others. Most of them are cultural scholars who are not prominent in the history of Chinese painting. Why does Huang Binhong value them so much? Huang Binhong's collection system itself constitutes a part of his artistic ideas. Unlike the traditional painting value system established by the "Southern and Northern School", Huang Binhong pays special attention to artists who are in the process of "transformation". What he cares about is not necessarily the highly mature classic styles, but the ink and language that are undergoing changes and nurturing new possibilities. For example, in the works of Wu Rongguang and others, the mountain and stone texturing technique has begun to show a processing method different from the traditional "Four Kings" system. Ink colors are layered and stacked to form a visual structure that is thicker and closer to the effect of gold and stone rubbings. Lu Yi believes that although this change is not yet fully mature, it already foreshadows the development direction of Huang Binhong's ink landscape in the future.
Here, "brush and ink" is no longer just a writing in the sense of literary taste, but begins to have a certain cultural structural transformation. Huang Binhong also criticized the decline of painting studies in the mid to late Qing Dynasty in his early years, but in his later years, especially after being trapped in Beijing during the Anti Japanese War and reading ancient painting theories and literature for a long time, he gradually revised his views and formed a relatively complete theory of "revival of Daoxian painting studies". That is to say, Huang Binhong's "rich and vibrant style" in his later years was not only a mature personal style, but also based on his re understanding of the cultural transformation since the late Qing Dynasty.
Lingnan, Epigraphy and Modern Art
So, what role did Lingnan culture play in the formation of Huang Binhong's ideas? Lu Yi believes that although the academic community has long noticed Huang Binhong's interactions with Cantonese people, the large number of relevant letters and documents collected by the Zhejiang Provincial Museum have not been fully utilized. It was during the process of organizing these materials that she gradually realized the significant importance of the cultural networks between Guangdong and Hong Kong for Huang Binhong's artistic and academic development in her later years. She displayed a large amount of communication materials between Huang Binhong and Guangdong people, including Deng Shi, Huang Jie, Cai Shou, Huang Jusu, Zhang Hong, Gao Jianfu, Chen Shuren, Liu Zuochuan, Su Qianying, Wu Ming, and others. These letters cover a wide range of topics, including academic discussions, collection of ancient paintings, research on epigraphy, publishing plans, as well as economic sponsorship, and even discussions on photography, marketing, and international communication. The support from Guangdong merchants and collectors from Hong Kong and Singapore for Huang Binhong's later life and art dissemination is actually far more important than people usually imagine. The dissemination, publication, and overseas dissemination of a large number of works by Huang Binhong in her later years are closely related to this network.
