The first issue of the "Mirror of Beauty Reading" series of academic lectures in 2025 was held as scheduled on the afternoon of March 29th in the lecture hall of Guanshanyue Art Museum. The audience in Shenzhen gathered together to listen to Professor Guo Weiqi, Vice Dean of the School of Arts and Humanities at Guangzhou Academy of Fine Arts, giving a lecture on "My History: Searching for an 'Amateur' Figure Painting". This lecture focuses on ancient Chinese figure painting, especially the figure painting in the 17th and 18th centuries. The speaker did not talk about the Chinese figure painting in this period from the perspective of conventional art history, but started from solving the problem to explain to the audience why he put forward the concept of "amateur" figure painting in his research, as well as the source and thinking of the concept of "my history". Professor Guo Weiqi opened a new door for the audience to understand Chinese figure painting. He led the audience to re explore the significance of Chinese figure painting and find the "self" thinking and expression contained in it.

The topic starts from the origin of Chinese figure painting and landscape painting. Landscape painting seems to occupy a more important position in the history of traditional Chinese painting, but in fact, figure painting became the mainstream of Chinese painting earlier, and there is a complex relationship between landscape painting and figure painting. In the painting theories of various dynasties, whether it is Sheikh's "Paintings of the Southern Dynasties" or Zhang Yanyuan's "Records of Famous Paintings of Various Dynasties" in the Tang Dynasty, both reflect the relationship between early figure painting and landscape painting, and the presentation of landscape is often the background of figure painting. The scroll of Wen Zhengming's painting "Xiang Jun Xiang Madam" represents the taste pursuit of literati painting in the Ming and Qing dynasties. The postscript on the painting tells the origin and history of this painting. Unlike professional painting, it is an intermediary for literati communication. The concept of "amateur" figure painting proposed by Guo Weiqi is contained in this, which is a figure painting with literary interest.

Guo Weiqi believes that since the Six Dynasties, some paintings may seem like landscape paintings, but in reality, they can also be seen as realistic paintings of characters. In Gu Kaizhi's "Painting Yuntai Mountain", a painting sketch of Yuntai Mountain was designed. Although it describes painting Yuntai Mountain, it can actually be seen as depicting the story of Zhang Tianshi and his disciples. The landscape instead becomes the background of the character painting, with the characters in a more mainstream position. Many landscape paintings that followed had the presence of figure paintings, which were also classified as "amateur" figure paintings by the speaker. For example, Qiao Zhongchang's "Ode to the Back Red Cliff" is a very classic example, which depicts Su Dongpo's "Ode to the Back Red Cliff" and begins with a long scroll of landscape scenery depicting three characters. Throughout the Song Dynasty, many landscape paintings featured scenery and figures, which the speaker referred to as "amateur" figure paintings.

The "My History" proposed by the speaker comes from Kang Youwei's "Self Compiled Chronology of Kangnanhai", also known as "My History" or "My History". The compilation of this book implies that the thinking on "self" has gradually taken shape since the Ming and Qing dynasties. Guo Weiqi used Wang Lu's "Huashan Atlas" as an example to explain the concept of "me". The picture depicts the scenery of Huashan, and upon careful identification, there are some scenic figures moving around. On the cliff boardwalk, there are people walking on ropes, while others climb up the ropes. One can even see a bag of luggage, which is vivid and natural. Wang Lu said in the postscript, 'If it weren't for the fact that Huashan made me rediscover myself, would I still be myself?'. The speaker pointed out that although the character scenery in this painting is not a specialized character painting, it plays a role in arousing self-awareness and can also be regarded as an "amateur" character painting. These figure paintings, although not specialized in figure painting, constitute a pinnacle of figure painting.

In order to better explain what character painting with literati spirit is, the speaker uses the Ming Dynasty's Shang Xi's "Xuanzong Xingle Tu" and Xie Huan's "Apricot Garden Elegant Collection Tu" as examples. They are typical professional paintings that reflect the taste of the aristocracy and have a huge difference from literati painting. So, what is the "humanistic spirit" in "amateur" figure paintings? The speaker highlighted Chen Shizeng's article "The Value of Literati Painting", which states that literati painting is "a painting that carries the nature of literati, contains the interests of literati, and does not focus on artistic skills in painting. Many literati's thoughts must be seen outside the painting, which is called literati painting. Or it can be said that painting by literati requires a lack of artistic skills and external connections, and uses objects outside the painting as a means to make up for and cover up. Little do they know that painting is an object that is spiritual, imaginative, and active; it is not an instrument, nor is it a simple one. Otherwise, it is just like a camera, monotonous, and the clouds of people are also clouds. Why is it precious to be evil?" Literati painting does not care about painting techniques, but emphasizes the outside world. The effort emphasizes the expression of the soul and thoughts. The lecturer thought that Chen Shizeng gave a pertinent evaluation of the value of literati painting, but his evaluation of Chinese figure painting was too pessimistic. The lecturer pointed out that the achievements of Chinese figure painting were very high, but they were not reflected in the theoretical construction. The evaluation of figure painting in painting theory was unbalanced with landscape painting. Chen Shizeng's own literati painting achievements were quite high, and there were a large number of outstanding figure painters around. Why did he come to such a conclusion? Maybe he was in the middle of it and was a fan of it. Because of this, the speaker believed that it was more necessary to rediscover the value of Chinese figure painting and build new theories.

The speaker leads the audience to interpret the works' expression of "self" emotions such as "terrifying me, depressed me, noble me, confused me, and divided me" in these paintings full of literary spirit. Whether it is Chen Hongshou's "Self Portrait", Xiang Shengmo's "The Wind Signal of a Big Tree", or Huang Anping's "A Small Portrait of a Mountain" and Shi Tao's "Planting Pine", the appearance, clothing, background, and inscriptions of the characters in the picture have become the best footnotes to express the "self" of the main character. Although "A Small Portrait of a Mountain" is a portrait painted by a friend for the Eight Great Mountain people, the protagonist incorporates their own ideas and concepts into the work. There are a total of nine inscriptions on the painting, three of which are self written by the Eight Great Mounta

It is worth mentioning that Professor Guo Weiqi, the speaker of this lecture, translated the book "Boundaries of the Self: Chinese Portrait Painting from 1600-1900" ten years ago. It was written by Wen Yicheng, an expert in Chinese art history at Stanford University in the United States, which embodies the concept of the boundary of the "self" in Chinese portrait painting. Since then, Guo Weiqi has long been concerned about the expression of "self" in Chinese figure paintings. In particular, after the middle of the Ming Dynasty, Chinese painting has been divided into Li family paintings and expert paintings, namely, courtyard body paintings and literati paintings. The figure paintings that pay more attention to personal experience are regarded by the lecturer as "amateur" figure paintings with literati spirit. He believes that such figure paintings have never been absent in the history of Chinese art, but are rarely mentioned in painting theory, and they even become an important field for literati and bureaucrats to express the concept of "self". This lecture was unique, as Guo Weiqi introduced thoughts about "me" in his portrayal of figure painting. He talked about who I really am, where I come from, where I am going, and what I am. He brought the audience's learning from art history to philosophical thinking, making them listen with great interest and occasionally smiling. In the interactive session, two audience members sought advice from the speaker regarding their long-standing confusion and received satisfactory answers. The atmosphere at the event was relaxed and pleasant, and the lecture ended with enthusiastic applause from the audience.

The "Mirror of Beautiful Reading" series of lectures has always been well received by readers. To ensure good order on site, we insist on real name appointment and check-in, providing a platform for audiences who truly love Chinese and foreign art to take care of the relationship between reading and viewing.