FA Chang

Muxi

Muxi, a native of Sichuan, has a common surname of Li and a Buddhist name of Fachang. It is probably from the end of Song Dynasty to the beginning of Yuan Dynasty. The specific date of birth and death is ominous, but there are records that Muxi died in 1281 ad. The representative works are Laozi, songape, Yuanpu Guifan and Xiaoxiang.

Brief introduction to Muxi

painter of the Southern Song Dynasty, the Japanese ancient book "songzhaimeipu" evaluates Muxi's paintings as "all of them are made of random ink, with simple meaning and no decoration." According to the supplement to the continuation of Chinese painting, Volume I: "the monk FA Chang is named Muxi. He is good at painting dragons and tigers, figures, wild geese, and miscellaneous paintings. He is not good at playing in the dry mountains. He can only help the quiet ears in the monk's room His paintings are incisive and full of Zen. Most of the relics are found in Japan. The original painting of Yuanpu Guifan is in the Kyoto National Museum. His pine ape painting has a great influence on Japanese Zen painting. He was even rated as "the great benefactor of Japanese painting.". The eight sceneries of Xiaoxiang

Painting appreciation

Muxi, a painter of Southern Song Dynasty, is an enigmatic figure. He is good at painting landscapes, fruits and vegetables, and freehand brushwork monks and Taoists. From this picture of six persimmons, we can realize the random arrangement of six persimmons, and the flexible use of different brush and ink, virtual and real, Yin and Yang, and thickness on each persimmon. The work presents the realm of "real everywhere" in still life works. the historical records about Muxi are not detailed. In Song Zhai Mei Pu written by Wu Dasu of Yuan Dynasty, there are many descriptions about this painter: "monk FA Chang, a native of Shu, is named Muxi. He likes to paint dragons and tigers, apes and cranes, birds, mountains and rivers, trees and stones, and figures, but has never set colors. It's made of bagasse and grass. It's easy to make up. The shape of pine, bamboo and plum orchid stone is similar to that of lotus and reed Mu Xi's paintings are classified as Zen paintings. Zen paintings are different from literati paintings. They are not limited to ink or charm, and "regard the liberation of life as the highest meaning of existence.". All phenomena of existence are the mark of the purest reality of life Zen is always in the transformation of life and between change and invariance, showing exquisite and thorough life state all the time and everywhere. All the ink and quotations are left to be dealt with by those who understand "(Pan Shifan's words). However, in the field of literati painting at that time, the evaluation of Muxi was very low. For example, Tang Xun, a man of the Yuan Dynasty, wrote a painting mirror, saying: "in modern times, Muxi monks often made ink bamboo, but there was no ancient method for crude evil." Zhu moulong of the Ming Dynasty also said in his painting history Huiyao: "the method is often called Muxi. The painting of dragons and tigers, apes and cranes, Luyan, mountains and rivers, and characters are all made of random ink. The meaning is simple and easy, and it doesn't cost decoration, but there is no ancient method for crude evil. It's not elegant." However, not everyone has not realized the beauty of Muxi's works. For example, Xueqiao Yuanxin, an eminent monk in the late Ming Dynasty, described Muxi's works in such a way: "the monk has eyes on the tip of his pen, and there are birds, magpies and flowers flowing out of his voice. The viewer can't see them without thinking about them. Jingshan qianzhian Yuanxin. " However, the greatest appreciation for Muxi came from Japan. At that time, Japanese monks brought a large number of Muxi's works to Japan. Now, his works are mainly collected in Japan. Muxi's handed down works Guanyin, ape and crane, the opposite of dragon and tiger, the picture of monk clam, the eight sceneries of Xiaoxiang, the picture of fishing village at sunset, the picture of Yuanpu sailing and the picture of wild geese falling in Pingsha are all collected in Japan. At that time, the Japanese shogunate classified the collection of Chinese paintings according to the upper, middle and lower categories, and Muxi's paintings were classified as the top grade. Yasunari Kawabata, a famous Japanese writer, once talked about Muxi: "Muxi was an early Zen monk in China, and was not paid attention to in China. It seems that because his paintings are somewhat rough, they are hardly respected in the history of Chinese painting. In Japan, however, they are highly respected. Muxi is not highly praised in Chinese painting theory, and this view came to Japan with Muxi's works. Although this kind of painting theory has entered Japan, Japan still regards Muxi as the highest. From this we can see the difference between China and Japan. "