Imitating Huang’s Red Cliff Jade Tree Painting

仿黄公望《丹崖玉树》图

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黄公望为“元四家”之首（另外三家为吴镇、王蒙、倪瓒），他的山水画上承五代北派荆浩，关同，南派董源、巨然，自创风格，独树一帜， 画风雄秀、简逸、明快，对明清山水画影响甚大，是中国山水画史上划时代的画家。黄公望50岁后始画山水，很多创作于70岁以后，沈承书重拾画笔第一幅作品就仿他，表达了他对自己的期望和信心。三年后，承书找人给自己治了一枚闲章，“七十后作”，也是希望自己在年过古稀之后，画艺能更上一层楼。

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Huang, Gongwang was the top painter of the "Four Masters of the Yuan Dynasty" (the other three were Wu Zhen, Wang Meng, and Ni Zan). His landscape paintings inherited the styles of Jing Hao and Guan Tong of the Northern Styles of the Five Dynasties, and Dong Yuan and Ju Ran of the Southern Styles. He created his own style and was very unique. His style was majestic, simple, and bright, which had great influences on the landscape paintings of the Ming and Qing Dynasties. He was an epoch-making painter in the history of Chinese landscape painting. Huang  began to paint landscapes after he was 50 years old, and many of his works were created after he was 70 years old. Shen, Chengshu imitated his pieces after he picked up the brush again after retirement, expressing his expectations and confidence in himself. Three years later, Chengshu asked someone to make a seal for him, "made after 70", and he also hoped that his painting skills would reach a higher level after he was over 70 years old.

 

《丹崖玉树图》是黄公望有代表性的一幅作品。图中山峦嶂叠，高松杂树遍布于窠石坡岸之上，幽居房舍掩映于山林之中。近景林木葱郁，怪石临潭，溪桥横卧，桥上一老者策杖徐行。前景之长松用笔锋勾轮廓，然后皴鳞片、勾松针。其余杂树或圈、或点，皆温润柔和，山石多采用平缓圆浑的山体结构，无危峰峭壁。山石以长短披麻皴兼施，淡墨勾皴，浓墨点苔。远景丘壑连绵，气势宏大。随景色由近向远处伸延，墨色由浓转淡。整幅画面设色淡雅，苍然浑秀，体现了画家寄情于景的艺术风格。

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"Red Cliffs and Jade Trees" is a representative work of Huang, Gongwang. In the picture, there are overlapping mountains, tall pines and miscellaneous trees scattered on the rocky slopes, and secluded houses are hidden in the mountains and forests. In the foreground, there are lush trees, exotic rocks overlooking the pond, and a bridge crossing the stream. On the bridge, an old man walks slowly with a cane. The long pine in the foreground is outlined with a brush tip, and then the scales and pine needles are drawn. The other miscellaneous trees are either circles or dots, made the atmosphere warm and soft. The rocks mostly adopted a gentle and round mountain structure without dangerous peaks and cliffs. The rocks were drawn with both long and short hemp-like textures, outlined with light ink, and dotted with moss with thick ink. The distant view is full of hills and gullies, with a grand momentum. As the scenery extends from near to far, the ink color changes from thick/dark to light/hazy. The whole picture is elegant and beautiful, reflecting the painter's artistic style of expressing his feelings in the scenery.

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看来沈承书只是想检验一下自己的国画功底如何，是否因停笔二十年而荒废了，因而他仅仿此画笔意，甚至连景物布局都，山石外形都和原画不同，不在乎仿得像不像，只为温故而已。这一点从他画上的题词就可以看出来。“黄公望有丹崖玉树图，壬戌润四月以条幅仿其大意为温故之笔。沈承书六十七岁于太原。”沈承书于1937年抗战爆发后弃丹青学机械，走上工业救国的路。到1982年再圆国画梦，已经45年过去了。虽然1963年前后曾经短暂作画，但由于政治气候，不敢仿古，多以创新和现代题材为主。对于当年在故宫临摹打下的仿古功底还有多少，他自己也不是很有把握了。

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It seems that Shen, Chengshu just wanted to test his Chinese painting skills after 20 years of abandonment. Therefore, he only imitated the painting's brushwork, and even the layout of the scenery and the appearance of the rocks were different from the original painting. He didn't care whether the imitation was like the original work, but just to experience that old style again, Shen, Chengshu was 67 years old when he finished this painting. After the outbreak of the Sino-Japanese War in 1937, Shen gave up painting and studied mechanics, embarking on the path to win the war by industrializing China . It had been 45 years until he remembered that he once had a dream to become a traditional Chinese painter, in 1982. Although he painted briefly around 1963, he did not dare to imitate the ancient works due to the political climate, and mainly focused on innovation and contemporary themes. He used this painting to test out his skills after many decades of neglect.

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多年后再次提笔作画的第一幅，他似乎格外认真，山石皴擦特别细，以至于墨色较原作为重，远山的石头也不似原作那般平缓圆浑，而是棱角分明。近景那棵长松，是表现“玉树”主题的重要部分，其左侧向下最粗壮的分支伸延到了画外。但承书把这支干完整画了出来，也许是为了检查自己画松树的技法是否熟练。如果说原作上的松沧桑，坚劲，沈承书画的松则更加高雅，秀美，完全是另一种风格。

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The first painting he made after many years of break seemed to be very committed. The rocks were rubbed very carefully, so that the ink color was heavier than the original. The rocks in the distant mountains were not as smooth and round as in the original, but sharp and distinct. The long pine tree in the foreground is an important part of the theme of "Jade Tree". The thickest branch on the left side extends out of the painting. But Chengshu Shen drew this branch in full scale, perhaps to check whether he was proficient in painting pine trees still. If the pine tree in the original is vicissitudes and strong, the pine tree in Shen Chengshu's painting is more elegant and beautiful, in a completely different style.

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这幅画只仿其笔意，而不是求其形似 ，说明他的风格，笔法已经定型，形成自己的特色。不为表面的临摹，不求乱真的效果。他13岁起在故宫临摹打下的基础。在荒废四十五年之后，提笔就能重现当年水平，这是何等坚实的基本功啊！不过沈承书去世后，他的成功路就成了广陵绝响。当年他临摹的那些画都被蒋介石转移到台湾，现在的少年还会有人啃干馒头临摹古画吗？

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This painting only imitates the brushwork, not the form, which shows that his style and brushworks have been materialized and formed his own characteristics. He did not copy superficially or seek the effect of being indistinguishable from the real thing. He laid the foundation by doing sketches in the Forbidden City when he was 13 years old. After 45 years of neglect, he can regained the level of his younger years by picking up the brush and paint again. This illustrated the strong foundation Chengshu Shen had when he was still a student. However, after Shen Chengshu passed away, his road to success became a legend. The paintings he copied back then were transferred to Taiwan by Chiang Kai-shek. Will there be any young people today who would have the patients to sketch ancient paintings?