Recently, the premiere ceremony of the mystery novel "Smoke on Paper" with the theme of restoration of ancient paintings and calligraphy was held in Guangzhou.
The ancients used "smoke cloud" to refer to painting and calligraphy. Dong Qichang once said: "The beauty of a painter lies in the disappearance of the cloud of smoke." Opened up the many doubts behind ancient calligraphy and painting.
"Smoke and Clouds on Paper" combines various elements such as appreciation of ancient calligraphy and painting, restoration of painting and calligraphy, and suspense. These elements can be successfully integrated, thanks to the author's identity as a restorer of ancient books and cultural relics.
Text: Wu Bo, Omnimedia Reporter of Guangzhou Daily Correspondent: Qian Feiyao and Wang Xingchen
The forgery and restoration of calligraphy and painting are described in a fun and interesting way, with strong visibility
In the novel, Wu Molin, a calligraphy and painting restorer in Yangzhou in the Qing Dynasty, restored the defaced "A Thousand Miles of Rivers and Mountains" for Kangxi.
On the surface, Wu Molin is a restorer, but in fact he is a fake painting dealer.
The two led the south to search for the shocking treasure, and followed the clues hidden in the paintings and calligraphy works of famous masters of the past, and gradually approached the truth behind the history...
The author presents the techniques and doorway of ancient painting and calligraphy restoration techniques through the forgery and restoration plots of the craftsman Wu Molin, and through artistic processing, the story is more readable.
For example, it is written in the book that in order to please Liu Dingzhi, Wu Molin imitated Zhu Da's "Mandarin Fish Picture" to his liking, and the author incorporated the old tricks in the plot: "Wu Molin returned home, closed the door of the room, I took out the pen and paper, thought for a moment, swiped with ink, and after a while, I drew a mandarin fish, and imitated Zhu Da's calligraphy and inscribed the name. I took out a large wooden box from the bag, and found Zhu Da's fake seal. , pressed the ink pad and stamped it on. His counterfeiting skills had already reached the realm of transformation, but within half an hour, he created a fake painting like running clouds and flowing water. I boiled a pot of lard, hung this painting on the stove, boiled the lard with slow fire, and smoked it overnight. When it was dawn, the picture of mandarin fish was really wrapped in an old atmosphere."
Another example is when Wu Molin wrote about repairing "A Thousand Miles of Rivers and Mountains": "I saw him sneaking a little spit with his fingers, rubbing a little dirt from his armpit, and then using this muddy dirt on the newly repaired silk. Repeatedly rubbing on the silk, the bright color gradually lost its anger. He scrutinized it carefully for a while, but he was not satisfied, and then rubbed his fingers on the scalp for a long time, scraped off a bit of oil, smeared it on the repair silk, and counted repeatedly. Ten times later, the newly patched silk was actually rubbed off by the hair oil, giving it a soft, pulpy light, and at this point, it was done."
These plots are fun to read and draw readers into the storyline of the novel.
Passionate about the restoration of cultural relics and ancient calligraphy and painting in the creation
As a national restorer of paper cultural relics, Li Yidong is always cautious when facing precious isolated copies of ancient books.
However, in his literary creation, he used the pseudonym "North and South Dian", and he projected his enthusiasm and understanding of ancient book restoration and ancient painting and calligraphy on these two Qing court restoration craftsmen.
One of them is ingenious in the market, the other is high-minded and pedantic, but they all have fanatical and sincere feelings for calligraphy and painting.
The competition between them is an artistic debate; the break between them and the court is a game between power and art.
At the same time, we also think in the author's words: What is the value of art?
Throughout the ages, why are those restoration craftsmen willing to sit on the bench, why are they obsessed with a thin piece of paper, and go to great lengths to restore the old as it is?
Dialogue with the author "North and South Dian": Interesting facts in art history are suitable to be expressed in novels
Guangzhou Daily: The combination of painting and calligraphy restoration and suspense decryption is surprising. What is the reason for you to combine them?
Nanbeidian: I like fantasy, so I came up with such a story framework.
I have always felt that there are many core concepts in the history of Chinese painting that are suitable for dramatic forms in novels.
For example, literati painters despise craftsmanship, such as mutual criticism between painters of different schools, such as the story of calligraphy and painting forgery and intrigue, and many ancient forgers are often born in restorers, and restorers themselves are craftsmen. The restoration craftsman of the generation can tell a lot of interesting things in the history of art. I thought it would be very interesting to write, so I started to write, and I was fascinated as soon as I wrote it.
Guangzhou Daily: Restoration of calligraphy and painting is a very professional job. How did you deal with professionalism and readability when writing "Smoke and Clouds on Paper"?
North and South Dian: It is very difficult to balance professionalism and readability. I think professionalism is not the most difficult thing to achieve, but to achieve readability is precisely the most difficult.
People prefer to watch videos, like Douyin, and read quickly. In this atmosphere, it is very difficult to write a popular novel that catches everyone's attention with words while maintaining a certain taste and depth.
My current experience is: every time you finish writing a paragraph or a chapter, you must imagine yourself as a reader who doesn’t know much about the subject, and read it with a non-professional mentality, so that you can find many problems and correct them gradually.
Guangzhou Daily: From studying art history at the Academy of Fine Arts to restoring ancient books after graduation, what is your attitude to learn something new?
North and South Dian: What schools learn is book knowledge, and repair is the practice at hand. The two are very different.
In the face of new things, we must adjust our mentality. First, we must sit still, and secondly, we must face these jobs with a craftsman's mentality.
The restorer must endure loneliness and the dullness and boredom of repetitive work.
The repair work is actually quite hard, and you need to calm down and calm down.
Guangzhou Daily: What do you think of the significance of the restoration of cultural relics for art history research?
Nanbeidian: The significance is actually very big, because the process of restoration is actually a process of restoration. Many art history studies, including calligraphy and painting identification, are inseparable from restoration.
For example, in a painting, where is the supplementary pen, and where the mounting form has been modified, it is actually related to the study of art history.