The gorgeous and rigorous "Seated Statue of Kangxi's Study", the "Portrait of Jin Ruren", which is still bright and fresh after hundreds of years, and the largest "Xiyuan Elegant Collection Picture" among the works with the same theme... Recently, "Rong Yao Danqing - China Exhibition of Ming and Qing Portraits in the National Museum of China was unveiled at the National Museum of China.
This exhibition is another Ming and Qing portrait painting exhibition launched by Guobo after last year's "Miaohe Divine Shape" exhibition. More than 50 pieces (sets) of fine paintings were selected, aiming to continue to display the artistic achievements of Chinese portrait painting and Chinese painting in the Ming and Qing Dynasties. The unique charm of art.
The exhibition consists of three units: "Royal Family·Famous Officials", "Mengshi·Wenhui", and "Boudoir·Women's Beauty".
The portraits of famous royal officials are mainly realistic, depicting spirit in form, and play the role of honoring merit, extolling virtue, and showing performance; portraits of famous scholars integrate entertainment, art and appreciation. There are family group portraits that praise traditional ethics and virtues; female portraits that record appearances reflect the awakening of women's concepts to a certain extent, from the purpose of early disciplinary education to the presentation of women's beauty.
Portrait paintings have left the appearance and image of historical figures for later generations and are precious historical records.
The costumes, attire, and furnishings in the portrait paintings not only vividly reproduced various cultural systems at that time, but also reflected the living conditions and spiritual world of the people at that time.
During the Ming and Qing Dynasties, the demand for portraits from all social strata increased greatly, which promoted the growth of the creative team and the improvement of the creative level.
The portrait paintings of this period have undergone significant changes in terms of schema and technique.
Compared with the Tang, Song and Yuan Dynasties, the portrait paintings of the Ming and Qing Dynasties focused on the realism of the images, especially in the middle and late Qing Dynasty, breaking the traditional way of portraits, combining Chinese and Western, strengthening perspective, and strengthening the details of facial texture, so that the proportion and structure of the characters tend to be more similar. reality.
In addition, in the Qing Dynasty, a considerable number of literati were involved in the creation of portrait paintings, and they paid attention to freehand brushwork, highlighting simplicity and charm.
On the other hand, the prosperity of sacrificial and commemorative portraits highlights the folk and secularization of portraits.
It is in this alternation of "elegance" and "vulgarity", "freehand brushwork" and "realism" that portrait painting in the Ming and Qing Dynasties has achieved great development beyond any previous era.
Zhu Wanzhang, a research librarian at the National Museum of China, believes that this exhibition comprehensively displays the content, technique, era background, creative process and cultural connotation of portrait paintings in the Ming and Qing Dynasties. The living conditions, spiritual features, ideological beliefs and aesthetic tastes of cultural relics, and in-depth understanding of the rich connotations of politics, ritual system, official system, art, customs, clothing, aesthetics and other aspects carried by cultural relics.
Our reporter Zou Yating