On Gong Xian’s Art Change From "White Gong" To "Black Gong"

Gong Xian, a landscape painter, who lived in the era of war and suffered from wanderingfrom place to place. The hardships of life contributed to his strong character and greatachievements in art.Judging from appearances of the paintings, Gong Xian’s paintings can be divided into“white gong “and “black gong”.“White gong “is his early painting style. But after goingthrough the difficulties of life and the changing of dynasties, his painting style changed a lot.He discarded the distinguishing painting feathers of the late Ming dynasty, which was emptyand simple and absorbed the strong and realism painting feather of the Northern Song dynasty.The main achievement of Gong Xian’s landscape painting was vigorous accumulated inklandscape, which reached an unprecedented level, and he exceeded many of his previous andcontemporary painters.The Ming dynasty is the climax of the development of china’s feudal society. In Mingdynasty, the continued developing economy, the stable politics, the harmony society and thedevelopments of the capitalism rudiments inevitably promoted the development of art. This isthe background of Gong Xian’s change. Gong Xian’s paintings were deeply influenced by thetraditional painting thoughts. Among those,the painting thoughts of Jing Hao、Dong Yuan、Guo Xi、Zhao Mengfu profoundly influenced Gong Xian. He was also deeply influenced byTaoist and Confucian philosophy.Gong Xian is one of my favorite painters. His painting style possesses very specialcharacteristics, and he shows the transition of a painter’s growth. His experiences tell us toread more books and read more paintings, and only by continuous learning can we gaincontinuous progress.