View Hongren’s Mood From "Huangshan Atlas"

The Picture Album of Huangshan Mountain is a set of 60 K album of paintings by Hongren,a monk painter in the early Qing Dynasty,depicting 60 different images of Huangshan Mountain.The painting style of the album is unified but the expression of the scenery of Huangshan Mountain is comprehensive and diversified,indicating that there is a certain time span between the creation and accomplishment of the album.By analyzing the tortuous life experience of Hongren before and after the creation of the album through historical facts,it can be realized that during the creation period,his heart was filled with a mixture of three schools of thoughts,namely,Confucianism,Taoism and Buddhism,and his resolute spiritual quality and inner vision of longing for a secular life at that time are restored.By comparing and analyzing the application of ancient techniques and choice of realistic scenery in the album and the Huangshan Mountain painted by Mei Qing and Shi Tao,respectively,and studying the specific sketching method,pattern formation process and specific mental images revealed,it can be found that the similarities between Hongren and Ni Zan about Huangshan Mountain lie in the pursuit of a simple,clear and easy-tounderstand image.Affected by Confucianism and Taoism,in addition to the guidance of Huangshan Mountain image and Ni Zan’s artistic conception,Hongren has specified his state of mind featured by being rich in order,clear and simple.In the process of getting close to Huangshan Mountain and sketching,through his induction and observation of it,Hongren developed his signature geometric mountain stone modeling form and painting language style,and used it as a medium to express his own state of mind.By understanding the specific interactive process between the image of Huangshan Mountain and Hongren’s mental images,and studying and comparing the mature works of Hongren in his later period,it can be seen that the album plays an inseparable role of foreshadowing in the formation of his painting style,and reflects the importance of being close to nature and "learning from nature" for landscape painters to construct self-state of mind and reproduce the "hills and valleys in their hearts".The research conclusion is conducive for the self to generating a profounder understanding and reflection about the process of balance and fusion between ancient techniques,nature and state of mind in the process of Chinese landscape painting sketching,and deepens the significance of Chinese landscape painting sketching for landscape painting creation and even the exploration of landscape painters on their selfstate of mind.