Art Appreciation Han Xizai Night Banquet Figure in about 500 words

The Han Xizai Night Banquet is an important work of the Southern Tang Dynasty painter Gu Ma-te (hong), representing the outstanding achievements of ancient Chinese figures. This volume for the plain silk, with heavy color, vertical 28.7 cm, horizontal 335.5 cm. It is unmarked, with the name in a trek, and is now in the Palace Museum in Beijing. Han Xizai's Night Banquet depicts Han Xizai, a politically disillusioned bureaucrat, indulging in a night banquet. This painting exists in five segments, is through five interlinked and relatively independent of the character activities plot, unfolding the whole night banquet activities; also through different activities to shape the image of Han Xizai. The first segment is listening to the pipa performance. The largest number of characters appear, there are five women and seven men, Han Xizai and young officials wearing red robes sitting on the bed, the rest of the male guests are wearing soft foot turban (pu) head. The author skillfully applies the law of variety and unity in the composition of many figures, paying attention to the different emotional reflections of each, but all focused on the word "listen". The musician and the listener are emotionally intertwined. Some people have different emotional reflections, but focusing on the player; some eyes are not on the player, but from his hands on the beat to respond to the action can be felt that he is listening to how heart ah. The second paragraph of the content of the Yuan Dynasty calligrapher Ban Weizhi in the painting after the inscription of the poem has a specific description: "Huqin delicate small six so dance, mincing (die xie) manipulation Laos such as a drum official." Compared with the inscription and documentary records, the performer of the six dances was Wang Yushan. What we see on the screen is her dancing back. The other new figure in the picture is Han Xizai's close friend, De Ming. The third section of the picture is an intermission from the rise and fall of the plot of the whole scroll. Han Xizai is seated on a bed with prostitutes, purifying his hands, but his eyes are turned to the pipa and flute held by the maid who is walking slowly. The fourth section is another wonderful part of the painting. Han Xizai, undressed and sitting on his knees in a chair, seems to be idly enjoying the playing of the five singing girls' wicker pipes (bi li) and flutes. This segment ends with the man and woman conversing across the screen, a very clever transition to the next episode. In the fifth segment, at the end of the night, the music disperses, Han Xizai's guests and the prostitutes are laughing and Han Xizai holds the drumsticks, and the Yang hand bids the people farewell, ending the picture. The five episodes of The Night Banquet focus on two sets of scenes of listening to music, but they differ in their treatment. In the first segment, eight people are listening to a solo performance by a single person, and the composition of the picture is handled in such a way that the expression of each person's demeanor is focused on the plucked strings of the instrument. The fourth paragraph is just the opposite, is a collective playing a person to listen to, Han Xizai in front of the war is also a young girl is talking to him, the two groups of characters separately; with the first paragraph of the composition is very different, it is scattered, but gives the impression that people are still listening, it seems that the whole picture is filled with clear and pleasant music. This treatment is not merely to avoid repetition of the composition, but is an apt and personalized treatment chosen in accordance with the needs of the different episodes of the solo and ensemble. What made Gu win the immortal reputation in the history of art was his portrayal of Han Xizai in the Night Banquet. Han Xizai is depicted in the picture as a majestic figure with undressed clothes, which is traditionally used to describe a person's spiritual temperament of transcendence and open-mindedness. Han Xizai on the screen than the surrounding characters taller than the body, which is an ancient painting in order to emphasize a certain character used by the technique, but does not rely solely on this approach to create the image of Han Xizai, but from the interrelationships between the characters, echoing to show him, in the various segments of the activities, Han Xizai is always in a dominant position. However, he looks depressed, between the eyebrows with contemplation and worry, he is in the environment of the night banquet, but also beyond the atmosphere of joy, to be able to such a depth of thought to portray the character's inner thoughts, emotions, is a great progress in the ancient figure painting. The Night Banquet has reached a high level in terms of brushwork and coloring. For example, Han Xizai facial eyebrows hook and dye combination is very good, fluffy hair like skin out of the skin, really "hair root out of the flesh, the force is healthy". The character's clothing pattern organization is both neat and concise, very sharp and free. The lines used for outlining are like bent iron coiled silk, soft and strong. The depiction of the artifacts is not sloppy, for example, the item of the curved lute is so fine that the structural relationship of the details can be clearly seen, but the fine depiction of the details does not harm the integrity of the overall effect in the slightest. On the contrary, it makes people feel that there is something to see. It is also very ingenious in the assignment of colors. In the gorgeous colors, spaced with large black and white, plays a role in unifying the picture. Another example is "blowing clear" section, the character's clothing, red and green configuration, interspersed with each other, there is a contrast and echo. Color is not much, but appears rich and unified. On close inspection, one can see that the embroidered patterns on the costumes are very fine and extremely well crafted. In addition, the small landscape paintings on the screen and the bed are well-painted, and are important references for us to understand more comprehensively the pictorial appearance of landscape paintings during the Five Dynasties. In addition to its important value in the history of painting, the Night Banquet is also a valuable source for the study of the history of music, dance, and craftsmanship. For example, the celadon wares on the painting, like the shadow-green jug with a warm bowl and the wine cup with a tray, are typical wares of the Five Dynasties and Northern Song Dynasty. There is another point worth noting, Gu Hongzhong created "Night Banquet" is to go to Han Xizai's home "peeping", "eye to know the heart to remember" painted, "eye to know the heart to remember" is silent painting. This silent memory, silent painting effort, in the Five Dynasties period, many painters are mastered very well, especially those who are good at painting portraits is more so. From this, we can see that the artistic level achieved by the Night Banquet is not accidental, it is a product of the times. About the author of "Night Banquet" Gu Ma-zhong's life, the history of painting records are extremely brief, only know that he is a person in Jiangnan, in the Southern Tang Dynasty Painting Academy as a Hanlin to be imperial decree, the creation of good at figure painting. His works in addition to the "Night Banquet", in the history of painting recorded in: "Ming Huang hit the wutong map", "tour of the yin map", "snow village map", "lotus money Yu Pu" booklet and so on. And he showed in the "Night Banquet" in the outstanding realistic ability and its representative of the outstanding achievements of the Five Dynasties figure painting will always be in the annals of painting.