Yangzhou has been famous for its economic prosperity since the Sui and Tang Dynasties. Although it has been destroyed by wars, due to its strategic location, convenient transportation, fertile land, and rich products, it has always quickly returned to prosperity after wars.

In the Qing Dynasty, although it was devastated by the Ten-Day Massacre, it prospered again through the development of Kangxi, Yongzheng, and Qianlong dynasties, becoming a metropolis on the southeast coast of my country and an important trade center in the country.

Wealthy businessmen and businessmen gathered from all directions, especially the salt industry, which was rich in the southeast.

Economic prosperity also promotes the prosperity of cultural and artistic undertakings.

Literati and celebrities from all over the world gathered in Yangzhou.

Under the initiative of local officials, poetry and literary receptions were often held.

His poetry creations are famous throughout the country.

Some salt merchants were wealthy and elegant, and they often welcomed celebrities from all over the world who came to Yangzhou.

Yangzhou thus attracted many celebrities from all over the country, including many poets, writers, and artists.

Therefore, Yangzhou at that time was not only the economic center of the southeast, but also the center of culture and art.

In order to meet the needs of their luxurious life, wealthy businessmen have a large demand for material and spiritual products, such as exquisite handicrafts, treasures and jade, fresh clothes and delicious food, and they are especially looking for calligraphy and painting.

As the trend spreads, middle-class families and even wealthy people among the common people also seek to hang calligraphy and painting in their rooms to show their elegance. There is a folk proverb that "if there is no calligraphy and painting in the house, it is not an old family."

The huge demand for calligraphy and painting attracted and produced a large number of painters.

According to the "Yangzhou Painting Boat Record", there are more than one hundred and dozens of local painters and slightly famous painters from various places in Yangzhou, many of whom were famous at that time, and the "Eight Eccentrics of Yangzhou" are the famous ones among them.

The works of the Yangzhou School of Painting, represented by the "Eight Eccentrics of Yangzhou", have distinctive personalities in terms of materials, conception, and composition.

The formation of this artistic style is closely related to the innovative trends in the painting world and changes in people's aesthetic tastes at that time.

From the late Ming Dynasty to the early Qing Dynasty, Chinese painting was restrained by conservative ideas. Copying was the mainstream, and the painting world lacked vitality.

This malaise aroused the dissatisfaction of knowledgeable people and talented painters, and Shi Tao, a great painter who advocated innovation, appeared in Yangzhou.

Shi Tao's slogans of "pen and ink should adapt to the times" and "find the right method if there is no way" shocked the animation world like the sound of footsteps in an empty valley.

Shi Tao's theory and practice "opened up a school in Yangzhou", and later, finally gave birth to a group of innovative painters such as the "Eight Eccentrics of Yangzhou".

1. Who are the famous figures among the "Eight Eccentrics of Yangzhou"?

There is no consensus on which painters the "Eight Eccentrics of Yangzhou" refer to.

Some say eight, some say more than eight; some say these eight, some say the other eight.

According to various writings, there were as many as fifteen people.

Because Li Yufen's "Bibliographic Examination of Calligraphy and Paintings of the Oubolo Chamber" is the earliest and most complete record of the "Eight Eccentrics", most people still refer to the eight proposed by Li Yufen in the late Qing Dynasty.

Namely: Wang Shishen, Zheng Xie, Gao Xiang, Jin Nong, Li Eel, Huang Shen, Li Fangying, and Luo Pin.

As for other painters mentioned by others, such as Hua Yan, Min Zhen, Gao Fenghan, Li Mian, Chen Zhuan, Bian Shoumin, Yang Fa, etc., they can also be incorporated because their painting styles are similar.

Because the character "eight" can be regarded as a numeral or a divisor.

The "Eight Eccentrics of Yangzhou" are knowledgeable and good at poetry.

Most of them went through ups and downs in life, and finally embarked on the path of making a living by selling paintings.

Although they sell paintings, they express their feelings through paintings. They have higher pursuits in the art of calligraphy and painting, and do not want to join the ranks of ordinary painters.

Their knowledge, experience, artistic accomplishment, profound skills and artistic pursuit of innovative ideas have made them different from ordinary painters. They have reached the realm of new ideas, new compositions and new techniques, created a new generation of painting style, and laid the foundation for the development of China.

Immortal achievements.

Chinese painting has a long history. Among them, literati painting has flourished since the Tang and Song Dynasties, gradually enriched and developed, formed a complete theoretical system, and left a large number of works. This is the pride of Chinese painting.

Since the Ming and Qing Dynasties, many painting schools have emerged in various parts of China, each with its own characteristics, competing for dominance in the painting world.

The most influential ones were the Yushan and Loudong painting schools headed by the "Four Kings". In Yangzhou, the "Eight Eccentrics of Yangzhou" painting style headed by Jin Nong and Zheng Xie formed.

These painters have inherited and carried forward our country's painting tradition, but they have different views on inheriting the tradition and creating methods.

Painting schools such as Yushan and Loudong emphasize copying and learning from the ancients, taking compliance with ancient laws as their principle, taking the promotion of ancient laws as their own responsibility, and claiming to be "authentic".

Their creative method, as the "authentic" painter Wang Hui said, is to "use the straight ink of the Yuan Dynasty, use the hills and valleys of the Song Dynasty, and use the style and charm of the Tang Dynasty to achieve great success."

They followed the footsteps of the ancients, and most of their works were imitations of the works of ancient masters (of course there were also creations in imitations of antiquity), forming a rigid situation that restricted the hands and feet of painters.

The "Eight Eccentrics of Yangzhou" schools also respect tradition, but they are different from the "authentic" ones.

They inherited the creative methods of Shi Tao, Xu Wei, Zhu Da and others, "imitating their ideas without looking at the signs", and did not adhere to the ancient methods of copying.

For example, Zheng Banqiao admired Shi Tao, and when he learned from Shi Tao, he also "leaved half of it, learned half of it, but did not learn the whole thing."

Shi Tao had an important influence on the formation of the artistic style of "Eight Eccentrics of Yangzhou".

He proposed "learning from nature" and "using my own methods" and opposed "immuting the past". He asked painters to absorb creative materials from nature and emphasized that works must have a strong personality.

He believes that "the men and eyebrows of the ancients cannot bear my appearance; the hearts and souls of the ancients cannot enter my belly and intestines. I use my heart and soul to reveal my men."

Shi Tao's painting ideas laid the theoretical foundation for the emergence of the "Eight Eccentrics of Yangzhou" and their application in practice.