"Eight Eccentrics of Yangzhou" were a group of innovative painters who were active in Yangzhou painting circles in Qing Dynasty. Yangzhou Eight Eccentrics Memorial Hall is a professional memorial hall to publicize and carry forward the artistic achievements of Yangzhou Eight Eccentrics. The memorial hall covers an area of 4452 square meters. The Nanmu Hall, an existing ancient building in the Ming Dynasty, is now turned into the main exhibition hall, showing the customs and customs of Yangzhou in the 18th century, convenient transportation and prosperous economy ... "Eight eccentrics" were born. The East-West Gallery and the Treasures Exhibition Hall display the paintings and calligraphy of the Eight Eccentrics and the representative works of Yangzhou painters and painters for tourists to enjoy. There is also the restoration and display of Jinnong's living room, which shows the historical atmosphere of the creative life of "Eight Eccentrics" calligraphy and painting. There are thousands of old trees preserved in the museum, and a rockery pool is added. The museum is clean and quiet with lush green grass, which is a unique tourist attraction in Yangzhou.

first, the background of the emergence of "Eight Eccentrics in Yangzhou"

Yangzhou has been famous for its economic prosperity since the Sui and Tang Dynasties. Although it experienced the disaster of replacing soldiers, it was always prosperous again after the war because of its strategic location, convenient transportation, fertile land and rich products. In the Qing Dynasty, although it was destroyed by the massacre on the 11th, it developed in Kangxi, Yongzheng and Qianlong dynasties and became a metropolis in the southeast coast of China and an important trade center in the whole country. Dajia, a wealthy businessman, is surrounded by many places, especially the salt industry, which is rich in the southeast.

economic prosperity also promotes the prosperity of culture and art. Scholars and celebrities from all over the world gather in Yangzhou. At the initiative of local officials, poetry receptions are often held. Poetry creation enjoys a good reputation all over the country. Some salt merchants, who are very rich and arty in themselves, attract more receptions to celebrities from all over the world who come to Yangzhou. Yangzhou has 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 his luxurious life, dajia, a wealthy businessman, has a great demand for material and spiritual products, such as exquisite handicrafts, precious pearls and jade, fresh clothes and delicious food, especially in painting and calligraphy. As far as the wind is concerned, the middle-class family and even the slightly rich among the civilians also seek the room where calligraphy and painting hang to show elegance. As the folk proverb goes, "There is no calligraphy and painting at home, it is not an old family". The great demand for calligraphy and painting has attracted and produced a large number of painters. According to the Records of Yangzhou Painting Boats, there are more than a hundred local painters and painters from all over the world who are slightly famous, many of whom are famous at that time, and the "Eight Eccentrics of Yangzhou" is one of them.

The works of Yangzhou School of Painting, represented by "Eight Eccentrics of Yangzhou", have distinct personalities, both in terms of materials and ideas, and in terms of composition. The formation of this artistic style is closely related to the innovation trend in the painting world at that time and the change of people's aesthetic taste. From the end of Ming Dynasty to the beginning of Qing Dynasty, China's paintings were trapped by conservative thoughts, with copying as the mainstream, and the painting world lacked vitality. This withering wind aroused the dissatisfaction of people of insight and talented painters, and Shi Tao, a great painter who advocated innovation, appeared in Yangzhou Shi Tao put forward the slogans of "pen and ink should keep pace with the times" and "can't get away with it", just like the footsteps in the empty valley, which shook the painting world. Shi Tao's theory and practice "opened a school of Yangzhou", and later, a group of innovative painters such as "Yangzhou Eight Eccentrics" was finally bred.

second, who are the famous "Yangzhou Eight Eccentrics"?

There are different opinions about which painters "Yangzhou Eight Eccentrics" refer to. Some people say it's eight, others say it's more than eight; Some people say these eight, others say the other eight. According to various writings, there are as many as fifteen people. Because Li Yufen's "A Survey of Paintings and Calligraphy in Oubo Luoshi" is the earliest and most complete record of "Eight Eccentrics", most people still take the Eight Eccentrics proposed by Li Yufen in the late Qing Dynasty as the standard. Namely: Wang Shishen, Zheng Xie, Gao Xiang, Jin Nong, Li Yi, Huang Shen, Li Fangying and Luo Pin. As for other painters mentioned by some people, such as Hua Yan, Min Zhen, Gao Fenghan, Li Mian, Chen Zhuan, Bian Shoumin, Yang Fa, etc., they can also be merged because of their similar painting styles. Because the word "eight" can be regarded as an adjective or a divisor.

"Eight Eccentrics in Yangzhou" has extensive knowledge and is good at poetry. Most of my life has been bumpy, and I finally embarked on the road of selling paintings for a living. Although they sell paintings, they send their feelings with paintings, and they have higher pursuit in painting and calligraphy art, and they are unwilling to flow into the ranks of ordinary painters. Their knowledge, experience, artistic accomplishment, profound skill and artistic pursuit of innovative ideas are different from those of ordinary painters. They have reached the realm of new ideas, new compositions and new techniques, created a new generation of painting styles and made immortal achievements for the development of China.

China's painting has a long history, in which literati painting flourished from the Tang and Song Dynasties, gradually enriched and developed, forming a complete theoretical system, leaving a large number of works, which is the pride of China's painting. Since the Ming and Qing Dynasties, there have been many schools of painting in various parts of China, each with its own characteristics. The school of Yushan and Loudong, headed by the "Four Kings", has the greatest influence, while in Yangzhou, the painting style of "Yangzhou Eight Eccentrics" headed by Jin Nong and Zheng Xie has been formed. These painters have inherited and carried forward the Chinese painting tradition, but they have different views on inheriting the tradition and creating methods. Yu Shan, Lou Dong and other painting schools emphasize copying and learning from the ancients, take observing the ancient laws as the principle, take strengthening the ancient laws as their own responsibility, and pretend to be "authentic". Their creative method, as the "authentic" painter Wang Hui said, is to "paint with the straight ink of the Yuan people, transport the hills and valleys of the Song people, and polish the charm of the Tang people, which is a great achievement". They followed the ancients and followed suit, and their works were mostly imitations of ancient masters (of course, they were also created in antique), which formed a rigid situation and bound the painter's hands and feet. The "Eight Eccentrics in Yangzhou" also respect tradition, but they are different from the "authentic". They inherited the creative methods of Shi Tao, Xu Wei, Zhu Da, etc., and did not copy the ancient laws. For example, Zheng Banqiao admired Shi Tao, and he learned from Shi Tao. He also "left half, learned half, and never learned all".

Shi Tao has an important influence on the formation of the artistic style of "Eight Eccentrics in Yangzhou". He put forward "learning from nature" and "using my own method", opposed "muddying", asked painters to absorb creative materials in nature, and emphasized that works should have strong personality. He believes that "the ancients could not bear my face; The ancient people's hearts can't enter my stomach and intestines. I spontaneously feel my heart and expose my eyebrows. " Shi Tao's painting thought laid a theoretical foundation for the appearance of "Eight Eccentrics in Yangzhou" and applied it in practice. "Eight Eccentrics of Yangzhou" explored inspiration from nature, searched for themes from life, and wrote their own books, unwilling to be the same as others, which was refreshing at that time. People often regard their rare things as weird, so they feel strange about the works of "Eight Eccentrics" that express their hearts and gallop freely, and call them weird. There are also some painters who are used to tradition. They think that the paintings of "Eight Eccentrics" are beyond the statute, so they belittle the Eight Eccentrics, saying that they are partial teachers and belong to the heresy, saying that they "show novelty and only prevail in thyme". Admirers praised their works for their bold and unrestrained brushwork, which was free from the constraints of the established method and the ancient method, broke the rigid situation at that time, brought new vitality to China's painting, and influenced and nurtured later artists such as Zhao Zhiqian, Wu Changshuo and Qi Baishi.

3. Where are the "Eight Eccentric Men of Yangzhou"?

There are different opinions about where the "Eight Eccentrics in Yangzhou" is. Some people think they are strange, but in practice, they are not. The Eight Eccentrics themselves have experienced rough times. They are full of injustice and infinite anger, and they are deeply sympathetic to the poor class. With the keen insight and kind sympathy of intellectuals, they attack ugly things and people, either in poetry or in calligraphy and painting. This kind of thing is not uncommon in the history of China, but it is not uncommon. It is natural for people to treat it as "strange". However, their daily behavior did not go beyond the scope of ethics at that time, and they were not as indulgent as the literati in the Jin Dynasty-pretending to be stupid, crying and laughing. They communicate with officials and celebrities, attend poetry receptions, and behave like normal people. Therefore, it is unreasonable to identify their "weirdness" from their life behavior. Now we can only study them in their works.

"Eight Eccentrics" don't want to take the road that others have started, but want to find another way. They want to create "articles that lift the sky and expose the ground, words that shock the thunderstorm, and words that curse ghosts, and paintings that are ancient and have no present" to stand on their own feet, that is, they want to be different from the ancients, not follow the customs and be original in style. Their works go against people's appreciation habits, and people feel novel, so they feel a little "strange". As Zheng Xie himself said, "Writing is unique, and calligraphy and painting are unwilling to be praised by ordinary people. The Tang dynasty has its own state, and ordinary people laugh at me for being a Banqiao monster. " At that time, people gave them different opinions, and the most important one was that they deviated from the "authentic", which explained the main reason why they were called "strange". Yangzhou Eight Eccentric Painters broke through the shackles of "authenticity", and on the basis of inheriting the tradition, they focused on their own creation and play, and spent their lives trying to create a new painting style. Undoubtedly, they have made great contributions to the development of Chinese painting, and their creative ideas and numerous works are precious legacies for us to learn and inherit.