At the 2021 Poly Auction, Chen Danqing’s 1980 oil painting Tibetan Series · Shepherd hammered down at 140 million RMB. With commission included, the total transaction price reached 161 million RMB. It stands as a milestone work in contemporary Chinese oil painting. Even so, Chen Danqing openly confesses that he is incapable of recreating Song Dynasty paintings.
Chen once stated: “I rarely paint works from the Five Dynasties, Northern Song Dynasty and Tang Dynasty. The reason is straightforward: I simply cannot pull it off. It is hard to put into words, yet I know it the moment I lay out albums of Northern Song paintings before me.”
His reasoning can be broken down into five core perspectives:
I. The Spiritual Ethos and Inner Vision Belong to Entirely Different Eras
The Song Dynasty marked the pinnacle of universal aesthetic attainment in Chinese history.
As historian Chen Yinke famously concluded, “The culture of the Chinese nation, evolved over thousands of years, reached its zenith under the Zhao Song Dynasty.” From the emperor (Emperor Huizong of Song) and court painters to folk craftsmen and literati scholars, the entire society pursued ultimate perfection in the investigation of natural principles, close observation, artistic vitality, and formal discipline. Song paintings transcend mere artistic creation; they embody the Song people’s worldview of perceiving heaven, earth and all living things. Artists rigorously studied plants, trees, insects and fish, contemplated mountains, rivers and seasonal shifts, and empathized with the myriad facets of civic life. That inner spirit of serenity, humility and reverence for nature can no longer be fully nurtured in the cultural environment of modern times.
Chen Danqing has repeatedly discussed A Thousand Li of Rivers and Mountains. The boundless, undistracted ambition of the 18-year-old Wang Ximeng, who poured his whole being into the exhaustive “additive” detailing of the masterpiece, is nearly impossible for modern adults to replicate. Mature artists tend to simplify and condense subjects, whereas Song paintings represent the projection of a fully concentrated, meticulous state of being.
China has suffered a century-long cultural rupture.
In modern history, traditional Chinese painting was restructured under Western sketch systems. For a long time after the founding of the People’s Republic, fine art creation served thematic propaganda. The complete lineage of mentorship, methodologies for observing nature, and orthodox brush-and-ink traditions of classical Chinese painting were severed. Chen argues that generations like his are essentially “visually culturally blind”: we only view Song paintings through printed reproductions, deprived of the immersive lifelong cultivation the Song literati received from calligraphy, poetry, landscape excursions and classical learning. We lack the inherent temperament that defined Song artists.
II. Insurmountable Barriers in Technical Systems and Material Craftsmanship
Ancient craftsmanship has largely been lost to time.
Song paintings fall into two primary schools:
Green-and-Blue Landscape Painting (heavy mineral pigments of azurite and malachite): an imperial court craft involving mineral grinding, multiple glazing layers, silk substrate curing, precise glue-alum proportioning, and layered color accumulation.
Ink Wash Landscape Painting (represented by Fan Kuan, Dong Yuan and Guo Xi): refined rules for texture strokes, moss dotting, brush manipulation, and ink-water control.
These were craft skills passed down orally and through hands-on apprenticeship across generations. Numerous procedures, formulas and operational details were lost amid wars and broken inheritance in subsequent dynasties. Even if contemporary artists copy the outward forms, they fall far short in replicating the texture of mineral pigments, the tension of ancient silk and rice paper, and the rhythm and strength of authentic brushwork.
Fundamentally different artistic training frameworks
Chen Danqing’s specialty is oil painting, and his formative training followed Western realist principles. His logic of form construction, observational habits and muscle memory for mark-making all adhere to Western painting paradigms. Song painting hinges on the tenet “painting derived from calligraphy”: artists devote decades to mastering calligraphy before wielding brushes and ink to depict landscapes. Without that foundational childhood training in Chinese brush and ink techniques, any attempt by Chen to paint in the Song style would result in hollow imitation lacking structural backbone and inner strength.
III. The Rigorous “Observation-Driven Realism” of Song Paintings Demands Unmatched Concentration Rare Today
The most astonishing trait of Song art is its extreme microscopic power of observation:
the intricate objects of urban life in Along the River During the Qingming Festival, layered plumage in Flying Sparrows, delicate petal veins in Lotus in Full Bloom, and rugged rock textures in Travellers Among Mountains and Streams. Song painters rendered every tiny detail by devoting endless patience to prolonged, quiet observation of the natural world.
Modern life is fragmented and fast-paced, making it extremely difficult to sustain the focused mindset of Song artists, who would sit in quiet contemplation of nature and spend years refining a single work. Chen humbly admits he cannot match their devout, granular perception of all things in nature.
IV. Essential Divergences in Aesthetic Core
Song paintings advocate restraint, subtlety, moderation and the harmony between humanity and nature, valuing understated scholarly grace and the order of cosmic laws.
Artists of Chen Danqing’s generation are influenced by modern art, individual expression and conceptual creation, leaning heavily toward subjective emotional outpouring and critical perspectives.
He clearly recognizes that his artistic temperament and creative pursuits clash sharply with the classical aesthetic core of Song painting — following the Dao of nature, avoiding ostentatious technical display and self-promotion. Forcing himself to paint in the Song idiom would only produce works that look similar on the surface yet diverge profoundly in spirit.
V. Humble Self-Awareness: Revering the Pinnacle, No Presumptuous Overreach
This is the most vital layer of his mindset:
Chen Danqing is not belittling his own abilities; instead, he holds the Song Dynasty school of painting in the deepest awe as the supreme peak of Chinese artistic heritage.
In his eyes, Song paintings form an almost insurmountable ceiling of classical art. All painters who came after, including himself, can only look up to, study and interpret these masterpieces, rarely reaching the artistic heights achieved by ancient masters. His admission that he “cannot paint them” is the highest form of respect for classical Chinese art.
Terminology Notes (for reference)
Song Dynasty Paintings = Song Hua 宋画
Green-and-Blue Landscape = Qinglü Shanshui 青绿山水
Glazing / Layered color accumulation = Cengceng Zase 层层积色
Glue-alum sizing for silk = Jiaofan Zhifa 胶矾制法
Texture strokes (cunfa) = 皴法
Harmony between man and nature = Tianren Heyí 天人合一
The Dao follows nature = Dao Fa Ziran 道法自然
发表回复