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kuncan is one of the four great monk painters in the early qing dynasty. for more than 300 years, kuncan has been influencing the painting world with his noble character and painting quality, and has become a monument in the minds of painters. after becoming a monk, kuncan liked to travel to famous mountains and rivers. his paintings have both mysterious thoughts and zen ideas. in art, he has an arrogant demeanor and a respectful feeling for his homeland.

kun can: (1612-after 1692), surnamed liu, named kuncan after becoming a monk, courtesy name jieqiu (or jieqiu, jieqiu), also known as shiqi, baitu, tianrang candaozhe, shidaoren, etc. he was from wuling, huguang (now changde county, hunan province).

kuncan loved painting since he was young. he gave up his studies at a young age, became a monk at the age of 20, and traveled around famous mountains. when the ming dynasty fell when he was over 30, he joined the anti-qing army led by he tengjiao of the southern ming dynasty. after the failure of the anti-qing army, he took refuge in the peach blossom spring in changde. the flames of war forced him to hide in the mountains. regarding his experience in the ancient temples and forests, "shixi biography" records:

“during the jiashen year, i hid from the war in the deep peach blossom spring, where i saw many strange mountains and rivers, grotesque trees, exotic birds and beasts, and the sounds and shadows of ghosts, which are indescribable; i slept in a wandering place, sometimes lying on rocks in streams and rinsing my mouth with water, sometimes lying on mountains and snakes, sometimes drinking blood, sometimes warming my feet with urine, sometimes hiding in grass or in pig pens, and sometimes taking shelter from the rain in tiger dens. i suffered all kinds of hardships for three months.”

although the harsh jungle life made him suffer, it gave him a good opportunity to experience nature and accumulated rich materials for his later landscape painting. kun can, who loved to travel to famous mountains and rivers, had a deep understanding and observation of the broad artistic conception of nature, and finally settled in youxi temple on niu shou mountain in nanjing.

i once said that i had three things to be ashamed of: "i am ashamed of my feet, which have never experienced the many mountains in the world; i am ashamed of my eyes, which are dull and cannot read thousands of books; and i am ashamed of my ears, which have never remembered the teachings of the wise."

kun can was a versatile painter who was good at poetry, calligraphy and painting. he was good at painting figures, flowers and especially landscapes. he followed the style of huang gongwang and wang meng, and his painting foundation came from the ming dynasty officials. his techniques were comparable to the four masters of the yuan dynasty and even ju ran of the northern song dynasty. he once said: "if there are four masters like jing, guan, dong and ju, only ju ran can understand their inner skills.

ju ran is as good as the previous one, and he said that i can't follow in his footsteps." he learned from xie shichen, while taking his bold and magnificent spirit, changing his rigid and rigid style, learning the painting methods of the four yuan dynasty masters and dong qichang, and at the same time daring to deliberately innovate, "changing his methods to suit his own taste", and incorporating calligraphy into his paintings, without copying or imitating others.

huang binhong said that his paintings "fallen rocks, withered vines, and hourglass marks are all in the style of a calligrapher and a master of painting", which refers to his unique use of emotion and effort in painting and his emphasis on brush and ink techniques. some famous mountains and rivers that were often painted by his ancestors have a unique style and a new look in his paintings, with characteristics different from those of others.

kuncan's landscape paintings are well-structured, complex and rigorous, lush but not crowded. the scenery does not win by novelty, but by showing the depth in the ordinary. his brushwork is vigorous, solemn, vigorous and rough. he is good at using strong bald brushes and thirsty ink, and layering the layers of rubbing, rubbing, drawing and dyeing. the brush and ink blend together, which is thick but not stagnant, and the bald brush is not dry. the rocks are mostly painted with rope-like texture and hemp-like texture, and moss is dotted with thick ink, which makes the mountains and rivers look deep and the plants and trees luxuriant. his works are based on real landscapes, and have the artistic realm of "mysterious, profound and fascinating".

"secluded residence" qing dynasty, painted on scrap paper, shanghai museum

the secluded residence is a reproduction of kuncan's own life in his later years. the inscription reads: "i came from huangshan to live in seclusion. there is nothing wrong with a taoist monk. i stepped onto baiyun mountain. i love its seclusion. i built a thatched house here, sat by a tree and a flowing spring. i ignored the dust of the city, but it was still peaceful here. this is a portrait of the taoist himself." (in the painting, kuncan is sitting alone under an ancient tree by the river with his back to the outside world. his meditation room is just a thatched hut, and his life is extremely austere.)

kuncan is a devout buddhist with a strong religious sentiment. his paintings are full of religious warmth and concern. the natural objects are all manifestations of the true nature of buddha. the inscriptions in his paintings are also full of zen and zen interest. kuncan gained a deep understanding of the universe through his observation of nature. he has always had a strong love for mountains and rivers, and has subtly transformed religious experience into aesthetic experience. the artistic conception he depicts contains a peaceful and serene religious beauty, which gives people vitality and positive hope.

the original painting of the endless painting of the mountains and rivers is now in the collection of the shanghai museum

in the postscript to "endless picture of streams and mountains", kuncan said: "in general, all human beings born in this world should be diligent and self-disciplined and should not be lazy. if one is lazy, he will be a lazy person and will be useless in the end. just like if a monk is lazy, the buddha's appearance will not be dignified, and a thousand families will not be able to share one bowl. the same is true for the three religions. when i lived in a house on niu shou mountain, i would recite scriptures morning and night. whenever i had a little spare time, i would go up the mountain to choose a beautiful place. once i gained something, i would paint a few landscapes or write a paragraph or two. in short, i never missed a day of leisure." kuncan often used this to motivate himself. if you are a buddha for a day, you must be a virtuous buddha for a day. the same applies to being a human being.

in his paintings, we can hardly find any harsh edges, and there are no obvious boundaries between objects. at first glance, there seems to be no eye-catching focus. it is hazy and vague, sometimes it is a tree, sometimes it is a mountain, sometimes it is a cloud, and sometimes there is a person, as if all the images have no real existence.

kuncan died in 1673 at the age of 61. he once wrote a poem that aptly summarizes his life and also expresses his feelings:

ten years of war and ten years of disease have wiped out all the worries in my life.

even when i grow old i cannot forget the old things, i still seek the clouds and mountains in the paintings.

chen shanjun, chairman and secretary general of the hunan provincial association of literary and art critics, said: "kuncan is half zen and half confucian; his paintings are half wild and half upright; his theories are half ancient and half enlightened; his methods are half new and half old; i think he is a master of dialectics." therefore, kuncan's art is more like the beginning of expressionism - the beginning of contemporary chinese expressionist art.