《花卉昆蟲圖冊》
Flower insect figure 

居廉 ——《花卉昆蟲圖》冊 

 

居廉生平： 

 

居廉（1828 - 1904），字士剛，別名古泉，號隔山老人，廣東番禺人。自幼跟隨其堂兄居巢習畫，善山水、仕女、指頭畫；尤以花鳥蟲草及寫生見長。他創立了撞水、撞粉的着色技法，用白粉強調高光效果，掌握實物的質感，以寫岀色光深淺的自然變化。居廉吸收了北宋人的優良技法，強調畫家應多觀察自然物像的情態，追求「以形寫神」，以達至「形神兼備」的效果；反對不求形似、狂怪恣肆，只強調筆墨趣味的傾向。其對中國畫的主張與追求可以說是嶺南畫派的奠基者與啟發者，開嶺南畫派之先河，更是中國近代最早把西洋水彩畫與中國傳統繪畫結合得最為成功的畫家。 

 

《花卉昆蟲圖》闡釋： 

 

《花卉昆蟲圖》為居廉的傳世名作，現收藏於北京故宮博物院，全冊共十二頁，在此精選了其中一頁。居廉筆下的花卉畫取材沿至花開四時的嶺南。這幅畫作注重「虛實」的對比，佈局巧妙，主題突出。居廉以較單純的背景為「虛」，對角之間色彩豐富的花卉石頭為「實」，兩者形成鮮明的對比，花卉昆蟲躍然紙上，令人拍案叫絕。《花奔昆蟲圖》有別於傳統畫譜的模式，這幅畫作採用了對角構圖的技巧，把畫中的主題安排在左上到右下的對角綫上，形成了作品的視覺關注點，給觀畫者增添了遐想的空間。 

 

畫中一條綠色的小毛蟲緩緩地爬上枝幹啃食嫩葉，與沉實的湖石動靜相襯形成了清新靈動的畫面。居廉畫中運用了沒骨畫法繪寫花卉，透過撞粉、撞水技法的結合，花葉明暗，自然秀麗。除此之外，這幅小品反映了居廉對花卉昆蟲的生態瞭如指掌，觀察入微；畫中的毛蟲雖然細小，但其身上的黑點花紋及足腳卻繪寫得十分精緻，蓮花葉邊沿干枯蜷縮的反疊形態都一覽無遺。這種輕快的筆調不但展現了他對自然的酷愛，同時亦表達出他對嶺南氣韻的獨有感受。 

​

​

​

Ju Lian — “Flower insect figure” 

​

Ju Lian’s Life: 

 

Ju Lian (1828 - 1904), known as Shigang, alias Guquan, was a native of Panyu, Guangdong. He started studying painting from his cousin Ju Chao at a young age. Ju Lian was proficient in the painting of landscape, lady figure, and finger ink, especially for bird-and-flower, insects, plants, and observational drawing. He employed ingenious water infusion and powder infusion techniques, which enhanced the high light effect by using the white powder, reappeared the texture of the subjects, and created the tonal gradation of light and shade in his painting. Ju Lian was skilled with the Northern Song Dynasty painting techniques, and he stressed the importance of nature observation by capturing its form and spirit in paintings. However, he opposed the painting not looking for formal likeness, which only manifested in the pursuit of ink interest. His influence of advocacy and recreation towards Chinese painting has made Ju Lian the progenitor of the Lingnan School and considered one of the most successful painting masters by combining western watercolour painting and Chinese painting. 

 

The interpretation of “Flower insect figure”: 

 

Flowers Insects Figure is an album of twelve pages created by Ju Lian. This painting is one of the pages currently in storage at the Palace Museum in China. Ju’s painting inspiration came from the environment that he lived in - the Lingnan, where flowers stay in blossom all year round. This painting focuses on the contrast between “the solids and the voids” in its layout. The contrasting effect of the flowers and rocks with rich colours between the diagonal corners of the painting and a virtual background creates a vivid contrast between the two. Mr. Ju Lian's painting is different from the traditional painting manual, this painting uses the technique of diagonal method, arranging the subject of the painting on opposite corners from the top left to the bottom right, creating a focused viewpoint for the painting and can let the viewers have time to have an imagination. 

 

In the painting, a tiny green caterpillar on the pink peonies is slowly climbing to the top of the branches for having the young leaf. These components with the giant rock formed a fresh and lively picture. Ju Lian skillfully applied the “boneless technique” on the depicted peonies; he also combined the water infusion and powder infusion techniques to create the available light in the painting; therefore, the petals and leaves look beautiful and bright. In addition, Ju Lian’s appreciation of Lingnan’s nature is evident in his paintings of meticulously unique observation from insect fauna and flora. Although the caterpillar in the painting is very tiny, its body structure and the black-spotted pattern on its body are delicately painted. Even the curled-up shapes of withered leaves edges have also been well observed. Thus, this painting reveals the fascination of Lingnan’s nature.