Description 墨荷 Lotus
釋文：荷葉披披一浦涼，青蘆奕奕夜吟商。平生最識江湖味，聽得秋聲憶故鄉。
款識：乙丑十一月寫，為端溥先生雅正，茮原江兆申。
鈐印：江兆申（白文）、茮原（朱文）、奇趕無等倫（白文）
Signed Chiang Chao-Shen in Chinese
With three seals of the artist
江兆申先生1925年出生於安徽歙縣，1949年渡海抵台即於中學執教，詩文書畫漸長，後求拜寒玉堂門下，盡得溥心畬心法真傳，兼善「詩書畫印」於一身，造詣之高更有「天上文曲星」之美名。江氏一生課徒無數，靈漚門下多有傑出弟子，如：周澄、李義弘、侯吉諒等，均為台灣當代水墨名家。江兆申除了在水墨創作上擁有非凡的成就外，他更是當代首屈一指的中國書畫史學者：1965年任職故宮博物院副研究員，1978年陞任副院長暨書畫處處長，研究成果上汲宋代馬遠、元代趙孟頫，下至唐寅、文徵明、仇英等名家，全面完備了明代吳派畫的脈絡。江兆申除了在故宮任職期間遍覽名品外，更數度前往美日觀摩研究，豐沛的經歷磨練了江氏的眼力，也體現在他創作上風格的轉變。
此作《墨荷》寫於1985年，是年江兆申於美國大都會博物館發表〈從唐寅的際遇來看他的詩書畫〉一文，江氏自1970年代末期開始偶作墨荷，可窺知其畫風來自唐寅筆意，寫意中猶帶工秀；又因故宮任職訪美期間結識了張大千這位忘年莫逆之交，曾親炙大千居士磅礡大氣的墨荷名作：大千畫荷脫自徐渭大寫意法，以主觀的意識與潑墨變形的形式來表現荷花的內涵，然而江兆申在畫荷的概念與技法上，既有大千的筆意也蘊含了其師溥心畬的內斂雅緻，兩相衝擊下造成他畫荷技法上兼有兩家之長。江兆申畫圖從不打草稿，《墨荷》自右方澹墨漸濃至中軸，荷梗一筆寫就，由下直上中鋒起筆，略帶圓折；疾筆寫白描蓮瓣綻放，神韻天成，更顯綽約風姿；中段荷葉佈局用墨分五色法，近景以濕筆側鋒落筆敷染，表現出豐富的毛、澀變化，兼以碑體書法的筆勢營造出柔中帶剛的效果，墨色淋漓中可見蒼勁；後景以水色濕墨輕掃敷染，營造出一派濃淡參差、飄逸閑散的荷塘景致；行書題詩於左側布白處，觀之但覺拙樸倨傲，與墨荷兩相映趣，實屬江兆申寫荷難能可貴的神品逸作。
Chiang Chao-Shen was born in 1925 in Anhui and arrived in Taiwan in 1949 as a secondary school teacher. He was talented in calligraphy and poems, thus he was accepted to Hanyu Tang as a student. His all-round talent covers literature, calligraphy and seals, and was renowned as a literary star. Chiang himself had outstanding achievements in ink art and was a notable scholar, as he was the deputy researcher at the National Palace Museum in 1965, and later, the Deputy Director and Head of Chinese Paintings in 1978. Chiang studied ancient scrolls at the museum and furthered his research in the US and Japan. This rich experience allowed him to further excel in his art.
This work was drawn in 1985 when Chiang published his research of Tang Yin at the Metropolitan Museum in the US. He started drawing lotus at leisure at the end of the 1970s with a hint of Tang Yin's brushwork that combines broad and refined strokes. He also acquainted Zhang Da-Qian and observed the grandiosity of his lotus paintings, which possesses the carefree style of Xu Wei, further polished with broad splashed ink to refine lotuses' characters. Chiang's lotus paintings were composed with the grandiosity of Zhang Da-Qian, with the humble and elegance of his teacher Pu Hsin-Yu. Chiang Chao-Shen never made any draft. The lotus on this work perks from the right to the center in concentrated ink in a single vertical stroke. Petals were painted in swift strokes. Lotus leaves were coloured with a variation of colours. The foreground was painted with ink-filled slanted strokes, depicting the different textures and the balance of strength in stone rubbing script. The background was moist with light ink, composing a relaxed and serene scene. The inscribed poem was written on the left in running script, to enhance the solemness and elegance of the whole scene.
Dimensions 69.5 x 136 cm
Artist or Maker CHIANG CHAO-SHEN (Taiwanese, 1925-1996)
Medium 水墨 紙本 鏡框 Ink on paper, framed
Date 1985
