What do meticulous brushwork and freehand brushwork in flower-and-bird painting mean? Why can these two words be used to classify paintings?

The so-called "meticulous brushwork" refers to painting on cooked paper or silk with techniques such as tracing, dividing, dyeing and covering, that is, painting flowers and birds on paper or silk with a pen first, plus various levels of colors, with exquisite workmanship as the main feature.

Before the Tang and Song Dynasties, meticulous brushwork was mostly used in flower-and-bird painting, such as Huang Quan and Xu Xi in the Five Dynasties, and Cui Bai and Evonne (Song Huizong) in the Northern Song Dynasty, all of whom were famous meticulous flower-and-bird painters. In their view, flower-and-bird paintings must depict the real situation of flowers and birds, and the more realistic the better. There was once a story that Song Huizong once called painters to paint on peacocks. As a result, all the painters were criticized by Evonne. Evonne said, "Peacocks always step on the mountain with their left feet. Why do you draw all your right feet? " It can be seen that if you want to draw a good meticulous flower-and-bird painting, you must first have a very delicate observation of the painted object.

However, this painting method is very laborious, and for later literati painters, meticulous painting pays too much attention to imitating objective images, which will hinder the expression of the painter's inner feelings. Therefore, since the Song Dynasty, there has been a kind of "freehand brushwork" painting with a simple pen without worrying about whether it is consistent with objective images. Freehand painters don't pursue shape, they pursue to grasp and describe the appearance of observed things through their own inner experience. For example, Ni Zan, a famous painter in Yuan Dynasty, once painted a bunch of bamboos, but he looked more like a reed to others. He could only laugh and cry. Ni Zan certainly captured the lofty charm of bamboo forest, which is what freehand brushwork artists want to express.

Summary: In contrast, freehand brushwork is closer to calligraphy. The so-called "communication between calligraphy and painting" mainly means that the brushwork of freehand brushwork is similar to calligraphy. Therefore, when later literati painters painted flowers and birds, they preferred freehand brushwork in order to show a calligraphy-style interest.

Moreover, it is easier for ancient literati who practice calligraphy every day to learn freehand brushwork from calligraphy. Wu Changshuo, a famous painter in modern times, claimed to be 50 years old before he began to learn painting. Because of his excellent calligraphy skills, he soon became a famous freehand brushwork flower-and-bird painter.