Xu Wei's Thoughts of Conveying"Truth"through Authenticity in His Poems and Paintings
Xu Wei excelled in various literary and artistic fields.His emphasis on authenticity led him to pursue the expression of true feelings,true intentions,and the true self,heralding the late Ming Dynasty's trend of emphasizing emotion and authenticity in literature and art.He proposed the idea of"devaluing superficiality and valuing authenticity,"which served as a principle for opera criticism as well as a guide-line for poetry and painting creation.Xu Wei's poems and paintings covered a wide range of subjects,in-cluding various flowers,beauties,landscapes,and the"Four Gentlemen".Through poetry and painting,he expressed genuine emotions,particularly enjoying the reflection of worldly and romantic sentiments.He advocated for naturalness and the removal of artificial embellishments to convey true meaning,paying spe-cial attention to the depiction of shadows and dynamic descriptions of objects.Poetry and painting served as mediums for him to convey his personalized life experiences.He combined the affirmation of one's own mind and nature from Wang Yangming's philosophy with the thoughts of Zhuangzi and Zen Buddhism,seeking spiritual liberation through his artistic creations.Expressing true emotions,depicting true inten-tions,and penetrating the true self to ultimately achieve a state of self-fulfillment and spiritual transcend-ence were the core principles of Xu Wei's poetry and painting.