Walking around the campus of Ruian Middle School, you will see the ink of the famous painter Zheng Xi from time to time: the word "virtue" on the stone tablet in front of the school center square, and the six-character school spirit carved on the stone on the corridor of the main road. "Realistic, rigorous and diligent" can be seen in the Chinese painting "Drunken Plum" in the principal's reception room, the Chinese painting "White Plum" in the alumni association office, the comic strip "Pony Crossing the River" in front of the Qinxing Building, the inscription of the alumni association's magazine "Ruizhong Alumni"...
"Zhuo Gongci received three years of teaching, which opened his artistic mind to painting. After learning poetry, calligraphy, and painting, he never forgot to repay his teachers with his virtues in writing." Zheng Xi once expressed his gratitude to his alma mater, Ruian Middle School, with this poem "Qijue" feeling.
Zheng Xi, who graduated from Ruian County Junior High School in 1940, served as the chairman of the school’s woodcut research association when he was a student. He published a collection of woodcuts to promote the anti-Japanese war, and collaborated with seven classmates including Su Shouting, Xu Zhihuai and Sun Gang. He formed the "Jiangbin Song Society" and studied classical poetry. He was later called the "Jiangbin Seven Sons" by the people of the city. He has a deep love for his alma mater, Ruian Middle School. During every school celebration, he always presents calligraphy and paintings to his alma mater early to congratulate him. Over the past 20 years, he has presented calligraphy and painting works such as "Six Green Pines on the Bank of Feiyun River", "Drunk Plum Blossoms", "White Plum Blossoms", "Realistic, Rigorous and Diligent" and "Virtue".
Zheng Xi, courtesy name Zixi, was born in March 1925 in the scholarly family of Tangjiao, Xianjiang, Ruian. I have been fond of art since I was a child. The conditions for learning painting were poor when I was young. There were no templates to learn from, so I had to start by copying some cigarette cards and New Year paintings. It was not until I was in high school in the city that I got a book for learning painting - "The Biography of Mustard Seed Garden Painting". He is extremely talented in painting. When he was 10 years old, his painting "Singing Birds Singing Spring" was selected into the National Children's Art Exhibition and won the grand prize. After entering Swiss High School, under the guidance of the painting teacher, he became more interested in art creation. After being recommended by relatives and friends, he studied calligraphy, painting and seal cutting under Xu Cixuan, a famous calligrapher and painter in southern Zhejiang. In 1948, he was admitted to the "National Art College" in Hangzhou (the predecessor of today's China Academy of Art). Under the teachings and artistic influence of masters Pan Tianshou, Huang Binhong, and Lin Fengmian, he laid a solid foundation for calligraphy and painting.
After Zheng Xi graduated from Zhejiang Academy of Fine Arts in 1953, he served as the art editor of Beijing Daily. In just a few years, he published a large number of children's paintings in national newspapers such as People's Daily and Comics. , comic works, and published more than ten kinds of children's paintings. The fairy tale comic "Cowardly Rabbit" participated in the First National Youth Art Exhibition and won the second prize in Beijing; the comic "Supplement" participated in the first National Comic Exhibition and was selected for the China Comic Exhibition International Exhibition. At the request of China Children's Publishing House, he made a color comic strip for the famous classic fairy tale "Little Pony Crossing the River". It is the earliest comic version of "Pony Crossing the River" in my country and is also Zheng Xi's most proud work. It was not until more than 20 years later that he learned that the author of this classic fairy tale, Peng Wenxi, was actually his fellow Ruian native and an alumnus of Ruian Middle School. Now the masterpieces of the two fellow students and alumni have been displayed on Ruizhong campus in the form of steel sculptures.
In 1956, Zheng Xi joined the Chinese Artists Association. Just when his creations entered a golden period and he was famous in the art circles in Beijing and even across the country, the sudden "anti-rightist" movement in 1957 completely changed his destiny. In his prime, he was classified as a "rightist". Into hell on earth. In the long years of more than 20 years, he faced adversity, went through many hardships, and lost the right to publish his works. However, he remained committed to the study of traditional calligraphy and painting, and persistently explored how to inherit and carry forward the art of Chinese painting. A fine tradition integrating poetry, calligraphy, painting and printing.
In the spring of 1979, chaos was restored, and the "rightists" were completely pacified. Zheng Xi served as the art editor-in-chief of the "Travel" magazine of the Beijing Publishing House. Feeling relieved, he could not restrain his inner excitement and created a painting. "Self-portrait". This is a rather simple painting: a big fish with no middle section, just a head and tail, struggling in the waves. There is a self-inscribed poem on the painting: "Whoever painted the tail of a fish, the body of the fish has been sent to the east. Repack the tail of the fish and turn it into a boat breaking through the wind and waves." This painting contains a lot of Zheng Xi's inspiration The bitterness and bitterness of life also express his heroic spirit of being an old man and aiming for a thousand miles. Every time I read Zheng Xi's poems and paintings, I can't help but feel pity, sadness and emotion, but more respect and admiration for him.
From this, Zheng Xi called himself the "fish-tailed man" and was unwilling to sink. "He packed up the fish's tail again and turned it into a boat that can break the waves." His works not only maintain tradition but also give distinctive characteristics of the times, with unique painting methods and far-reaching artistic conceptions. They have been repeatedly selected for national and international art exhibitions and won frequent awards.
Although his work "Yandang Mountain Flowers" has a traditional theme, it adopts a very modern full composition layout. One of the paintings is also full of distinctive decorative flavor, giving people a strong visual impact. The paintings participated in the Beijing Spring Festival Painting Exhibition and the Taipei Chinese Ink Painting and Seal Engraving Exhibition, and have been included in the "Comprehensive Guide to Chinese and Japanese Modern Art", "Contemporary Chinese Painting and Calligraphy Celebrities" and "Selected Works of World Chinese Painting and Calligraphy".
Zheng Xi had a special liking for plum blossoms when he was young. He often lingered in plum blossoms and could not control himself. In his later years, he became even more obsessed with the creation of plum blossoms. He visited the plum forest many times, pondered over and over again, collected materials, and created a group of ten plum paintings such as "Drunken Plum", "Snowy Plum", and "Red Plum", so he was known as the "Ten Plum" painter. These plum blossom paintings, which are based on nature, have strong branches and passionate flowers. Their form and connotation are as commented by experts: the colors vary from red, green, and ink; the emotions vary from drunken to heroic; the postures vary from wind, moon, and The difference between rain, snow and fog; some are noble, some are aloof, some are bold, some are handsome, full of spirituality, poetry and charm. Zheng Xi also inscribed a poem of seven unique poems for each plum blossom painting, such as "The old man Dan who lives in poverty and lives in poverty, does not like the heat and is not afraid of the cold. The ups and downs of the world are under his eyes, and the emperor looks at them again and again"; the poem "Drunk Plum Blossoms" "Spring is first explored at the head of the West Da Nang Mountains, and the spirit can be seen in the sparse shadows on the solitary mountains. The old man is old and charming, and the plum blossoms are as drunk as people." These works can be said to be poems, calligraphy, and paintings that are completely natural, with lofty meanings and exquisite skills. The intoxicating charm has reached a very high level, fully expressing Zheng Xi's flamboyant personality and unbridled style, just like a portrait of his personality. "Drunk Plum Blossoms" is a representative work of the "Ten Plum Blossoms" group of paintings. It uses plum branches to form an approximately circular composition, and uses rouge, eosin and ink to circle the plums, dot the petals, and draw the stamens. It also uses a light eosin to lightly paint around the flowers. Lightly smudged, the colors are bright and hearty, cleverly presenting the unique charm of drunken plum blossoms. The work was later included in the "Collection of Contemporary Chinese Famous Paintings and Calligraphy".
Zheng Xi is also proficient in poetic rhyme and has high attainments. He is the author of "Seven Absolute Hundred Poems of Ruian Zheng Xi's Vernacular". His paintings are sometimes inscribed with poems, and his calligraphy style is unique and warm. His ink marks can be found in Putuo Temple and Yandang Cliffs. The poet Sun Gang once praised Zheng Xi in a poem: "The colored pen can describe ghosts and interesting things, and the comic skills are as small as insect sculptures. The three unique poems, calligraphy and paintings of the Jun family are rare and elegant, and they can be like Banqiao."
Thick, long, twists and turns His life has developed Zheng Xi's simple and noble character. The birds in the pond are nostalgic for the old forest, and the fish in the pond are nostalgic for the old abyss. Although he lives in Beijing, his heart always cares about his hometown - Ruian. Commonly used inscriptions in his calligraphy and painting works are "Home is among the clouds, mountains and clouds" and "Yunshui and Yunshan are my home"; and the signature is always "Ruian Zheng Xi". His poem "Taro": "The young boy left home." The love never wavers, and the dreams of clouds, mountains, and rivers are lingering in my mind. Every year when I go back to the south, I always remember the time when the taro was ripe in the south of the Yangtze River." This shows his warm and sincere homesickness for his hometown. Although alumnus Zheng Xi has left Hexi, his ink and spirit will remain on the Ruijie Middle School forever.