Shanghai painting is becoming a hot topic in recent art exhibitions in the Yangtze River Delta. The Shanghai Art Museum in Shanghai recently opened, and the opening exhibition "Wind on the Sea-Shanghai Artists Association Collection Exhibition" is the first large-scale centralized display of Shanghai Artists Association's modern Shanghai painting and calligraphy collection; The "Annual Research Exhibition of Shanghai Style Painting" (1843- 1927), which took a year to prepare, made its debut in Liu Haisu Art Museum, and nearly 70 outstanding works of Shanghai style from all over the world participated in the exhibition. "Shanghai Trio: Painting and Calligraphy Exhibition of Ren Bonian, Pu Hua and Wu Changshuo" is being held in Zhejiang Museum.
When it comes to "Shanghai style painting", many people may only think of some vague and general words such as "to suit both refined and popular tastes" and "to accept all rivers", but these words are far from explaining the whole picture of Shanghai style painting. "Looking at Shanghai style may need to jump out of art history and put it into the broader development process of economic history, cultural history and social history." At a Shanghai-style art seminar held in Shanghai a few days ago, some experts thought that it was time for people to broaden and enrich their understanding of Shanghai-style painting by focusing on and systematically sorting out several exhibitions of Shanghai-style painting in the near future.
How Shanghai-style painting goes to the market needs to be viewed from two aspects.
A scholar pointed out that official, academic and market can be described as three dimensions of art research, and the market dimension is particularly important for understanding Shanghai-style painting. This is because the occurrence and development of Shanghai-style painting is closely related to Shanghai's highly developed commodity economy. Shanghai, which opened its port after the Opium War, has become a new commercial metropolis, and its urban economy has developed rapidly, resulting in a number of emerging consumer groups from the private sector. In a sense, "Shanghai School" is to satisfy the public aesthetics in this commercial environment.
Since the middle of19th century, Shanghai has attracted painters from all over the country. Most of them live in Yu Garden and make a living by selling paintings, so they have to turn their works into commodities. For example, Shanghai painters at that time often paid attention to pleasing themes. The themes such as "Fu", "Lu", "Shou" and "Jubilee" in traditional cultural customs often make his paintings sell well. A large number of custom figure paintings catering to auspicious celebrations have also begun to appear. Among them, immortals are the favorite theme of many painters. In particular, the fairies in Qian Huian's works are the most in line with fashion standards, with fine features, peach cheeks and apricot faces, and each has its own blessings. It is said that Qian Huian can control two thin lines side by side on a face the size of a rose petal, portray handsome double eyelids, gently hang a few strokes at the tip of the eye, and hook off eyelashes. Qian Huian's paintings were very popular during Guangxu period, because their painting skills were exquisite and met the public's tastes. At one time, Tianjin Yangliuqing also printed a large number of New Year pictures with his paintings.
However, some experts believe that Shanghai-style paintings that take the market need to be treated in two ways. Deep, but also the background color of Shanghai painting can not be ignored. For example, in the face of the national disaster and people's livelihood at that time, Shanghai painters who made a living by themselves also expressed their inner attitudes through painting. In this regard, Xu Jianrong, an art historian, cited an example: "The two most influential painters of Shanghai School, Ren Bonian and Wu Changshuo, created one after another" Jade Hall with Wealth "and" Infinite Life Buddha "according to popular techniques such as homophonic implication commonly used by the people. On the one hand, they strengthened the aesthetic significance of gorgeous colors and realistic modeling, tapped the vitality of secularization, on the other hand, they followed the spiritual and emotional tendency of individual freedom and humanistic care. In addition, it is a tradition of Shanghai painters to devote themselves to charity. Yu Garden Painting and Calligraphy Association, 65438-0909, founded in Shanghai Yu Garden, is the first painting and calligraphy group to hold charity activities and charity sale in the history of painting in China. At first, this painting club held a painting and calligraphy exhibition every year to raise funds. In the 1920s and 1930s, such activities were as many as three or four times a year. At its peak, there were more than 200 painting clubs, which almost attracted the main painters and painters in Shanghai at that time.
Speaking of Shanghai painting, we can't avoid its open and flowing ecology.
"Shanghai style is a kind of breath, and I quite agree with this statement. This kind of breath actually ran through an ecology in which the Shanghai School was located at that time. All rivers run into the sea, and China and the West are intertwined. The city of Shanghai has gradually grown. " Li Chao, a professor of history at Shanghai Academy of Fine Arts, Shanghai University, told reporters. Therefore, he believes that the study of Shanghai style should not only look at the front and back, but also look at the inside and outside. Zhu Guorong, consultant of Shanghai Artists Association, also pointed out that Shanghai School is actually an artistic trend of thought produced by the collision and integration of Chinese and Western cultures, which reflects the open and inclusive urban spirit gradually formed in Shanghai from the end of 19 to the beginning of the 20th century. The innovative spirit of Shanghai painters is a kind of nature cultivated by Shanghai, an open city.
Ren Bonian, known as the "ancestor of Shanghai School", has the shadow of blending Chinese and Western cultures. For example, when Ren Bonian painted the faces of Zhong Kui and other figures, he used light and shade to dye the muscle ups and downs of the painted objects, showing superb realistic modeling ability, but the lines still look like the oriental charm of China. For another example, besides painting and calligraphy, Ren Bonian is also good at sculpting figures. At an auction a few years ago, Ren Bonian's surviving sculpture "Orphan" appeared, which surprised many people-this is a purple sand portrait made by Ren Bonian in memory of his father. The relationship between Ren Bonian and western art has always been a puzzle in academic circles. On the one hand, it is difficult to erase the traces of the blending of Chinese and western art in his works; On the other hand, there are records denying that Ren Bonian studied sketching and thought that he was not influenced by western painting.
The crossing and crossing between different art categories is an interesting Shanghai painting phenomenon mentioned by Zhu Guorong, which can also explain the artistic atmosphere at that time. Mei Lanfang, a famous Peking Opera master, is a member of the circle of friends of the maritime painting school. He studied calligraphy and painting under Chen Shiceng, Chen Banding and Qi Baishi, and received formal training, especially in flower-and-bird painting. During the Anti-Japanese War, Mei Lanfang once grew a beard and made a living by selling paintings.
"Shanghai style is a melting pot of culture, which allows many people to find room for development here." Jin Wenyi, deputy curator of Liu Haisu Art Museum, said. Among them, Zhang Daqian is one of the typical examples. 19 19, Zhang Daqian, who returned from studying in Japan, came to Shanghai to learn from Shanghai painters Zeng and Li Ruiqing. Subsequently, the first solo exhibition was held in the Friendship Hall of Ningbo, Shanghai, and all the paintings of Danqing 100 were sold out, which was a blockbuster. It is precisely because of his fame in marine painting that Zhang Daqian's life form as a professional painter was established.
Author: Fan Xin, chief reporter of this newspaper.
Editor: Wei Shi