Xu Beihong (1895～1953), a modern Chinese painter and art educator. Xu Beihong was born in Yixing County, Jiangsu Province on July 19, 1895. He died of illness in Beijing on September 26, 1953.
Learned from home at a young age and started to learn painting at the age of 9. At the age of 17, he worked as a drawing teacher in Yixing Women's Normal School and other schools. In 1916, he entered the French Department of Shanghai Aurora University and studied part-time. In May of the following year, he went to Japan to study art. At the end of the year, he returned to China and applied for a job as a tutor at the Painting Research Society of Peking University. In March 1919, he went to France to study and entered the Ecole Nationale Supérieure des Beaux-Arts in Paris. Returning to China in the spring of 1927, he was invited by Tian Han to serve as the director of the Fine Arts Department of Shanghai Nanguo Art Institute. At the same time, he was employed as a professor of the Art Department of Central University. In his teaching and creation, he advocated realism and criticized formalism. In September 1929, he was appointed as the dean of the School of Art of Peking University, advocating the innovation of Chinese painting and opposing conservatism. In 1930, he completed the oil painting "Tian Heng's Five Hundred Men", the following year he completed the Chinese painting "Nine Fang Gao", and in 1933 he completed the oil painting "The Empress of China", creating a new trend in Chinese historical painting. In the winter of 1936, he went to Guilin to paint, and started to establish an art museum. He successively created Chinese paintings such as "Morning Song", "Backwind", "Memories of Heroes", "Wind and Rain Rooster", "Spring Rain on the Li River", etc. In the spring of 1937, he went to Changsha, Guangzhou and Hong Kong to hold personal art exhibitions. In the same year, he created traditional Chinese paintings such as "Ba People's Poor Woman" and "Ba People Drawing Water". At the end of 1938, he once again went to Hong Kong to hold a personal painting exhibition, and then went to Singapore to hold a relief painting exhibition to promote anti-Japanese and national salvation. Then he went to Darjeeling to create the traditional Chinese painting "The Foolish Old Man Moves the Mountains". In the summer of 1942, he returned to Chongqing Central University to continue teaching and creating, and began to prepare for the establishment of the China Academy of Art. In the late spring of 1943, an art exhibition was held in Chongqing, displaying representative works of Chinese paintings, oil paintings and sketches created over the years. In August 1946, he went to Peking and served as the principal of the National Peking Art College. He joined the Peking Art Workers Association, an organization of progressive artists, and served as the honorary president of the association. In 1949, he was elected as a standing committee member of the All-China Federation of Literary and Art Circles and chairman of the All-China Artists Association. In September, he was appointed president of the Central Academy of Fine Arts.
Painting Creation Xu Beihong created thousands of Chinese paintings, oil paintings and sketches throughout his life. Xu Beihong's creative activities can be roughly divided into four periods: ① The period of traveling to Europe (1919~1927). The oil paintings created during this period mainly include: "Old Woman", "Old Man Holding a Stick", "Caressing the Cat", "Self-Portrait", "Sound of Flute", "Portrait of Huang Zhen" and "Male Body", "Female Body" and other exercises. Most of the nearly a thousand sketches he left behind are from this period. ②The heyday (1928~1936). During this period, he was extremely creative and formed a clear realist artistic style, which was unique in the history of modern Chinese painting. His representative works include "Tian Heng Five Hundred Scholars" (1928-1930), "Nine Fang Gao" (1931), "The Empress of China" (1930~1933) and so on. These works embody his patriotism and humanitarian creative ideas and represent the main creative path of his life. ③The Anti-Japanese War period (1937~1945). This was the heyday of Xu Beihong's artistic creation. He successively created "Wind and Rain" (1937), "Spring Rain on the Li River" (1937), "Ba People Drawing Water" (1937), "Horses" (1940), "The Foolish Old Man Moves the Mountain" (1940), "Portrait of Tagore" ( 1940), "The Galloping Horse" (1941), "The Vulture" (1941), "The Lions" (1943), "The Mountain Ghost" (1943) and other famous works. This period was also a period when the painter was highly mature in terms of ideology and artistic style. ④The late period (1946~1953). The main works of this period include: oil paintings "Battle Heroes", "Naval Soldiers", "Portrait of Cavalry Hero Tai Xide", Chinese paintings "Galloping Horse", "Two Magpies", sketches "Chairman Mao among the People" (draft), " "Model Worker", "Lu Xun and Qu Qiubai" (paintings), etc.
In 1920, he published "On the Improvement of Chinese Painting", proposing that "those who are good at ancient methods should keep them, those who are outdated should continue them, those who are not good should be modified, those who are not enough should be added, and those who can adopt Western paintings should be integrated. He advocated realism, opposed plagiarism, and proposed "methods of change: learning, material (painting tools), and breaking up factions." In 1929, he published "Confusion" and "The Incomprehension of Confusion" and other articles, clearly advocating reality. ism. In 1932, he wrote "Painting Model Preface" and proposed the "Seven New Methods": ① appropriate position, ② accurate proportion, ③ clear black and white, ④ natural movements or postures, ⑤ harmony of light and heavy, ⑥ complete personality, ⑦ expressive A Du. In 1947, he published "Steps in the Establishment of New Traditional Chinese Painting" and "Art Issues in Current China", etc., which reiterated the importance of strict training in sketching, advocated learning from nature, and opposed imitating the ancients. He pointed out: "Artists should have the same spirit of truth-seeking as scientists. ", "If we don't get inspired at this time and start to learn from nature and seek the truth,... art will perish." Xu Beihong inherited the fine tradition of "learning from nature" in ancient Chinese painting theory and emphasized the artist's pursuit of truth. , explore life and see that art is the unity of truth, goodness and beauty. This is his contribution to the realist art theory.
Xu Beihong devoted his life to art education and had his own clear and complete set of art education propositions. He emphasized the importance of learning from nature, the training of basic painting skills, and advocated science. The school system he adopts is a combination of academic year system, grade system, credit system and studio system, which requires students to have broad knowledge, deep professional foundation and rich cultural accomplishment. In terms of teaching methods, he requires students to think independently, exert active creative spirit, and develop in an all-round way. Xu Beihong personally trained a group of accomplished artists, such as Wu Zuoren, Ai Zhongxin, Wei Qimei, Hou Yimin, Li Tianxiang, Jin Shangyi, Zhan Jianjun, etc. The art education system he established has lasted in China for more than half a century and is still powerful today.
Qi Baishi (1863～1957), a modern Chinese painter and seal carver. The original name was Chunzhi, the later name was Huang, the courtesy name was Weiqing, also the courtesy name was Lanting, and the nickname was Binsheng, also known as Baishishanren, Jiyuan, Jiping, Master of Jipingtang, Laoping, Pingweng, Jihuanxiannu, Azhi , Mu Jushi, Lao Muyi, the rich man with three hundred stone seals, the old man of Xingziwu, the owner of the borrowing mountain chanting hall, the borrowing mountain man, the descendant of the old house in Xingtang, the old farmer in Xiangshang, etc.
Born on November 22, 1863 (the second year of Tongzhi in the Qing Dynasty) in Xiangtan County, Hunan Province. He likes to draw, and often uses calligraphy to describe people, flowers and animals on red paper. After the age of 15, he became a carpenter under his fellow villagers Qi Xianyou and Zhou Zhimei. He started as a rough wood worker and later became a joiner. He was good at carving and was well-known in the countryside. When he was 21 years old, he got "The Painting Biography of the Mustard Seed Garden" and sketched under a pine oil lamp, and for the first time he understood the theory and techniques of painting. In 1888, he became a disciple of painter Xiao Chuanxin and studied portraiture. Later, Xiao introduced him to another portrait artist, Wen Shaoke, and received his advice. The next year, he became a teacher of famous Xiangtan celebrities Hu Zizhuo and Chen Zuoxun. He learned to paint meticulous flowers, birds, grass and insects from Hu Zizhuo, and learned poetry from Chen Zuoxun. From 1890 to 1901, Qi Baishi made a living by selling paintings. During this period, in addition to portraits, he also painted landscapes, figures, flowers, birds, grass and insects, especially ladies. In 1894, Qi Baishi and seven people from his hometown organized the Longshan Poetry Society and was promoted as the president. They often gathered together to write poems and were known as the "Seven Sons of Longshan". At the same time, he studied calligraphy with Hu Zizhuo and others, focusing on He Shaoji, and also wrote Zhongding seal script. In 1896, he began to learn seal cutting again, starting with Ding Longhong and Huang Xiaosong. In 1899, he became a disciple of Wang Xiangqi, a famous poet in Xiangtan. Qi Baishi gradually became famous for his poetry, painting and seal cutting, and gradually transformed from a carver, carpenter and folk painter into an artist with the training of a scholar-official.
After the July 7th Incident in 1937, Qi Baishi resigned from all teaching positions and stayed at home. The following year he painted "The Collection of Chao Lan Lou". In 1946, he went to Nanjing and Shanghai to hold Qi Baishi's painting exhibitions. In 1951, he participated in the Charity Art Exhibition of the War to Resist U.S. Aggression and Aid Korea. The following year, he was appointed as an honorary professor at the Central Academy of Fine Arts. In the same year, he was elected as a member of the Bureau of the China Federation of Literary and Art Circles. On January 7, 1953, Qi Baishi's 90th birthday, the Ministry of Culture awarded him the "People's Artist" honorary certificate. In the same year, Xu Beihong passed away, and Qi Baishi was elected as the chairman of the Chinese Artists Association after Xu Beihong. In 1953, he was elected chairman of the Beijing Chinese Painting Research Association.
The following year, Qi Baishi's painting exhibition was held in Beijing and he was elected as a representative of the 1st National People's Congress. In 1955, he was awarded the honorary certificate of Corresponding Academician of the German Democratic Republic and the Chinese Academy of Arts and Sciences. In 1956, he won the 1955 International Peace Prize from the World Peace Council. In 1957, he served as the honorary president of the Beijing Chinese Painting Academy. He died in Beijing on September 16 of the same year. Qi Baishi's art can be divided into five stages: ① Before the age of 27, he was a folk carving artist and was influenced by folk art and folk aesthetic concepts; ② From the age of 27 to 40, while engaging in folk portraits and folk crafts, he comprehensively studied literati painting. The stage of improving the cultivation of poetry, calligraphy, painting, and printing; ③ Around 40 to 50 years old, traveling around the world as a scholar and artist, extensively observing, observing and making friends with people from all walks of life, the painting style gradually changes from meticulous brushwork to freehand brushwork; ④ 55 to 65 years old, Settling in Beijing, he accepted Chen Shiteng's advice and worked hard on the "decline reform" stage; ⑤65 to 94 years old is the peak period of painting creation, and art has reached a state of perfection.
The origin of Qi Baishi's art is, firstly, the tradition of the innovative painters Xu Wei, Zhu Da, Shi Tao, Jin Nong, Huang Shen and Wu Changshuo since the Ming and Qing Dynasties. He learned from many painters and integrated them into one. The second is from the Zhejiang School to Zhao Zhiqian and then to the engraving tradition of the Qin and Han dynasties, integrating seal script, Li, Bafen and Wei steles to form a unique and refined style. The third is the cultivation of vigorous and fresh styles of folk crafts and folk paintings. He naturally combined the literati tradition with the folk tradition, the literati cultivation with the peasant temperament, and achieved both elegance and vulgarity, thus becoming a miracle in the history of modern art.
Qi Baishi's paintings mainly focus on flowers, birds, grass and insects, and he combines two styles of painting and writing, both of which are highly accomplished. Although his freehand figure paintings and landscape paintings are not as numerous as those of flowers, birds, grass and insects, his artistic achievements are no less impressive or even more outstanding. In the history of modern painting, there is almost no other master like Qi Baishi who is an all-rounder in poetry, calligraphy, painting, seals, flowers and birds, figures, and landscapes, and who is also able to create unique works.
Qi Baishi’s art has achieved such success and is widely loved by the people, which is inseparable from the deep national emotions, simple peasant temperament, and child-like straightforwardness and innocence expressed and revealed in his works. .
Qi Baishi's writings include "Baishi Poems", "Borrowing Mountain Poems", "Baishi Old Man's Autobiography" (recorded by Zhang Cixi), and there are various versions of painting albums and works collections. There are also many kinds of works to study and recall Qi Baishi, such as "Research on Qi Baishi" (edited by Li Qun), "Qi Baishi's Painting Method and Appreciation" (Hu Peiheng), "Qi Baishi Chronicle" (Li Jinxi, Hu Shi, Deng Guangming), "Qi Baishi" (Jiang Xun), "Looking at Qi Baishi's Paintings" (Wang Fangyu, Xu Jieyu), etc. The United States, the Soviet Union, Japan and other countries have also published monographs on Qi Baishi.