The four painters, He and Wu Daiqiu, also known as "Three Wus and One Feng", have an indissoluble bond with Suzhou. Similar to the Ming thinkers, four famous painters, Wu Hufan, Wu Daiqiu, Wu Zishen and Feng Chaoran, who enjoyed a high reputation in the 1940s, were also related to Suzhou. Their talents have enriched the development of China's fine arts landscape painting, and their life reflects their encounter with society.
Wu Hufan is a blend of the north and the south.
Wu Hufan (1894- 1968) was born in the shameful Sino-Japanese War in China's modern history. Fortunately, many cultural celebrities were born in this year, such as Mei Lanfang, Zhou, Ye Shengtao, Fan Yanqiao and so on. Later, some of these people once had an organization called "Wu Jia Tong Geng Hui". Wu Hufan is also a member of this organization.
Wu Hufan's grandfather, Wu Dacheng, was awarded the title of Minister of War, and was also a painter and collector. His wife Jingshu Pan was also born in a noble family. She is a descendant of the top scholar Pan and the minister of military affairs Pan Zuyin. In her dowry, there are four inscriptions by Song Tuo and Ou Yangxun. Pan Zhongwu, his father-in-law, gave him a set of Song-engraved Plum Blossom XiShen Spectrum, so his study was called Meijing Bookstore. Around the age of 30, his landscape painting has been a fusion of north and south, and a hundred schools of thought contend.
1924, Wu Hufan moved to Shanghai from the Soviet Union and settled in songshan road in order to avoid the warlord melee. Shanghai is a ten-mile foreign exchange, and many wealthy businessmen ask him to paint and write about Mo Bao. Wu Hufan's family often holds weddings. 1936 "Yun Biao Qifeng" is a colorful giant, which can be called his masterpiece.
Unfortunately, it didn't last long. His wife died of illness and he suffered two strokes. After the founding of the People's Republic of China, the ultra-left trend of thought in the art world commented on his works, which made him feel very uncomfortable. Therefore, he once printed a sentence, "People will evaluate it after 500 years" and put it on his own painting.
Of course, he was doomed from the great political storm of the Cultural Revolution. At that time, he was sick at home, dying, unable to eat, and lived by nasal feeding and throat cutting. On August 1968, 1 1, a criticism meeting was held at his bedside. In this criticism, he pulled out the catheter inserted in his throat with his last strength, and in this way, he passed away.
Although 1978 rehabilitated him and held a grand memorial service, it is said that the cemetery of Xiaowangshan in Suzhou is just a cenotaph. Who can not shed a tear of sympathy for this generation?
Wu Daiqiu Invented "Kolo Edition"
Wu Daiqiu (1878- 1948), as long as you walk into his former residence in Jiajiaqiao Lane, Suzhou, you will think that he is the first generation owner of the remnant garden.
His ancestral home is Shimen, Zhejiang (now Tongxiang). He is the son of Wu Tao, a famous painter, and won the first prize at the age of eighteen. Unfortunately, in this year, his father died. In grief, he resolutely took over the brush left by his father, inherited his father's career and became a painter. I don't want his name to be heavy after a few years. After thirty, this painting became more famous. Even more artistic, Wu's exquisite bronze plates and Zhang, which cooperated with bronze carving artist Zhang, complemented each other and were purchased and collected by many Beijingers at that time.
He then returned to Shanghai and worked in the Commercial Press. In cooperation with the workers in the printing department, he invented the printing of Gulong edition books and picture albums. This achievement makes the past picture books from woodcut edition to lithograph edition, from lithograph edition to photography edition, reaching the photography edition. It can not only print the painter's long scrolls and axes minutely, but also be profound and clear, which is conducive to viewing and copying. This is a great achievement of the painter.
It was during the famous earthquake in Shanghai that Wu Daiqiu bought a big house from a salt merchant in Jiajiaqiao Lane, Suzhou. There were pavilions and trees in the east of the house. 193 1 moved the capital to Suzhou, and named the garden in the east as Fragment Garden.
1937 After the Anti-Japanese War began, Wu Daiqiu's mansion stayed in Suzhou, but he returned to Shanghai, which was then known as an "isolated island". At that time, all the wealthy businessmen in China lived in Shanghai to avoid chaos, resulting in abnormal prosperity. The great painters who gathered in Shanghai at the same time also made the reputation of "three Wu and one Feng" spread far and wide.
1948, due to poor health, he returned to Su Jingyang again and died in the autumn of 1949.
Thankfully, his eldest son, Mr. Wu (Yang Mu), has become a master of painting at home and abroad, while his grandchildren, Wu Yong, Wu Yuan and granddaughter, Wu Ying, are all painters who have inherited their family studies for four generations. It's really an artistic forest story.
Wu Zishen Yihua Pingxiang Building
Wu Zishen (1894- 1972), a native of Huayuan, is a famous family in Wuzhong. He lives in Taohuawu in Gusu, so he is a layman in Taohuawu. He ranks second in Kunzhong, with four younger brothers grasping Yi, five younger brothers vibrating and six younger brothers loving Lan, all good at painting.
When Zi Shen was young, he studied under Liu Linchuan and Shi, an old Wuzhong painter who was good at landscapes and orchids. At the same time, he is proficient in Huang Qi's art. Because his eldest uncle was a native of Cangzhou, Cao, a physician and a famous doctor of his time, he was deeply taught by the teacher and had a good job. Later, after War of Resistance against Japanese Aggression started, he moved to Shanghai and became a doctor. Later, Ho Chi Minh, a Vietnamese president, also asked him to feel the pulse for treatment.
After he met Yan on 19 19, he really felt the feeling of reunion after a long separation, so he strongly supported the Suzhou Academy of Fine Arts founded by Yan and often contributed to the maintenance of the flowers and trees pavilion in Canglang Pavilion, where the school is located. Later, after being elected as the chairman of the school board, he spared no effort and invested 54,000 silver dollars to build a Greek-style building with columns and arcades on the east side of Canglang Pavilion for teaching, which was magnificent. This building still exists today, and it is the location of Suzhou Art Museum and Yan Memorial Hall.
1949, Wu came to Hong Kong from Shanghai and painted while practicing medicine. He once published the book Ghost in the Guest Window and went to Taiwan Province Province 1966. After Zhang Daqian's introduction, he served as a professor at the National Taiwan Province Provincial College of Art until his death.
Recently, Art Expo, a magazine published in Hong Kong, has published Wu Zishen's works of art and articles evaluating him, especially affirming his action of spending money to study in Suzhou, saying that "whoever sponsors art will sponsor the progress of history and the development of civilization".
Feng Chaoran tidied up the garden to collect mandarin ducks.
Feng Chaoran (1883- 1954) was born in Changzhou. My father just opened a grocery store to encourage life, but he liked painting since he was a child, and he was talented. He painted landscapes, flowers and birds, and people clearly and handsomely.
Being aloof since childhood, I came across Mr. Yu Sulu (the father of Kunqu Opera) and got a speculative opinion, so I introduced him to the home of Mr. Zhang, the owner of Suzhou Northeast Street Garden, to teach his grandson to read. This is really an unexpected job. Zhang Zhai is a rich family. This garden is the west of today's Humble Administrator's Garden. The garden is full of flowers and pavilions. It is also a place where Wuzhong scholars often meet and talk, and it is also a good place for Kunqu friends to shoot music and play in the water here. The sound of the long flute in Yuanyang Pavilion can be faintly heard in the whole park. He moved into such a nice place. Feng got along well with the young boss and became lifelong friends.
In the past few years, Feng Chaoran's painting art has advanced by leaps and bounds. There are two reasons. First, the famous paintings collected by the Zhang family can not only be seen one by one, but also copied one by one. Secondly, at that time, everyone in Suzhou was a frequent visitor to Suzhou gardens, such as Lu Lianfu, Gu (Gu's grandfather) and others. He can also often ask his predecessors for advice. So he soon became a famous painter in Suzhou.
Later, he settled in songshan road and lived opposite Wu Hufan. This period of time is also the time when "three noes and one abundance" was in Shanghai.
In his later years, Feng Chaoran collected eighteen fans, all of which were painted by eighteen Ming painters. So he named his studio "Thirty-six Yuan Yang Pavilion" to commemorate his unforgettable trip to repair the garden.
After 1949, he was a painter of Shanghai Traditional Chinese Painting Academy until his death.