1September 1957 16, Mr. Qi Baishi, a famous master of Chinese painting, passed away quietly at the age of 93.
If a public opinion survey is conducted on the famous painters in China in the past century, the well-known "Qi Baishi" will definitely rank first. His poor family in his early years, his neglected situation and his high reputation in his later years constitute his legendary artistic life. An all-round painter like Qi Baishi can't be overemphasized as "once in a hundred years". His poems, books, paintings and seals are exquisite, and his figures, landscapes, flowers and birds all have simple and pure peasant feelings. His distinctive painting style endows the traditional literati painting with a fresh vitality and unique vigorous character, and his aesthetic orientation of appealing to both refined and popular tastes makes him a household name.
-from "intelligent carpenter" to master painter
1 864 65438+1October1On this day, a poor family gave birth to a baby boy named "A Zhi"-Qi Baishi. The poor family made the sickly child study in a private school for less than a year, and then he had to chop wood and graze cattle, thus shouldering the burden of life. In his later years, Qi Baishi, in the name of "one who has to tie the bell to solve the problem", recalled the scene of herding cattle up the mountain when he was a child, and his grandmother and mother were not at ease. He hung a bronze bell around his neck, and when he got home, he could hear it far away-"Grandma was happy when she heard the bell."
There are two things that have a decisive influence on Qi Baishi in his youth. One is that/kloc-began to learn carving carpentry at the age of 0/5, and the other is that he began to learn painting with Hu Qinyuan and Chen Kefan at the age of 27. Since then, the village's famous "intelligent carpenter" began to use relatively stable and concentrated time to draw and read. Because he has to work during the day, Qi Baishi can only learn to draw at night. During this period, he was still very poor. When he was hungry, he often drank water to satisfy his hunger. If you have no money to buy lamp oil at night, make a fire to make a lamp. "Reading Tang poetry by burning a fire without oil" is a record of the real situation of that year. Qi Baishi had never left his hometown before he was 40 years old. He mainly made a living by painting and engraving for others, which limited his vision and knowledge. Later, with the encouragement of his friends, he traveled all over the country, covering half of China. The magnificent mountains and rivers and colorful customs of the motherland have broadened and enriched the soul of this folk painter and improved his description realm.
After 60, Qi Baishi made a living by selling paintings in Beijing. At that time, his painting style was not popular with people at that time, so the painting price was half cheaper than that of ordinary painters at the same time, and few people were interested. Later, fortunately, Chen Shiceng and Chen Shiceng, famous painters at that time, urged Qi Baishi to change his previous painting style and encouraged him to create his own style by "painting my own paintings and blending with the ancient times". With the selfless help of Chen Shiceng, Qi Baishi's painting style and realm have made a qualitative leap through his own efforts, and the paintings that were once neglected have gradually gained everyone's attention.
After the founding of New China, the Party and the government created a good working environment for the old painters and gave them high honors. 1953, Qi Baishi was awarded the title of "People's Artist" by the Ministry of Culture, and he was elected as the chairman of China Artists Association, a deputy to the National People's Congress in 1954, and the World Peace Council determined Qi Baishi as the winner of the 1955 International Peace Prize. The old man lives a quiet and comfortable life and works hard and happily. Many of his immortal works were born in this period. A large number of works he created in the last few years are the most precious wealth he has contributed to his beloved country and land.
-local painters who stick to the "lonely road"
It can be said without hesitation that Qi Baishi is a countryman. He has a real love for the local scenery, and he has missed everything in his hometown all his life. Throughout his life, he took childhood memories and everything in his hometown as the theme of painting and poetry, which is the unique emotion of Qi Baishi as a kind farmer. He painted Fish Boiled with Loofah, in which four loofahs with melons and Hua Teng and several lively and jumping fish formed a wonderful picture. He drew a close-up basket with thick ink, a distant fish dish with light ink, and three small fish jumped from the dish, organically combining two groups of unrelated scenery, with distinct layers and profound brushwork. The title: "Small fish boiled loofah, only farmers can understand this taste" is the crowning touch. In addition, a large number of works such as Pear Flower Garden and People, Shrimp Fishing Map and Naive Family Style Map are full of strong local feelings.
Qi Baishi regards painting as a "lonely road", which is the creed he abides by all his life and the secret of success. "It is always difficult to get rid of Van Gogh, and it will take ten years to change." It is said that during the period from 65,438+0920 to 65,438+0929, he closed the door for Duke with extraordinary determination and energy, and devoted himself to studying and exploring an artistic road that was suitable for his talent, temperament and knowledge. He swore, "I've been painting for decades, and I haven't said what I want." From then on, I decided to make a big change. I didn't want people to know. I just starved to death in Beijing and waited for the public, but I could ask myself when I was happy. "At the same time, Qi Baishi also tried to run printing. When he recorded his hard work in managing printing, there was a passage like this: "I learned to publish, then I grinded, and then I published." If the guest room becomes mud, do whatever you want, move east and west, and move in all directions, and the room becomes the bottom of the pool. "During this period, Qi Baishi painted more than 10,000 paintings and carved more than 3,000 pieces. It can be said that Qi Baishi rushed into the free art kingdom through the ocean of works. He often said, "If you don't draw for one day, you will be flustered, and if you don't paint for five days, your fingers will itch.". ".
Qi Baishi spent his later years in a quadrangle in Beijing. However, when he put pen to paper, his thoughts and even all his inner life involuntarily returned to his childhood and his old house in Tang Dynasty. The spinning wheel under the grape trellis, the croaking of frogs and birds in the field, the flute of the shepherd boy and the plow under the hedge all absorbed his image and the bottom of the pen. Qi Baishi's duet with the writer Lao She in his later years can best reflect the old man's deep local complex. On one occasion, Mr. Lao She asked Qi Baishi to paint with the poem "Frog sound ten miles away from a mountain spring". Faced with this "difficult problem" of expressing vocal poetry with silent pen and ink, the old man failed to hand in his "paper" on the spot. It is said that the old man thought for two days and finally found a breakthrough in "spring". Instead of drawing a frog on a four-foot vertical axis, he dotted a few lively tadpoles in the flowing spring water between canyons, leaving a water source with tadpoles, which reminds people of frogs and frogs' cries. The brilliant idea created the artistic conception that frogs croak from far to near with the sound of water, making the work "Frog croak out of a mountain spring for ten miles" a masterpiece in his later years. This poetic understanding and sentiment not only embodies the highest realm pursued by literati painting, but also reveals the artist's childlike innocence.
Qi Baishi is called a local painter because he painted a warm and simple life atmosphere with affectionate pen, which injected a new life into the elegant literati painting: the spirit of workers.
-the "white stone old man" who returns to nature.
Qi Baishi's paintings "appeal to both refined and popular tastes". His emotions, ridicule, sympathy, wisdom and humor ... can make people find emotional voices in his paintings, just like a kind world.
Love and hate are distinct, which always gives people a clear concept in Qi Baishi's works. Judging from the festival of life, during the occupation of Peiping by the Japanese invaders, Qi Baishi refused to be lured by the Japanese warlords invading China, returned the letter of appointment and coal gift from the professors of the Academy of Fine Arts, posted a confession that "it is ominous for an official to enter the people's home", and refused to meet the Japanese toast and traitors. This confession spread all over the city, and everyone regarded this confession of Qi Baishi and Cheng as a story of an art forest.
Many of Qi Baishi's works have their own obvious emotional tendencies, such as "A Rat Map of Yi Deng" satirizing warlords and bureaucrats, "Tumbler" satirizing corrupt and confused politicians, and "Getting Rich" satirizing mercenary businessmen and bosses. Of course, there are also "Reading Pictures in the Late Night" which expresses calf's affection, and "Chill in Maple Leaves" which praises the golden autumn. ...
Qi Baishi has a childlike innocence and always has a beautiful yearning for life. The famous actress Xin once described her first meeting with Qi Baishi as follows: "The old man Baishi sat down to say hello to everyone, then took my hand and stared at me. After a while, Sister Wu, the nurse, said to the old man in a reproachful tone,' What are you always looking at others for?' The old man was unhappy and said,' I'm so old, why can't I see her? She looks good. When the old man finished speaking, his face turned red with anger ... "It is this straightforward personality and pure childlike innocence that makes him always create an interesting and pleasant artistic image. China people always say that "style is people" and "character is painting" when evaluating painters. Through these trivial things in life, people can get a glimpse of Baishi's simple but not simple, simple but not vulgar, passionate but not crazy, bright but not flashy, humorous and not funny, thus deepening their understanding of his works.
Qi Baishi changed from a folk artist to a master because he inherited the traditional literati painting, abandoned the rigid formula of literati painting, inherited the traditional folk art, and abandoned the vulgar factors in folk art. The high precision, high cultivation and personalization of literati art and the simplicity, vitality and cheerful humor of folk art condensed into a new life in his works. His art is another peak of traditional painting in the 20th century.
In his later years, the old man Baishi has been recognized as a master of Chinese painting in the world, and people from political and cultural circles from all over the world who come to Beijing often ask to visit him at home. Considering that his house in the cross-car alley is relatively simple, under Premier Zhou's personal questioning, Beijing specially assigned him a mansion in Shajing Hutong. Premier Zhou personally inspected the interior furnishings and personally welcomed the old man into his new house. Unexpectedly, the old man's mood fluctuates greatly and he clamors to go back to his hometown every day. There is no way, Premier Zhou has to personally send his old man back to Kuqa Hutong. In September of the same year, Baishi died at the age of 93.