Missing the exhibition in Beijing, I have been looking forward to it coming to Shanghai, Huang Yongyu once said: "In life, I prefer Shanghai." "Shanghai, for his woodcuts, is also of extraordinary significance. These woodcuts came to Shanghai to "reunite" with the past time, so many old friends, and to "report" to his division commanders... Expectations did not disappoint, and in late November this year, the "Into the Wood - Huang Yongyu Printmaking Art Exhibition" opened at the China Art Palace.
Seventy-four years later, Shanghai waited for his woodcut teenager.
Mr. Huang Yongyu
01. The story begins with woodcuts
What does a young man teach to save money for a plane ticket and come to Shanghai? Engage in woodcutting.
"Shanghai is an eye-opening place, and I want to take this opportunity to try to carve woodcarving well, and there is nothing else." This is in the "No Worries River Wandering Man • Walk Reading 1", Zhang Xuzi said to a friend, Mr. Huang Yongyu's autobiographical novel, full of countless life details and historical memories, if the "Zhang Prelude" thing is replaced by "Huang Yongyu" is a piece of truth, not abrupt.
Works by Mr. Huang Yongyu
In early 1947, Huang Yongyu came to Shanghai from Xiamen carrying a woodcut knife, woodcut board and some books. Before getting on the plane, the luggage was fiercely checked, especially for the carving knife, the inspectors were hostile at first, and then heard that the prints in the newspaper were carved by this carving knife, and discussed with him that "woodcuts are good to learn."
The woodcut in the backpack, he later took it to the All-China Woodcut Association and showed it to Li Hua, Shao Keping, and Yang Keyang. Yang Keyang told Li Hua: "He brought all the woodcuts to Shanghai. ”
Huang Yongyu's works: Illustration of Cui Cui and Grandpa's (1947) novel Border City
Huang Yongyu's works: Wreath of Flowers (1947) Illustration of the novel Border City
Huang Yongyu's statement is: "I have nothing else to bring except them." ("Walking Reading 1", p. 197) - We can understand that the woodcut plate is all Huang Yongyu's belongings; the woodcut is the central content of his life at that time.
Seventy-three years later, when preparing his "Into the Wood: Huang Yongyu Printmaking Art Exhibition", he revealed the secret of preserving so many woodcuts: "When I was young, I made a large rucksack out of thick canvas, containing woodcuts, woodcut tools, favorite books, and a dozen pounds of whetstone that was told as a joke. Hearing gunshots and cannons, he picked up his rucksack and ran with people. ("Preface: Eighty Years into the Wood", "Into the Wood") In the years of the flames, thousands of rivers and mountains, just like this, all the way to Shanghai.
Huang Yongyu,"Eighty Years into the Wood"
Into the wood: Huang Yongyu printmaking art exhibition
It's like a senior who said: You're so young. Yes, at that time, Huang Yongyu was only twenty-three or four years old, like an old woodcarver who had experienced the War of Resistance. In 1946, the All-China Woodcut Association was established in Shanghai, with twelve executive directors, and Huang Yongyu was listed among them. Don't forget, this association is worthy of the name of "China" and "the whole country", and it is no wonder that some people who have always looked at people in the seniority generation argue behind their backs: Any cat and dog can be a director.
Huang Yongyu is not a "cat and a dog", nor is he an empty artist, he humbles himself to be a "dare not be reckless, dare not be lazy" laborer, in the years of Shanghai's food and clothing, he is one of the most active woodcarvers.
Historical data can speak: in 1948, the All-China Woodcut Association compiled the "Chinese Printmaking Collection" (published by Shanghai Chenguang Publishing Company in October 1948), which was "carefully selected by the Second Judging Committee of the Association and the Board of Supervisors" from more than 500 works of the Three National Woodcut Exhibitions, and this print collection collected three woodcut works by Huang Yongyu, and only Yang Keyang, Zhu Minggang, Zhang Xigao, Li Hua, Chen Wang, and Huang Yongyu enjoyed the three treatments.
Huang Yongyu's Works: My Life at Sea (1948)
In the Soviet Luo Guofu's woodcut collection "New Woodcut" (Shanghai Times Book and Newspaper Publishing House, September 1948 edition), Huang Yongyu's four works were selected, and the only five authors selected for four works in the whole book were Li Hua, Long Tingba, Zhao Yannian, Yang Keyang and Huang Yongyu.
All this proves Huang Yongyu's influence at that time, his level of activity and, of course, his diligence. Even his cousin Shen Congwen, who was far away in Kunming, could not help but praise him as "a woodcut author with excellent technology and unique personality", saying that his works: "Rough and fine coexist without being confused, and the two together form a humorous Athens." ("The Skill of a Legend", The Complete Works of Shen Congwen, vol. 12)
Therefore, geniuses, ghosts, masters, such hats have not less to fly to Huang Yongyu's head, and in recent years, they have become more and more serious. I remember that when he was ninety years old, he came to Shanghai, and such a hat also gained a basket. Finally, there was a small outburst of obscurity while leaving Shanghai.
Huang Yongyu's 98th birthday photo
Everyone sent him on the plane, and I walked in front of him, as usual, he didn't like to be helped by others, I just obediently walked quietly with him. Suddenly, he came up with a sentence: Master, what a master, I am just lucky!
He spoke firmly word by word, and I was stunned, not knowing how to answer the call, although I did not agree with his point of view, but I admired his attitude. I remember that through the glass of the airport aisle, a strong ray of sunlight was coming through it.
The return has become a "master", and the return is no longer a teenager, which reminds me of the poem "Alone at Home" in his newly published poetry collection "Seeing Laughter", which has a few sentences: "I, who have I provoked?" / Who am I doing? /'Old' wasn't invented by me. /'Old' wasn't picked up on the street by me. ("See laughter") and thought that the media like to call him an "old naughty boy", of course, he is humorous, happy, not following the rules, there is a kind of "stubbornness" in his bones, but on the other hand, he is not "stubborn" at all, such as being a person, dealing with the world, looking at life, looking at the world, melancholy, compassion, gratitude... Serious, solemn, grand. That is, "Alone at Home", I read it, I can't laugh, but I have to cry, although maybe "honey tears".
02. To paint The former residence of Barkin should be painted with a large one
On December 1, 2011, Barkin's former residence was opened to the public, and Mr. Huang attended the unveiling ceremony. In the foyer of the house hangs his huge painting "Mr. Ba," which he says was one of his best paintings that year. At the beginning, I timidly asked Teacher Li Hui to ask Mr. Huang to draw a book ticket for the opening of the former residence.
Painting Mr. Ba's former home, how can you paint such a big one... As he spoke, he drew his hand and said with a smile: I want to draw a big one!
Huang Yongyu paints Ba Jin
In his heart, Mr. Barkin is the kind of "big" of the sea and the sky. He wrote in the book: "In ba jin's life, in terms of morality, culture, and emotion, his dedication to the motherland is so great, so long, so deep, so beautiful, so righteous and thin!" He also said to me more than once: Sitting opposite Mr. Ba, there is a kind of fear, and he does not dare to speak. What a character Mr. Ba is, he can give advice to every friend, and every friend will accept it with satisfaction.
The day after the opening ceremony of the former residence, just after going to work, I received the news that Mr. Huang had moved out of the hotel we had arranged. I rushed to his new hotel breathlessly and worriedly, afraid that some places were not well arranged to make the old man dissatisfied, at that time, I was not familiar with him. The old man had been waiting in the hotel lobby for a long time, and he told me politely and seriously: The activity is over, the rest is my own business, and I can no longer stay in your hotel.
I have nothing to say, I know the stubbornness of Hunan people, not to mention that he is Huang Yongyu.
Mr. Huang did make a request to go to the Red House to eat Western food, although we repeatedly explained that this house is no longer the other house, the old man still insisted on going.
Sit down, the tea has not been poured, the story comes, this time the story is somewhat "unexpected", he said that the red house was opened by an old housekeeper in Ba Jin's hometown in Sichuan, when Mr. Ba invited them to eat Western food, how the owner of the red house received them respectfully.
Well, I've never heard of this story, nor has Barkin's family heard it. Mr. Huang is serious and also wrote about it in his book, on page 240 of "Walk-out 1". So, is it to be tested? But there is no need to take the exam, while eating, while listening to Mr. Huang's story, it is a kind of enjoyment, a kind of learning. The stories he tells, everyone loves to hear.
03. Nostalgia is also a person's virtue
Facing the Huangpu River, listening to him talk about Zhang Zhengyu and Lu Zhixiu, he lamented the fate of Zhang Xiguo.
Speaking of Tang Tao, Zang Kejia, Li Hua and more predecessors who helped him, the words are full of gratitude and feelings about the fate of a generation of intellectuals.
Talk about the year can not eat, close to noon to discuss with the small partner what to do, go to a movie star to solve the lunch bar. Gone, the stars are still sleepy-eyed, in the bed has already seen through their tricks, kindly said to them: the money is in the drawer, you take it yourself to dinner, I will sleep for a while.
Talking about Mr. Dai Yinglang's revolutionary career sounds more exciting than the TV series. Asked if I recognized his son, Dai Tielang, I shook my head. But mentioning that this is the creator and director of "Black Cat Sheriff", heck, it seems too familiar.
He said that he had not seen Dai Tielang for a long time, and that in Taiwan, they were partners who went to the café together to listen to music. It was again Mr. Dai Yinglang who informed him that the commander of the Taiwan Garrison would send someone to arrest him and arrange for him to leave Taiwan.
On December 8, 2017, Huang Yongyu and Dai Tielang's old friends were reunited
Huang Yongyu was holding in his hand a portrait he had painted for Dai Tielang
(Zhou Limin in Shanghai)
I contacted Mr. Dai Tielang through the help of a friend at the newspaper. One winter, two old friends met in Shanghai. I sat and listened to them talk for an afternoon. Remembering the most interesting conversation, Mr. Dai said that dogs had accompanied him all these years, and then he mysteriously said to Mr. Huang: Do you know, how many dogs do I have? Mr. Huang earnestly waited for him to answer, and Mr. Dai triumphantly held out three fingers and said loudly: Three! Mr. Huang replied with a smile: I have thirty.
For a while, when he saw Mr. Huang, he asked about Tang Dalang's book with concern, and heard that someone had compiled it and no publishing house would publish it. I told him that Zhang Wei and Zhu Chunxiang had been collecting and sorting out Tang Dalang's writings for many years, and the old man took it to heart, took the initiative to find relevant people to help publish the book, and later wrote a preface to the title of the anthology. He repeatedly and eagerly asked: When will the book come out? For this matter, I deliberately ran to the western suburbs to meet Teacher Zhang Wei, and the central idea was: Hurry up, hurry up again.
We have to understand this psychology of the elderly. Nostalgia is also a person's virtue.
04. The original place of woodcut teenagers
I sent Mr. Huang a thin copy of Li Hua's Diary 1944. He always said: Where to find such a good person as Li Hua, I will never find such a person again...
In Shanghai, Li Hua's home on Deswell Road was their art salon and a place where they often beat their teeth. Later, Huang Yongyu and Zhang Xigao moved in. A group of painters and writers have become regular visitors here, and Huang Yongyu's sweat and woodcut dreams have also been left here.
This place, Huang Yongyu described: "The second house on the right hand of entering the big lane is the small garden downstairs, planted with walls of flesh-colored ten incense, two rooms before and after..." ("Walking Reading 1", p. 209) is actually very small: "A room of three meters by four meters, a door, a window, and a gray field 'garden' with two double beds." ("Yu Soya is really dead this time", "The old man who is older than me")
Huang Yongyu's works: Mr. Lu Xun and the Young Woodcut Worker (1954)
Mr. Huang clearly remembers that this is No. 5 Lane 904, but on the old map of Shanghai in 1947, I can't find Lane 904, according to Mr. Huang's description, here is "a desolate square opposite", I feel that it should be in Zhejiang Xingli or near it, on the map it is next to a large area of "farm" and "empty land". Today, cross Liyang Road to Siping Road, which is a large construction site, and Macquarie, where Mr. Barkin once lived, can not be found.
Another place that Huang Yongyu regards as a sacred place for woodcarvers has also been transformed into a green space today, that is, No. 65 Daming Road, the third floor of the Shanghai branch of the Bank of Taiwan, which was the office of the All-China Woodcut Association.
Huang Yongyu's Work: Spring Tide (1961)
In the novel, it is written: "The road that the preamble is going to is called Daming Road, which is a waibaidu bridge that goes around the Broadway building to the left, and from the direction it is a line with the waibaidu bridge, and on a building in this direction (what name, how many floors have been forgotten), our great Chinese All-China Woodcut Association is there." This is almost a holy place in the prologue, Jerusalem! Woodcut General Command. (Walk-out 1)
Today, standing on this green field, the maple leaves are red, the ginkgo biloba leaves are yellow, time is staggered, the gold and stone do not exist, fortunately, more than 400 woodcuts of Huang Yongyu are left, and they are on display on the other side of the Huangpu River.
Huang Yongyu's Work: The Warm April Wind (1983)
In the early summer of last year, before the end of the epidemic, one day at work, I received a five- or six-page long letter from Mr. Huang, which included the words: "I have never forgotten Shanghai... I still pay attention to my friends in the literary and art circles in Shanghai, and I see your activities, generation after generation, calling each other together, like turning the pages of a book with a fragrant fragrance, so precious and warm. ”
He also expressed everyone's common wish: "During the epidemic, everyone is thinking about friends, and so am I. The garden flowers have passed the leaf shade is also a grand scene, I hope that one day it will be too peaceful, about a few acquaintances (people), sit down to eat dinner. ”
Mr. Huang Yongyu in the bookstore Hei Ni photographed
Yeah, looking forward to your return, ninety-eight-year-old. I use "come back" because Shanghai has always regarded you as "Alazinin(ren)". (Zhou Limin)