He came too late.
This is true for people who know Mu Xin, people who read Mu Xin, himself, and Chinese writing.
When he was known to more people, he was already an elder, and people were willing to respect him as a teacher and listen to his slow lectures; later, he had more readers, and "Literary Memoirs" made him loved by young people, and he hated him late. But for Mu Xin, who envied Zhang Ailing's young fame, he waited until he was 79 years old to publish books in the mainland for the first time. The original "Reflections of Columbia" did not set off a reading boom, but it was a cold and sober literary work, and he still longed to be seen by more people. By the time the Literary Memoirs that made him a phenomenon were published, however, it was 2013, when he had passed away.
When more of his works were published, people realized that perhaps he had come too late for the whole of Chinese writing. The kind of clean text that has not been influenced by any cultural movement of the last century is naturally presented to the reader. Perhaps in the future, he will be more late- a fair evaluation of his literary concepts, a true understanding of his works, the painstaking efforts in books such as "Poetry Classics", more manuscripts and paintings that have not yet been published... In modern times, his slow posture is incompatible with the fast pace of social life, but it is precisely this incompatibility that attracts more people to follow his shadow and move forward quietly and slowly.
This article is from the B08 of the December 17 special topic "Late Arrival - The Tenth Anniversary of Mu Xin's Death" of the Beijing News Book Review Weekly.
At the age of eight, Mu Xin began to formally study Chinese ink painting from his teacher, and at the age of seventeen, he left Wuzhen and went to Hangzhou to apply for an art college. According to his own account, there were two reasons for leaving Wuzhen, one was to study art, and the other was to escape marriage. During his time in Hangzhou, Mu Xin once turned to studying Impressionist oil painting, as he wrote in "The Feast of The Fish and Beauty": "What is even more funny is that I thought that in the process of 'wandering', 'lost love', and 'struggle', didn't artists have to toss and turn like this, hammer and hammer, and then become famous in one fell swoop... Soon, I abandoned my long shirts and shoes, took a suit and leather shoes, the smell of oil paint all over the house, and the painting materials were in disarray, and it was no wonder that the old master wanted to say 'flashy' in his letter to my brother-in-law." In the same year, Mu Xin held his first art exhibition.
Part of Spring Nights, 1990.
In 1946, Mu Xin entered the Shanghai Academy of Fine Arts and continued to study painting. He was later expelled from the Shanghai Art College for participating in the student movement. In 1950, Mu Xin visited the home of the master artist Lin Fengmian for the first time, after which, Mu Xin's painting style began to change. After entering the field of arts and crafts, the transfer painting style of the wooden heart was basically formed. In the memoirs of Mu Xin's friend's son, Mu Xin's harshness on artistic creation was described, "Mr. Mu Xin was very respectful of Lin Fengmian, and his composition style during that time resembled Mr. Lin. I have seen him paint, and he is extremely strict with his works, and he destroys the works he is not satisfied with on the spot! When the reporter of Hong Kong's "China Daily" monthly reporter interviewed Mu Xin, he also praised Mu Xin's paintings, "We have heard that he is a strange person, painting wonderful paintings, until we witness this masterpiece of the integrated album, which is completely beyond our imagination." Hua Yan is deeply spiritual, unpredictable, unable to distinguish what is inevitable and what is accidental, what is the appearance and what is the concept, only awe-inspiring, Xiaoran, Feiran, Taoran, Anran, Yanran...".
Landscape Fu, 1991.
Despite this, during the American period, the transfer of wooden hearts was not very good. After Chen Danqing met Mu Xin in New York, he tried to contact the gallery owner he knew and wanted to help Mu Xin sell paintings, but there were not many buyers who knew the goods at that time. However, in the anecdotes associated with the paintings, there are also positive moments. When Mu Xin went to the United States to apply for a visa, because he could not say the motive, there were no relatives, the marital status and age did not meet, the visa was directly withdrawn by the staff of the US consulate, and finally Mu Xin took out his own painting, and after several staff members gathered in a circle to discuss and appreciate, their attitude immediately changed, believing that Mu Xin was an artistic talent needed by the United States, and immediately approved his visa.
Part of Sunny Wind, 1999.
The paintings left by Mu Xin are also exhibited at the Mu Xin Art Museum in Wuzhen today. When asked mu xin what he thought of the art museum before he died, Mu Xin only had one request, that is, he hoped that the future art museum would be able to display parts of his huge paintings in space. He very much hopes that his works can be enlarged, so that the viewer can observe the parts and details in the paintings.
Part of Five Mountains, 2003.
Written by | Miyako
Edit | Gongzi Li Yongbo Qingqingzi
Proofreading | Xue Jingning