In the village of Bosha next to Dongguan Keyuan, the studio of Liang Bo, an ancient calligraphy and painting restorer, is "hidden" on the fourth floor of a factory building, with cement stairs, twisting and turning, and it is difficult to find if no one leads the way.
For more than 20 years, Liang Bo has been immersed in restoring and decorating ancient calligraphy and paintings. Under his hands, a series of cultural relics and monuments that have been unrecognizable and sleeping for many years are "radiant" and have regained their original brilliance.
"I haven't made any signs outside for decades." Unlike his fame in the industry, Liang Bo instead chose a quiet studio, not to take on urgent work, just want to rush to keep the "millimeter and millennium" in the ancient calligraphy painting before the time is diluted and the insects nibble.
"Finding paper is like matching DNA"
In Liang Bo's cabinet, the honorary certificates obtained over the years are lined up. In 1998, Liang Bo began to systematically learn the mounting and restoration of traditional calligraphy and paintings, opening his way as a conservator of ancient calligraphy and paintings. So far, Liang Bo has been a painter at the Beijing Rongbaozhai Painting Institute, a restorer of ancient calligraphy and painting (ancient books), a member of the Dongguan Municipal Beauty Association, and a skilled craftsman of Dongguan folk craftsmen. In 2019, the "Liang Bo Ancient Calligraphy and Painting Restoration and Landscape Painting Exhibition" was selected as the annual "Young Artists Dream Realization Action" of Dongguan Cultural Center.
In Liang Bo's studio, there is a paper warehouse dedicated to storing all kinds of paper, and the paper is piled up in a small space, and the ground is only enough for one person to stand. Outside the paper warehouse, his collection of paper is almost everywhere, except for the calligraphy and paintings and tools that are visible to the naked eye, almost all the bookshelves, and even the space under the table, are piled with all kinds of paper. "This is jade buckle paper from Jiangxi, this is the paper used in Yunnan to wrap Pu'er tea..." Talking about the paper he bought from his inspections across the country, Liang Bo was like a family treasure. According to him, there are hundreds of different types of paper in the studio, and it took nearly two months to move the house alone.
In the restoration of ancient calligraphy and painting, the choice of paper is particularly important, not only the material, color and thickness of the paper, but also the texture, feel, miscellaneous, toughness, etc. of the paper, which are all aspects that Liang Bo will consider. After years of exploration, Liang Bo summarized his experience in matching paper as "sight and mind" and "looking, hearing and asking". At work, he doesn't wear gloves because he firmly believes that paper can only be read if you are close to paper.
Liang Bo believes that almost every ancient calligraphy and painting paper is unique, "and it is the most difficult to find a matching paper, equivalent to our DNA." "However, in today's paper industry, the paper produced is still difficult to match the paper of ancient calligraphy and painting.
He introduced that ancient calligraphy and painting often use traditional handmade paper, and the biggest difference between traditional handmade paper and today's mechanism paper is that traditional handmade paper has a stronger pull, softer and tougher, which is the so-called "weak is stronger than strong". At the same time, traditional handmade paper has a native beauty, such as cotton-like cloudy clutter, filter pulp produced by the "latitude and longitude" (also known as "curtain pattern") ... "More important or safe, handmade paper without other items added, very pure." Liang Bo said.
After many unsuccessful searches for paper with high adaptability, Liang Bo thought about it: "Can I make paper myself?" In Liang Bo's studio, he still uses the original manual papermaking method - peeling off the bark, extracting the fibers by crushing until the fibers are consistent with the ancient books, and then starting to make paper, the process is mixed according to the different parameters of each book. However, not every ancient calligraphy painting takes so much time to make paper. For those papers with good materials and some differences from the original, Liang Bo chose to modify them slightly - long-term blisters for material decomposition, and then made into similar paper for repair.
For Liang Bo, the process of finding suitable paper for the restoration of ancient calligraphy and painting is the process of interpreting the endoplasm of traditional paper, and the papermaking thing, which is full of feelings and memories, has formed an indissoluble relationship as early as he was very young. Liang Bo said: "Grandpa knows some basic papermaking methods, and my aunt used to paste window flowers. Later, our family came out of the paper mill, my father had served in the paper mill successively as the chief of the safety section, the chief of the production section, the chief of the quality inspection section, etc., and several cousins also worked in the paper mill. ”
Finding the right paper, the restoration of ancient calligraphy and painting was a crucial step, and the rest of the work was transferred to this complex restoration craft.
"I'm grabbing food with bugs"
For Liang Bo, time is the biggest enemy, any book and painting is extremely fragile in the face of rushing time, no matter how good the collection, time will always secretly leave traces. "But in the South, apart from time, bugs are the second enemy." Liang Bo told reporters.
Comparison before and after the restoration of ancient books
In 2002, Liang Bo became acquainted with Dongguan and worked in the Lingnan Branch of the China Academy of Poetry, Calligraphy and Painting, and at the same time established the Hexiangzhai Calligraphy and Painting Restoration and Mounting Studio. In the nearly 20 years since coming to Dongguan, Liang Bo has been dedicated to restoration and creation, and his biggest remaining work is to fight against the humid climate in the south and various insects.
Liang Bo believes that the restoration of books and cultural relics pays attention to eight words, "it varies from paper to paper, and it varies from time to time." Liang Bo mentioned that the grasp of the climate in the south is particularly important, and every year in Dongguan to make sausages is the time when he shows his fists, "At that time, Dongguan was very dry, books and paper were not easy to get damp, and it was the best time for restoration work." Liang Bo said.
After gaining an in-depth understanding of the local climate and the paper of books, Liang Bo believes that the restoration work has become a different thing for each person, "provided that you understand it." Based on the climate of Lingnan, Liang Bo's restoration work mainly takes the method of "combining prevention and maintenance and prevention and elimination", and adheres to the principle of "protection first, treatment as a supplement, and repair of the old as old". "In the south, we need to pay more attention to climate change." Liang Bo said.
"When you read this book, it's hard to see the traces of restoration with the naked eye, but if you look under the light, you can clearly see that the repaired area is obviously darker." Liang Bo carefully lifted one of the pages overhead, and under the illumination of the light, the paper showed a piece of dark marks, "Although you can see the different shades of paper under the light, you can't feel the difference when you touch it with your hands." Liang Bo told reporters.
In the 20 years of Guanguan, Liang Bo restored a large number of paper cultural relics, including Zhu Yunming, Yuan Chonghuan, Wang Shimin, Gao Qipei and other fine calligraphy and paintings, and the handwriting of famous artists such as Li Yuanhong, Deng Erya, and Gao Qifeng in modern times. Liang Bo's unique restoration technique was awarded "Dongguan Folk Craftsmanship" by Dongguan Municipal Federation of Literature and Literature and Folk Writers Association.
Liang Bo paintings
In order to better restore the original appearance of ancient calligraphy and painting, Liang Bo engaged in calligraphy and painting creation in addition to restoration work, and studied at the landscape painting studio of Mr. Cheng Dali at the Rongbaozhai Painting Institute in Beijing from 2012 to 2014. "One of the reasons for studying landscape painting is that it has been difficult for me to grasp the artistic conception of landscape painting for a long time, which has also become a certain obstacle to the restoration work." In Liang Bo's studio, there are also sketches such as Taihang and Tianzhu Mountain created by the teacher, as well as "residual mountains and leftover waters" of scraps. "During this time, due to the long-term work, my back was somewhat damaged, and I decided to rest for a few days, and these days I mainly painted." Liang Bo said.
"Does your studio have a constant temperature and humidity?" Many people walking into Liang Bo's studio will ask this in the face of valuable book collections, and Liang Bo's answer is whether it is, "If it can be preserved in an environment like mine, then other environments can definitely 'live'." For Liang Bo, his job is more about helping cultural relics "prolong their lives" than making them "flowers in a greenhouse."
[Trainee reporter] Ma Xinjie Zhang Qianqian
【Video/Photography】 He Qiying
[Reporter] Gong Mingyang
【Author】 Ma Xinjie, Zhang Qianqian, He Qiying
【Source】 Southern Press Media Group South + client