The oil painting "Dr. Sun Yat-sen in Fuzhou" is exhibited

On November 12th, the oil painting "Dr. Sun Yat-sen in Fuzhou", created by Professor Li Xiaowei of the Academy of Fine Arts of Fujian Normal University over a period of five years, was exhibited at the symposium of the Fourth Branch of the Fujian Provincial Comprehensive Branch of the Kuomintang Revolutionary Committee to commemorate the 155th anniversary of the birth of Dr. Sun Yat-sen, and the participants observed the painting and gave it high praise.

More than a hundred years ago, people of insight in Fujian followed Dr. Sun Yat-sen to participate in the democratic revolution, and in 1905 Sun Yat-sen established the Chinese League Association in Japan, and the Fujian Branch of the China Alliance Association was born the following year. Sun Yat-sen inspected Fuzhou from April 18 to 21, 1912, and on April 20, Sun Yat-sen delivered a speech calling on the people of Fujian to unite and continue the revolution and struggle for the reunification of the motherland. Inspired by Sun Yat-sen's thoughts, a large number of Fujian people active in China and overseas stepped forward to save the people. As the first oil painting to reflect Dr. Sun Yat-sen's time in Fuzhou, "Dr. Sun Yat-sen in Fuzhou" integrates the style of ancient architecture in Cangshan, Fuzhou, and artistically reproduces the state of Mr. Sun's activities during his time in Rong.

Li Xiaowei is a famous oil painter in our province, a professor at the Academy of Fine Arts of Fujian Normal University, a director of the China Artists Association, and a member of the National Major Theme Creation Art Committee of the China Artists Association. He has long been immersed in major thematic creations, creating a series of important works such as "Liberation of Fujian", "Fan Zhongyan's "Yueyang Louji", "Gutian Conference" and so on.

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"Dr. Sun Yat-sen in Fuzhou" creative path

- For the sake of forgotten remembrance

Li Xiaowei

In the 1990s, I used to live in the Teachers' Apartment of Fujian Normal University in Cangshan District, Fuzhou Province, "Yi Garden", and later rented the first and second floors and basements of the old bungalow "Dream Garden" adjacent to the Yi Garden as my studio, the living room of the Dream Garden is not large, and it still roughly retains the appearance of the old time, and the two pairs of large old mahogany chairs and coffee tables in the hall that are rarely seen in the Chinese and Western style show the characteristics of the late Qing Dynasty and the beginning of the Ming Dynasty. Once I was chatting with the old lady of the landlord, who claimed to be a descendant of Ye Jianyuan, the British overseas Chinese leader during the Xinhai Revolution, and proudly said that Dr. Sun Yat-sen had come to Dream Garden and stayed for one night when he was raising funds for the Xinhai Revolution. Although this is only the owner's dictation, at that moment I believe it is very likely that this is a secret history that has not been recorded in the canonical history. Although it is well known that Dr. Sun Yat-sen successfully overthrew Manchu Qing rule and moved toward republicanism in the Xinhai Revolution, and after stepping down as the "provisional president" of the Republic of China, he personally visited Fuzhou to meet with the backbone members of the League, overseas Chinese leaders and political leaders from all walks of life, and made important speeches for the future construction of Fuzhou. This is the only time that Dr. Sun Yat-sen came to Fuzhou, and he has been to many places, but there is no record of the Dream Garden. But I was still fascinated by the old lady's dictation, and I couldn't help but think about it. Suppose that during the Xinhai Revolution, the overseas Chinese in Fujian donated a huge amount of money to the rejuvenation of China, Fuzhou should also be regarded as an important town of the Xinhai Revolution, and the connection between Fuzhou and Sun Yat-sen can be described as very close, which can be felt from the deeds of Lin Juemin and other fuzhou revolutionary volunteers who went to Guangzhou through the Alliance and spilled blood on Huanghuagang, and after Dr. Sun Yat-sen stepped down as the provisional president, he first visited the backbone of the Fuzhou League and overseas Chinese leaders in Fuzhou.

As an artist, I stood in this living room and looked at the layers of old bungalows and churches in Cangshan, accompanied by the old lady's narration, my thoughts suddenly took me through time and space to the storm of the Xinhai Revolution, where the revolutionary volunteers of the Fuzhou League risked killing their heads and were secretly using the cover of the Cangshan foreigners' area to assemble, raise funds, prepare weapons and explosives... It was in this small living room that Dr. Sun Yat-sen was preaching the revolutionary program and discussing fundraising matters with overseas Chinese leaders... At this moment, I felt as if I was already among them, and the distance from them was so close! It was also then that Dr. Sun Yat-sen and I seemed to have a relationship.

Later, I always used oil paintings to create a portrait of Dr. Sun Yat-sen in Fuzhou, and I wanted to use artistic language to record and express the vivid image of Dr. Sun Yat-sen in Fuzhou. This impulse is also because the art world has never shown Dr. Sun Yat-sen's paintings in Fuzhou, but also for the memory that has been forgotten. The long history is easy for us to forget, and I want to use the paintbrush to awaken the great memory of the city.