"The hardest bones" of the literary giants of the art world

"Lu Xun's Art World" exhibition. This newspaper reporter Zhou Changqing photographed

As a great figure of the 20th century, Mr. Lu Xun's personality charm and ideological brilliance have influenced China for almost a century. He is a famous writer, thinker, revolutionary, democratic fighter, an important participant in the new cultural movement, and one of the founders of modern Chinese literature. Mao Zedong once commented: "The direction of Lu Xun is the direction of the new culture of the Chinese nation. ”

For Lu Xun, if literary creation is a struggle against suffering, his lifelong love for art is the source of his happiness. This year is the 140th anniversary of Mr. Lu Xun's birth, Beijing Lu Xun Museum selected 120 pieces (sets) from the collection of cultural relics, held the "Lu Xun Art World - Beijing Lu Xun Museum Collection of Cultural Relics Exhibition" at the Jilin Provincial Museum, so that people can see the other side of this literary giant who was praised by Mao Zedong as "the hardest bones": colorful art collection and spiritual world.

It has collected more than 2,000 modern Chinese prints, nearly 2,000 foreign prints, and more than 6,000 inscriptions and Han portraits; purchased more than 600 kinds of Chinese and foreign art books and periodicals; introduced foreign art and published them in Chinese journals; founded the "Woodcut Workshop", which trained the first generation of modern printmakers in China. In addition to creation and translation, Lu Xun devoted a great deal of energy to artistic activities. He is not only a pioneer of modern Chinese art thought, but also a researcher, educator and practitioner of modern art.

Artist Lu Xun

As the saying goes: "Three years old looks small, seven years old looks old." "Hobbies and tutoring in adolescence have a huge impact on a person's life. When Lu Xun was a teenager, he was passionate about art, and was keen to collect illustrated books such as the Classic of Mountains and Seas and the Poetry and Painting Boat, and to shadow and write embroidered portraits in the books. In the field of fine arts, like in the field of literature, he has his own unique insights, and he often has hand-drawn pictures in his handwriting, and the covers of his books and translations are also designed by himself.

Lu Xun wrote in "From the Hundred Grass Garden to the Sanwei BookHouse": "When Mr. Li reads and enters the gods, it is very suitable for us... I am painting, using a kind of painting called 'Jingchuan paper', which is painted one by one on the embroidered portrait of the novel, like the shadow writing when I learned to write. More books have been read, and more paintings have been drawn; books have not been read, but there are many achievements in painting. The most fragmented are the embroidered portraits of "Dang Kou Zhi" and "Journey to the West", both of which have a large copy. It shows that Lu Xun's love for art since he was a child is the enlightenment of his lifelong love of art.

The exhibition exhibits Lu Xun's childhood favorite New Year paintings, paper-cut "Fulu Shou", "Thief Lingzhi" and "Nine Dragon Pillars", all of which can now be included in the intangible cultural heritage.

In China's traditional society, most literati and inkers like to collect cultural classics and even calligraphy and painting works. In people's impressions, Lu Xun has a fierce critical attitude towards traditional culture, especially feudal culture, but in fact, he has inherited the ancient cultural tradition in many aspects and made a lot of efforts to inherit and carry forward the excellent traditional culture. He has collected many Chinese paintings, albums and Chinese and foreign art books, and the exhibition exhibits "Qin Taishan Carved Stones", "Ode to the Master", "Shitao Landscape And Water Works", "Wu Changshuo Calligraphy and Painting Album", "Baihua Poetry Notes", "Maritime Celebrity Paintings", "Original First Printed Mustard Garden Paintings", as well as landscape paintings, flower and bird paintings of famous artists such as Lin Qinnan and Chen Shizeng.

Lu Xun also has a number of portraits created by others for himself, and two of them are exhibited in this exhibition: one is a sketch "Lu Xun Portrait" painted by Situ Qiao in 1928; the other is a manga portrait painted by Japanese portraitist Junichi Horio in Shanghai on January 13, 1936, and the inscription on the back of the painting is: "With extraordinary ambition, great heart, throughout a generation of characters." On that day, Lu Xun recorded in his diary: "In the afternoon, I went to the Uchiyama Bookstore and met Junichi Horio, in order to make a manga portrait, which was worth two yuan. It seems that Lu Xun paid for this cartoon, and the price was not cheap. Judging from the inscription, this Japanese person also admired Lu Xun very much.

"The Father of China's Emerging Woodblock Prints"

China's emerging printmaking movement was first advocated and initiated by Mr. Lu Xun, who is known as "the father of China's emerging woodblock printmaking".

In 1928, Lu Xun founded the "Chaohua Society" in Shanghai, edited and published "Art Garden Chaohua", and selected outstanding foreign woodcut art works. In 1931, the "Woodcut Workshop" was held in Shanghai, which trained the first generation of emerging printmakers in China. He has successively guided the establishment of new art groups such as the Springland Art Research Institute, the Wild Wind Painting Society, and the MK Woodcut Research Association in Shanghai, Hangzhou, Guangzhou and other places, and promoted the woodcut research and emerging printmaking movement in full swing to the north and south of the great river. While Focusing on the Collection of Foreign Prints and Fine Arts Books, Lu Xun also introduced these arts to a new generation of Chinese artists, making local creations more full. He held art exhibitions, personally edited and published a variety of foreign prints, and helped woodcut youth publish a variety of prints.

When it comes to Lu Xun and xinxing prints, the name Kollwitz is believed to be familiar to many people. She is a German printmaker and sculptor, whose representative works include "Weaver's Revolt", "Uprising", "War", "Death and Women", etc., which convey the tragic fate of the working class under the capitalist system and the spirit of courageous struggle in a sharp form. She is one of Lu Xun's most admired printmakers. In 1936, Lu Xun compiled and published at his own expense the Anthology of Kollwitz Prints, personally designed the layout, advertisements, and prefaces, and spoke highly of them: "Among female artists, those who have shaken the art world are now almost nothing above Kollwitz —either praise, or attack; or defend her against attacks." In the exhibition, Kollwitz's prints include "Assault", "Poor", "German Children Hungry" and so on.

Lu Xun also collected modern prints from a number of countries, and this time exhibited German, French, Dutch and Austrian prints "Map of Shimintu", "Paris Circus", "Church Market", "Resting Dancer", "Woman and Goat", as well as Soviet woodcut works "Mushroom Picking", "Mara Statue", "Books", and "Great Prospects" and other literary works in woodcut illustrations.

Ukiyo-e is a Japanese genre painting and printmaking that depicts people's daily lives, landscapes, and dramas. Lu Xun, who studied in Japan in his youth, also liked Japanese prints, especially ukiyo-e. This exhibition exhibits his collections of "Sunset on Secho Street", "Carnation", "Dog", "Hangzhou West Lake" and so on. Lu Xun was also associated with ukiyo-e: "... An artist, as long as he expresses what he has experienced, of course, outside the study should go out, if not in some whirlpool, then it is better to show only some of the ordinary social states that he sees. Japanese ukiyo-e, what a big deal, but its artistic value is there... Regarding Japanese ukiyo-e artists, I liked Hokusai when I was young, and now I am Hiroseshige, followed by Goma. ”

Hokusai is known for his landscape paintings and urban life, and among his landscape paintings, the series of works with Mt. Fuji as the theme of the series "Thirty-Six Views of Fugaku" is particularly famous, and European Impressionist paintings are also influenced by it. The exhibition features Hokusai's "Thirty-Six Views of Fugaku, Tokyo Asakusa Honganji Temple". Goma's ukiyo-e paintings are known for painting beautiful women, with exquisite lines, expressive character expressions, a strong breath of life, a distinct worldliness, and even a bit of melancholy and decadent mood. In the exhibition, there is Gomor's "Mother and Child Game".

The exhibition also exhibited some foreign art books collected by Lu Xun, such as "White and Black", "Soviet Children's Prints", "The Story of The Book Stamp", etc.; translated foreign literary and artistic works, such as the Soviet writer Plekhanov's "Art Theory", the Japanese writer's "Thought Landscape Figures" and "The Problems of Modern Emerging Literature"; the edited and published Chinese and foreign prints, such as the "Yiyuan Chaohua" series co-edited with Roushi.

In order to carry forward the excellent traditional art, in 1934, Lu Xun and Zheng Zhenduo entrusted Beijing Rongbaozhai to re-engrave the painting collection "Ten Bamboo Zhai Notes" published by the seventeenth year of Chongzhen in the Ming Dynasty (1644 AD); the two also co-edited the "Beiping Notes", a total of 310 woodcut overprint color notes, Lu Xun personally bound and designed, and overprinted by Rong Baozhai in color.

Lu Xun not only supported the reprinting of classic works of ancient art, but also collected many Chinese prints of his contemporaries, especially the works of young woodcarvers, to give them practical support. This time, Lu Xun's woodcut prints such as "Headquarters", "Work", "Zhabei Scenery", "Displaced People", "Peasants", "Woodcut Circles" and other woodcut prints collected by Lu Xun were exhibited, as well as the "Woodcut Creation Law" that Lu Xun proofread.

Among the woodcut exhibits, three depict Lu Xun himself: Lai Shaoqi's Mr. Lu Xun in the Storm in 1934 and Mr. Gorky and Mr. Lu Xun (aka Goodbye! "), Cao Bai's 1935 "Lu Xun and Xiang Lin Sister-in-Law". "Mr. Lu Xun in the Storm" portrays Lu Xun holding a big banner and bravely moving forward against the storm. "Goodbye! "" depicts Lu Xun taking Mr. Gorky's heavy package on his shoulders and striding forward in the direction guided by Gorky, expressing the cultural mission of the two revolutionary literary giants.

So, why did Lu Xun vigorously promote emerging prints, especially foreign modern prints? In Written in the Night, he said: "... Seeing another kind of person, although not a hero, can be close and sympathetic, and the more you look at it, the more beautiful it is, the more it feels moving. ”

From the preface written by Lu Xun on June 4, 1935 for the "National Woodcut Joint Exhibition Album", we can see that he regards emerging woodcut as an important artistic means for a new generation of young woodcuts to express a vigorous life, and a career with a "brighter and greater" future. He wrote: "Woodcut pictures were originally things that existed in China earlier. Buddha statues and cards from the late Tang Dynasty, as well as later novel embroidered statues and small pictures of enlightenment, we can still see the actual objects. And it is understood that it is originally popular, that is, 'vulgar'... Although the sudden rise of woodcuts in the past five years cannot be said to have nothing to do with ancient culture, they are by no means dead bones in burial and new clothes, but they are the unanimous demands of the hearts of the author and the public, so that only a pair of iron pens and a few wooden planks of a few young people can develop so vigorously. It expresses the enthusiasm of art apprentices, and therefore often the soul of modern society. ”

Lu Xun's collection of gold and stone rubbings

Lu Xun began to collect gold and stone rubbings in 1913, the purpose of which is to protect the national cultural heritage, the second is the study of epigraphy, and the third is to learn from ancient stone carving art and promote modern art. Beijing Lu Xun Museum now has more than 6,000 gold and stone rubbings in Lu Xun's collection, including 12 categories such as Han portraits, brick paintings, tiles, and steles. The exhibition exhibits Lu Xun's collection of brick Tuo works "Yuanping Yuannian Bricks", Stele Works "Dengbaifeng Mountain Poem", "Cao Quan Stele", Watuo works "Xuanwu", "Fengfeng Pattern", "Ganlin", the epitaph "Xiao Yao's Epitaph", as well as Buddhist statues.

Han portraits are outstanding representatives and treasures in China's culture and art, and are an important type in Lu Xun's collection. Han portrait is a Han Dynasty people carved in the tomb, ancestral hall four walls of the decorative stone murals, in the content of the myths and legends, canonical system, customs and customs, etc., in the art form it inherits the ancient style of Warring States painting, under the Wei and Jin style art precedent, laid the basic laws and norms of Chinese painting. Lu Xun believes: "The Han people carved stones, the courage is deep and majestic, the Tang people's line paintings, flowing like life, if you take the woodcut, you may be able to open up another realm." The exhibition exhibits Lu Xun's collection of Jiangsu Han portrait "Sheyang Stone Gate", Nanyang Han portrait "The Queen Mother of the West and the Moon Palace, Jade Rabbit Trick Medicine, Nine-tailed Fox", and Shandong Han portrait "Confucius Sees Laozi".

Lu Xun not only pays attention to collection, but also attaches great importance to the study of Han portraits, he has collected and sorted out the "Catalogue of Han Portraits", and prepared to publish the "Han Portrait Collection", but unfortunately for various reasons could not be implemented. However, Lu Xun broke through the situation that the study of Han portraits was limited to the field of archaeology and epigraphy, and paid attention to its application in the field of art, which was his unique contribution to the study of Han portraits.

The covers that Lu Xun designed for his writings and publications were clearly influenced by his favorite art of gold-stone rubbings. In the exhibition, it can be seen: the "Quarterly Journal of Sinology" edited and published by Peking University, the title of the book by Cai Yuanpei, the cover designed by Lu Xun is taken from the han portrait stone carved cloud pattern, quaint and solemn, and the national traditional style is rich; Lu Xun's translation of the Russian blind poet Ai Luo Xianke's "Peach Cloud", designed by Lu Xun, takes the characters, animals and clouds in the Han portrait as decoration, simple and elegant; Gao Changhong's work "The Adventure of the Heart", edited and designed by Lu Xun, "plundering the portrait of the tomb door of the Six Dynasties for writing".

Calligrapher Lu Xun

Strict early childhood learning, rigorous teacher inheritance and love for traditional Chinese brush calligraphy have made Lu Xun a unique calligrapher in modern and modern times. In the large number of lu xun manuscripts that exist, the seals, subordinates, lines, and kai are all worked, and the style of writing follows the Wei monument all the way, wide and broad, simple and elegant. Guo Moruo once commented: "Mr. Lu Xun also has no intention of being a calligrapher, and the handwriting he has left behind is his own style, the seal of melting is subordinate to a furnace, he is at the mercy of the heart and wrist, simple and not informal, free and lawful, far beyond the Song and Tang Dynasties, straight up to Wei and Jin." The treasure of the scholar is not because of the person. ”

The number of surviving manuscripts of Lu Xun is the largest among modern literati scholars and even calligraphers.

The exhibition exhibits some of Lu Xun's poems, inscriptions, letters, and manuscripts. Including the manuscript to Zheng Zhenduo and Hu Shixin, the preface to the female writer Xiao Hong's "The Field of Life and Death", and the manuscript of Lu Xun's autobiography, especially the manuscript of Lu Xun's essay "Death" containing 7 wills written on September 5, 1936 (more than a month before Lu Xun's death), are all precious.

Lu Xun's calligraphy and literature often influenced each other, and his literary works were initially produced and formed in the form of calligraphy. "The Lingtai has no plan to escape the gods, and the wind and rain are like a rock and a dark homeland." Wishing that the cold star was not noticed, I recommended Xuanyuan with my blood. Lu Xun's poem "Self-Titled Little Portrait" was composed when he was 21 years old. In 1931, at the age of 51, he wrote "Self-Titled Portrait" again, which not only expressed the characteristics of his calligraphy in a clean and natural, quaint and elegant style, but also represented his patriotic feelings full of enthusiasm. He also gave "Self-Titled Portrait" to his Japanese friend Shigeru Okamoto.

A large number of letters between Lu Xun and Xu Guangping were collected into the Book of Two Places. In the exhibition, there is a letter from Lu Xun to Xu Guangping on May 23, 1929, in which he called Xu a "little hedgehog" and called himself a "little white elephant", which made people see the scene of Lu Xun and his lover Qingqing and me, who were known as "tough guys". (Reporter Zhou Changqing)

Source: Xinhua Daily Telegraph