The name of the artist Xu Minghua is not well known, but he was one of the first generation of Chinese artists who stayed in the Soviet Union. As the first generation of oil painters and art educators trained by New China, Xu Minghua has made outstanding contributions to the development of oil painting in China.
On December 27th, the "National Art Museum of China Academic Invitation Series Exhibition: Only The Only Truth - Xu Minghua Art Exhibition", co-sponsored by the National Art Museum of China, the Propaganda Department of the Jiangsu Provincial Party Committee of the Communist Party of China and Nanjing Normal University, opened at the National Art Museum of China, exhibiting more than 200 works such as Xu Minghua's oil paintings, drawings and sketches, as well as a large number of precious documents, comprehensively reviewing his artistic life.
Xu Minghua, born in 1932, is a native of Yixing, Jiangsu Province. In 1950, he was admitted to the art department of Nanjing University with the first place in his major, and after entering the school, his drawings and colors were trained by Professors Huang Xianzhi and Qin Xuanfu, who returned from France, and Professor Fu Baoshi in art history. From 1955 to 1960, he was sent to study in the Soviet Union, and successively studied at the Petersburg Normal University in Moscow and the Leningrad Repin Academy of Fine Arts. After returning to China, he taught in the Fine Arts Department of Nanjing Normal University, and he worked hard for the art creation and art education of New China, and achieved fruitful results.
As one of Mr. Xu Minghua's students, Wu Weishan, member of the Standing Committee of the National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference, director of the National Art Museum of China, and vice chairman of the China Artists Association, is the chief curator of this exhibition, and he commented: Mr. Xu Minghua's sincerity in art, his true love for the great nature, his true love for education, and his true kung fu in art and the distinctive style formed by consistent pursuit and exploration, and the elegant style presented in his paintings, are admirable. "Teacher Xu is like a warm water bottle, when we contact him, there is no exaggerated expression, there is no exaggerated speech, often treat us with a smile, this calm warm water bottle is full of hot water, when it is poured out with aerosol, sprinkled with life, warm the hearts of students, these mist is also the spirit of his works, affecting our times."
In 1950, Mr. Xu Minghua was admitted to the Art Department of Nanjing University with the first place in his major, and Pan Shu, who was the president of Nanjing University at the time, sent a congratulatory letter saying that "Xun is a material that can be made". Founded in 1902, this school is the cradle of art education for senior teachers in China, with many masters and famous masters, Li Ruiqing, Li Shutong, Xu Beihong, Chen Zhifo or the head of government or teaching. From 1955 to 1960, Xu Minghua was selected to study in the Soviet Union, and successively studied at the Petersburg Normal College in Moscow and the Leningrad Repin Academy of Fine Arts, under the personal instruction of Selov, Venagradov, Vishalkin and other famous teachers, further solidified the basic skills, and often watched famous works in the Trechekov Gallery and the Pushkin Museum. He deeply realized that "imagery" is not only found in Chinese painting, but also in Western painting. From Titian's works, he was more convinced that realism in art is something that has been refined and even idealized by the artist, and he has a new understanding of realism compared with China's "freehand", which laid the ideological and aesthetic foundation for his infectious expressive style in later oil painting creation.
The valuable thing about Xu Minghua's art is that he integrates art into life, incorporates the atmosphere and meteorological and objective objects formed under the sun and in the air into the picture, tempers it into a form, and expresses it in a pure and rich oil painting language. Those fluttering colors of light reflect the charm of the Russian touring art masters, but also reveal the confused artistic conception of French Impressionism, and more profoundly, his love for the motherland he loves. In the depths of his simple and brilliant works, the background of realism is laid out. He respects nature, studies nature, sketches, photographs, writes realms, writes about his ideal color world, and writes about the bitterness and pursuit of a lifetime.
The exhibition comprehensively shows the artistic world of this oil painter with three chapters: "Fine to The Ease - Sketch of the Ideal Realm", "Quiet Sense of Unity - Portraits and Still Lifes", and "Colorful and Somber - I Paint The Landscape". Among them, the oil paintings "Female College Students" and "In Front of the Mirror" during the study period, the theme creations "Hanqiao Miners - The People Who Pioneered the Hundred Days of Red", "Red Rice, Pumpkin Soup", and the still life painting "Crab" and the landscape painting "March" made after the 1980s were all unveiled in this exhibition.
The exhibition has received strong support from the China Art Palace, jiangsu provincial art museum, Nanjing Sifang Contemporary Art Museum and other units and art institutions, bringing together the important works of Xu Minghua in the collection of each museum. The exhibition is presented in Halls 1, 7, 8 and 9 of the National Art Museum of China and will be closed until January 3, 2022 (closed on Monday).
Text/Beijing Youth Daily reporter Wang Yan
Photo / Beijing Youth Daily reporter Wang Xiaoxi
Editor/Cui Wei