Opening scene
At present, the exhibition of Xu Beihong's classic works is being exhibited at Xu Beihong Art Museum (Chongqing), and the exhibition selects 22 precious original works by Xu Beihong, vividly reproducing the literary popularity festival, home and country feelings and ideals of the times of a generation of giants, and also sinking Xu Beihong's creation and life in the Panxi period in Chongqing.
Showroom scene
The theme of the exhibition is "Great Wonder to Beauty", taken from the artistic concept of "painting is a small skill, but it can be beautiful now, create great wonder, not perseverance, hard work is not easy to succeed" adhered to by Xu Beihong throughout his life. It adopts a variety of exhibition methods such as "original exhibition + historical documents + real scene restoration + scientific and technological interaction + virtual exhibition on the cloud". The 22 precious original works of Xu Beihong are exhibited, including Xu Beihong's most representative large-scale works "Qun Ben" and "Herd Of Cows", the first oil paintings "Xu Beihong's Self-Portrait" and "Liao Jingwen Portrait", as well as his works such as "Ba's Poor Woman" and "National Martyrdom" created in Chongqing.
Xu Ji, director of the Collection Department of Xu Beihong Memorial Hall and curator of the exhibition, said: "This exhibition is different from the past, this time only shows Mr. Xu Beihong's personal works, and the painter uses the soul perception to match with real life to create a great image of vitality dripping with obstacles and wetness, and Zhenzai appeals to heaven and should cry!" For example, "Running in the Crowd", which shows the courage of "mourning the people thinking about fighting, standing up to the cangs", this work cannot be described by the popular population, and is recognized as a totem symbol of the dragon horse spirit of the Chinese nation from that era to the present; the painter gave them heroic courage and strength, urged people to forge ahead, showing the Chinese nation's tenacity and fearlessness in the face of hardships and hardships, and went forward; in the most difficult years of the War of Resistance, he conceived and created the group painting of "National Martyrdom" to awaken the people and inspire morale; "Shepherd Boy and Cow", which looks forward to peace and reflects the pastoral pastoral song, "Shepherd Boy and Cow" It is to send the feelings of home and country to all living beings in the pen in the form of material speech. In addition, this exhibition also selects representative works such as oil painting, drawing, calligraphy and Chinese painting, which comprehensively shows Mr. Xu Beihong's artistic talent and contribution. ”
Xu Beihong, Herd of Cattle, Chinese Painting, 95cmx178cm, 1931
The exhibition hall on the first floor, "Herd of Cows", is a rare work of Xu Beihong, which can be seen in the inscription, Mr. Xu Beihong recounted that when his family was playing in Jiangxi, he saw the scene of the shepherd children herding cattle on the shore on the cruise ship, which naturally associated with his ideal state of life, but as an artist who admired realism, he was annoyed that the July 7 Incident had broken the ideal imagination in front of him. In this painting, he presents the ideal life that emerges and is broken, showing the audience an artistic spirit that perfectly integrates personality cultivation, emotional experience, home and country feelings and artistic exploration to achieve great beauty.
Xu Beihong, Qun Ben, Chinese Painting, 96cmx183.2cm, 1942
The magnificent "Group Running" in the second-floor exhibition hall is Xu Beihong's representative work. Combining the brushstrokes of Western painting with the traditional boneless painting method, using a full and exuberant ink color to outline the head, neck, chest, legs and other large turning parts, and sweeping out the mane tail with a dry pen, so that the change of thickness and dryness and wetness is natural, so that the line of the horse leg is strong and powerful, the force penetrates the paper back, and the arc of the abdomen, buttocks and mane tail is very elastic and dynamic... The horse in the painting gallops forward, holding its head high, hooves like a fly, full of inspiration, full of inspiring power.
"Self-Portrait" and "Madame Xu" works exhibition hall
It is worth mentioning that this exhibition exhibits for the first time two self-portraits of Xu Beihong in the exhibition hall on the first floor, as well as two portraits he painted for his wife Liao Jingwen. 30-year-old Xu Beihong and 20-year-old Liao Jingwen, 36-year-old Xu Beihong and 24-year-old Liao Jingwen "met" in the exhibition hall beyond time and space, and their love and homeland feelings became eternal in Xu Beihong's art.
Xu Beihong has made outstanding achievements in the three fields of Chinese painting, oil painting and drawing, and has established a mature modern Chinese aesthetic education system. He advocated "knowing the creation of the heart" and "appealing to the true zai", and advocated the creation of an artistic image of the world-shattering and weeping ghost god through the combination of the painter's soul and nature. He put forward the theory of "the best of the ancient law is kept, the one who is desperation is followed, the poor is changed, the insufficient is increased, and the Western painting can be absorbed" the theory of writing, which re-established the excellent tradition of Chinese painters' legal creation.
Xu Beihong, Ba Zhi Poor Woman, 102cmx62cm, 1937
The exhibition also showcases the classic works created by Xu Beihong during his time in Chongqing. For example, the "Picture of the Poor Woman of Ba" in the first-floor exhibition hall was created on the night of Chinese New Year's Eve 1937, Xu Beihong walked alone on the Jialing River, the lights on both sides of the strait had gradually dimmed, and he saw a woman who was picking up rags and waddling towards him with a basket on her back, full of sympathy and pity in her heart, and hurriedly took out all the money on her body and delivered it to the woman. This scene reminded Xu Beihong of the people who were far away in the occupied areas, and his sensitive artistic soul was deeply moved, so he hurried back to the dormitory, spread the paper and waved, and silently wrote down the image of the woman, so there was this "Picture of the Poor Woman of Ba". It is also one of the representative works of Xu Beihong's figure paintings.
Xu Beihong, Guo Yan, Chinese Painting, 107cmx62cm, 1943
The work "National Martyrdom" in the second-floor exhibition hall praises those soldiers who bravely killed the enemy on the battlefield of resistance. The painting depicts soldiers chasing the enemy, and the locust-like arrows are fired from all directions, making people feel the cruelty and intensity of war. Xu Beihong also skillfully arranged the relationship between many characters in depth and perspective, using the cover relationship between each other, not only to set off the fierce battlefield in full swing, but also to highlight several major figures in front of them, giving them a heroic spirit of one to ten.
Xu Beihong, Guilin Landscape, Oil on canvas, 56cmx74cm, 1936
"Xu Beihong's home and country feelings are for 'big', Xu Beihong's pen and ink skills are for 'qi', and Xu Beihong's paintings are full of inspiring power, which is not only a metaphor for the enterprising state of the Chinese nation, but also a spiritual symbol of Xu Beihong himself." Mr. Xu Beihong spent a very important period of his life in Panxi, creating a large number of classic works, adding a strong ink to Jiangbei Panxi! Tao Shixiang, mayor of Chongqing's Jiangbei District, said.
It is reported that Chongqing Jiangbei District will make full use of the cultural IP influence of Xu Beihong Art Exhibition, benchmark the "four firsts" work requirements, combined with urban renewal, and plan Xu Beihong Art Museum, Xu Beihong Primary School, Xu Beihong's former residence and surrounding old buildings as a whole, create Xu Beihong Cultural and Art Block, and shape a new business card of Jiangbei City Culture.
The exhibition will be on view until February 18, 2022.
(Photo courtesy of the organizer)
Editor-in-charge: Wu Min