Du Yongwei applied color in the cave.
Witnessing, experiencing, persevering, growing...
If you shout "Please answer 2021", what kind of answer sheet will you hand over?
Du Yongwei, a provincial representative inheritor of Dunhuang's intangible cultural heritage in Gansu Province, summed up his 2021 with "promoting Dunhuang culture and inheriting the spirit of craftsmen".
Speaking of non-hereditary heirs, many people have in mind a group of stubborn "guardians" who do not care about the hustle and bustle of the times, but Du Yongwei is different, he keeps the old time at the same time, with apprentices to teach, carry out inheritance and research work, so that Dunhuang paint sculpture, an ancient art that is almost endangered, remains and carries forward. In his words, "What the ancestors left behind cannot be lost."
Du Yongwei has always had a feeling - let Dunhuang culture blossom everywhere in the world. In March this year, Du Yongwei received an invitation from the Shanxi Mural Art Museum to reproduce the painted sculptures of the past. How to "resurrect" the painted sculptures of a thousand years ago? Du Yongwei said that this is a thousand-year-old art of making painted sculptures, and it is necessary to go through the procedures of wood racking, wheat grass core, mud, mud, shaping, light collection, and color application before a complete color sculpture work can be copied.
The process of making a painted sculpture.
Up to now, Du Yongwei and his team have copied a total of 6 medium-sized painted sculptures, which have been affirmed by the Shanxi Mural Art Museum. Du Yongwei introduced that the Shanxi Mural Art Museum expects to establish a long-term cooperative relationship with his team, hoping to borrow their hands and carry forward the traditional culture of Shanxi. "This is an affirmation of our Dunhuang painted sculpture skills and Dunhuang art, which shows that our work is effective."
Du Yongwei studied painted sculptures in the Mogaoli Artisan Village.
Du Yongwei has been engaged in Dunhuang sculpture for more than 40 years, and his works have been exhibited in France, Germany, the United States, Japan, South Korea, India and other countries, Taiwan, Hong Kong and other regions. He understood that in order to survive the art of Dunhuang painted sculpture, he must not only be a copyist of the Mogao Grottoes, but also a "disseminator" of Dunhuang culture, and more importantly, he must understand the importance of this art from the bottom of his heart.
So at the foot of Dunhuang Sanwei Mountain, 15 kilometers away from mogao grottoes, Du Yongwei founded the "Mogaoli Artisan Village" at the age of 58 as a base for the protection and inheritance of Dunhuang art intangible cultural heritage, hoping to leave the history of Dunhuang craftsmen and let young people learn traditional clay sculpture techniques here. "We use this base to continue the traditional craft here, and at the same time, this year we continue to carry out the now popular research and study, so that children can understand traditional arts from an early age, generate interest, and even grow up to use this as a profession and study it for a lifetime."
Du Yongwei is making painted sculptures.
From strange - familiar - love, this is a process, Du Yongwei said, "My biggest harvest this year is to inspire a group of apprentices who have begun to love Dunhuang's traditional art and culture, they love in learning, insist on in love, and let Dunhuang traditional art be followed by others." ”
In the change of history, Dunhuang Mogao Grottoes has poured out the lifelong efforts of countless ancient craftsmen, and has also given birth to generations of workers like Du Yongwei who are committed to the protection and inheritance of Dunhuang culture.
Du Yongwei was giving lessons to his apprentices.
In May this year, Du Yongwei led the apprentices to complete the reconstruction and painting project of a large-scale painted sculpture in Yulin Grottoes, which is the only reconstruction project ever known in the history of Dunhuang painted sculpture; in June, Dunhuang Mogaoli Artisan Village and the Shanghai Representative Office of Fukushima County Industrial Revitalization Center in Japan jointly planned the "China Dunhuang Fukushima Arts and Crafts Photo Exhibition" with the theme of "Dunhuang's Origin, Craftsman's Ingenuity"; since August, Du Yongwei has taught Dunhuang art and Dunhuang history and culture to the apprentices. While leading the apprentices to copy, sketch, create, train basic skills, develop research products... For Du Yongwei, in 2021, every minute and every second is engraved with the passion of struggle, and every day is written with the enthusiasm of persistence.
He said, "All I have done is to let more people know the story behind the art of Dunhuang painted sculpture, and not to let the art of Dunhuang painted sculpture that has been 'alive' for more than a thousand years disappear from our generation." ”
Li Ping, a reporter of the New Gansu Daily Gansu Network