Portrait of Ziwu in the 1970s
A few days ago, Wang Xiaoyan, the daughter of Prince Wu, wrote the following words to express her respect for her father!
"The sea is the dragon world, the cloud is the crane's hometown"
Throughout his life, his father was indifferent to fame and fortune and had high ambitions
His father is hailed as a peak of contemporary Chinese painting
Representative of the Chang'an School of Painting
The father is kind and affectionate, handsome and wise
We are confidants and we are connected
My father is the one I love the most,
He is also the most important person in my life
▲Wang Ziwu and his daughter Wang Xiaoyan took a group photo
Born in 1936 in Chang'an, Shaanxi Province, his father loved to paint as a child. Nature is his enlightenment teacher, without pen, ink and paper, he uses the earth as paper, uses stones as pens, watches horses and draws horses, sees cattle and paints cattle, farmers who cultivate, children who play, cats and dogs in the fields are all his continuous painting materials. In 1960, with talent and love, his father was admitted to the Xi'an Academy of Fine Arts without a teacher. Throughout his life, his father was obsessed with painting and delving into creation. The Northern Shaanxi Plateau, Mount Emei, Mount Hua, Huangshan Mountain, Leizhou Peninsula, etc. have all left his footprints and created a large number of works of art.
▲Prince Wu in his youth
Portrait of Xiao Yan in the 1980s
Immerse yourself in the art
His father graduated from the Xi'an Academy of Fine Arts majoring in landscape painting, but he preferred to paint figures. He integrated figure painting, flower and bird painting, landscape painting and calligraphy techniques into his own style. I used to laugh at my father and say, "You are painting and writing."
When he first studied painting, Mr. Jiang Zhaohe's works had a great influence on his father. In 1962, his father, who was still studying, brought his own works to Beijing for the first time to visit Mr. Jiang Zhaohe, who had long been admired. Mr. Jiang was very surprised to see his father's painting and said, "So young to paint so well, come to the Central Academy of Fine Arts after graduation." In 1977, my father visited Mr. Jiang Zhaohe again and exchanged portraits with him. Mr. Jiang wrote an inscription for his painting: "Comrade Ziwu is good at drawing portraits in ink, which is quite wonderful!" Kyochu was fortunate to meet, study skills, and sketch each other to commemorate the occasion. In 1981, my father visited Mr. Jiang Zhaohe three times, and Mr. Jiang then sketched an inscription for him: "There are not many pens for conveying gods, and it is enough to focus on spiritual characteristics.
After receiving the appreciation of his esteemed master, his father continued to study intensively, and he was widely involved in both Western and Chinese paintings and northern schools. Not only did he study the works of masters such as Qi Baishi, Huang Binhong and Xu Beihong, but also studied the oil painting techniques of foreign painters such as Repin, and once copied Repin's oil painting "Black Woman" on rice paper using the painting method of Chinese painting, and the character image was more rich and conveyed, and the response was great. In the process of continuous observation and study, my father learned from the strengths of all the families, and gradually formed a unique artistic style that vividly combined the traditional brushwork of Chinese painting with modern realistic modeling.
▲ The wind god sprinkled in the autumn of 1993
▲ Mourning Hongxuan Lord Cao Xueqin 1984
Today's painting scholars and art theorists generally believe that talking about modern Chinese paintings cannot avoid Wang Ziwu. In 1978, the People's Fine Arts Publishing House published his father's first special collection, "Character Painting Study", a thin pamphlet that caused a sensation in the national painting community for a while, and almost every artist and enthusiast had a copy. In 1979, the "Essay on Chinese Line Drawing and Ink Character Technique" organized by Guangzhou Literature and Art Magazine included his father in the same topic as Mr. Jiang Zhaohe, Ye Qianyu, Huang Yin, etc., and his father's artistic achievements were further affirmed.
Not surprising
The article has been through the ages, and the gains and losses are known. Du Fu once wrote a poem: Words are not surprising and endless. This is true of the text, and it is also true of the painting. In an early self-portrait, my father once inscribed a poem: "Miserable management is ashamed of incompetence, wasted money and food and crying silently; painting strange paintings until death, not living up to this life." "When my father was in his thirties, he created "The Statue of the Old Man of Baishi", which perfectly combined Chinese and Western brushes with a painting method as close as the Western classical realism, not only the three-dimensional sense of Western oil painting, but also the pen and ink artistic conception of traditional Chinese painting, portraying the character image in a meticulous, vivid and vivid manner; Mr. Jiang Zhaohe once said: Character painting should look at Wang Ziwu, he has surpassed me.
▲ Mr. Jiang Zhaohe 1981
As far as figure painting is concerned, from Xu Beihong to Jiang Zhaohe, they all advocated the introduction of Western painting drawings, shapes, light and shadow into Chinese painting. My father once said: "It is difficult to paint people to convey the gods, and Western painting is better than us in this regard." Only when you have thoroughly studied other people's things can you say that you have learned home! I did a lot of stupid work. Otherwise, it would not be possible to paint "Qi Baishi" and "Huang Binhong". ”
▲ White Stone Old Man Statue 1970s
In 1984, "Mourning Mr. Cao Xueqin, Lord of the Red Xuan", shook the painting world like a visitor from the sky. The first sentence of the "Gift of Qinpu Poem" in the painting is "Proud of the bones like the king has been strange" and the father's "surprising" ideal is in the same heart. This painting has the "five wonders" of intention, chapter, pen and ink, inscription and calligraphy, which has become a milestone in the overall development of his father's art. The figure in the picture is sitting on a stone, the person is vertical and horizontal, the master is slightly enlightened to meditate, and the quietness of the appearance is difficult to hide the inner turmoil, and the mind is also strange. The famous painter Huang Yongyu also used the word "shock" to express his feelings when he saw this portrait of Cao Xueqin. He believes that his father's portrayal of Cao Xueqin's image impresses him: Cao Xueqin should be like this.
▲ Black Woman 1970s
Pure affection
The father cherished things and was simple in nature. A pair of clothes and shoes often accompanied him for decades. There were many holes in one undershirt, dotted with dots, I really couldn't look at it, I said to him that they were all dressed like this, change to a new one, he smiled: "This is cooler and breathable." His father also cherished paper like gold, he often used old newspapers to practice penmanship, a newspaper repeatedly scribbled, after dark, he would use water to scribble until the newspaper was completely unusable.
▲ Xi'an Academy of Fine Arts Works, 1963
▲ Arouse the kindness of the world In the 1980s
▲ Qingpin is Lan in 2008
Father is kind and compassionate. Friends and family, whose children are admitted to college to get married, etc., he will send paintings; colleagues and neighbors, who have difficulties or who have helped him, he will also silently send works. I had a classmate say, "Old man, your paintings are very expensive," and he said, "I don't know, and no one has told me about it," "That's a family affair, it has nothing to do with me." ”
In 1988, jointly nominated by China and France, his father participated in the "First International Charity Auction to Save Venice and Repair the Great Wall" as one of the top ten chinese painters, and his father dedicated his masterpiece "Su Dongpo". In 1991, a flood occurred in East China, and the Shenzhen art community responded positively, and a four-foot painting of flowers and birds specially created by his father was pledged by a company. In the 2008 Wenchuan earthquake, my father painted a new painting, which became the first donation of painters in Shenzhen.
▲ East Slope Poetry 1990s
To Crane Mingzhi
His father was modest and low-key, indifferent to fame and fortune. At the beginning of 1985, his father came to Shenzhen as a talent introduced by the government to develop the art cause of the special zone, and was the founder of the Shenzhen Artists Association and the Shenzhen Academy of Painting, and one of the founders of the early art and cultural undertakings of the special zone, but he retired from the prosperous city for 30 years, "dialogue" with the ancients and the masters he worshipped. His father loved frogs, he used to raise frogs in his own home, before painting, he would often draw two frogs, as a pleasure, the frogs in his pen are smart and cute. He said that frogs are my pets, my "grandsons", and painting frogs is also a warm-up. I once teased him: "Who painted the frog between you and Master Qi Baishi?" He said modestly: "Of course, Qi Baishi paints better than me, and he paints with interest and more vividness." ”
▲ Underwater song Music 1980s
▲ Zeng Guofan's (title Jiangxi Province Fengxin Jiutiange) Inspirational (pair) Lianyu (ZiZhen)
In his early years, his father painted a lot of characters, with a strong nostalgia, in his later years he sent love to the landscape, the white crane became the protagonist of his pen, he often quoted a poem - "the wings of the light deceive the snow, the wind god sprinkles and occupies the high autumn"; he also loves to paint bamboo, and also wrote the couplet "Holding the mountain as shou and the crane is the same as the crane" "Lan wei Qingpin Bamboo is a ghost", expressing a noble interest and sentiment.
▲ Book of Works 2000
Painters from all over the country who come to Shenzhen to hold art exhibitions or participate in academic activities will ask the organizers to visit their fathers. Remember that in the mid-1980s, the Shenzhen Art Museum held the "Shenzhen Fine Arts Festival" academic exchange activities, many famous painters from all over the country, the organizer specially arranged for them to visit Zhongying Street in Sha Tau Kok, when they were on the bus, their father proposed to invite several painters to the home for a small gathering, Zhou Sicong, Jia Youfu, Liu Guosong, Fang Zengxian, etc. who had already taken the car on the car got off the car and came to the home together, in their opinion, it is more important to have art exchanges with their father than to visit shopping.
In December 1995, the Wang Ziwu Painting Exhibition opened at the Shenzhen Art Museum, which was jointly organized by the Propaganda Department of the Shenzhen Municipal Party Committee, the Shenzhen Municipal Bureau of Culture, and the Shenzhen Federation of Literary and Art Circles, and was also the father's first solo exhibition. The exhibition was unprecedented, and hundreds of artists from all over the country attended the opening ceremony of the exhibition as the leader of Shenzhen At the time. On the day of the opening ceremony, a high-standard "Prince Martial Arts Exhibition Seminar" was also held. In 2009, the Xi'an Academy of Fine Arts held a celebration of the 60th anniversary of the founding of the school, and my father stood with illness for five hours at the age of seventy-three, waving ink to create "Evergreen Ancient Pine Tree" for his alma mater. My father left his alma mater for more than 20 years, and this return to school caused a great sensation, surrounded by many teachers and students, and there was a 20-minute walk for two hours.
▲Painted for the 60th anniversary of his alma mater, Xi'an Academy of Fine Arts
Licking the calves is deeply affectionate
The father was full of loving care for his family. My father loved art and food. In addition to painting, he will show his hand and make us hometown delicacies: rolling noodles, fried oil cakes, rock sugar elbows, etc., are all his best tricks. Father loves us, all three of us were his models, and the portraits he painted for us when we were young, such as "My Little Swallow", "Rong'er", "Xiao Muzi", etc., have become our beautiful and precious wealth and memory.
▲ My little swallow 1974
Muzi 1970
Rong Er 1973
In July 2010, my father suddenly fell ill, I rushed back from abroad, when I was discharged from the hospital, the weather was cold, I did not have enough clothes at the time, and when I saw that I was wearing less, my father said to me, "I will find you two pieces of my clothes." "At that time, his body was still unsteady, crooked, and walking shakily... Looking at my father's back, I was really as described in Zhu Ziqing's "Back Shadow", and at that moment, my heart surged with inexplicable heartache and emotion.
Influenced by my father, I also liked to draw since I was a child, and he was my enlightenment teacher. At first, my father thought that girls were too hard to draw and did not approve of it. Unable to resist my insistence, he taught me by example and gave everything he could. My father's fame was a double-edged sword for me. After graduating from the Guangzhou Academy of Fine Arts, I was young and conceited, and I wanted to get out of my father's aura and break out of a new world of my own. So he came to Tokyo University of the Arts in Japan to continue his studies, and studied under Mr. Kayama. During my stay in Japan, my father and I kept in contact by phone almost every day, and he, who was originally reclusive, went to Japan twice for me, and inscribed on my album "Tianxingjian, Gentleman with Self-Improvement", encouraging me to be a man and govern my studies. I return to China almost every year to visit my relatives, and every time I come back, my father is very happy, he said, I come back every day for the New Year. And when I was going to return he always stayed again and again, so almost every time my return ticket had to be changed. Once my father said, you always change your visa, and you won't be allowed to stand on the plane, right? I laughed. The father is such an "outsider" who misses his daughter and does not eat human fireworks.
Our father and daughter also used to draw sketches and exchange skills with each other. Once, on my way back, I forgot to reserve my seat in advance and turned back at the airport. Instead of blaming, my father teased in a Shaanxi-style Beijing accent: "It's a joke." "I said, draw a sketch for you, my father gladly agreed, and I spent ten minutes to draw a sketch for my father. The father looked at it and said, "I haven't painted a portrait of a person in so many years, so let's paint your portrait again." He took a paintbrush and drew me a portrait. Because of his severe eye disease, he has not painted figures for more than 20 years, and this is his latest figure work, which is extremely precious. We joked with each other, "We all earned." ”
Portrait of Xiao Yan in 2007
▲ Wang Xiaoyan sketched for his father Prince Wu
▲ The wind god sprinkled in the autumn of 2000
Inch grass recounts
My father has been in Shenzhen for more than thirty years and has never lived in a spacious house. I remember once being hospitalized, originally bedridden, when he learned that there was a living room outside the ward, he miraculously stood up and walked out trembling, nodded with satisfaction, and said, "The environment here is good, let's take it down."
When I returned to Japan, I gave up my thriving artistic career in Japan in order to return to my father's side and carefully accompany and take care of him. I have been away for many years, my father has been worried about me for many years, I have returned, and my father is at ease. In 2016, on the occasion of my father's 80th birthday, I compiled and edited his paintings over the years into "Chinese Modern and Contemporary Famous Artists Painting Collection • Wang Ziwu", which was published by the People's Fine Arts Publishing House. At present, his father's painting exhibition is in preparation, and the Prince Wu Art Research Institute is also being improved. It is expected that the Ojimu Museum of Art will be completed in the near future.
▲ Xuanyuan Dabai 1980s
"Whoever says anything will be rewarded with three Chunhui." Father's love is like a mountain, and there are countless mountains in the world, but no mountain can surpass and replace the position and weight of Father's love in my heart. For the sake of my beloved father, I am willing to do my best in my lifetime to do more collation and dissemination work for my father's artistic achievements; at the same time, I will also take my father as a model, continue to seek and improve in painting art, live up to my father's expectations, and make a modest contribution to the development of Chinese painting art.
▲ Zhong Kui reading in the 1980s
▲ Shi Zhongshan Chronicles 1986
▲ Flat-type Guan Dajie 1971
——The article was written in August 2018
Wang Xiaoyan
Born in the ancient city of Xi'an, he was influenced by his father Prince Wu to learn traditional Chinese painting at an early age. He is currently the president of Yan and the International Chinese Painting Society, the vice president of the Shaanxi Chinese Painting Academy's Character Painting Institute, and the president of the Wang Ziwu Art Research Institute.