New Folk Art Critics| painting the Heavenly Palace, he also painted Cubism

Mr. Huang Yongyu once said that the older generation of cartoonists belonged to the "Qingliu" generation. They are both naïve and pure, but also witty and complex, Zhang Wenyuan, Wan Liming, Ye Qianyu, Zhang Leping, Hua Junwu, Te Wei, etc., is a long list of vivid lives and flexible personalities. The "Reasons to Like Shanghai" - Shanghai Comic Art Exhibition, which is being held at the Shanghai Mali Art Museum, the "Tribute to classics" section selects 18 cartoonists with shanghai roots, not only to exhibit their masterpieces, but also some unpopular works, from which to understand the other side of these cartoonists.

Taking Wan Liming's work as an example, people are familiar with and talk about his "Big Trouble in the Heavenly Palace". Cartoonist Sun Shaobo introduced that Wan Liming taught himself to paint for ten years and was very fond of folk prints and folk paper-cutting. After a rigorous examination in 1919, Wan entered the Commercial Press, where he painted advertisements in the Transportation Section (i.e., the Promotion Section), as well as illustrations and covers for magazines such as Children's World, which was published commercially.

Picture: Wan Liming's "Human Body Pattern Beauty" Data Chart

"Business pays great attention to the cultivation of talented young people, and there is a period when business bears the cost, so that Wan Liming can leave work for two and a half days a week to study painting from a French painter in Shanghai at Xiafei Road (Huaihai Road) in the French Concession of Shanghai that year, which has brought great help to the overall improvement of his art techniques. Therefore, Wan Liming has achievements in watercolor painting, gouache painting, oil painting, pen painting, woodcut and so on. Sun Shaobo said.

In 1929, Wan Liming, Together with Zhang Guangyu, Shao Xunmei, Jiang Xiaolu and Zhang Zhengyu, established the "Arts and Crafts Cooperative" and entered the field of commercial art. During this period, Wan Liming also served as the editor of Shanghai Liangyou Pictorial, often submitting articles in comic magazines and art journals, and publishing two books in Liangyou Book Company, "Human Body Expression Beauty" and "Human Body Pattern Beauty". In particular, the works in "The Beauty of Human Body Patterns" integrate the expression methods of Western Cubism, and combine some elements of Chinese folk paper-cutting and folk printmaking, and the works themselves have quite thematic connotations, forming a strong visual impact, these works of nearly 90 years ago, even in the context of contemporary art, still shine with unique brilliance.

Zheng Xinyao, chairman of the Shanghai Artists Association and cartoonist, said that Zhang Wen element has the reputation of a comic printing press, and in 1936, his painting "Daguanyuan" was exhibited at the first national comic exhibition, because the big scene created the atmosphere of the comic industry, and since then, as long as anyone has drawn a "big scene", everyone said that "he drew a 'Grand View Garden'". "Big World" is Zhang Wenyuan painted in 1947, the scene is grand, there are many characters, the 1930s and 40s are the years of bursting desire, the imaginable urban scenery can be seen in Shanghai, "fashion disease" is not only clothing, the big world playground movies, opera, song and dance, vaudeville, entertainment, bars, Chinese and Western restaurants are readily available, police, white people, dancers, tycoons... Among them, Zhang Wenyuan painted the inner scene of the big world, the scene is noisy, and it is the Shanghai custom painting after the victory of the Anti-Japanese War.

To see the small and the large, simplify the complex, is the characteristics given by modern comics, its function is to reproduce the theme of comic works through exaggeration, irony, humor, Zhang Wenyuan's comic works, from the perspective of secular humanistic life to observe and interpret the big world, ukiyo-e painting in general, with calm and objective pen and ink to control the magnificent scenes, there is plot design, there is a plot layout, character arrangement, with a strong narrative, each character's smile, a move, every move, and even the actions of the character's fingers are the details. Interesting, no corner is wasteful, can be called the modern inheritance of "Qingming on the River Map", not only the art of life, but also the life of art.

These cartoonists have an "idol" in their minds when they first learn, a role model to learn, and after learning, they can not only get out of the shadow of the "teacher", but also combine their own strengths to form a unique appearance. For example, when Ding Cong was in Hong Kong in the 1940s, he learned from the painting style of an American cartoonist, and "Who Helped Me Complete This Masterpiece" also took the opportunity to satirize the abstract paintings that were popular at that time.

"Shanghai is the birthplace of Chinese comics, why are so many cartoonists born in Shanghai? At that time, the book and newsstands in Shanghai could see the latest magazines published in the world, and women's fashion did not lag behind Paris and London. Although these cartoonists have never studied abroad, they are basically self-taught, observing life on the long road of art, self-exploration and understanding, but they rely on their talent to keep pace with the latest newspapers and magazines in line with the international trend, which also makes their artistic appearance the same, very personal. Zheng Xinyao said. (Xu Jiahe)