Chairman Mao and the Shepherd 1957 Liu Wenxi
Teacher Liu Wenxi, the People's Artist, has been away from us for more than two years, but every time I think about it, it is like being in a high hall. He has three kinds of expressions: first, in northern Shaanxi, in Xinjiang, among the people, among students and friends, he often shows a childlike innocent and curious smile that is not deeply involved in the world; the other is that when encountering major events, family affairs, state affairs, and world affairs, the expression at this time is solemn, exciting, and sometimes accompanied by a little helplessness; the third is the sensitivity, self-confidence, impulsiveness, and victory of "empty eyes" shown in sketching, creation, and teaching.
I followed Teacher Liu for 45 years, from the age of 15 with Teacher Chen Guangjian, and then followed Teacher Liu to learn painting. I saw that he spent his whole life practicing the spirit of Comrade Mao Zedong's speech at the Yan'an Forum on Literature and Art, wholeheartedly serving the people with his own artistic practice and fruitful creative achievements, and making great contributions to China's cultural undertakings.
Mr. Liu Wenxi will always be an example for us to learn. This liu wenxi art exhibition held at the National Museum of China once again deeply felt that as a representative of new Chinese realist painting, Mr. Liu Wenxi's "Liu Jia-like" style constructed by his unique creative concept and outstanding creative achievements is of great significance and enlightening value to the development of contemporary Chinese figure painting. His artistic life reflects the artistic achievements made by the literary and artistic circles throughout the country since the founding of New China under the guidance of the literary and artistic line of the Communist Party of China. With his unswerving ideals and convictions, he always followed the spirit of Comrade Mao Zedong's speech at the Yan'an Forum on Literature and Art, conscientiously studied the spirit of General Secretary Xi Jinping's important speech at the Forum on Literary and Art Work, and throughout his life took the revolutionary leader and the simple and tenacious people of northern Shaanxi as the main object of expression, and worked hard to practice art as the people's practical path, forming his own style and proving the victory of the literary and artistic line of our Communist Party.
Teacher Liu Wenxi left his hometown of Shengxian County, Zhejiang Province, at a young age, and entered the Shanghai Yucai School, where he received a professional education in new Chinese art. The small book "Speech at the Yan'an Literary and Art Forum" given to him by Mr. Wang Qi guided him throughout his life, creation, teaching and all his art work. Teacher Liu Wenxi has therefore insisted on serving the people and taking the people as the center throughout his life. He often recited the aphorisms of Comrade Mao Zedong's speech at the Yan'an Forum on Literature and Art: "The question of why people is a fundamental question, a question of principle." "Constantly guiding him in the spirit of speech.
In more than half a century of artistic practice, Teacher Liu Wenxi has been in Shaanxi for more than 60 years, and most of the Spring Festival has been with the people of northern Shaanxi. He has been deeply involved in life and the old revolutionary areas of Yan'an for a long time and unconditionally, and has created a large number of historical paintings and theme paintings that reflect the content of the Chinese revolution. He went deep into northern Shaanxi to express the people, and used paintings to record the earth-shaking changes in northern Shaanxi and the great northwest of China in the past 70 years, reflecting the living conditions and joys and sorrows of the working people living in this land, reflecting the whole process of creating a happy life from a hard life through struggle and reform, and he and a group of fellow villagers in northern Shaanxi became good friends.
Every time Teacher Liu goes to the countryside to northern Shaanxi, he is like returning to his own home, and he has a good reputation among the working people, and everyone regards him as his own family. He not only understands their lives, but also cares about their lives, takes care of their lives, cares about the study and growth of their children, supports their various work, integrates into them, truly blends with the people of northern Shaanxi, understands their thoughts and feelings, expresses their various ideas for modernization, uses his own brush to convey the divine portrayal of the people of northern Shaanxi, and erects monuments to the great achievements made since the reform and opening up of northern Shaanxi.
Teacher Liu Wenxi has adhered to the correct literary and artistic direction throughout his life and is an exemplary artist in the country. He is unique in the innovation of Chinese painting, forming a realistic figure painting school with the style of Northern Realism, which integrates East and West, is broad and powerful, and has a magnificent momentum - the "Loess Painting School". His works not only have strict Western modeling rules, but also inject the spirit of Chinese painting freehand. His sketches not only show the composition, perspective, anatomy, texture, sense of quantity and the relationship between the whole and the part of Western science, but also have a thick, generalized and simple Chinese style, the picture lines are solemn, and the characters are portrayed with golden knife-like epigraphic calligraphy lines, from the inner character to the external form, with a strong spirit of the times and personal style.
▲ Chairman Mao to Northern Shaanxi 1964-1965 Liu Wenxi
Mr. Liu Wenxi's works are atmospheric, grand, dignified and simple, and reflect the profound connotation and personal style of the Loess Plateau with a bold brush and a painting style like a northern mountain. His representative works include "Chairman Mao and the Shepherds", "Four Generations of Grandchildren", "Secretaries and Old Farmers", "Turning to Northern Shaanxi", and "Four Steps of Northern Shaanxi" composed over a period of 20 years. "The Master of the Yellow Land" is a long volume of more than 100 meters, which epitomizes the huge spiritual atmosphere of the rich and grand scenes of spring, summer, autumn and winter in northern Shaanxi. Each of these characters has a life archetype, and each part of the portrayal has hundreds of sketches as the base. Whether it is the theme, content or composition, character portrayal, and use of pen and ink, this long volume reflects the unique handwriting of a generation of masters. He went deep into life, expressed life, and erected a monument to this era, adding a thick page to the history of Chinese art.
Teacher Liu Wenxi has been working in the Academy of Fine Arts for a long time, from a young teacher to a dean to a vice chairman of the China Artists Association, and he has also made great contributions to the cultivation of Chinese art talents. He has a complete teaching system from theory to practice, he practices what he preaches, he teaches more than words, and students benefit for life. In teaching, Teacher Liu has trained a large number of students with the attitude of a master of the Founding Sect, and almost all generations of Chinese art have copied his works and been deeply influenced. He founded the "Loess Painting School", led a large number of like-minded colleagues to establish the "Loess Painting School Research Society", and organized a large number of creations and exhibition activities that went deep into life and expressed life. The "Loess Painting School" has a proposition, emphasizing "familiar with people, strict modeling, brush and ink, and innovation", and his four sentences are the specific requirements put forward by the "Loess Painting School" under the guidance of the party's literary and artistic direction, and are also Teacher Liu's theoretical propositions. The "Liu Wenxi Scholarship" he set up continues to reward outstanding graduates and creatives, and continues to exert a lasting influence.
In addition to artistic creation and talent training, Teacher Liu Wenxi has also done a lot of public welfare undertakings. He has constantly extended a helping hand to earthquakes, floods, droughts, laid-off workers, left-behind elderly people, left-behind children, and remote and poor areas. Over the years, he has given back to the society with a large number of works and played a leading role among painters. Mr. Liu Wenxi has achieved his own life value in the pursuit of virtue and art.
Although Teacher Liu has left us, his career is still continuing, and his spirit is eternal! We have carefully summarized his achievements in all aspects of his life through holding exhibitions, academic seminars and other forms, and carried out in-depth theoretical research on his works, that is, to learn from his dedication to art for the people, inherit his educational cause, and cultivate more high, fine and top talents for the country.
Looking up at the mountain, Teacher Liu Wenxi is a peak of Chinese art in the new era. In the process of learning the spirit of Liu Wenxi's art, we must make continuous efforts in the process of promoting Chinese literature and art from the plateau to the peak.
(The author is vice chairman of the China Artists Association and chairman of the China Culture and Art Development Promotion Association)
January 9, 2022 China Culture Daily
Special reports were published on the 4th edition
"Art for the People's Road "Liu Jia-like""
Editor-in-charge: Chen Xiaoyue