Text/Pan Caixia
At the end of 1993, for the famous Chinese painter Guan Shanyue, it was the most painful. Mrs. Li Qiuhuang unfortunately died of illness, and he lost his lover who had been with him for 58 years.
On that day, he tearfully wrote down his elegy: "Dunhuang candlelight is long and bright."
From marrying him at the age of 17 to helping his art take off later, the scenes of the Dunhuang Caves have appeared before their eyes...
The famous Chinese painter Guan Shanyue and his wife Li Qiuhuan
One
In 1934, when the winter drizzle in Guangzhou was still lingering, Guan Zepei, a teacher at the 93rd Elementary School, was grading his homework under a kerosene lamp, and a diary made him pity:
"My father is sick, he can't afford a doctor, maybe I'm going to be forced to drop out of school..."
Turning to the cover, the student's name is: Li Xiaoping.
Li Xiaoping is 16 years old, the oldest and best student in his class.
Eager to seek knowledge, but suffering from family poverty, Guan Zepei felt the same way.
He is a native of Yangjiang, Guangdong, and the coast of western Guangdong is a windy and sandy area, and the beach is often hot by the sun. When I was a child, because I didn't have shoes to wear, I often crossed the beach barefoot and suffered terribly.
Although he showed his talent for painting from an early age, he could only choose to study teacher training and became a teacher after graduation.
Guan Shanyue (right) with father and brother
For Li Xiaoping, Guan Zepi felt compassion. After class, he patiently comforted her, paid for her father's medical treatment, and asked the school canteen to provide her with three free meals.
But even so, fate is irreversible. Not long after, Li Xiaoping's father died.
"The leak in the house happened to rain overnight", the creditor came to the door and forced Li Xiaoping: "If you don't have money, you will take someone to pay off the debt!" ”
Cornered, Li Xiaoping ran to the edge of the Pearl River, ready to die. It happened that a handyman from the school passed by, which saved her.
The teachers sympathized with Li Xiaoping and let her live in school, after school, and also worked as a handyman.
At that time, Guan Zepi and his brother also lived in the school, and Li Xiaoping was grateful to him and often came to help him wash and clean. Over time, they have a good impression of each other.
The following fall, with the help of the teachers, they got married. That year, Guan Zepi was 23 years old and Li Xiaoping was 17 years old.
The wedding was paid for by everyone, and at the wedding feast, there was only one groom - because there were only two worn-out clothes in the house, one washed and one worn, and there was no decent dress, and the bride was embarrassed to go to the banquet.
After marriage, Li Xiaoping took on all the housework and helped her husband take care of his young brother. After enough time, Guan Zepei finally had the opportunity to pick up his favorite brush.
In a framed painting shop in Guangzhou, Guan Zepi saw the works of Gao Jianfu, the founder of the Lingnan School, and moved the idea of worshiping the teacher.
Borrowing a student ID card, he went to Sun Yat-sen University to listen to Gao Jianfu's lectures. During a copy, the work was appreciated by Gao Jianfu.
Knowing that he was an imposter to eavesdrop, Gao Jian's father took pity on his talent and said to him, "You don't have to come tomorrow, go to my Spring Sleep Painting Academy to study, free tuition!" ”
Since then, Guan Zepi has become a disciple of Gao Jian's father and changed his name to "Guan Shanyue".
Guan Shanyue and teacher Gao Jian father
With a lover around him and a paintbrush in his hand, Guan Shanyue felt a happiness she had never felt before.
However, one person's salary feeds three people, and the days are stretched. In order to let the brothers eat well, Li Xiaoping quietly tightened his belt.
One evening, Guan Shanyue returned home after watching the exhibition and saw three bowls of rice on the table, and he picked up a bowl and ate it.
Unexpectedly, after just two bites, he froze - under the shallow layer of rice, there was a small dish!
Looking at it again, this is where Li Xiao usually sits. Guan Shanyue suddenly understood! No wonder that when eating normally, Li Xiaoping often pretends to be working and hides in the kitchen alone to eat!
In an instant, his heart was soaked.
Two
In 1938, when Guangzhou fell, Guan Shanyue was in Zhanjiang. Unable to return to Guangzhou in the smoke of gunfire, he and Li Xiaoping were separated.
Knowing that the teacher Gao Jian's father had arrived in Macau, in desperation, Guan Shanyue also followed.
Living in Macau's Puji Temple, he had no possessions, so he could only buy one loaf of bread a day to fill his hunger. The monk in the temple advised him, "It is better to become a monk, so that you can have food to eat." ”
Thinking of the domestic war, the life and death of his wife are unknown, And Guan Shanyue hangs his head under the lamp.
For a long time, he sighed and said, "My wife has lost her parents since she was a child, she has no one to rely on, and she has not had a good life with me in the past few years, and although she is now separated, I will find her no matter what!" ”
Full of sorrow and indignation, Guan Shanyue learned to paint and paint in a temple in a foreign country, and wrote letters to Li Xiaoping one after another. However, the letter of seeking a wife is like a stone sinking into the sea.
Guan Shanyue in Macau
One day, Guan Shanyue met a friend on the street of Macao, and only then did he know that Li Xiaoping had joined the Guangzhou Model Regiment Women's Company and participated in anti-Japanese activities such as rescue and condolence.
After several twists and turns, he finally found out the address of the women's company where his wife was located.
Suddenly receiving a letter from Guan Shanyue, Li Xiaoping couldn't help but burst into tears.
Feeling that his life was drifting and the country was in turmoil, Guan Shanyue began to create works on the theme of the War of Resistance. He painted a large number of works full of sorrow, such as "Retreat from the City" and "Zhongshan Refugees", which publicized the anti-Japanese resistance.
Retreat from the City
After the "Anti-Japanese Painting Exhibition" was successively exhibited in Macao and Hong Kong, it attracted great attention from the cultural circles, and the painters Ye Qianyu and Zhang Guangyu gave full appreciation and affirmation, and the media called it "a new star rising in the Lingnan painting circle".
Fame in one fell swoop. Guan Shanyue bid farewell to his mentor and returned to China, taking the anti-Japanese paintings with him, he rushed to the anti-Japanese front line in Shaoguan, and Li Xiaoping also came to reunite.
After three years of separation, they had mixed feelings after meeting. That night, Guan Shanyue carved a seal as a souvenir, and wrote: "Guan Shan is unharmed and the bright moon is full." ”
The relationship between the husband and wife is stronger. Guan Shanyue was obsessed with the famous mountains and rivers, and Li Xiaoping accompanied him throughout the north and south of the river.
There is no income, life is difficult, and on the road of sketching, it all depends on Li Xiaoping to quietly sell clothes to maintain.
In 1942, Guan Shanyue went to Chengdu to hold a painting exhibition, and who expected that the exhibition had just begun, and he was forced to rent the exhibition.
Just when he was in trouble, Zhang Daqian came. On the painting with the highest price, he affixed a red stripe representing the order.
Zhang Daqian's affirmation gave Guan Shanyue great encouragement. After painting the landscape of Guilin, he went to Huaxi in Guizhou, and then entered the river along the Min River, and during the long journey, he and Li Xiaoping held hands and smelled the flowers together.
Guan Shanyue couple
In order to paint the whole picture of huangguoshu waterfall, Guan Shanyue resolutely climbed the dangerous rock despite the persuasion of others.
Li Xiaoping followed close behind, climbing up step by step. She stood quietly behind him, clutching the corners of his coat to prevent him from falling.
Guan Shanyue finally finished painting, and Li Xiaoping was immediately relieved. Only then did I find that because of my nervousness and fear, my whole body was already soaked.
After entering the river, Li Xiaoping suffered from pulmonary edema, and Guan Shan Yue did not understand the belt and took care of her wholeheartedly. He said warmly, "You were so good to me before, now it's time for me to be nice to you." ”
Love is mutual spiritual growth. Although he had wandered like an ascetic for several years, Li Xiaoping never complained, but was influenced by Guan Shanyue and fell in love with painting.
Three
After several years of traveling in the southwest, Guan Shanyue's artistic creation reached its first peak. In 1943, he decided to march into Dunhuang.
Despite the harsh environment and hard life, Li Xiaoping accompanied him.
As soon as he entered the Dunhuang Grottoes, Guan Shanyue copied it like a demon, sometimes crawling in the Shrine and sometimes half-kneeling on the offering table. Li Xiaoping was responsible for handing him pens and papers.
There were no lights in the grotto, and after the afternoon nothing could be seen. In order to speed up, Li Xiaoping found candles and oil lamps and held them aloft to illuminate him.
The cave is not ventilated, it is very hot, and Guan Shanyue often paints sweaty. Li Xiaoping stared at him intently, there was a cobweb above his head, and she quietly pulled it away for him; as soon as he licked his lips, she hurriedly handed the kettle.
However, his lips were dry and cracked, but he did not notice it at all.
Guan Shanyue is creating
Under the influence of Guan Shanyue, Li Xiaoping was also fascinated by those bodhisattvas and flying heavens. Tired of painting during the day, in the silent night, they sat together on the stone slab, listening to the sound of the wind, listening to the camel bells, talking about feelings, talking about opinions.
In the cold grotto, there is love and there is warmth. With Li Xiaoping's understanding and tacit understanding, Guan Shanyue's copying speed was faster.
In just one month, 82 murals were copied. Each painting was completed under the candlelight held high by Li Xiaoping.
Many years later, a person in charge of the Guan Shanyue Art Museum said: "Going to Dunhuang to copy is not romantic, nor romantic, Mrs. Guan is accompanying her." Bitter! ”
After returning from Dunhuang, Guan Shanyue held the "Northwest Jiyou Painting Exhibition", which caused a sensation from all walks of life.
Xu Beihong exclaimed, "The style of painting has changed greatly, and the attainments have become higher";
Guo Moruo called him "the dawn of Chinese painting";
After visiting, Zhu Guangqian praised: "Mr. Wang's painting method, which is the length of the Chinese and the West, the victory of both majestic and beautiful, and the pole is advancing day by day, it will be able to stand out from the crowd..."
Even, some people paid a lot of money to buy it all, which was categorically rejected by Guan Shanyue.
The Dunhuang mural is the crystallization of his and Li Xiaoping's love. After that, Li Xiaoping took the harmonic sound of "Huang" and changed his name to Li Qiuhuang.
Juan refers to a curved jade object.
After the victory of the Anti-Japanese War, Guan Shanyue returned to Guangzhou after a decade of absence and served as a professor at the Guangzhou Art College. In 1959, he was invited to Beijing to collaborate with the famous painter Fu Baoshi to create "So Many Delicacies in The Rivers and Mountains" for the Great Hall of the People.
In three months, the huge painting was completed, and Mao Zedong personally inscribed the inscription for the painting, which greatly improved the status and influence of Guan Shanyue, and his artistic achievements were well-known at home and abroad.
Guan Shanyue and Fu Baoshi create "So Many Delicacies in The Mountains"
Who expected, bidding farewell to the unsettled home, food and clothing, but ushered in unprecedented turmoil.
Because of the composition of the plum branches downward in the work "Hanging Plum", Guan Shanyue was framed as "attacking the bad luck of socialism (falling plums)", he became a "reactionary academic authority", shaved his yin and yang head, and locked up in a cowshed.
Because Guan Shanyue had a mole in his eyebrows, he was easily recognizable, and he was often punched and kicked by the Red Guards, and Li Qiuhuang was terrified all day.
To do this, she covered Guan Shanyue's mole with tape; she also made him a thick cotton vest to prevent him from being injured in his internal organs.
Later, the whole family was driven to the pigsty to live. Someone advised Li Qiuhuan to divorce, and her face was awe-inspiring: "We are already alone, and we will die together." ”
A few years later, the nightmare days finally disappeared, and Guan Shanyue picked up the paintbrush again.
At this time, Li Qiuhuan also had a certain achievement in Chinese painting, she accompanied him to the Paracel Islands, to Niagara Falls, to the United States to give lectures, to Japan to open a painting exhibition, the couple's love is like the sea.
Guan Shanyue's business card always has the names of two people printed: Guan Shanyue and Li Qiuhuang.
It is the deep love that makes them live like each other.
The couple in their later years
In 1993, Li Qiuhuang died of cerebral hemorrhage. Recalling the past when he was in the Dunhuang Caves and his wife held candles for him every day, Guan Shanyue's heart fluctuated, and he made tears as a banner: "Dunhuang candlelight is long and bright." ”
With his favorite plum blossom, he wrote a poem: "Iron bone cold plum accompanied by cold moon, humble heart verdant bamboo shade clear spring." Dunhuang cave long candle, according to my brick edge bald pen firm. ”
In 2000, Guan Shanyue died.
Although the Slovaks have gone, love is like a candlelight, illuminating the world.
Guan Shanyue's painting "Pretty Spring"