Get a closer look at Mei Lanfang's artistic life

Source: People's Daily Overseas Edition

"Mei Lan Fanghua - Mei Lanfang Art Life Exhibition" scene. Xinhua News Agency reporter Jin Liangkui photographed

The melodious singing voice is gentle and moving, the exquisite line head attracts people to stop and watch, the stills freeze the moving style on the stage, and the precious performance video is played on the electronic screen in a loop... Walking into the National Museum of China's "Mei Lan Fanghua - Mei Lanfang Art Life Exhibition", the legendary life of a generation of art masters Mei Lanfang was presented in front of the audience.

Mei Lanfang, whose ancestral home is Taizhou, Jiangsu Province, was born in Beijing in 1894. Coming from a prominent family, he was deeply influenced by family learning and turned to a multi-teacher, and was a pioneer of the emerging Danxing school in the early 20th century. The Mei Pai art pioneered by Mei Lanfang has long been open, far-reaching, and famous overseas. The preciousness of Mei Lanfang's art lies not only in her superb artistic attainments, but also in her progressive ideas and national integrity. In today's era, Mei Lanfang's exquisite research in the professional field and noble personality quality are still a model for literary and artistic workers.

Co-sponsored by the National Museum of China, Mei Lanfang Memorial Hall and Taizhou Municipal People's Government, the exhibition shows Mei Lanfang's artistic creation in different historical periods in a panoramic manner, allowing the audience to experience the personal charm and moral demeanor of a generation of art masters at close range, and to savor the cultural value and spiritual strength contained in the art of Meipai Peking Opera.

The exhibition is divided into 8 units: "Qunying Spectrum Beijing Rhyme", "Mei Xiu Out of the Family", "Mei Zhan Hundred Flowers", "Mei Xin Embellished Yuxuan", "Mei Xiang Chuan Wanli", "Plum Bone Proud Of the Wind and Snow", "Mei Bao All Things Spring", "Mei Yun Exhibition New Voice", from the history of Peking Opera, Mei Lanfang's family life and artistic growth, Mei Lanfang's spiritual interest and home feelings, mei Lanfang's artistic influence and dissemination and other aspects, comprehensively and three-dimensional display of Mei Lanfang and her artistic achievements. The number of exhibits is numerous and varied, with nearly 400 physical objects (sets) and nearly 600 pictures, including many precious collections that have not been published for a long time.

In the exhibition hall, all kinds of Peking Opera lines are very eye-catching. A floral costume draped in tulle and fitted with a pearl necklace is both ethereal and noble. This is the costume worn by Mei Lanfang in the Peking Opera "Roselle", designed by himself. "The costumes of 'Roselle' are very fashionable, and Mr. Mei draws nourishment from traditional Chinese paintings and integrates his understanding of traditional culture and fashion." Zhuge Yingliang, deputy research librarian and curator of the National Museum, said.

Mei Lanfang has choreographed and acted in a number of new fashion plays and costume new plays, making bold innovations in the stage, costumes and makeup of Peking Opera, and pushing the performing arts of Peking Opera Danxing to a new height. Mei Lanfang's personally painted "A Thousand Golden Smiles" fan, the improved Yu Ji costume in "Overlord Farewell", and the "Anti-Gold Soldier" cloak with rivet elements vividly reflect Mei Lanfang's development and innovation of opera art on the basis of inheriting traditional culture.

In the "Mei Xiang Chuan Wanli" unit, an inscription poem troupe fan tells the story of Mei Lanfang's interaction with the Indian poet Tagore. In 1924, Tagore visited China and met with Mei Lanfang and other literary and art celebrities in Beijing. At the luncheon, Tagore improvised a poem and wrote it with a brush on a fan to give to Mei Lanfang. The poems were written in Bengali, and Tagore translated them into English and wrote them all together. After writing it, he also read it to everyone with great interest. The Chinese poet Lin Changmin, who was present, translated it into an ancient Chinese riot poem and wrote it down on a fan.

The oil painting "Roselle" painted for Mei Lanfang by indian painter Nanda Po xue during her visit to China, the "Mei Lanfang's Diary of Traveling to the United States" that details the performance in the United States, and the photo of Mei Lanfang receiving flowers when she arrived at the Moscow station during her visit to The Soviet Union show mei Lanfang's important influence in Sino-foreign cultural exchanges.

After the founding of the People's Republic of China, Mei Lanfang, as a literary and art worker and people's artist, devoted herself to the cause of literature and art in New China with enthusiasm. In 1959, he gloriously joined the Communist Party of China and created the last representative play, "Mu Guiying Hangs Commander". Letter of appointment of the president of the China Academy of Performing Arts, commemorative photos of his return to his hometown in 1956, "On Performance Impressions"... Precious documents and historical photos reflect Mei Lanfang's outstanding contributions as a people's artist and a pioneer in the education of new Chinese opera.

In the last unit of the exhibition, Mei Lanfang's "King of the Drama Industry" medal in 1917 and the "Most Beautiful Strivers" medal awarded in 2019 are intertwined, which is very emotional. More than 60 years after her death, Mei Lanfang's artistic charm and character brilliance can still bring rich spiritual nourishment to the world. (Reporter Huang Jingwei)

People's Daily Overseas Edition ( 2022-02-08 Issue 07)