Village Woman (oil on canvas) 101×81 cm, 1943
Tang Yihe, Collection of the National Art Museum of China
Some art historians said: In the literature and art of the War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression, the music has "March of the Volunteer Army", and the art has "The Horn of "Seven Seven". Indeed, the "Horn of "Seven Seven", now in the National Art Museum of China, as one of the most symbolic classic works in the history of modern Chinese art, from events to characters are from the feelings of life during the War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression, it condenses a passionate picture of the years, with timeless meaning and epic charm. The author of this work is my father, Tang Yihe.
Born in Wuchang, Hubei Province in 1905, Tang Yihe experienced the May Fourth Movement as a teenager, and in 1923 he studied at the Beiping Meizhuan School, when Mr. Wen Yiduo served as the provost of the school, and was influenced by his patriotic ideas. During the May Thirtieth Movement, Tang Yihe painted the "Iron Lion Hutong Massacre" to protest the atrocities of the warlords. When the Northern Expedition broke out in 1926, he returned to Wuchang to join the Northern Expeditionary Army and did propaganda work in the army. In 1930, he went to France to work-study, when various new art genres in France rose up, Tang Yihe chose to learn the realist painting method in addition to feeling novel, and he was admitted to the Paris Academy of Fine Arts with excellent results, studying hard under the neoclassical master Lawrence. From a series of oil paintings and sketches that reflect the real life of the people, such as "The Horn of "Seven Seven"", it can be seen that he has exercised a solid realistic painting skill.
Today's critics generally believe that Tang Yihe's works have a strong people's nature, that is because he experienced the May Fourth Movement at the age of 15, and his brother Tang Yijing was with Yun Daiying and others in the May Fourth Movement, advocating science and democracy. Tang Yihe was at an age when he was in a strong desire for knowledge and absorbed knowledge, and was deeply influenced by the May Fourth Movement's ideas on science and democracy. Therefore, his later artistic orientation of realism should be in line with the May Fourth Movement. In his life and study in Europe, of course, he will be influenced by European humanistic ideas - democracy, equality, fraternity, which has formed his strong desire to change China's backward appearance and unequal treatment. This happens to be some of the ideas in the European tradition of democratic art and realism. In the environment of the endless emergence of new genres at that time, Tang Yihe was not opposed to new genres, and there were a large number of Impressionist works in the paintings he left behind brought back from France, but he himself chose the realistic oil painting technique and the creative ideas and paths of realist art.
Theorist Huang Zongxian said: "Tang Yihe is a painter who has no shortage of civilian ideas, and his enthusiasm for paying attention to reality is much higher and more sincere than that of some realists. "In terms of understanding the spirit of realism, in terms of personally promoting popularization and directly expressing the people's enthusiasm for resistance with a paintbrush, Tang Yihe can be regarded as one of the most thorough and hard-working people among the painters at that time." Secondly, Tang Yihe's sketching foundation and oil painting techniques are very solid and skilled, and on this premise, he particularly emphasizes the ability to remember images, which makes him show a unique initiative in expression. In fact, the works we see now are only part of what he left behind, and there are many excellent works that we did not see at the beginning. For example, "Victory and Peace", "Wuhan Garrison", "Friend of the Wounded Soldiers", which show the War of Resistance, as well as "Kitchen Worker", which shows ordinary laborers, and portraits of some friends. Tang Yihe's sketches do not copy the object bit by bit, but grasp the essence of the form of the object being represented. His student Liu Guoshu said: Tang Yihe's sketches inherit the best and most scientific tradition in Europe, starting from the form, rather than from light and taste, and really grasping the most essential things of the sketch, which is very conducive to creation. Even if we do not talk about the creative ideas and creative methods of realism, Tang Yihe's oil painting and drawing techniques are something that few people in the same era can surpass.
At the beginning of the War of Resistance Against Japan, Tang Yihe threw himself into the national salvation movement with enthusiasm and led his students to paste anti-Japanese propaganda posters throughout the three towns of Wuhan, most of which were his handwriting, such as "Repaying the Blood Debt to the Evil Wokou" hanging on the large wall of Wuhan Pass. The situation in Wuhan is urgent, and he created the oil painting "Wuhan Garrison", which shows a heroic warrior guarding the Yellow Crane Tower, which was greatly echoed in the national art exhibition that year. The oil painting "The Horn of "Seven Seven" expresses the feelings of a hot-blooded young man at a time of national crisis from the front. His composition and character dynamics are very chronological, and "The Horn of "Seven Seven" shows his students, and everyone has a name. My teacher once said that Tang Yihe particularly emphasized one point - the ability to image memory, not always move a thing to sketch, if you have the ability to image memory, then all the objects to be expressed will be ready to come out, like a pair of sneakers and a belt buckle of the character in "The Horn of "Seven Seven", which are painted so authentically, in fact, he draws with the ability of image memory. "The Horn of "Seven Seven" has been valued and highly praised by art historians, but it is only a small oil painting, and this painting is only an opening of the history of the War of Resistance. The canvas of the big painting was already stretched, and due to the lack of paint, Tang Yihe was killed before he could paint. In addition to his heavy teaching work, Tang Yihe actively created in a small mountain village in Jiangjin, Sichuan Province, and the oil paintings that were completed and sent out for the exhibition had never returned, and most of the works left at home were unfinished, such as "Poor People", "Village Women", "Tiantou Sending Tea", etc. The works were lost a lot, so there were very few surviving works, and they were even more precious.
On April 24, 1944, Tang Yijing and Tang Yihe took the Minsheng Company "Minhui Wheel" from Jiangjin to Chongqing for a meeting. The boat reached the small South China Sea and overturned, killing more than 300 people, including the Tang brothers. I was born in 1941, so I have no image of him, and all the impressions are that after I understood things, my mother was subtly influencing me. Through my mother Xiong Mingqian, I learned something about some of Tang Yihe's actions. I think that Tang Yihe is full of righteousness and is full of national blood. When he was studying at the Beiping Art College, he opposed the feudal warlords, dropped out of school to participate in the Northern Expedition, and went to France to work and study in order to save the country. After returning to his poor and weak motherland, he advocated going to the people and shouting for the people's livelihood, and he used a sharp brush to resist the Japanese invaders. In order not to be a slave to the country, he led his students into Sichuan, lived a life of poverty, undertook heavy teaching tasks, and rescued his brother at the expense of his own life and death... He gave his young life tragically.
In July 2007, my mother and I donated all 63 of Tang Yihe's works that had been preserved for many years to the National Art Museum of China, another large-scale donation campaign after the one in the 1960s. These works, which once occupied an important place in the history of 20th-century art, finally gathered at the National Art Museum of China.
I grew up reading my father's paintings, listening to him, and spending my childhood and adolescence with his relics— those albums and painting aids. I felt the unfairness of the world, his career was not completed, and I was determined to learn to paint. When he was a child, his brother, who had a deep memory of his father and was called a "little painter", went to study physics. My wife Cheng Li is also a painter, and our two children are also engaged in painting. Children grow up differently, have no scars, have little interest in family history, but are as upright and dedicated as their grandparents. Since 1994, I have been the president of Hubei Academy of Fine Arts for 10 years, and it is worthy to say that during my tenure, I dedicated all my efforts and feelings to this school. In this process, Tang Yijing and Tang Yihe have always inspired me regardless of personal gains and losses, the spirit of hard work and the spirit of sacrifice for the cause, and the inheritance of their spirit is the best memorial I have for my ancestors.
(The author is the chairman of Hubei Artists Association and the honorary director of mural art committee of China Artists Association)
February 20, 2022 China Culture Daily
The 2nd edition featured a special report
Tang Yihe: A Painter with Civilian Thoughts
Editor-in-charge: Chen Xiaoyue