At an event three years ago, Mr. Xue Xiaoyuan presented me with his new work "Philosophers' Divine Colors - Portraits of 100 World-Famous Philosophers". This is a very characteristic work on the history of philosophy. The author uses the unique techniques of Chinese painting, through white painting, rendering, flying white and other techniques, to show the charm of 100 ancient and modern Chinese and foreign philosophers on rice paper, with the classic remarks of philosophers, and wrote a wonderful biography for each philosopher.
Some commentators have commented that the book is "the encounter between East and West, a dialogue between art and philosophy, a fusion of portrait and text, picture and calligraphy, black and white and color", which truly realizes the cross-border journey of philosophy and art.
Later, Xue Xiaoyuan successively sent me Mr. Feng Youlan's "History of Chinese Philosophy" (hand-illustrated version), "Return and Transcendence", "China in Famous Paintings" and other works, and also went to his studio to tea, watch him create statues of Tolstoy and others on the spot, visit his collection of Chinese and Western atlases, and admire his intentions and hard work.
Out of a penteché for education, I blurted out that he could make portraits of 100 world-famous educators. Because, in addition to the masters like Confucius and Socrates, who are both great thinkers and educators, educators are not as well-known as scientists, writers, politicians, etc., and are often not well known to the world. If there is such a picture book, it is a concise history of educational thought, and the merit for popularizing the knowledge of pedagogy is immeasurable.
Xue Xiaoyuan agreed, but put forward additional conditions: I was asked to write a biography for the educator. Naturally, I couldn't refuse, but I didn't take it too seriously. First, I have heard many similar promises, and the results have not been resolved; second, it is not an easy task, although we have agreed on a list of 100 educators, but how easy is it to find the pictures or pictures of these 100 educators?
Unexpectedly, during the epidemic more than a year later, Xue Xiaoyuan really came to me with the printed copies of 100 educators he had carefully drawn, and invited me to the studio to see the original paintings. It should be said that I was still very surprised and amazed.
First of all, in such a short period of time, more than 100 portraits of educators were created, from collecting information, conceiving to drawing, it was very difficult to do it in one go.
Secondly, I have always believed that the personality of educators is often not as distinct as that of scholars in other fields, and that when painting philosophers, they can portray their arrogance, coldness, wisdom and profundity, but educators often need the talent of artists, the shrewdness of designers, the enthusiasm of poets, the calmness of philosophers, the agility of inventors, and the spirit of hard-working and hard work like workers and peasants.
Moreover, there are different types of educators, some are thinkers themselves, some are partial to educational practice, and some are both; some are good at children's education, some specialize in higher education, and some are proficient in primary and secondary education; some are deeply accomplished in science education, some are unique in art education, and some focus on research and practice of humanistic education.
In terms of personality, some are enthusiastic, kind and gentle, and some are rigorous and cold, which is awe-inspiring. When Xue Xiaoyuan reproduced the spiritual outlook of these colorful, unique-looking and different-image educators, he grasped a common temperament of them - the spirit of great love. I saw love in the eyes of every educator.
Thanks to Mr. Xue Xiaoyuan, through the vivid portraits, we have entered the spiritual world of these famous educators.
Written on February 8, 2021 in Dishizhai, Beijing