Right now, Ukraine is the focus of the world's attention. And my mind kept flashing through the artistic giants who shone in the Ukrainian starry sky. This territory on the western edge of the Eurasian steppe is where East and West meet, and is the birthplace of many literary masterpieces and famous paintings.
The world-renowned Repin Academy of Fine Arts is one of the four major art academies in the world. The academy was named in honor of the great critical realist painter Repin, who was born in Ukraine. When I was a child, I was deeply struck by the "Tracker on the Volga" in the art textbook, and at that time I didn't know what was the most exciting thing, but after many years of appreciating this work, I felt the profound meaning behind the exquisite technique of the work. On the painting, the undulations of the beach and the turn of the river bay subtly set off the sculptural image of 11 porters, the whole painting has a strong sense of oppression, and the empty space directs the viewer's eyes to the trackers, who are lonely, sad and helpless, and the form is so strong. It is conceivable that more than a hundred years ago, the indomitable spirit hidden in the characters in many of Repin's works continued to guide and inspire the working people at that time.
Part of "The Porter on the Volga"
Repin's friendship with Tolstoy lasted 30 years, and he is said to have painted more than 70 sketches for Tolstoy. I have seen several of Repin's Tolstoy, some of whom are writing, some of whom are sitting on a bench and lying on a sickbed, and their appearance is so vivid that it is no wonder that one of them is considered by Tolstoy himself to be his best portrait.
Repin's "The Plough of Leo Tolstoy"
In many parts of Ukraine, statues of the same person stand. It is a statue of the famous Ukrainian poet and the founder of modern Ukrainian, Taras Shevchenko. Shevchenko, who was born in Kiev, like Repin, showed a deep affection for the people at the bottom in his works. His works were introduced to China in the 1920s, and Lu Xun, Guo Moruo, Mao Dun, and others have translated his works. In 1845, he wrote the lyric poem "Testament", when he returned to his homeland of Ukraine again, witnessed the tragic life of Ukrainian serfs, and completed the collection of poems "Three Years", of which "Testament" is the famous piece.
"When I die, bury me deep in the grave, in the middle of that vast steppe, in my beloved Ukrainian homeland, so that I may see the boundless fields, the rolling Dnieper, and the cliffs and cliffs" (Ge Baoquan's translation), this romantic expression is full of sadness, but the sadness is overwhelmed and diluted by heroic passion and strong longing. There is a yearning for personal freedom in the poem, an expectation to integrate the "ego" into the cause of human liberation, and a vision to call on people to "crush the chains of slavery to the essence." In his Autobiography, written a year before his death, Shevchenko said: "The history of my life forms part of the history of my homeland. Judging from the suffering he had experienced in his life, this sentence is not exaggerated.
Portrait of Taras Shevchenko
Mikhail Guyda is one of the most powerful contemporary Artists in Ukraine, and his modernist paintings are emotional and beautiful. The most important teacher of his life is the beautiful nature on the banks of the Kuban River, where there are herds of horses, quietly flowing rivers, and noble friendships between people, all of which become the core of his works, and let him establish a consistent principle for the relationship between man and nature in painting——— people should bring beauty into the world and live in harmony with nature.
Since the 1990s, Gu Yida has created, lectured and held exhibitions in many cities in China, creating a series of works with a strong Chinese style. I have seen his Hangzhou, those Jiangnan houses, lotuses, small lonely mountains and characters, with a strange and fresh perspective, but also let people vaguely feel that this "foreigner" is familiar. Gu Yida said he loves China very much, likes the people, natural scenery, customs, food and language. He taught Chinese university students the creation of oil paintings and drawings of the European genre. At the same time, he is also constantly learning more about the rich culture of China, thus enriching his own creations, and the similarities between the ancient cultures of China and Ukraine surprise and fascinate him.
Gu Yida's "The Woman Who Sold Birds"
Looking at this starry artistic starry sky, the aesthetic integration of the East and the West, the exchange and collision of ideas and cultures, shine with dazzling brilliance. And only peace and love can bless the magnificence and splendor of art!