At the "Sheng Shi Fanghua - Exhibition of Cultural Relics Donated by shanghai museums" recently opened by the Shanghai Museum, two national treasure-level cultural relics related to Wang Anshi were exhibited, namely the orphan volume of Wang Anshi's "Xingshu Leng YanJing Essential Volume" of the Northern Song Dynasty, and the Song Magazine "Wang Wen Gongwen Collection". Both exhibits are from the old collection of Yuzhai and donated to the Shanghai Museum by Wang Nanping and Fang Shuyan in 1985.
This article is the author's preface to The Book of Yuzhai Jianzang - The Strategy of Mr. Wang Nanping by Wang Puren, the son of Mr. Wang Nanping. The book "Yuzhai Collection Record - Mr. Wang Nanping's Strategy" details the road of Wang Nanping's collection, and presents the achievements of Yuzhai collection, collection attitude and appreciation essentials in a more complete way. The Paper published this preface on the occasion of the donation exhibition to pay tribute to the donors and their families.
Exhibition site of Wang Anshi's "Xingshu Lengyan JingZhi Volume" (partial)
Portrait of Wang Anshi
I met Park In at the beginning of this book. On October 31, 2005, Mr. and Mrs. Park Ren went to the Shanghai Museum for the first time to observe the old collection of Yuzhai, including dozens of calligraphy and paintings, including dozens of calligraphy and paintings, including the national treasure-level cultural relics donated by his father, Mr. Wang Nanping (1924-1985), the Northern Song Dynasty Wang Anshi (1021-1086) "Xingshu Leng Yan Jing Zhi Zhi" volume, and Long Shuben's "Wang Wen Gong An anthology". At that time, Park In-in revealed that his plan to retire early, focus on collecting information on his father's calligraphy and painting collection and writing a collection of essays, was for the first acquaintance. Since then, we have met more than ten times, and we feel very close to each other, I call him "Park Ren", and Park Ren calls me "Xiao Ling". By August 22, 2013, I was in Washington, D.C., with Park In, and I couldn't believe that this reunion had become our farewell.
Wang Anshi's "Xingshu Lengyan Jing Zhi Zhi Volume" (Partial)
Song Magazine Wang WenGong Anthology (Partial) (This cultural relic is exhibited in the second half and will be exhibited soon)
Because of the same hobbies, we have traveled to many places together for more than ten years and left a lot of good memories. Whether it is at the British Museum, the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Friar Sackler Museum of Art, the Yale University Museum, the Mann hollyn Women's College, the University of Preston Museum, the Boston Museum of Fine Arts, or visiting my predecessors Mr. Chang Chong Ho (1914-2015) and Weng Wango (1918-), the scenes during which I went to Amherst Park Ren's residence to stay overnight and study his family collection are all vividly remembered. What is particularly memorable is that on November 6, 2007, on the morning of November 6, 2007, I went to the British Museum with Mr. and Mrs. Park In, Mr. and Mrs. Zhong Yinlan, and Ms. Xie Xiaopei to study and admire the volumes of Yuan Metabolism Chu Fang's "Colored Flowers and Fruits" and other libraries, observed Christie's preview in the afternoon, and told me that it was his 55th birthday at dinner in Chinatown in the evening. The time spent together day and night is short, more on weekdays is exchanged by e-mail, Park In's letters are generally very long, and the words are full of trust in me, almost everything is talked about, in addition to discussing calligraphy and painting, but also family affairs.
"The Collection of Yuzhai Collections- The Strategy of Mr. Wang Nanping" by Wang Puren
Smiling, gentle, frank, and wise, park ren gave me the impression. What particularly surprised me was that although Park Ren was a physics teacher, he had a good aesthetic feeling in calligraphy and painting, and his understanding was extremely high, which made people admire. Judging the good and the bad, distinguishing between true and false, and knowing right from wrong, as the first task of engaging in the appreciation and research of ancient calligraphy and painting, it is not only the basis for constructing art history, but also in line with the research of art history needs to return to the starting point of artistic aesthetics. However, Park Renchu started from visual perception, and his judgment on the quality of the work and the high level of pen and ink was basically accurate, coupled with the "physicist's verification spirit" (Park Ren) diligent in collecting documents and images for examination and comparison, and his conclusions could be confirmed. As the British formalist aesthetician Clive Bell (1881-1964) pointed out in His Treatise on Art, "To appreciate art, I do not need to know the life of the author." I conclude that this painting is better than that, and I really don't need the help of history." (I don’t need to know about the painter’s life to appreciate his art. I assume one painting is better than another one, with no need to rely on the history.) This is also of enlightening significance for today's art history researchers who are prone to detach themselves from the perception and appreciation of the works themselves, rely too much on the achievements of sociology, anthropology, history and other disciplines, and use the so-called Western "new art history" research methods to invert the cart before the horse.
The large-scale gathering and dispersion of Chinese cultural relics in the first half of the 20th century was the last integration before the pattern of major public and private collection institutions at home and abroad was finalized, and it had a distinct epochal character. For more than 100 years, except for the records, inscriptions and publications left by Pang Laichen (1864-1949), Ye Gongqi (1881-1968), Wu Hufan (1894-1968), Zhang Heng (1915-1963), Zhang Daqian (1899-1983), and Wang Jiqian (1906-2003), a large number of historical materials have been obscured and need to be excavated urgently. Park Ren's book can be described as unique, based on the old collection of Wang Nanping of public and private institutions such as the Shanghai Museum and the Palace Museum, and combined with the family collection of Yuzhai's manuscripts, as well as the hearings and witnesses he has heard and witnessed with his father since childhood, it presents Yuzhai's achievements in collecting, collecting attitudes, and appreciation essentials. More importantly, it is the book that narrates the very representative Road of Wang Nanping's collection, and makes a precious combing of the historical facts of the collection circle in the important towns of the 20th century calligraphy and painting circulation route, namely Shanghai, Beijing, Hong Kong, Taiwan, the United States, Japan and other places. Many of the first-hand information disclosed for the first time in the book also has a certain role in filling in the gaps.
Wang Youlin and Wang Nanping (Founder)
The passages of this book are concise and the wording is simple, and for me, it is particularly kind to read, such as Pu Ren. In particular, I felt the father-son affection between Park In-in and Wang Nam-ping, and I also understood that Park-in's character and learning were deeply influenced by his father. The book is full of reverence for his father's patriotic feelings, and he not only details the fact that his father has made various sacrifices to protect the country and withstand the family's economic pressure, but also repeatedly points out with satisfaction and pride that almost none of the important Song and Yuan calligraphy and paintings in Yuzhai's collection have been lost overseas. For academics, Wang Nanping is confident and has his own opinions, "Don't let everyone follow the clouds", Park Ren's blunt statement in the "Gong Fu Ti" incident is also quite fatherly; In dealing with friends, Wang Nanping is known for keeping promises, valuing righteousness over profit, and even if he hides himself, he "does not refer to deer as horses because of personal interests." The book also records some of Park Ren's personal experiences and experiences of people's hearts and the cold of the world, which makes me understand that the calm behind Park Ren's bright smile is a manifestation of his open-minded life and transcendence of the world. I am very fortunate to have such a foreign friend on the road of life, and I thank Ms. Xiao Yun for realizing Park Ren's last wish and trusting me. Finally, allow me to say a word that is late: Park In, you are all the way!
April 30, 2019 at the Shanghai Museum