The scenery of the maritime art world of "Lao Ding"

"Memoirs of forty Years of Art", by Ding Shu, edited by Ding Xia, Shanghai Bookstore Publishing House, January 2022 edition, 78.00 yuan.

□ Yao Yiming

In the spring of the year of Nongyin, there was an event at the Shanghai Sanlian Bookstore on Huaihai Road entitled "Memoirs of forty Years of Art: A Record of Landscapes in the Maritime Art World", with guests including Chen Zishan, Zhang Wei, Gu Zheng, Zhu Chunxiang, Chen Jianhua and Ding Xia, the grandson of Ding Shu. At the event site, Professor Chen Zishan's impromptu speech was funny and humorous, which attracted bursts of applause: "... I personally prefer Xiao Ding's paintings on "Reading", so this time Lao Ding published a book. This is quite an interesting thing. After the son became famous, he published the book first, and Lao Tzu was already famous and published the book late. The publication of this book is thanks to Mr. Ding Xia, excerpted from a large number of old newspapers, which, in my opinion, are more valuable than the general memoirs, which were written in old age (when the memory has declined), and this memoir of Lao Ding was written in his prime..."

Old Ding, Ding Shuye, Zi Muqin, a native of Fengjing Town, Shanghai. He studied under Zhou Xiang and was known for his initial research on Western painting and calligraphy, and was once admitted to the Shanghai Academy of Fine Arts to teach sketching, and then was hired by the advertising department of The British American Tobacco Company in Shanghai to engage in the painting of cigarette posters. Lao Ding was a famous painter in Shanghai in the 1920s and 1930s, active in comics, fine arts, photography, opera, film, literature and other literary circles. Lao Ding has drawn the cover of Saturday magazine and has also produced many "Hundred Beauty Pictures". Ding Cong, the son of Ding Shu, is a famous cartoonist. Xiao Ding's satirical paintings for Reading magazine have influenced many readers. For a period of time, Xiaoding's fame was greater than that of Lao Ding, but with the publication of "Forty Years of Art Memoirs", Lao Ding may have the potential to make a comeback.

"Forty Years of Art Memoirs" I have been waiting for a long time, before I only knew Ding Shu's achievements in art, literary creation is not much, occasionally in the "Yong'an Monthly" and some tabloids have seen Ding Shu's articles, there are only a few. The "Memoirs of forty Years of Art" compiled by Ding Xia, originally published in the "Oriental Daily" in the mid-1940s, Ding Xia expressed the reason for the selection in the "Afterword": "My aunt Ding Yiying said that my grandfather serialized his memoirs in the newspaper during the Republic of China, but it is not clear which newspaper. I immediately asked Hu Yue to help search the Republic of China newspapers and periodicals for information on whether there was a serial information signed by my grandfather, and found a serial essay signed by Ding Muqin in the Oriental Daily from 1944 to 1945, entitled "Memoirs of forty Years of Art". The so-called forty years refers to the forty years before 1944, that is, the first half of the twentieth century. The serial mode is a short article of 500 or 600 words per day, which lasts for about 400 days... From August 1, 1944 until September 18, 1945, the memoirs were serialized for more than four hundred days, supposedly more than four hundred, and the whole book consisted of only 232 articles in total, partly because of the fact that the Oriental Daily, which is from the period in which the picture above, was missing for several days; partly because I had put together all the articles that had been serialized in several days under the same title..."

Ding Shu's "Memoirs of forty Years of Art" was published in the "Oriental Daily" for more than two years, with a total of more than 400 articles, while only more than 200 articles were recorded in the book, and nearly half of them were not selected, so it should be an anthology, not the whole book. The reason for this, the editor said three points, the third point "some other reasons", the most difficult to ponder. In fact, it is also understandable that the context in which Ding Shu wrote the essay is very different from the current one, after all, many people and things involved are to be avoided, which is reminiscent of the "Tang Dalang Anthology" a few years ago, and also encountered the same problem. Zhu Chunxiang, the editor of "Tang Dalang's Collected Writings", once showed me Tang Dalang's texts that were not included in the anthology, and it is indeed not suitable for public publication, so is there a similar situation in "Memoirs of forty Years of Art"? I think almost.

What kind of newspaper is the Oriental Daily, which also publishes Ding Shu's article? The Oriental Daily was founded in 1931 and co-founded by Xu Shanhong and Gu Erkang. The newspaper initially asked Xie Bao, Tang Dalang, and Gong Zhifang to compile for each edition. Tang Dalang edited the second edition, in addition to his own writing, Yu Yifen also often wrote for it, and wrote articles such as "Yushan Travels" and "My Opinion on the Improvement of Brothels". Later, Gu Erkang transferred to the dance hall, and the Oriental Daily was run by Xu Shanhong. Soon, Xu transferred the newspaper to Deng Yinxian to preside, and the editors Xie Bao, Tang Dalang, and others also left their posts one after another, and Deng Yinxian asked Jiang Shuliang and Wang Beiping to preside over the publication of the "Oriental Daily" intermittently, changing hands several times, and continuing until it was discontinued in 1949 when Shanghai was liberated. Tang Dalang joined the Oriental Daily around 1930, which was also his beginning as a professional newspaperman. And Ding Hu's serial "Memoirs of the Forty Years of Art" in the "Oriental Daily" was in the mid-1940s, when Tang Dalang had left his post, and it was Jiang Shuliang (Jiu Gong) who asked Ding Shu to write the serial, which was explained in the "Editor's Introduction": "The old painter Ding Muqin is an old predecessor of the art world, and his painting name is heavy on chicken forest, in fact, Mu Lao is not only a great painter, but also a predecessor of writing, thirty years ago in the pictorial magazine, he has already scattered his commentaries, especially in recent years, it is not easy to get his masterpieces. This time, this newspaper is seeking innovation, and with great sincerity, it has sought its hongwen... This is the glory of this newspaper, or the blessing of the eyes of readers. ”

Judging from the "Editor's Introduction", Ding Shu was definitely a master figure in the painting world and literary and art circles of that year, and his generations were extremely high, and it was absolutely jiang Jiugong's credit to be able to invite Ding Shu's "Oriental Daily" to write, which Ding Shu also confirmed in the "Small Introduction Opening", and repeatedly thanked Jiu Gong for his gracious invitation, humbly expressing that his writing was not good, and it was a bit difficult for him. Jiang Shuliang (Jiu Gong) was a veteran tabloid writer who wrote "The Inside Story of Tabloids", commenting on the tabloids that were very popular at that time. Jiang Shuliang (JiuGong) and Ding Hu are also old friends, stumbling together in the literary and art circles, witnessing the ups and downs of old-school literature, but one is good at running newspapers and writing articles, and the other is focused on painting and art education, but their interests are similar. Jiu Gong, who presided over the "Oriental Daily" pen array, will naturally ask old friends to help him, and Ding Shu is also not dishonoring his mission.

Judging from the "Memoirs of forty Years of Art", the articles written by Ding Hu are not mainly based on his painting career, but involve drama, literature, movies, newspapers, etc., on the one hand, it shows that Ding Hu has in-depth contact and understanding in the literary and art circles in the Republic of China period, and the breadth of his travels, in the memoirs, there are many historical materials of the literary circles and art circles in the late Qing Dynasty and the early Ming Dynasty; on the other hand, Ding Hu is after all a painter, good at cover paintings, comics and advertising paintings, etc. Writing articles is only occasional, not professional, and will not be like Zheng Yimei, Lu Danlin, Xu Yishi and others are good at writing about literature and history; on the other hand, Ding Shu, who occasionally works for it, has experienced the ups and downs of the literary circles of the early Ming Dynasty, and has maintained a good relationship with the influential figures of that time, such as Wang Chungen, Zhou Shuangjuan, Tianxu Isheng, etc., and is also handy and very historical, such as "Saturday and Its Era" in the book, which discloses the Chinese Library that published the weekly "Saturday" weekly, and many historical facts of its founder Ye Jiuru, which actually highlights the value of Ding Shu's text.