Jimu news reporter Huang Zhong
Correspondent Jiang Wenwen, Xu Jingxiang, Yu Qing
No. 68 Huayuan Road, Jinkou Street, Jiangxia District, Wuhan City, is the home of 76-year-old Wang Mingyao. In this quiet house, Wang Mingyao used 16 years to go through four versions of polishing and painting a golden version of the "Qingming River Map".
On April 20, the 10-meter-long scroll slowly unfolded, and the prosperity of Jinkou Ancient Town was in full view. The scroll starts from Shamao Mountain, takes the Yangtze River as the axis, and draws all the way to the Yanjia Wharf at the junction of Jinkou Street and Hongshan District of Wuhan City, where rivers, mountains, terraces, temples, etc. are staggered and magnificent.
Wang Mingyao (right) introduces the painting to the neighbors
Self-taught to draw a long scroll of a thousand-year-old town
Wang Mingyao is a native of Jinkou, who grew up on the Yangtze River, worked as a porter, ran through the docks, drove a cargo ship, and has been begging for a living on the river. He never formally studied painting with a teacher, but painting became a hobby he insisted on for a lifetime.
In 2001, when the enterprise was in a slump, Wang Mingyao was laid off and returned home, setting up a stall on the side of Jinkou Street, "selling some clothes, shoes and socks and other daily necessities, the supply is taken from Hanzheng Street, and some money is made to subsidize the family." When there were no customers, he used cardboard of his shirt to paint on stalls, often attracting passers-by.
Once, a local acquaintance passed by the stall, and the "radical general" said: "You like to paint so much, you have the ability to paint the scenic spots and monuments of Jinkou!" Wang Mingyao, not to be outdone, immediately replied: "What is so difficult about this?" ”
It's easy to say, but when he really started writing, Wang Mingyao found that it was not easy to paint the ancient town of Jinkou, which has a history of more than 2,000 years, especially many historical sites, historical buildings, streets and alleys that have disappeared on a long scroll.
The hobby of painting has persisted for a lifetime
"Jinkou was a very important port in history, sitting on monuments such as 'Three Terraces and Eight Scenic Spots, Nine Temples and One Nunnery', but with the passage of time, many local objects are not human, and some buildings no longer exist, only preserved in local chronicles and documents." Wang Mingyao told Jimu News.
In order to use the paintbrush to re-enter the prosperity of the ancient town, Wang Mingyao walked through the landscape streets and alleys of Jinkou with his footboard, leaving his footprints on the five-hundred-year-old rock barge, leaving his footprints on a thousand bluestone slabs on the ancient street, and leaving his stopping figure in front of the mottled wooden old house.
The magnificent picture scroll of ten meters in the four drafts was finally completed
Since 2002, Wang Mingyao began to create the first edition, the rice paper used was still reminded, specially rushed to Wuhan Near the Xiaodongmen to buy, spliced a long scroll of 9 meters wide and 80 centimeters long, "the first edition was outlined with a hard pen, and it was drawn intermittently for more than 2 years." Because he was not satisfied with the finished product, Wang Mingyao "simply did not color."
After having the experience of the first edition, in order to make the picture more rich and full, and the painting more realistic to restore the style of the ancient town, he looked around for historical materials and immersed himself in the study of historical materials such as local history, looking for the "past and present life" of Lao Jinkou. The second edition began to be painted in 2004, and this time, he painted for another 3 years. During this period, he joined the Jiangxia District Elderly Calligraphy and Painting Research Association, and was given the opportunity to "learn from his peers" to learn art, and sometimes in order to rush to participate in exchange activities, he could only take the bus to and fro. Although the second edition has made great progress, some professionals have looked at the 8-meter-long scroll painting and pointed out, "The spirit of the spirit is slightly insufficient." ”
Concentrate on painting
Although slightly disappointed, Wang Mingyao has not given up. Later, the stall business could not be done. Wang Mingyao worked odd jobs everywhere, and in order to insist on paintings, he specially selected security guards, warehouse managers and other work with more free time, thinking about how to complete the "dream in his heart".
In 2009, the third edition began. However, in this edition, Wang Mingyao only painted a miniature version, the length is only 2 meters, "This is what I created to participate in the exhibition, only painted parts of Jinkou Ancient Town, with the foundation of the first two editions, this time the painting is more handy, and it will be completed in a few months." ”
Serendipity. In 2016, at a calligraphy and painting exchange meeting in Wuhan, a calligrapher learned that Wang Mingyao was concentrating on drawing a long scroll of Jinkou Ancient Town, so he gave him a 10-meter long leather paper to encourage the 70-year-old to insist on creating and complete the painting.
Neighbors help put away the long rolls
"In the darkness, as if it were destined, this time it felt like it was going to happen." After a few years, recalling what he felt in his heart at that time, Wang Mingyao smiled and said, "At that time, I thought so, and now I still remember it vividly, as if it is engraved in my heart." ”
This time, he spent a whole year to complete this 10-meter-long and 60-centimeter-wide Version of the Jinkou Ancient Town Edition of the "Qingming Upper River Map". After the painting was completed in January 2017, he felt a mixture of feelings in his heart, "The dream that he has insisted on for many years has come true, and there is an indescribable taste in his heart." ”
It is necessary to leave a picture version of the local history for Jinkou
Wang Mingyao told reporters that the time background of the fourth edition of the Jinkou Ancient Town Map was set to the Ming Dynasty, and the jinkou commercial exchanges at that time were very developed, which best reflected the prosperity of jinkou ancient town. He adopted the "green landscape" style of traditional Chinese landscape painting techniques to better show the style of Jinkou. "Because the picture scroll is too long, when I painted, I started from the middle, and then began to ink on both sides, presenting the whole picture of the entire Jinkou Ancient Town in its entirety, and the center of the picture scroll is Houshan Street, which is the most prosperous in history." Wang Mingyao said that when creating, in addition to being at home, sometimes he also splashed ink on the stone platform of a neighbor's house, and from time to time some people came to watch.
In the past 16 years, he has worked hard to create, drawing 4 versions before and after, and drawing more than 20 large and small brushes. Wang Mingyao said that he just wanted to leave a picture version of the "local history" for future generations, leave a good memory of Jinkou Ancient Town, and leave some thoughts for future generations.
Jinkou Ancient Town map partial
"Under the golden mouth of Shu Chufan, there are many water towns in the southeast world." Wang Taiming, director of the Culture and Tourism Bureau of Jiangxia District of Wuhan City, said that Jinkou was once a major waterway for water and land transportation, with goods distribution, merchants gathering, paddle sound and light shadow, bustling flow of people, two thousand years of civilization and vicissitudes, giving birth to Jishi Barge, Dharma Liuyun, Santai Eight Scenic Spots and other Jinkou historical sites. The old man uses painting art to record the ancient charm of Jinkou's legacy, and he can still be so persistent and enthusiastic in his ancient years, which is his deep attachment to his homeland. Through the ten-meter magnificent scroll, more people can understand the thousand-year-old Jinkou Ancient Town and have a glimpse of the prosperous scenery of the past.
According to the person in charge of the Jinkou Street Cultural Service Center, Wang Mingyao has decided to donate his paintings for the collection of museums or other exhibition halls. At present, the center has scanned long-scroll paintings electronically for easy exhibition and browsing.