Written by | Qiu Shuwan
Source | Interface art
At the beginning of the Year of the Tiger in 2022, the world is moving towards a not peaceful situation, in addition to the new crown virus to make the epidemic still, the most concerned is the Russian-Ukrainian conflict. Ukraine and Russia, on the other hand, belonged to the same union of republics, the former Soviet Union, until 1991. Chinese, who experienced the 50s and 60s, are not unfamiliar with the former Soviet Union, such as the song "Katyusha", the construction of the "Sino-Soviet Friendship Building", the novel "How Steel is Made", etc., occupying the memory of at least two generations.
In the field of art, Russia and the former Soviet Union also had a very long-term influence on China, from literary and art theory to artistic creation to aesthetic education, there have been three key figures, their realist ideas and spirit have enriched the aesthetic views and artistic creation field of New China, and also deeply affected the aesthetics and values of generations of Chinese people.
Chernyshevsky's "Beauty is Life" allows the laborer to enter the painting
In Europe before the 19th century, magnificent palaces and sacred churches were often filled with paintings of aristocratic figures, famous battles, and biblical stories. At the same time, the definition of beauty, from Plato's "idea theory" to Hegel's "beauty is the perceptual manifestation of reason", is full of metaphysical philosophical speculation and a sense of mystery from above. But this thousand-year-old system of cognition was fully challenged by a young Russian named Chernyshevsky, who brought forward the philosophical view that "beauty is life" and brought beauty back to the real world. He argues that "anything which we see there should be lived as we understand it is beautiful; anything that shows life or reminds us of life is beautiful." ”
Born in 1828 to a family of priests in Saratov, Russia, Chernyshevsky entered the University of Petersburg in 1846 and was the most prominent representative of the second generation of Russian revolutionary fighters, that is, civilian intellectual revolutionaries, who came to the stage of history after the aristocratic revolutionaries.
The idea that "beauty is life" comes from his most important book: The Aesthetic Relationship of Art to Reality (also translated as Art and Life), a famous aesthetic paper published in the magazine Modern Man in 1855, which explored the nature of art and proposed a realistic aesthetic view. He particularly emphasized that the life of beauty is a life centered on people, and people are the core of life. The highest beauty can only be revealed in man, so he praises the life of the working people, which expresses exuberant health and balanced physique, and mocks the lazy and sick life of high society.
In the history of world aesthetics, Chernyshevsky was the first to propose a new definition of "beauty is life"
At that time, the book became a household name in the aesthetic community, and in the former Soviet Union (1922-1991) it was regarded as the "bible" in literary and artistic theory. Because Chernyshevsky applied the famous statement of materialist epistemology "respect for real life and disbelief in a priori assumptions" to the scope of art, showing a materialist tendency. According to the view of the time, labor is the basis of life, and social progress on the basis of labor is the guarantee of a better life. Beginning with the honeymoon period in the mid-Soviet Union in the 1950s, the book greatly influenced the aesthetic view of New China, and the concept of "beauty is life" was widely accepted in China.
Peng Zhaomin "The Countryside is Our Vast World" 1964 Selected works from the "Struggle" exhibition
The protagonists in the picture are two confident young women representatives of workers and peasants, standing in the fields and flowers, full of vitality, clutching the tools of labor in their hands, full of hope in their eyes, they are representatives of equality between men and women, and they are also representatives of the healthy sunshine aesthetics of New China.
Therefore, in the works created under the guidance of this value, ordinary laborers and labor scenes began to appear in paintings, and painters followed the principles of realism, so that people could see the "beauty in reality" and feel the beauty of the ideal at the same time. With such literary and artistic theory guidance, Chinese painting also began to appear a new atmosphere, especially after the founding of New China, whether it is traditional painting or Western painting, the picture is less hermit, immortal or imperial general, more ordinary men, women and children and other images of working people, the work shows a vibrant, industrious and intelligent, healthy and sunny life scene.
Wei Zixi 1964 Harvest Chinese paintings are selected from the "Struggle" exhibition
As a painter and art educator, Wei Zixi specialized in landscape painting in his early years, and from the 1950s to the 1970s, he specialized in figure painting. Not only is the scenery lush and the artistic conception is sacred, but also very innovative, the atmosphere of the times is strong, and it has made important contributions to the revitalization of Chinese paintings.
Representative work of Russian critical realism, Repin's "The Porter on the Volga"
The Chinese edition of the primary school textbook still retains such an illustration that once deeply shook the hearts of many people, and the name of the work is more well known than its author, Les Haleurs de la Volga . 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. The depiction of civilians in the picture is so touching and profound that it amazes the European literary and artistic circles at that time.
The painting was created between 1870 and 1873 and is now in the State Museum of Russia. At the 1873 Vienna International Exposition, the work won a gold medal and echoed the Volga Boatman's Song by the bass singer Chariabing, resonating with its passionate cry.
The artist of this work, named Ilya Yefimovich Repin, was born on 24 July 1844 in Chuguyev, Ukraine, and died on 29 September 1930 in Kuorcala, which is now part of Finland. If you only look at the painter's birth and death years, you can't see a trace of Russia. But he was recognized as the great master of Russian critical realist painting of the late nineteenth century and became the flag figure of the touring exhibition school.
1887
At that time, Repin was ideologically influenced by Chernyshevsky's revolutionary democratic and aesthetic ideas, and his works were full of profound critical spirit. His works are full of reflections on reality and represent the voices of the middle and lower classes of society at that time. By presenting a character or life scene, to tell the story behind it, so as to convey a value and emotional tendency, or sympathy, or criticism, or praise. This kind of artistic expression integrated into literature is unique in the history of world art. Stasov, an authoritative Russian literary critic, gave Repin high praise: "Now, standing before us is another kind of artist. They are healthy and thoughtful. They don't think of art as a toy or entertainment. They watch everything that is happening around them and focus their eyes on history in a serious way..."
In his later years, Repin taught for 14 years at the reformed Royal Academy of Fine Arts (later the Repin Academy of Fine Arts), training a generation of rising stars for the Russian school of painting. The academy's oil painting major inherits the tradition of realism, and many experts and lecturers and professors at the Central Academy of Fine Arts in China have also graduated from the school, such as Luo Gongliu.
From 1953 to the early 1960s, the Chinese government sent 33 people from the Repin Academy of Fine Arts in the former Soviet Union to study, including Luo Gongliu, Qian Shaowu, Li Tianxiang, Chen Zunshan, Lin Gang, Zhou Zheng, Xiao Feng, Quan Shanshi, and Li Baonian. In the future, they basically held important positions at the Central Academy of Fine Arts.
The students who stayed in the Soviet Union later returned to China one after another, brought Repin's oil painting creation concept and method back to domestic colleges and universities, and combined with the people and events they had experienced in the revolutionary years, inherited and developed the artistic expression method of combining form and narrative, and created many excellent revolutionary realist works, so that the viewer had a sense of association and substitution, so that the aesthetics entered a new height and the soul was inspired.
Luo Gongliu's work "Chairman Mao and the Old Peasants of Northern Shaanxi" is selected from the "Struggle" exhibition
Luo Gongliu, from 1955 to 1958, went to the Soviet Union as a professor to study, and entered the Repin Academy of Painting, Sculpture and Architecture to study oil painting art. In the early days of the founding of the People's Republic of China, he participated in the establishment of the Central Academy of Fine Arts and served as the deputy secretary of the general party branch of the college. Many of his works are collected by the Museum of Revolutionary History of China and the National Art Museum of China. He died on October 23, 2004.
3. Invited to introduce Maximov's oil painting training class
During the honeymoon period between China and the Soviet Union, the state adopted the policy of "bringing in" and "sending out", of which "bringing in" was to invite the 42-year-old painter and professor Maximov to serve as an adviser to the Central Academy of Fine Arts and a guide to the oil painting training class of the Central Academy of Fine Arts. The 1955-1957 Maksimov oil painting training class trained and influenced a large number of students, many of whom today have become masters and backbones of Chinese oil painting, such as Jin Shangyi, Dong Xiwen, Ai Zhongxin, Yan Han and others, who constitute an important part of the history of contemporary Chinese art.
"Maximov Oil Training Class Graduation Photo", taken in 1957. Related characters: Maximov (fifth from left), Dong Xiwen, Wang Shikuo, Wu Zuoren, Ai Zhongxin, Yan Han, Jin Shangyi, etc.
Maximov was very serious about teaching at that time, because it was the early days of the founding of the People's Republic of China, oil paintings and pictures were very scarce, not to mention the original works, he often painted with students, personally demonstrated and explained, with a very important "original textbook" in the history of Chinese oil painting education. The lectures are also very interesting and vivid, in addition to teaching the structure of the picture, you can also combine art history and painting genres, so that students can enjoy listening.
Jin Shangyi, "Climbing the Muztag Peak", 1957
Jin Shangyi, former president of the Central Academy of Fine Arts, graduated from the Painting Department of the Central Academy of Fine Arts in 1953 and graduated from Maximov's oil painting training class in 1957. The work, a graduation of Maximov's oil painting training class, depicts the scene of the Sino-Soviet joint mountaineering team climbing Mount Mustag in 1956. After that, it has won many awards at home and abroad, and has been collected by institutions and individuals such as the National Art Museum of China.
In 1957, Maximov returned to China, followed by the interruption of the Sino-Soviet honeymoon period in the 1960s, but Maximov was modeled on the oil painting teaching system of the former Soviet Union and Europe, and the teaching mode built by the Central Academy of Fine Arts was completed, making the teaching of oil painting in China's art academies enter the formal development track. To this day, the teaching of oil painting still attaches importance to the ability training of drawing and color.
Ai Zhongxin "Long March" 1976 Works selected from the "Struggle" exhibition
In 1993, Maximov died in Moscow, failing to realize his wish to return to China again, but his hard work for the development of the new Chinese oil painting cause will not be forgotten. What is particularly valuable is that Maximov concentrated on spreading the concept and spirit of Soviet realist oil painting art to China, so that Chinese oil painting always adhered to the characteristics of people's nature and artistic laws in the development of the next few decades.
In 1991, although the Soviet Union collapsed, the influence of these three key figures who had enriched the aesthetic views of New China and the field of artistic creation continued. Until after the reform and opening up, Chinese art has absorbed more diverse forms, such as expression, exploration, abstraction, and freehand, but realist art still shows exuberant vitality, and the artist's deep excavation and comprehensive observation of life and human nature, and the concern for the people and even the fate of mankind, make the truth, goodness and beauty conveyed by the work still liked by the people. At present, in the exhibition "Struggle - Echoes of the New Chinese Years" that is being exhibited by the Shanghai Art Museum, there are many such masterpieces, which are very worthy of attention.