Tribute to the seniors| Liu Xiaogang: portray a wonderful life with talent

In my eyes, he was like a fire, full of vitality and passion. Speaking of words, the sound is like a flood bell; when you make a painting, you mean to float with your pen; when you walk, the tiger is full of wind. When they meet each other, they always hold my hand and smile and say, "Little one, good little one!" Write hard! "How can this fire be extinguished?" How could he have quietly left? He did go, stopping on April 11, 2022, at the age of 91. Mr. Xiaogang, I would like to shake your hand again, and there are still many things to ask you. I told the bad news to Teacher Zhao Hexiang, who is also a public newspaperman, and Teacher Zhao sent me a WeChat message: "Xiao Gang is brilliant, his talent is comprehensive, ink painting, printmaking, wood carving, calligraphy, etc. are outstanding, and he has contributed his life's energy to beautifying the layout of the mass daily." Xiao Gang is one year older than me, brother for thousands of years! "Carved and painted, written and edited, said and laughed. Liu Xiaogang trotted and used his talent to portray a wonderful life. ”

01

The "Little Eight Roads" bred by the Zhonglie family

At the age of 14, he was still a child in the arms of his parents, but Liu Xiaogang put on a fat military uniform and became a small eighth road in the Yimeng Mountains. His shining starting point stemmed from a loyal family. In October 1931, Liu Xiaogang was born into a family of bureaucratic landlords in Yinan County, Shandong Province. Great-grandfather Liu Cexian served as the governor of Hubei in the late Qing Dynasty, and his grandfather Liu Foyuan hated the feudal patriarchal consciousness from an early age, and at the age of 21, he was admitted to Waseda University in Japan, met Sun Yat-sen and joined the League. After the Xinhai Revolution, Liu Foyuan returned to China to serve as a teacher at the Shandong Provincial Law and Politics College. After the Lugou Bridge Incident, Liu Foyuan successively sold 2,000 mu of fertile land, sold 1 mu of land, bought a gun, and formed an anti-Japanese armed force. Later, with the support of the 115th Division of the Eighth Route Army and the Shandong Column, the Self-Defense Army was formed together with the anti-Japanese patriots, and later, this unit was reorganized into the 686th Regiment of the 115th Division of the Eighth Route Army, and after the victory of the Anti-Japanese War, it went to the northeast battlefield. When Liu Xiaogang was 6 years old, his father Liu Zegang died of illness, and his mother Wang Yuzhi struggled to take care of his 4 young children. The mother embraced her grandfather's ideas and became his right-hand man. "When I was in the fourth grade, my grandfather asked my brother to carry his backpack and follow the troops to train, and at night the march could not keep up with the team, and they were crying. He said, "You cannot live comfortably in the landlord's family, but you must have great ambitions." Why are so many of our families participating in the revolution? It was all encouraged by my grandfather and my mother. In 1941, after joining the Eighth Route Army, he entered Shandong Public School, and after graduation, he engaged in art propaganda in the Lu Chinese Association Literary and Art Guidance Group, and served as the editor and editor-in-chief of luzhong popular pictorial. In 1947, he personally went to the Lunan front and the Laiwu battlefield to live in depth, and created propaganda posters such as "Defending Linyi", "From laiwu victory to Menglianggu victory", "traitor Chiang Kai-shek" and other works. After graduating from Shandong Public School, Liu Xiaogang's sister Liu Xilin was assigned to the Lu Chinese Art Counseling Group, and in January 1944, she was transferred to the Luzhong Mass Newspaper, where she worked as a translator and telegrapher at the newspaper and the Luzhong Branch of xinhua news agency. The enemy planes bombed indiscriminately, and she raced against time to receive newspapers and translate telegrams to convey Chairman Mao's combat arrangements to the soldiers and people in the Liberated Areas.

02

A few words from the chief made him a lifelong association with news art

In 2009, my colleague Chen Juhui and I went to Liu Xiaogang's house for an interview. Elder Liu, who was 78 years old at the time, recalled the details of his first participation in the revolution, as clear as yesterday: "The chief asked, what can you do?" I said that in the anti-Japanese primary school, I ran a blackboard newspaper and drew simple vignettes. The leader said, then you go to the newspaper. Dry american weaving. The few words that the chief talked to Liu Xiaogang made him and the news art have since formed an indissoluble relationship. What Liu Xiaogang never forgot was his Bole: Niu Yuhua, editor of Luzhong Mass Newspaper (in charge of supplements, often explaining the guiding ideology of literary and artistic creation to Liu Xiaogang), President Gong Dafei and successor Liu Jian, and Yu Jiyu, director of propaganda of the Luzhong District Party Committee. The slogan of the Luzhong Mass Newspaper is: Popularization, localization, more paintings, and larger characters. Liu Xiaogang said: "Why do you have more paintings?" At that time, there were few literate people, painting, and I could understand it at a glance. In addition, cultural paper printing is too rough, photos can not be made at all, all image publicity, all rely on woodcuts. I will engrave whatever the newspaper needs. Lenin, the big forehead, Chairman Mao, the big back, are all good to carve, that is, Stalin is not good at carving, beautiful men, but there are no obvious features. Once the knife is not properly walked, it runs in the key place, so use a flat knife to flatten it and hit a wedge. My hands often make the knife bleed. If you can't complete the task, you have to drive a night train, the sea bowl of soybean oil lamp, the lamp twister is so thick, flickering on, I can't see clearly, arch forward, the hair is often burned (laughs), the cold winter moon, the house is frozen and can't sit still, not even a underwear gown, I wear a cotton jacket bare, take a straw rope, my hands are frozen and can't be carved, I will go to the canteen to make some warm water bubbles, and the blood circulation will continue to be engraved..."

In the winter of 1948, during the Battle of Huaihai, Liu Xiaogang (a sitter) took a group photo with comrades in the editorial office of Luzhongnan Newspaper in the suburbs of Linyi.

In May 1983, Liu Xiaogang (first from right) and young painters took a photo after Meng Lianggu sketched.

Liu Xiaogang (fourth from left) presided over the 1995 Selection of Good News Art Works.

I remember the poet Miao Deyu, who worked with Liu Xiaogang in LuzhongNan Bao, said: "Liu Xiaogang is a year older than me, in 1949, he was only 18 years old, but he felt like an old painter." When he set out, he carried a piece of wood on his back and carved it as soon as he stayed. "This is the working state of the newspaper people of the predecessors, for a newspaper, to make the newspaper beautiful, to forget it." The red newspaper born in the ravine has no atmosphere of decline and boredom, no mesmerizing sound, some are bright, cheerful, and simple, you can say that it is rough, but this roughness cannot cover its luster, relying on Liu Xiaogang and these newspaper people to write the manuscript well and polish the page.

03

"That kind of romance and passion, you can't replicate..."

The storm of war forged Liu Xiaogang, and Liu Xiaogang diligently displayed his talents in the smoke of gunfire. He has created nearly a thousand woodcuts and sketches in Luzhong Dazhong Bao and Luzhong South Bao. Now I can't find a second copy in the whole country, which is created with tears and affection. There is a painting called "Blood Debt To Be Paid with Blood", which is a scene he saw with his own eyes. "This is the time when the enemy is focusing on attacking, I was in Linqu County, when the enemy's planes bombed, I went to the street to see, a mess, an old man holding his grandson who had just been killed, there was nothing to say, glaring ahead. Seeing this scene, my heart was very uncomfortable, and I went back that night to pick up the draft and carve it the next day. Tears seeped into the woodcut, and the trembling hand clutched the carving knife and carved the hatred for the enemy into it. "The Mother of the Sons and Soldiers" is also infiltrated with Liu Xiaogang's personal feelings, "because at that time, I lived with the people. The painting is carved of myself, I am sleeping, the old lady is holding the lamp, I kicked the quilt, she came to cover me with the quilt. How can such a work not have the breath of life and appeal? "Another time was in the Battle of Laiwu, after the stretcher team came down from the front line, they rested in the village, and the eldest bride, the eldest sister, and the eldest sister-in-law, carrying eggs and hanging noodles, gathered around and carefully fed the wounded. This scene made Liu Xiaogang feel very deeply, and then he painted it, carved it into wood, and printed it into the newspaper. This is the woodcut "The Wounded Over the Village". The expressions and actions of the characters in the woodcut have been frozen, and the works are engraved with a deep imprint of the times. He said: "I can't carve the kind of work I was then, the high-spirited atmosphere, the kind of romance and passion, you can't copy, maybe I'm more skilled now than before, but it's just a skill." Art comes from life, from the scenes that are most deeply felt in life. ”

04

Draw illustrations for newspapers and race against the clock

"A Small Scene of the Battle of Huaihai"

Chinese painting "Bibo Spring Water"

Liu Xiaogang, who entered the Popular Daily after the founding of New China, is still working in the front line of news art. He worked the night shift for 20 years and had a job of illustrating. At that time, the photos were not so timely, such as the labor models Zhang Fugui and Hao Jianxiu, who had to be painted immediately. "I solved the masthead and illustration problems of the second and third editions in the afternoon, and after eight o'clock in the evening, I solved the important close-up and communication of the first edition, and the editor-in-chief came to see the manuscript, looked at it, and said, Xiao just came over and gave this manuscript an illustration. This is very difficult, to see through the manuscript, to fully understand this matter, just to see through the manuscript is not enough, you have to understand his life. There are some people who don't look like images because they haven't seen them, but you have to understand the age, clothing, and region. "The time for publishing in the evening is very tight, sometimes I draw an illustration, sometimes I draw several illustrations, and he is on duty by himself." The comrades on duty at night also helped me. For example, I'm drawing this illustration right now, and that illustration has to wait. The editor asked me to have to close the manuscript at 11 o'clock at night, and I couldn't publish it later. And I said, well, I'm drawing this, and you're reading that manuscript for me. After reading the manuscript, I had an impression, drawing this, thinking about which one in my mind, and then drawing that one. In the end, to solve the problem of the current affairs version, it is necessary to cooperate with the drawing of some international current affairs cartoons. During the War to Resist US Aggression and Aid Korea, he painted Truman, MacArthur, Clarke, and later Johnson and Kennedy. ”

Liu Xiaogang likes to paint agricultural paintings, because he grew up in the countryside, spring ploughing, autumn harvest he understands, industry is difficult to handle, especially yarn mills, machine tool factories. For this reason, he deliberately went to Jinan Chengda Spinning Factory to go deep into life. Once to draw a traffic officer, this traffic officer had to ride a bicycle. Liu Xiaogang rides a bicycle every day, but he can't draw the structure of the bicycle for a while. He went to the bike shop and went to see it again, and came back to finish the illustration. Liu Xiaogang is good at comics and chinese painting, and his Chinese paintings benefit from rigorous modeling skills and a solid foundation in painting, as well as his profound calligraphy skills.

05

Willing to be a ladder for others, happy to make wedding dresses for others

Liu Xiaogang is a famous calligrapher and painter in the Qilu painting circle, and he is also a respected predecessor and teacher in the Shandong news art circle, he has long served as the president of the Shandong Provincial Comics Society, the chairman of the Shandong Provincial News Artists Association, the vice chairman of the Shandong Provincial Artists Association, etc., but he is always so modest, low-key, and happy to make wedding dresses for others. He united a large number of Calligraphers and Painters and Calligraphy lovers in Shandong. When he was also working as an art editor at Dazhong Daily, his office was very busy. Regardless of his origin, no matter his origin, his family, whether he is a beginner or a famous artist, Liu Xiaogang always greets him with a smile and patiently puts forward his own opinions. Mengshan Yishui raised Liu Xiaogang, and Liu Xiaogang turned the inspiration given to him by his hometown into a work of art and gave it back to his hometown. On October 28, 2009, the "Liu Xiaogang Calligraphy and Painting Art Museum" was opened in Luozhuang District, Linyi City. On the day of the opening of the museum, Liu Xiaogang said with emotion: "I was born in Yimeng, grew up in Yimeng, fought in Yimeng, and for many years I have had a wish to return to my hometown the revolutionary heroic prints that praised the former servants of the Yimeng military and people and fought bloodily during the war years in luzhong mass newspaper and Luzhong south newspaper, and some of the calligraphy and painting works I have created in recent years... Now that the art museum is built, my wish has been granted. I once asked him, "You have not been in a science class, nor have you received a formal education, where do these achievements come from?" Liu Xiaogang's answer was: "I have superhuman perseverance, and I never waste a little time." Until now, I got up at 4 o'clock every morning and worked more than ten hours a day. One is persistent pursuit, and the other is to seek advice with an open mind. There are people outside the people, there are days outside the sky, what is great about themselves, fluttering, then how to do it? "But diligent, searching up and down, being attentive and patient, not being vain, being meticulous." This is the style handed down from generation to generation of mass newspapermen. Because there is a goal, it does not stop; because it constantly sees progress, it is tireless. The last time I saw Liu Lao was in the late autumn of last year. On the street of Huanshan Road in Jinan's Lixia District, he said that he was waiting for his wife and children at home, and he was carrying a bag with several steamed buns. I asked Liu Lao if he still painted? He said that there was no time to serve the sick. But at the age of 90, he is still very passionate, and he loudly told me: "Don't stop writing, once you stop, you can't pick it up." Pens also bully people. "Holding the old man's hand, I felt very warm. Liu Xiaogang's actions have become part of the popular daily, and his spirit nourishes and inspires the people. I'm proud to have such a predecessor, and I'm proud to be a part of the popular newspaper. (The author is a senior reporter of Dazhong Daily)

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