Text/Xue Guirong
This year marks the 100th anniversary of the birth of Su Tianci, a famous Chinese oil painter and art educator. Su Tianci is a generation of famous artists, and his paintings and personalities are respected inside and outside the painting world.
When Mr. Su was alive, he interviewed him as a media reporter from his hometown of Yangjiang, Guangdong. After the interviews, there were several correspondences and telephone correspondence.
During the interview, I appreciated the style of his generation of famous teachers and also felt his deep affection for his hometown. What I saw and heard is still vividly remembered.
One
In July 1922, Su Tianci was born in Yangjiang City. Starting from a young man with an artistic dream and sitting on the city wall every day to depict the sky full of colorful kites, through the years of the War of Resistance against Japanese Aggression and through various trials, Su Tianci has embarked on a tortuous and brilliant life and artistic journey.
Adhering to Lin Fengmian's artistic concept of "integration of East and West", he tirelessly explored the road of nationalization of oil painting, formed a unique oil painting expression style, and eventually became an oil painting artist with worldwide influence.
Leaving home at a young age, Su Tianci has always been concerned and concerned by the people of his hometown. However, due to his busy work and other reasons, except for the International Kite Festival held in Yangjiang in 1992, he was invited to return to his hometown to attend activities and sketch and create, and he rarely returned to his hometown for decades.
In the spring of 2004, the Yangjiang Daily newspaper where I worked planned to write a report on a group of Yangjiang cultural celebrities and artists, and I got in touch with Mr. Su, who was far away in Nanjing at the time, with the assistance of a classmate who was a teacher at Nanjing University.
When he received the call, Mr. Su looked a little surprised. Knowing our intentions, he happily expressed his willingness to be interviewed, but he said, "You are welcome to Nanjing." But I was a little unwell during this time, and I had to get injections every day. Find a suitable time and invite you over. ”
Therefore, we first sent Mr. Su an interview outline, and after two or three months, we learned that Mr. Su's condition was improving, and we called him again, and finally agreed on the interview schedule.
On July 21, 2004, two reporters and I rushed to Nanjing from Yangjiang and found Mr. Su at the entrance of Tangquan Wolong Mountain Villa, dozens of kilometers from the city, at more than two o'clock in the afternoon. Under the scorching sun, Mr. Su walked to the door of the courtyard to greet us.
Mr. Su, who is more than 80 years old, wears a loose short-sleeved round neck shirt, his body is slightly emaciated, and he looks a little tired, but he is very enthusiastic.
The large living room of the Su family is neat and quiet. On the wall facing the door hangs a pleasing landscape painting, typical of the "poetic oil painting" style. Mr. Su said: "This is what I painted two years ago, and it is the lake outside. ”
He carefully looked at the several copies of the Yangjiang Daily we brought, listened with great interest to us about some new things in his hometown of Yangjiang, and his deep affection for his hometown overflowed between his brows.
Mr. Su's wife, Ling Huanru, was a famous sculptor and a professor at the Nanjing Academy of arts before retiring. Aware that I was speaking with a Hunan accent, she immediately said, "You are a Hunan native!" We are fellow countrymen. ”
The interview unfolded in a relaxed, intimate atmosphere. We spread out the interview book, opened the tape recorder, and listened to Mr. Su talking, and Ms. Ling sometimes interjected to add that this conversation was two or three hours.
Worried that his body would not be able to eat, after the main question was answered, he offered to end the interview. Mr. and Mrs. Su sent us out of the courtyard together and took photos with us on the grass in the courtyard.
Two
Unexpectedly, within a few days of returning to Yangjiang, I actually received a package from Mr. Su, which contained a letter and two albums.
The letter began: "Visiting from afar, I didn't have time to elaborate, I was sluggish!" Sorry! The letter said that after we left, he looked at the outline of the interview we had sent before, there were several questions, and the interview may have been missed or not thoroughly explained, and he wanted to add a few points; Two albums contain an essay he wrote himself and a chronology of his artistic activities for our reference.
The letter was written with a fountain pen, the writing was beautiful and smooth, and the handwriting was vigorous and elegant, which showed Mr. Su's profound literary and calligraphy skills.
What touched us most about this package was that Mr. Su was a well-known person at home and abroad, and there were naturally many media who came to interview him, but he obviously gave special "treatment" to the hometown media.
Since then, when sorting out and digesting the interview records, we encountered some questions and called Mr. Su several times, and each time he patiently answered, giving us a lot of convenience.
According to the original idea, the trip to Nanjing was originally intended to write an interview with Mr. Su. But in the end, we changed our minds and began to conceive a longer manuscript that would reflect Mr. Su's lifelong artistic exploration and achievements.
In the process of writing, we encountered another problem. In 1987, commissioned by the state, Mr. Su went to Paris, France to study Western art for a year.
However, this important "study abroad" experience, Mr. Su did not have time to expand when he interviewed us, and the relevant materials were not introduced in detail. So one day at the end of 2004, we called Mr. Su again, and it was Ms. Ling who answered the phone, and she said that Mr. Su was resting and it was inconvenient to listen to the phone, and she would relay our request to him.
Just after the Spring Festival in 2005, Mr. Su wrote to us and sent us a newly published painting collection "Ten Chinese Oil Paintings - Su Tianci".
The letter reads that when he returned from Paris, he published two articles in the magazine" "Paris Essay" and "Memories from Paris", and his feelings and understanding were written in it, and here are copies of the article.
We noticed that one of the articles was incomplete, and it may have been reprinted during typography and did not see the ending. However, it does not affect the understanding much. But only 7 days later, we received another letter from Mr. Su. Inside was a copy of paper, the missing ending.
There was also a note paper, mr. Su wrote: "Years ago, I sent one copy of the humble work and two copies of the other humble text. Because it was delivered by a trustee, please copy it on your behalf, according to him, it may have missed half a page in the article "Paris Essay". Shun today's delivery convenience, resend half a paper, please refer to the supplement. Happy Chinese New Year. ”
Such a small matter, Mr. Su has always been in his heart and handled it with his own hands.
Due to work arrangements and other reasons, the manuscript was delayed until about August to complete the first draft, and it was revised several times, and it was basically finalized until October.
The whole manuscript is about 20,000 words long, and I want to send it to Nanjing, and ask Mr. Su to take the time to look at it. As soon as the phone said, Mr. Su replied happily: "Let me see it, send it over." "But after the manuscript was sent, we got the news that Mr. Su's condition had changed somewhat.
During this time, we called his house to greet him about his illness. Ms. Ling told us: "My husband is still in the hospital, but his physical recovery has improved. "We can only silently bless him in our hearts.
Since December 28, 2005, we have published this group of reports on Mr. Su in 12 issues in Yangjiang Daily. After the manuscript was published, we sent him a sample report.
Just a few months later, on August 25, 2006, Mr. Su died of illness at Nanjing Drum Tower Hospital.
Many institutions in yangjiang, their hometown, sent representatives to Nanjing to bid farewell to Su Tianci. Yangjiang Daily published a number of commemorative reports and laid wreaths to send mourning.
Three
Extraordinarily nostalgic. In these several exchanges with Mr. Su, we deeply felt his personality and artistic charm. He is sincere, optimistic and open-minded, loves art, teaches people tirelessly, no matter how the social environment and personal circumstances change, he always cares about his hometown, and Sangzi has deep affection.
I always remember Mr. Su recalling in his later years:
"The oldest memory in my life is the lush greenery in front of my house... Nature pulled the door open, showing her colorful bosom, nourishing my senses until the little bits in my blood, making it increase with life and with the heart. I'm glad it started when I was young. She prompted me to learn to paint, and I derived from it a pure joy that was simple and rustic enough for me to enjoy for the rest of my life. ”
The lush green in front of his hometown has always been treasured in the depths of his soul. (For more news, please pay attention to Yangcheng Pie pai.ycwb.com)
Source | Yangcheng Evening News Yangcheng Pie
Editor-in-charge | Izzina
Proofreading | Pan Liling