A photograph of Tagore with Hu Shi's autograph inscription (Figure 1) was highly watched and sought after by collectors in a collection auction in 2013, soaring from the original estimate of 120,000 yuan to 150,000 yuan, and the final transaction price was as high as 862,500 yuan. It should be said that this photo is clearly imaged, well-preserved, and has Hu Shi's inscription, and its cultural value cannot be underestimated. Hu Shi's inscription, the birth of this photo, clearly explained, but also directly added "gold content" to this photo. The Hu Shi inscription on this photo is as follows:
"Mr. Tagore traveled through Shanghai on March 19 this year and stayed at Shima's home for a day. This is the photo I took that morning. Xiao Man took it and enlarged it and hung it at home as a souvenir, and asked me to write a few words, but I did not dare not, so I had to obey.
Eighteenth, Fourth, Third"
It can be seen that this is another visit to China after Tagore's official visit to China in 1924 at the invitation of Hu Shi and Xu Zhimo. But this time it is a stopover in Shanghai, stopping by to visit friends, which is a more intimate itinerary. Hu Shi's inscription indirectly expresses the deep personal friendship between Tagore, Xu Zhimo, Lu Xiaoman and himself, an old photo, involving four celebrities, naturally precious. But as everyone knows, in fact, this is not the only inscription of Hu Shi for tagore's statue, there is also a photo of the inscription (Figure 2), and even shortly after Hu Shi's inscription was reprinted and published. This other photo of Tagore with an inscription by Hu Shi, as the first page illustration of the translation of Tagore's ancient Chinese poetry, "Five Words and Birds", naturally has its own special features. Of course, it is necessary to first brief the specifics of the book.
"Five Words flying bird collection", printed by the Zhonghua Book Company in February of the 20th year of the Republic of China (1931), is a rather quaint lead printing line binding, the printing font is selected from the "Juzhen Imitation Song Style" created by Ding Fuzhi, one of the founders of the Xiling Printing Society (this special font is the first patented font in China, and is the ancestor of the "imitation Song style" for future generations). The layout of this book is sparse and elegant, and the ancient poetry lines in the frame make people think at first glance that it is a collection of ancient poetry of the nearest person, and it is difficult to think that it will be a translation of Tagore's poetry collection. The cover is affixed with a sign, and the two lines and eight characters of "Tai GorYi, Yao Hua's Speech" are vertically arranged under the title of the book, and the copyright page is signed "Translator Yao Hua". So, who is Yao Hua?
Yao Hua (1875-1930), the translator of the "Five Words and Birds Collection", the character is heavy light, the number is mangy, the vast, the e, the Guiyang people. During the Guangxu dynasty, he studied at Hosei University in Japan, and was a member of the Diet during the Republic of China, and was familiar with poetry and songwriting, Jinshi calligraphy and painting. At that time, he was a painter with the same name as Qi Baishi and Chen Shizeng, and he was also well-known in the literary world for many years. Why would such a master of traditional painting and calligraphy translate a collection of poems for an Indian poet?
This book has two prefaces, Ye Gongqi and Xu Zhimo, which illustrate the origin of this Chinese translation. Ye Gong's preface has clouds: "In the summer of the eighteenth year of the Republic of China, Xu Zi Zhimo showed yao yi'e five words flying bird collection", which shows that this sequence was made at the request of Xu Zhimo. Xu Zhimo's preface, written in August of the nineteenth year of the Republic of China (1930), detailed the origin of the book: "Mr. Zheng Zhenduo collected and translated more than three hundred poems from several English translation poems by Mr. Taiguer, and the title of the book is called "The Collection of Birds". He is a literal translation of the style. Mr. Yao Mang's father also translated every poem or section of Zheng's "Flying Bird Collection" into a five-word poem with inconsistent length (it should be said that "acting") is called "Five Words and Birds Collection". This is a contemporary foreign poem that is not only written but also translated into ancient script... Mr. Zheng read English, not Pengali (Bangladesh). Mr. Yao didn't even read English. When Mr. Tayguer and Mr. Yao Hua met that year (1924, when Tagore first came to China), the two poets looked at each other and smiled, taking each other's admiration in their hearts. Mr. Taigul took Mr. Yao's painting back to The Nickdon on the hill to display in their art gallery, and Mr. Yao "performed" our Indian poet's "Birds" at leisure in his Lotus Temple. Xu Zhimo believed that "this is a wonderful literary cause", so Zhang Luo published it, hoping to leave this literary story for posterity.
The Five Words of Birds has two pages of illustrated pages. One is a statue of Tagore, and on the right side of the original photo there is a handwritten letter from Hu Shi: "Mr. Tagore passed through Shanghai on March 19 this year (1929) and stayed in Xu Zhimo's house for one day, which I took that morning at Shima's house." Hu Shi, 1929, April 30".
The whole photograph seems to be dimly lit, showing a kind of ink painting charm, Tagore's silver hair fluttering, wide robes, and a relaxed look. In fact, because the photo is reproduced from the Colo edition, the clarity is not enough, which naturally produces a halo effect of ink blending, and the Hu Shi inscription on the side is clear and straight, and it is interesting to the photo.
It can be seen that although Hu Shi's inscriptions on the two photographs are 27 days apart, the statue of Tagore was taken on March 19, 1929. That is to say, on the same day, Hu Shi may have taken more than one photo of Tagore, Hu Shi first inscribed Figure 1 to Lu Xiaoman for hanging on the wall to commemorate, and then inscribed Figure 2 to Xu Zhimo for publication and reprinting. Look closely at the two photographs, one with a closer focus and one farther away; but it is still discernible that Tagore may have been sitting in different rooms during the shooting. The background you can see in Figure 1 is a vertical column of furniture or interior elements that appear to be wood, as well as sofas and sofa cushions; the background you can see in Figure 2 is a Chinese chair, a calligraphy frame, and a potted flower arrangement. Compared with the two, the interior arrangement in Figure 1 is obviously a little westernized and modern; the indoor layout in Figure 2 is a little more Sinicized and a little more antique. If these two photographs, as described in Hu Shi's inscription, were taken by Hu Shi himself, then how could there be two completely different styles of interior arrangements for this great Indian poet who came from afar on the same day at Xu Zhimo's home?
This doubt, after reading Lu Xiaoman's article "Tagore's Guest at My House - Remembering Shima", was suddenly released. It is mentioned that Xu Zhimo and her preparations for receiving Tagore did prepare a room for him that was different from the Chinese style and close to the Indian style. She wrote: "Shima certainly knew a lot more than I knew, and he set out to arrange our third floor into an Indian-style room, where everything was imitated in Indian style, and a lot of effort was made. I look at it very funny, very funny. But then things changed, and Tagore didn't like the Indian-style rooms they had carefully prepared. She recalled: Who knew that the old poet did not like the house we had spent a lot of time preparing, but had a good feeling for our bedroom. He said, 'I love this oriental, quaint room, let me sleep in this room!' 'It's funny! ”
If you look closely at Tagore's expression in the photo, you can really see his restraint in the Indian room, which contrasts with the leisure in the Chinese room.
It seems that the two photographs of Tagore with very different backgrounds taken by Hu Shi himself are the works captured by Xu Zhimo and Lu Xiaoman when they received the great Indian poet. Otherwise, let the distinguished guests from afar, in order to take a photo, have to change two rooms to pose and toss, I am afraid it is reasonable, and it is really a bit unreasonable, right? Everything is originally reasonable, and everything is reminiscent of historical details - Tagore, Hu Shi, Xu Zhimo, Lu Xiaoman, etc., these shining names in the history of modern Chinese literature seem to be condensed in these three old yellowed photos.
Source: Collector's Express