Text/Zhu Xinjian
I don't think it's easy for contemporary calligraphers and painters to become masters.
Because how much he will contribute to society or how much he has already contributed to society, and how much society will change, we cannot see in our contemporary era. Van Gogh, for example, did not have the sensation that he did before he died.
We say that Cézanne is the father of modern painting, and it is only when he is about to retire as an athlete that the significance of this ball game begins to appear. He inspired Matisse's generation, and Matisse's generation gave rise to Picasso, and so on, and all the subsequent earth-shaking changes were actually very related to Cézanne's personal activities.
Paul Cézanne, The Apple and the Biscuit, 1895
Paul Cézanne, Still Life and Curtains, 1895
Now, we say that Cézanne is the father of modern painting, and without him it is difficult to imagine what modern art would become. And this meaning is social significance, not to say how beautiful he is to draw an apple, how meaningful it is to paint a jar in terms of brushwork, of course Cézanne is undoubtedly on these, and he painted very well. This is really something that needs to wait until the end of this football match. When everyone is still running around on the field, how can you determine whether the final World Cup was taken by Brazil or France? So whether there are masters in the present generation is not up to now, and there are no masters in any dynasty.
Personally, I think that Huang Binhong, Qi Baishi, and Lin Fengmian are not first-class masters. What is a first-class master? With this person and without this person, the human species is different.
Lin Fengmian, "The Girl Holding the Lotus"
Lin Fengmian's works
With Einstein and without Einstein, the human species is different, and this is called a first-class master. Joking that the sun originally rose at half past six every day, because with this person, the sun came out two hours earlier, and the whole world changed because of him, and such a person is a first-class master. For example, with and without Zhao Ji, the game of Chinese painting is also different; with Wang Xizhi and without Wang Xizhi, Chinese writing Chinese characters is different, and I thought these were called first-class masters.
Qi Baishi, Huang Binhong, Lin Fengmian, etc., I think they are very well painted. It's hard to say whether a good painter or artist will become a first-class master in the end, it has nothing to do with the painter, it depends on the society, and there are many factors that play a role in each other.
Sai Shiraishi Works
I think that the master, whose own work, in a big way, has played a very large role in the culture of this population. Like the ripples of an earthquake, the epicenter may be in a small circle, but the magnitude of the earthquake is very high and slowly spreads outward.
I think Shi Tao and the Eighth National Congress have had a great influence on the thoughts, emotions, and values of Chinese scholars, and of course they must be masters. Another example is Li Yu, although he seems to write about the inner emotions of the lost country, Wang Guowei said that Li Yu is like Christ Jesus, he is burdened with the disaster of all mankind and the tragedy of one species.
Shi Tao, "One of the Eight Victories of Yellow Mountain", (Japanese) Izumiya Bogu Collection
Bada Shanren, Shanshui, 23.2 × 28.1cm, Honolulu Museum of Art, Hawaii
In addition, innovation is one of the many aesthetic values. Good paintings are often very good in every aspect, from the traditional perspective of Chinese painting, the tradition is relatively well inherited, and from the perspective of innovation, the innovation is also good. Innovation alone doesn't turn into a good painting. So innovation is certainly not the only aesthetic value, and it is certainly not the most important value. It's like the little girl herself is very good-looking, why is she good-looking? Because she is white? But not all white-looking things are good-looking. Or maybe some little girls are very slender and so good-looking? No, not all slim girls are good-looking, and some are as thin as bamboo poles and ugly. It's hard to say anyway.
Song Huizong, "Two Poems of Wind and Frost"
Song Huizong, part of "Small Kai Thousand Character Text".
Personally, I think that more sincerity and vividness are the most important values. The so-called innovation is to hope that your personal value is greater, and don't always imitate others.
At the beginning, I learned some stylized techniques in order to master some languages to enter the game. When you really enter the game, it is the manifestation of your personal value, including your cultivation and character. What you are is is inside, and the work is your shadow.
For example, there are various methods of skillful techniques, and some people are very simple in their skills, which proves that this person is more essential; some people are very fancy, all of them are embroidered with fists and legs, and they turn their heels for a while, and they squeeze their eyebrows and make eyes for a while, which proves that this person is more decorating himself, and it is not easy for others to see his true colors. There is a difference in these beauties.
Bada Shanren, Lotus Painting, Freer Museum of Fine Arts
The so-called painting is born from the heart, if you don't draw a picture, if you don't sing a song, you may not understand him, but when he paints it, it is actually to express himself more thoroughly, and then you think this person is very beautiful. For example, Cao Xueqin, if he doesn't write "Dream of Red Mansions", you must think that he is a bad old man, he wrote "Dream of Red Mansions", you take it, it turns out that this person has such a rich heart.
The difference is in the degree of profundity. The heart is deeper, and the work can have depth. It is impossible for a person with a shallow heart to draw a deep picture. It is possible that his heart is more profound, and he still can't draw it all the time, and he doesn't know much about the techniques of the game of drawing, so he may sing and sing very deeply, or write articles very profoundly. Truly profound and not scary. Being profound does not mean that I criticize others, but people who are truly profound and understanding are very happy, peaceful, and enthusiastic.
Bada Shanren, "Fish"
The higher you go, the better writers and musicians you are, the fewer you can understand the problem to a certain depth, so many painters are relatively not profound, which is also normal. For example, if you paint very simple paintings, unless you really paint very deeply, and some people know you, and you are not very profound, and you give up on ordinary readers, and you don't paint more beautifully, then you can't even eat?
In Zen Buddhism, a man asked his teacher how he was a good deeder, and the teacher said that he was a person who was "shackled." So how can you be a person who does evil? The teacher said that people like us who have entered meditation and meditation. He said, "Teacher, you speak too profoundly, can you say something that we can understand?" The teacher said that good and evil are like floating clouds, and there is no definite statement. Good and evil, beauty and ugliness, right and wrong are all like this.
When it comes to painting, I can't even set the standard, and I don't know who will score it. That's why this game is interesting, and it can be judged right away, so that many people don't play it with fascination.
When I was in Jiangsu, there was a teacher who might not be used to lecturing. He told me he was 58 years old. I said, what's wrong with being 58? He said that Qi Baishi started selling paintings at the age of 58. I said, "Are you going to start selling?" and he said, who knows if I'll live to be 95. In that respect, I like the slogan that Americans send their athletes to the Olympics: You don't have to succeed, but you have to work hard. I think this is a more humane statement, for everyone who paints, it is not necessarily successful, but you should work hard, and whether you succeed or not is another matter.
I think that Chinese painting must have a very strong charm, even if it dies at the hands of our generation, I don't think it matters, and it may come back to life in another 300 or 500 years. Now it is very possible to die, success is almost impossible, and every success is valuable because of the impossible. We logically deduce that it is difficult for a person to succeed, and if you succeed, of course, there are many opportunities, and you yourself have put in more effort than you can imagine.
Shi Tao, "Cloud and Mountain", collection of the Palace Museum, Beijing
I would like to explain my success to be specific.
We joke that if we start painting and the person next to you thinks you're a painter, then we're positioned as a sixth-rate painter.
Then you meet a good teacher by chance, or you enter the Beijing Academy of Fine Arts or the Central Academy of Fine Arts to study, and then you have a certain professional foundation, you can be regarded as a fifth-rate painter, and you will be promoted to the first-class.
You work very hard, and you are a fourth-rate painter at this time.
Every time you make progress, you will eliminate a batch, and a sixth-rate painter is not necessarily worse than you, but he does not have this opportunity, and he has not undergone such professional training. Some of those who enter professional training are unfortunately excluded for reasons such as cultural management.
When it comes to fourth-rate painters, I think they basically don't move anymore, and if they are very smart and don't work hard, they are considered okay by everyone, and they can be regarded as fourth-rate painters when they enter some inconsequential occasions. But most of them are such fourth-rate painters. Very smart people don't have to work too hard to get in, and less smart people have to work hard to get in. Among so many fourth-rate painters, smart people can no longer develop a habit, so they will not enter the third-rate. The limit of the hard work of an unintelligent person is here, so there is basically nothing to enter the third rate.
Shi Tao, Flower Album, Freer Museum of Art, USA
Occasionally, there are some exceptions, such as Chen Danqing, I joke that you are almost a third-rate painter, because he is more intelligent and hardworking.
He was a special case because society didn't recognize him at the time, saying that he was from a bad background or something. Chen Danqing said that they were very bitter at that time, when they drew comic books with that junior brother Ding, the two of them only had a pair of sanitary pants and only a pair of autumn pants, and the autumn pants still had a big hole, and they didn't know where to stuff it, anyway, they lived a very hard life. Chen Danqing told me that he once got an oil canvas and cried, because he had never got a real oil canvas and was very happy to paint oil on the canvas. After he got it, he didn't know how to draw it, he didn't know how to put pen to paper. Because of these reasons, he worked very hard and was very smart, and I don't think he would have worked so hard without that. So he entered the third rate. But I think this motivation is preventing him from getting into the second rate because he cares too much about what society thinks of him.
Chen Danqing, "Three Trees"
Take away these things that hinder him, and just paint more calmly, this kind of person may be in the fourth-rate, but you can't enter the third-rate at all, and it's difficult for the second-rate to enter, so it's all left in the fourth-rate.
But there is a person who suddenly took the wrong medicine, and for some reason when he was in the third rate, his personality suddenly changed, and he could enter the second rate again.
After entering the second rate, it is another question whether it can enter the first-class. If you can enter the first-class painter, you are not an ordinary person, you are crazy, you just have a problem, he only knows how to paint in the world, and he doesn't know anything else. He must have a great talent, a very thick education, and a disease, then he may be a first-class painter.
Zhu Xinjian's work
There are too few first-class painters in history. So I think it's almost impossible to succeed, I don't want to succeed anymore, if I like to draw, I can continue to draw forever, I don't know if this statement is too relieved.
Picasso
Some of the first-rate painters I fancy are definitely sick. I think Picasso is a first-rate painter, and this person must also be sick, that is, he doesn't seem to know anything else in this world, but only painting, and he has so much creativity. But there are too many people with this problem, he must be a talented person, and the society has to give him all kinds of reasons, so it is almost impossible for a person to succeed.
This article is selected from Zhu Xinjian's book "Returning to the Original Form", the original title of the original article is "First-class Masters and Sixth-rate Painters", and the article has been deleted.