It has been more than 30 years since I met Manwei, but it has been nearly ten years since I became acquainted.
Ten years ago, Man Weiqi founded the China Ink Painting Academy, hired well-known domestic painters, cultivated many outstanding talents, and held art exhibitions in many places across the country, with wide influence. In particular, the sketching activities of the Ink Painting Institute have become the "leading brand" in the art world, with extensive influence and appeal.
Man Weiqi is tired of sketching, I call Man Weiqi a "sketching master", because when it comes to sketching, he is as excited as if he has been beaten, as long as he finds a place that can be painted, he will start the pen when he picks up the guy, and he is really fast at hand, often before others have started, he will quickly draw a picture, and then transfer the position, and find a new target. One of the characteristics of this sketching group is that there is no entertainment, as soon as they arrive at the destination, they will first open the painting tools and start drying, sometimes come out early in the morning and finish work until dark, and lunch is often eaten at the place where the painting is eaten. The painters are also very accustomed to this state and enjoy it. Every time the full dimension is up, it is on 45×53 cm cardboard, mountains and rocks. Fangsi Nunnery Pavilion, towering wood embellished with English...... Jumping on the paper, every time I go out to sketch and complete 20 paintings, I will show a very proud and relaxed expression.
In the past few years, Man Weiqi has created more than 1,000 sketches. At the 2022 "Mountains and Rivers Accompanying - Man Weiqi Chinese Painting Exhibition" held by the Calligraphy and Painting Channel Art Museum, you can enjoy the massive number of sketches in Man Weiqi's unique style at home and abroad, all of which are shocking.
Earlier than this time last year, it was Man Weiqi who was busy with the exhibition of the China Ink Painting Academy in Tianjin. He attended the opening ceremony of this exhibition despite his illness, which was probably his last wish.
Everyone was saddened by his departure. Man could not resist the laws of nature, but Man Weiqi developed and broadened the realm of large and small green landscape paintings in his limited life, leaving behind the artistic schema of "Manjia Landscape" and creating the meaning of artistic life.
We miss you!
Wang Yuliang 2024.6.8
Wang Yuliang
Professor of the Department of Painting, Academy of Arts and Design, Tsinghua University
Art Advisor of the Artists Association of Central State Organs
Editor's note:
June 12, 2024 is the 1st anniversary of Mr. Man Weiqi's death, and student Tie Feng invited Mr. Man's former friends to write an article to reminisce about the past and offer his remembrance. I would like to commemorate Mr. Man Weiqi with the memorial essays of all my teachers and friends.