Oil painting pursues the truth, and to a certain extent, it is a kind of painting that can be replaced by photography, while Chinese painting cannot be replaced. Nowadays, young people do not understand and think that Western painting is good, which is not a good phenomenon, which shows that people's cultural quality is declining.
- Jin Shangyi
Jin Shangyi, born in 1934, is a native of Jiaozuo, Henan. He graduated from the Painting Department of the Central Academy of Fine Arts in 1953. In 1957, he graduated from the Maximov oil painting training school and stayed at the school to teach sketching in the printmaking department. In 1962, he was transferred to the first studio of the Department of Oil Painting to teach. Former President of the Central Academy of Fine Arts. He is currently a doctoral supervisor and professor at the Central Academy of Fine Arts, the chairman of the China Artists Association, the vice chairman of the China Federation of Literary and Art Circles, a member of the Standing Committee of the National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference, and an honorary member of the 10th China Federation of Literary and Art Circles. His works have won many awards at home and abroad, and have been collected by institutions and individuals such as the National Art Museum of China.
Jin Shangyi, Girl in White Dress, 80×65cm, 1993, Oil on canvas
Oil painting is undoubtedly a key word in the cultural world in the first half of 2005. After Chinese oil painting became a new hot spot in 2004~2005, Chen Danqing's resignation caused the public to pay attention to the creative environment in colleges and universities concentrated in the field of oil painting, and the sudden death of Chen Yifei made people's attention focus on oil painting again. Jin Shangyi's solo exhibition also quietly opened at this time.
Jin Shangyi, Sunshine Outside the Door, 27.2×19.5cm, 1964, Oil on cardboard
Almost at the same time as Chen Danqing's resignation and Chen Yifei's death, Jin Shangyi, chairman of the China Artists Association, former president of the Central Academy of Fine Arts, and a low-key oil painter, held the "Jin Shangyi Art Retrospective Exhibition" in Beijing in early April, which was his first large-scale solo exhibition in more than 50 years of art. The exhibition was jointly organized by the Ministry of Culture, the Ministry of Education, the China Federation of Literary and Art Circles and other units, and the ribbon cutters included State Councilor Chen Zhili, Minister of Culture Sun Jiazheng, and President of the Central Academy of Fine Arts Pan Gongkai...... This kind of posture makes the exhibition itself exude a classic solemn tone. Compared with the large-scale media reports about Chen Danqing and Chen Yifei, Jin Shangyi, Chen Danqing's teacher and one of the representatives of China's third-generation oil painters, is much quieter among the public.
Jin Shangyi, Tibetan Woman, 80×80cm, 1991, Oil on canvas
As a non-negligible witness and observer of the development of Chinese oil painting, Jin Shangyi's observation and feeling of the development process of Chinese oil painting is a little sparse but meaningful in today's increasingly noisy Chinese oil painting market. "Chinese painting is extremely important now, and will become more and more important in the future" On April 17, the reporter of this magazine interviewed Jin Shangyi, who is over seventy years old and has a high reputation in the Chinese oil painting industry. If you paint him in words, the lines will be very simple: he is not tall, his hair is clean and neat, and his thin, gentle face is covered with glasses, which makes him look introverted and low-key.
The interview took place in his study at home. At that time, two young men, a man and a woman, brought him a large stack of oil paintings and asked him for advice. Jin Shangyi looked at it very carefully and said it very carefully.
China News Weekly: After the liberation and before the Cultural Revolution, most of your paintings were revolutionary historical themes, did you feel that you were limited in your creative work at that time?
Jin Shangyi: No, it's not restricted as modern people say. First, I have a place to paint, which is very important, and it is good to have a museum to collect it, and it is profitable to paint. So the task was pleasant. At that time, there was no restriction on what you could paint, because the thoughts and moods at that time were completely in line with the development and requirements of the country, so I would be very enthusiastic about painting. Including old painters such as Dong Xiwen and Luo Gongliu, all the painters at that time were very enthusiastic about painting.
Jin Shangyi, December Meeting, 160×135cm, 1961, Oil on canvas, Collection of the National Museum of China
That's how the human mind was then. Of course, there are a few people who are branded as rightists because of their paintings, but that is only a part of the people. On the other hand, what we wanted to paint at that time was in line with the mainstream, and it was a very good time, so we had a good foundation. At that time, it was very quiet and simple, and everyone learned quietly and steadfastly. Freedom is very free now, but it's not easy to learn well. I am rarely able to do things according to my own will now, I could have done it according to my own will at the beginning, but now it is (on the contrary) difficult, not that who restricts you, but now people are full of contradictions, and I don't know what to do anymore.
China News Weekly: When you heard that your work was exhibited in Hong Kong, it was bought at a high price, but you were very angry because you didn't have your consent?
Jin Shangyi: I don't like to sell (paintings). Painters who make a living by painting want their paintings to be sold, no matter how low the price is. But for a long time in China, people who paint have jobs, and it doesn't matter if they sell paintings or not, they don't have much impact on my life. And all painters have a habit of wanting to keep their good paintings. Even those painters who make a living by selling paintings, he also stays on with good paintings and does not sell them.
China News Weekly: But now the young people who paint have to face the existential crisis more directly than you did back then.
Jin Shangyi: Yes, now [the painters] have to face this problem. We didn't have an art market at that time, so the country wanted your paintings, and you were very happy and thought it was important. There is a job, and there is an income from manuscript fees, and people are very down-to-earth and practical. Nowadays, everyone pursues profits, is very impetuous, academically not solid, and surpasses reality. And now the art market in China is not well developed. So it's very difficult to make a living by selling paintings now.
Jin Shangyi, Portrait of Chen Xi, 80×55.5cm, 2006, Oil on canvas
China News Weekly: To what extent has the level of Chinese oil painting developed now?
Jin Shangyi: Nowadays, oil painting is not very important as a type of painting (internationally). Because photography and computer design are well developed. The development of oil painting in the West has reached an extreme, and it is difficult to move forward. Therefore, their cutting-edge art is no longer painting, but engages in installation and conceptual art, which has become an activity. Oil painting in China is still on the rise. However, China's development is too fast, and it has only been 100 years since oil painting entered China. It took 500 years for this genre of painting in the West to mature from its appearance. Therefore, it is a sandwich rice, and it is still quite far from ripe.
Jin Shangyi, Tajik Bride, 60×50cm, 1983, Oil on canvas, Collection of National Art Museum of China
China News Weekly: Do I have to be in school to learn oil painting?
Jin Shangyi: Yes, it is not good to study oil painting without engaging in college, only the school has such conditions. The teacher has studied oil painting, and all kinds of conditions are met, so you can know how to learn it here.
Jin Shangyi, Huang Binhong in his later years, 115×99cm, 1996, Oil on canvas, Collection of CAFA Art Museum
China News Weekly: Nowadays, more and more young people are learning to paint oil painting, but you suggest that they learn Chinese painting?
Jin Shangyi: I often tell my students that the more I paint, the more I paint, the more I feel that oil painting is wordy and boring. The Chinese painting is fantastic, very concise, expressive, and looks comfortable and fresh. Chinese painting is extremely important now and will become more and more important in the future, but now young people don't like it and don't understand the importance of Chinese painting. There are many limitations to the tools of oil painting, and this is a problem of the type of painting. Oil painting pursues the truth, and to a certain extent, it is a kind of painting that can be replaced by photography, while Chinese painting cannot be replaced. Nowadays, young people do not understand and think that Western painting is good, which is not a good phenomenon, which shows that people's cultural quality is declining.
China News Weekly: Why is their quality declining?
Jin Shangyi: Today's students can't even ask questions. For example, professional questions are very naïve. I don't understand the situation, I don't do any research on hearsay, and then I take what I hear as the truth.
The reporter learned that Jin Shangyi only put a small number of paintings on the market for sale, and most of them were collected by himself, and he planned to donate them to the Central Academy of Fine Arts and the National Art Museum of China in the future. In Jin Shangyi's study, an open copy of "The Biography of Jiang Zemin" was fastened on the desk, and only a few thin pages of a thick book remained unread. He said that he likes to read a lot of literary works, and even read a lot of Western literary works in chronological order of Western literary history. What surprised the reporter even more was that he had more curiosity and a desire to understand young people now.
By chance, a reporter introduced him to Wei Hui's "Shanghai Baby", "When I looked at this, I found that China has changed completely, and people have all changed." So from that beginning to the previous paragraph, I read a bunch of these books, including novels by people born in the '70s and '80s. I basically understand and understand the people of the current generation. "Nowadays, reading books and many social and administrative activities take up a lot of Jin Shangyi's time, and he finds that the most important channel to understand life and society is literary works, and a painter and an artist must understand the mood and state of society, otherwise there will be no freshness in painting, and there will be no new friends." Art is constantly changing. Can't always be the same. Jin Shangyi said.