Source: [City Gate Open] WeChat public account
Text: Yang Wei
Jiang Kun and Zheng Xiaojuan are double walls in the painting world, and the two teachers are married, caring for each other in life and promoting each other in art, and have walked through more than half a century of ups and downs together. And this half century is exactly the more than half century that China has experienced fierce turmoil, ups and downs. Therefore, reviewing and sorting out the art and life of Jiang Kun and Zheng Xiaojuan can reflect the changes of the times and also see the spiritual pursuit of a generation.
Jiang Kun was born in 1940 in Shaoyang City, Hunan Province, his grandfather was a handicraft owner, but after the War of Resistance, he went bankrupt, and his father made a living by picking up river water and selling it on the street, so his family was relatively poor. Jiang Kun understood the hardships of life from an early age and began to share some of the difficulties of life for his parents very early. Probably because he began to go out to make a living at a very young age and came into contact with all kinds of people and things, Jiang Kun's image thinking was extremely developed, and he had a strong interest in art as a child. When he was studying at Shaoyang Middle School, Jiang Kun studied painting with the famous Painter Su Ganguo in Shaoyang, laying a solid foundation for modeling. During this period, he also often created some prints and published them in newspapers and periodicals, and used them to earn a fee to subsidize his family. It can be seen that Jiang Kun is not only intelligent and early, but also has long mastered superb painting skills. It is precisely because Jiang Kun has a high artistic talent and is diligent and studious, in 1959, the national joint enrollment of fine arts, he was admitted to the fine arts department of Hunan University of Arts with excellent results (the academy was established in 1958 when it was named Hunan College of Literature and Art, renamed Hunan Academy of Arts in 1959, merged with Hunan Normal College in 1961, and became the art department of Hunan Normal University, which is the predecessor of the School of Fine Arts and the School of Music of Hunan Normal University). Among Jiang Kun's classmates was the painter Zheng Xiaojuan, who later became his wife.
Jiang Kun teacher Jiang Kun teacher recent photo Jiang Kun teacher recent photo
Zheng Xiaojuan is a native of Changsha, Hunan Province, born in a family of Yin Shi, and is a scholar of Xiang mendi. In 1938, when the Japanese invasion of China was approaching Changsha, Zheng Xiaojuan's family was forced to move to the rear, and in the winter of 1940, they moved to the southern town of Qiyang in Hunan, where Zheng Xiaojuan's mother gave birth to her, that is, Zheng Xiaojuan and Jiang Kuntong geng. Because of the war, Zheng Xiaojuan's childhood suffered from displacement, but fortunately under the influence of her father, she fell in love with painting since she was a child, and found a kind of spiritual refuge from it. After the victory of the Anti-Japanese War, Zheng Xiaojuan's family was able to return to their hometown, but because their family's house in Changsha City had long been reduced to ashes in the Wenxi Fire, In desperation, Zheng Xiaojuan's parents had to take their five brothers and sisters back to their hometown in Changsha County. Therefore, the rural experience constitutes the background of Zheng Xiaojuan's life, which not only injects too much simple and natural atmosphere into her growth memory, but also directly affects her later artistic style.
Zheng Xiaojuan (front) with her parents and sister Zheng Xiaojuan (front) with her parents and siblings In 1951 Zheng Xiaojuan (front) with her parents and siblings In 1951
After the founding of New China, the implementation of land reform in the countryside also affected Zheng Xiaojuan's family. In 1952, after the Zheng family handed over all the houses and land in the countryside to the township government, the family moved back to Changsha City. Since then, Zheng Xiaojuan has become a child in the city and began to receive a new type of education. However, due to her strong affection for the countryside, after graduating from junior high school, Zheng Xiaojuan was called by the "going to the mountains and going to the countryside" movement at that time, and took the initiative to apply to the countryside of Anxiang County on the shore of Dongting Lake to "cut in line and settle down", becoming the earliest batch of "young people who went to the countryside" in China.
Zheng Xiaojuan was admitted to college and was recommended by the Anxiang County Liberal Arts and Education Department. Because she showed her talent for painting during her time in the countryside, she not only often helped farmers paint door paintings and stove paintings, but also created murals for the county and completed many propaganda tasks. Therefore, Zheng Xiaojuan soon stood out in Anxiang County and was recommended by the relevant departments to be admitted to the Hunan Academy of Literature and Art in 1958. It can be seen that Zheng Xiaojuan's growth path is slightly different from Jiang Kun's. If Jiang Kun was born in the cold door and changed his fate step by step by relying on his own talent and efforts, then Zheng Xiaojuan has experienced ups and downs because of family reasons and his own choices. Therefore, Jiang Kun's personality tends to be flat, and he is more stable in doing things, but Zheng Xiaojuan is a bit windy and fiery and more aggressive. Many years later, Zheng Xiaojuan became the president of Hunan Fine Arts Publishing House, and the society became so popular that it affected the art ecology of Hunan and even the whole country, while Jiang Kun stayed away from the hustle and bustle, buried his head in the desk, and has been immersed in his own creation. This difference between them may stem from different family environments and living backgrounds.
There is a way is heterogeneous attraction, and often the more different people are, the more attractive they are. Jiang Kun and Zheng Xiaojuan can come together, which is not only the result of heterogeneous attraction, but also thanks to some kind of opportunity in life. Originally, Zheng Xiaojuan was admitted to the Hunan Academy of Literature and Art a year before Jiang Kun, but because the Hunan Academy of Literature and Art was changed to the Hunan Academy of Arts in 1959, Zheng Xiaojuan studied for one more year and merged into the Fine Arts Department of the College of Arts, and became a classmate with Jiang Kun. It seems to be providence, and fate in the dark should arrange two people with different personalities to come together, because of art, and to walk through life with each other.
Teacher Zheng Xiaojuan recent photo Zheng Xiaojuan teacher recent photo
When Jiang Kun and Zheng Xiaojuan entered college, they experienced the "Great Leap Forward" during China's "three-year difficult period", and they also went down to the countryside to participate in "production and self-help". But no matter how the political situation changes and how the living conditions are difficult, Jiang Kun and Zheng Xiaojuan have not given up their studies. During this period, Jiang Kun was also sent by the school to the Guangzhou Academy of Fine Arts for further study of printmaking because of his outstanding achievements. In 1961, the Hunan Academy of Arts was downsized and merged with the Normal College to form the Art Department of the Normal College, leaving only two majors of oil painting and Chinese painting, Jiang Kun was recruited back to the school and entered the Chinese painting major with Zheng Xiaojuan. They officially determined the direction of Chinese painting in the painting profession, and it was at this time. According to Zheng Xiaojuan's recollection, teachers such as Zhou Da, Duan Qianhu and Xu Zhaohai were taught landscape painting, yuan drunting and Shao Yiping were taught flower and bird painting, and teachers such as Nie Nanxi and Yan Jialong taught them figure painting. These teachers were all leaders in the Hunan art circle at that time, and with their exemplary and meticulous training of the next generation, Jiang Kun and Zheng Xiaojuan's level of Chinese painting has made great progress.
In 1963, Jiang Kun and Zheng Xiaojuan graduated from the art department of Hunan Normal University and were assigned to teach at Lianyuan No. 4 Middle School together. However, Jiang Kun was seconded back to Changsha shortly after arriving at the school, and went to the Great Hall of the People in Beijing with Huang Zhaochang, Xiao Huixiang, Wu Chengqun and other woodcarvers to create large-scale group paintings "Nanyue" and "Dongting". Zheng Xiaojuan went to the countryside to participate in the "Four Qings" for the principal who took care of the children at home, and once again went to the countryside to paint and carry out propaganda. During this period, Zheng Xiaojuan's Chinese painting "Happy Events in the Team" was also selected for the national art exhibition held in 1964. Since then, Zheng Xiaojuan has begun to emerge in the Chinese painting world, and Jiang Kun has long been well-known for participating in the theme of the Great Hall of the People. When two newcomers are new, they have frequent successes, which is not only the result of their talents and abilities, but also the result of mutual encouragement and promotion. It was precisely because Jiang Kun and Zheng Xiaojuan were extremely prominent in their profession that soon after they were both transferred to the Shaoyang Art Museum to work and became professional painters.
Originally, after Jiang Kun and Zheng Xiaojuan entered the art museum, they could show their skills with the help of professional platforms. However, a sudden "Cultural Revolution" disrupted their life trajectory and creative ideas. As the movement unfolded in full swing, Jiang Kun was seconded to the provincial history painting creation group to paint for the memorial, while Zheng Xiaojuan was sent to Miao Township to work and returned to the countryside again. It is also said that it is blessed by misfortune, and life is often like this, where misfortune and blessing depend, and where blessings and misfortunes lie. It was in the primitive and simple Miao Township that Zheng Xiaojuan found the inspiration for art, thus laying the image source and language foundation for her future art creations. Because of Zheng Xiaojuan, Jiang Kun repeatedly visited and traveled to the border area of Xiangqian, during which he was also attracted by the colorful ethnic minority customs and ancient and profound folk art, as well as the beautiful and colorful strange mountains and rivers, and began to create paintings that truly belonged to him.
In the early 1970s, due to the need for professional talents to "grasp the revolution and promote production", Jiang Kun and Zheng Xiaojuan, as the backbone of Hunan art creation, were both transferred to the provincial city of Changsha. Jiang Kun entered the Provincial Federation of Literature and Literature, and later became the first member of the art creation group of the Hunan Artists Association, and later became the first batch of professional painters of the Hunan Academy of Painting. Zheng Xiaojuan went to the Provincial People's Publishing House as an American editor, and then transferred to the Children's Publishing House to found the children's magazine "Red Scarf" and began a long editing career.
Mao Zedong died in 1976, and soon after, the Gang of Four collapsed. This marked the end of the Cultural Revolution, and a new era was beginning. From the end of 1978 to the beginning of 1979, the Third Plenary Session of the Eleventh Central Committee of the Communist Party of China sounded the clarion call of reform and opening up, which also awakened a spring of literary and artistic creation. Jiang Kun and Zheng Xiaojuan bathed in the spring breeze of reform and opening up, and their ideas and concepts were liberated as never before. In that year, Jiang Kun created a Chinese painting "The Motherland is Calling", which can reflect the atmosphere of the times and the voice of the painter's liberation. The painting depicts the situation in the carriage of a speeding train, and five energetic intellectual young people look out of the car window with joy on their faces, as if to welcome a blooming spring. The wind blowing outside the window blows the young people's hair and clothes up, which increases the dynamics of the picture, so that the whole scene is integrated into a joyful and exciting atmosphere. It can be said that this is a representative work that combines realism and romantic techniques and transforms the times, which fully shows Jiang Kun's modeling ability and also reflects the spiritual outlook of that turning era.
Teacher Jiang Kun's Chinese painting "The Motherland is Calling" created in 1979
In fact, since the reform and opening up, Jiang Kun has gradually got rid of the creation mode of thematic painting, starting from the form to the road of self-lyrical expression, "The Motherland is Calling" is one of the few thematic paintings he created in the new period. This is precisely the humanistic characteristic of a particular era, that is, in a period of alternation between the old and the new, the new language has not yet been generated, and the expression of the new zeitgeist in the past creative way has become a means of conceptual renewal. Just as the history of Chinese art since the new era began with the characteristics of realism, "scar art" and "vernacular painting", and then moved towards formal exploration and conceptual revolution. The paintings of Jiang Kun and Zheng Xiaojuan have also gone through the road of innovation from realism to formalism to self-expression.
In 1978, Zheng Xiaojuan, who worked in the editorial office of "Red Scarf", won a "creative fake". Therefore, she and her husband Jiang Kun went to Sanjiang Town in Xiangxi to live in depth. This was the first time that Zheng Xiaojuan went to the countryside as an art worker after the end of the Cultural Revolution. Different from the previous experience of going to the countryside many times to live, Zheng Xiaojuan went to the countryside from the perspective of a painter this time, and had more rational observation. Zheng Xiaojuan returned to the countryside with an open consciousness, re-examined the customs and customs of Miaoxiang, and could not help but be deeply touched by its simple and kind folk customs and the natural features of beautiful mountains and rivers. As a result, Zheng Xiaojuan began her own formal exploration with the theme of Miaoxiang, and its pure beauty, simplicity, kindness, and the content and aesthetic theme of maternal love almost run through all her future works.
Speaking of this, I have to mention a Chinese painting created by Zheng Xiaojuan that year, because this work reflects the changes of the times and also constitutes the conceptual core of Zheng Xiaojuan's artistic creation. This work originated from what Zheng Xiaojuan saw in 1978 when she went to Sanjiang to sketch, when, at a market in Sanjiang Town, Zheng Xiaojuan found that there was a Miao girl whose sleeve was embroidered with the four big characters "Long live the people". This is something that could not have happened before, and the long-term "long live" patent has not only shackled people's minds, but also made Chinese society a monolith. I never thought that after the end of the "Cultural Revolution", the loosening of consciousness and the breath of early spring actually appeared in the remote mountain village Miaozhai first, and Zheng Xiaojuan was greatly surprised and moved. With her excited hands, she quickly wrote down the scene she saw in front of her, and later created a large-scale gongbi painting on this topic.
The sleeves of the Miao girls created by teacher Zheng Xiaojuan are embroidered with the works of "Long Live the People"
Tracing the formation of Zheng Xiaojuan's painting subjects and artistic styles since the new period, this should be the source of her thoughts and the basis of language. That is to say, Zheng Xiaojuan later mainly focused on the characters of ethnic minorities, and created her new work strokes, not only to show the simplicity and kindness of ethnic minorities, but also to celebrate the beauty of human liberation in the context of acura's open era. Because of this, Zheng Xiaojuan's gongbi paintings, whether their smooth lines or rich colors, have a structure of spiritual value and a refraction of the psychology of the times. In other words, Zheng Xiaojuan's later obsession with the exploration of the form of painting is fundamentally derived from her discovery and transformation of the beauty of human nature. This is similar to Jiang Kun. Jiang Kun also started from the theme of ethnic minorities, constantly purified the formal language, and then won a place in the Chinese contemporary painting world in the new era. But the difference is their way of painting, Jiang Kun focuses on ink color, Zheng Xiaojuan emphasizes lines; Jiang Kun's paintings tend to be freehand, Zheng Xiaojuan's works pay more attention to realism; Jiang Kun later takes landscapes as the theme, and Zheng Xiaojuan always takes characters as the main line... The couple's artistic pursuits just represent the two poles of Chinese painting and writing. It can be said that Jiang Kun and Zheng Xiaojuan's exploration in their respective fields have created a world and a world, and they care for each other in life, integrate with each other in art, and finally achieve the perfect unity of art and life.
In 1982, Zheng Xiaojuan was transferred to Hunan Children's Publishing House, and the changes in her work and the changes of the times reflected each other, which stimulated her enthusiasm for creation. In this year, Zheng Xiaojuan created a Chinese painting called based on the theme of Miao women in western Hunan Province. This painting has become one of Zheng Xiaojuan's representative works, and its most important language change is that the use of lines in the picture has been abstracted from the auxiliary means of modeling and has become an independent aesthetic form. This seemingly simple change is actually the introduction of a modern concept, which is to break the past modeling pattern and reshape its own modern language. As far as this language conversion is concerned, it is not only due to the call of the open era, but also from Zheng Xiaojuan's aesthetic consciousness.
Zheng Xiaojuan's 1982 Chinese painting
Also out of aesthetic self-consciousness, at that time, Jiang Kun was also completing his own language dissociation, and his pen and ink smudging had become increasingly subjective, and gradually formed his later expression of driving the pen with his heart and writing with his pen. It can be said that Jiang Kun and Zheng Xiaojuan bathed in the spring breeze of the times at the same time, and at the same time broke through themselves in art and found a way to enter modern painting. It is precisely because Jiang Kun and Zheng Xiaojuan have both traditional skills and sensitivity to the changes of the times, they quickly received attention from the industry, and their talents and abilities were recognized by the older generation. Soon, Jiang Kun and Zheng Xiaojuan were seconded to Beijing by the Chinese Painting Academy to paint the giant Chinese painting "Miaoling Catching Autumn Map" together. Soon after they returned from completing their mission, the Hunan Fine Arts Publishing House was established, and the enlightened leaders first thought of Zheng Xiaojuan when considering the choice of president.
Regarding the relationship between Zheng Xiaojuan and Hunan Fine Arts Publishing House, there have been many reminiscence articles to introduce, and I will not repeat them here. In short, how can there be no Zheng Xiaojuan, there would be no current Hunan Fine Arts Publishing House. As the first president, Zheng Xiaojuan not only created a solid humanistic foundation for Hunan Fine Arts Publishing House, but more importantly, created a democratic working atmosphere. Today's Hunan Fine Arts Publishing House is still full of talents, full of vitality and vitality, and its merits should be attributed to the first president, Zheng Xiaojuan. Of course, Zheng Xiaojuan inevitably delayed her own creation during her tenure as president of Hunan Fine Arts Publishing House. However, out of the public will to prosper art publishing and promote the development of art, Zheng Xiaojuan is still willing to be a ladder and dedicates her most vigorous years behind the scenes of editing and publishing. The reason why Zheng Xiaojuan can rest assured in the publishing work, Jiang Kun is also indispensable. Although Jiang Kun is disgusted with the officialdom and indifferent to fame and fortune, he understands the great righteousness and knows that his wife can do many meritorious things to prosper art and enlighten the public in the position of president. Therefore, for a long time, Zheng Xiaojuan has been silently supported. At that time, one of them was outward-facing, one was inward; one was galloping in publication, one was buried in the desk, and the roles between husband and wife were exchanged and complemented, which had long been passed down as a good story...
Jiang Kun recently made
Nowadays, the past has become a thing of the past, and Jiang Kun and Zheng Xiaojuan have long retired and entered the twilight years of their lives. However, their hearts are not old, the old pattern is not old, not only the pen is not quitting, but also in the art of continuous breakthroughs, continuous innovation, looking for aesthetic changes and sublimation of life. Jiang Kun and Zheng Xiaojuan's persistent life and exploration will are admired by many later scholars. There is reason to believe that with the twilight change of the second elder after washing away the lead and returning to the basics, they will usher in the third spring of their lives and the third peak of artistic creation. Because whether it is Teacher Jiang Kun or Teacher Zheng Xiaojuan, there is a tenacious vitality and an artistic childlike heart that will never grow old.
2021.5.7 in Tongzhou, Beijing