Original Wu Chun
Sketch of Chairman Mao's portrait by Li Hu
People's painter and professor of the School of Chinese Painting of the Central Academy of Fine Arts, Mr. Li Hu, has left us for forty-six years, and his works and his names that are deeply loved by countless audiences are engraved in people's hearts, and today we commemorate him because the famous figure painting master Mr. Li Hu has an extremely important historical position in the history of Chinese painting.
Li Hu, a native of Dazhu County, Sichuan Province, was admitted to the Fine Arts Department of the Central University in 1942, and studied hard under the guidance of the famous painters and art educators Xu Beihong, Huang Xianzhi, Lu Sibai, Fu Baoshi, Xie Zhiliu, etc., with excellent results, which was greatly appreciated by Mr. Xu Beihong. On November 10, 1975, he died at the age of 56 due to persecution and overwork caused by the catastrophe of the Cultural Revolution, contributing his life to the innovation and development of Chinese national art, and cultivating a number of famous contemporary figure painters such as Yao Duo and Fan Zeng. In 1951, Li Hu was transferred to the Chinese Painting Department of the Central Academy of Fine Arts to teach drawing and creation classes, and also taught the drawing class of the Decoration Department of the Central Academy of Arts and Crafts. In 1962, he was appointed professor of the Chinese Painting Department and director of the Character Department of the Central Academy of Fine Arts until his death.
Mr. Li Hu, a famous Chinese figure painting master, is a people's painter and a realist painter, he deeply feels the ordinary life and joys and sorrows of many ordinary laborers, and advocates that through the subjective image processing of painters, these figures will jump on the paper and achieve the true and highest realm of character painting art. He was an outstanding figure painter, and guan hanqing, composed in 1959, is a masterpiece of portraits representing historical figures, and was printed as an opera stamp and published overseas. His portrait paintings can not only accurately grasp the "god-likeness" of the characters on the basis of Chinese painting, but also use Western techniques to innovate in the meticulous portrayal of the object's demeanor and the use of light and color, and gradually form his own unique style.
Li Hu skillfully blended the scientific modeling rules of Western drawing, watercolor, oil painting and printmaking such as the relationship between black and white, chiaroscuro tones, and human anatomy into the brush and ink coloring techniques and compositions of traditional Chinese ink painting. The portraits he created were real, profound, vivid and natural, washed with brushes, bright colors, solved the problem of fine structure, light and shade, sense of quality and rich color processing on Chinese raw rice paper, and had a profound impact on the development of modern Chinese figure painting, which shook the Chinese painting world at that time. Portrait of an Old Lady (1959) and Ethnic Dancer (1961) are representative works by Mr. Li Hu that combine the modeling, dissection and color techniques of Western painting on Chinese rice paper. The atmosphere of "Portrait of the Old Lady" is bright and concise, the author outlines the structure with capable and general lines, and uses the traditional technique of Chinese painting to smudge the face, hair, hat and clothing patterns, in the face temples and cheekbones, two light ochre ink colors, and a slight ink blue or light ochre color in the dark part of the clothing pattern, making the overall effect appear particularly harmonious and vivid. The old man's eyes are shining, staring into the distance, his hands appear large and thick, although it is only a part of a hand that is understated, but it can be imagined that the old man has honed the calluses and bones in labor, showing the author's skillful precision in thinking and technique in creation. "National Dancer" depicts Schentazhiha, a young dancer of the famous Mongolian ethnic group in Ulanmuqi, and in Li Hu's pen, we can imagine her beautiful posture on the stage. The color of the painting is light and elegant, with the assistance of Western anatomy and color, making the characters more vivid, faint ink blue and ochre yellow, plus a little pink green, in the red and green system echo, the picture presents a harmonious rhythm.
Li Hu's sketch of "Portrait of Chairman Mao" (1967) has an extremely important historical position in the history of Chinese painting. This masterpiece of Li Hu is one of the most repeated publications in various newspapers and magazines, and many of Master Li Hu's works have played a major role in the teaching of the Academy of Fine Arts as demonstration teaching materials. Chairman Mao in the painting is kind and admirable, modest and approachable; it not only embodies the richness of the leader, but also has a very rich atmosphere of life; the whole picture is accurately summarized, the expressions of the characters are rich and meticulous, full of a strong sense of unity and the sense of the times, the ingenious and skillful painting language and lighting techniques, strengthen the sense of volume and the rhythm of light and shade of the picture, use the pen rigorously and easily, the main and secondary parts are clear, the facial expression is particularly vivid, and it is a rare excellent sketch work depicting Chairman Mao. He marked the extremely high level of chinese painters' understanding, mastery and mastery of the basic techniques of Western painting. According to Li Rong, the daughter of Mr. Li Hu, this painting is infused with her father's cognitive feelings for the leader, and it is also a work that her father was satisfied with during his lifetime. The painting language of this portrait of Chairman Mao expresses Mr. Li Hu's understanding of the great man, which is a sharp contrast to the deification of Chairman Mao by the "Gang of Four" for its political purposes at that time, Li Hu used the language characteristic of his painter to vent the voice of the people, express the people's wishes, and express himself, a Yanhuangchizi, for the people's leader.
As early as the spring of 1946, Mr. Xu Beihong praised Mr. Li Hu in an inscription: "Sketching with Chinese paper and ink with Western painting methods, it was founded after the art department of CUHK moved to Shu, and Li Hurendi was his most successful person" and "a unique face for New China". Liao Jingwen described Li Hu's works in April 1998 before commemorating Li Hu's paintings: "His works "Jialing River Porter", "India Like a Female Statue", "Female Policewoman", "Man in Red Cloak", "Visiting the Construction Site", "Guangzhou Uprising", "Guan Hanqing", "Morning in the Ward", "Three Gorges Night Flight", etc. all carry a wonderful artistic conception and profound skill like poetry, refreshing people's hearts and becoming immortal pictures of our times." "He is a representative and influential master in the development of Chinese painting, forming his own beautiful and unique style and systematic modeling skills, and his name and outstanding achievements should undoubtedly be juxtaposed with the masters of contemporary art." In 1973, Mr. Li Keyan, a master of Chinese landscape painting, wrote an inscription for Mr. Li Hu and praised him: "Thousands of hammers and hundreds of refinements, excellence".
In 1973, Mr. Li Keyan, a master of Chinese landscape painting, wrote an inscription for Mr. Li Hu and praised him: "Thousands of hammers and hundreds of refinements, excellence". Li Hu has made valuable achievements in the creation of Chinese painting and formed a unique artistic style. In 1979, Tianjin People's Fine Arts Publishing House published "Selected Works of Li Hu", in 1986 Beijing People's Fine Arts Publishing House published "Li Hu's Painting Collection", and in 1997 RongBaozhai Publishing House published "The Essence of Li Hu's Sketches". His works have been exhibited many times at home and abroad, and some of them have been collected by the National Art Museum of China, museums and other units. The Central Academy of Fine Arts, the China Artists Association, and the Chinese Painting Research Institute have successively held the Exhibition of Li Hu's Posthumous Works in Beijing and Sichuan.
Mr. Li Hu has been away from us for nearly half a century, he was not only the best teacher of Xu Beihong's school, but also achieved remarkable results in the innovation of Chinese painting, in the 1950s, his figure paintings were immersed in his understanding and love of the times, ideals, realms, laborers' lives and realistic style, which had a profound impact at home and abroad.
Today, we remember the famous Chinese painter Mr. Li Hu with reverence, and I think of the famous art critic Mr. Liu Xilin who commented on Mr. Li Hu this way: "In the art history of mankind at the beginning of the 20th century, in the long river of art where East and West converge, he is a star that will never fall. "Let this shining star shine forever in the long sky of human art with charm and charm...
(As of June 2021)