From the books to see the circle of friends of art since the late Qing Dynasty

The new book sharing meeting of "Rusu Qingfen - A Hundred Years of Painting Garden Books and Books" published by Guangxi Normal University Press was held in Hanfen Building of the Commercial Press on the 26th. Zhu Wanzhang, the author of the book, Du Pengfei, executive deputy director of the Art Museum of Tsinghua University, Zhu Tianshu, director of the Chinese Calligraphers Association, professor of Beijing Language and Culture University, and executive dean of the China Institute of International Communication of Calligraphy, and Zhang Ming, editor-in-chief of the Fine Arts Branch of Guangxi Normal University Press, attended the sharing meeting.

The theme of this sharing meeting is "From the book to see the circle of friends of art since the late Qing Dynasty", that is, to try to connect the anecdotes of the academic circles and painting gardens since the late Qing Dynasty through the seemingly scattered scenes in the letters in the book, and also to outline a circle of friends for readers, and reproduce the cultural memory behind each letter that is not known to outsiders.

According to the author Zhu Wanzhang, the book not only sorts out the correspondence between Ju Lian, Chen Shizeng, Xu Bangda, Xie Zhiliu, Yu Shengwu, Zhao Shaoang and other art masters, but also involves the stories of the older generation of appraisers such as Qi Gong and Fu Sinian and the ancient Chinese calligraphy and painting appraisal team. The contents of these letters include calligraphy and painting, play, collection, appreciation and daily life, which may seem scattered, but if they are connected and organized into books, the reader can get a glimpse of the collection of calligraphy and painting and the transformation of academic history since the 20th century. The authors believe that stringing together this pearl-like information can serve as a reference for more in-depth research in the future. The so-called treasure for the people, the dedication to the collection of letters to the relevant researchers, for the author, is a kind of "solo music is not as good as the joy of the crowd" where the fun lies.

Since the Wei and Jin dynasties, the form of codex has begun to appear in large numbers, and many calligraphers' calligraphy works such as Wang Xizhi's "Qing Ti in the Fast Snow", Yan Zhenqing's "Battle for Seats", Wang Xianzhi's "Mid-Autumn Festival Post", etc., are calligraphy works and codexes. The Codex can be said to be the most direct, vivid and vivid way of presenting Chinese calligraphy in the eyes of today's people. Professor Zhu Tianshu, who participated in the sharing meeting, was very familiar with calligraphy and calligraphy and painting collection, and from this perspective, he sorted out the development of Xinzha for us since the Wei and Jin Dynasties, and also summarized the important value of Calligraphy. He believes that the letter is an instant book manuscript, which can best reflect the true disposition of the letter writer, and the reader can see the more real life of the letter writer from it, and from this point of view, the historical research value of the letter is very high. In addition, the letter has a high collection value, such as Yan Zhenqing, Wang Xianzhi, a small codex will become a calligraphy work, a work of art, it is like the letter writer's other works of art, and even more realistic display of his ideological attitude and academic views.

Specific to this book, the letters of Chen Shizeng and Liang Dingfen, Ju Lian and Yang Yongyan all reflect the elegance of using paper and the elegance of calligraphy, which not only has reference value for the study of the travel network of Chen Shizeng, Ju Lian and others, but also intuitively shows their calligraphy.

In their daily interactions, the ancients often took "self-humility and respect for others" as the principle. Mr. Du Pengfei gives us an example: Xue Yongnian mentioned in the manuscript is a famous Chinese historian, who in his letter to Zhu Wanzhang, called him "Mr. Wanzhang"; Liang Dingfen called Chen Shi once "Shizhang", "Shi" is the friendship of several generations, and "Zhang" is the predecessor; and Mr. Ma Guoquan, in the letter, also refers to Zhu Wanzhang as a junior "Brother Wanzhang". The so-called brotherhood, when to call a brother, when to call a brother, is very exquisite. The names of the faithful appear at the end of the letters, which are very rare today, which has led to many letters being simply used as calligraphy works. Therefore, the information conveyed by the codex is very rich, which reflects the etiquette of ancient Chinese correspondence, and also reflects the mind and arrogance of the predecessors of the academic circles.

Because of this, the letter itself exists as a very small object, but turning the content of the letter into academic research is the value of this book.

In response to the questions of readers who are interested in the collection of letters and letters, the author believes that many overseas collectors are very keen on collecting ancient Chinese codex, which is the result of the continuous exchange and collision of Chinese and Western cultures. These cultural phenomena and exchanges need to be carried by "things", which is the value of cultural relics. But human life is limited, so whether it is a collection of letters or other collections, it is required that people must have their own clear themes and plans. Whether it is used for academic research or exhibition, the purpose of the collection is not to be more, but to be refined, to have a clear theme, to find a main line in the vast sea of "things", to judge the truth and value, so as to make their collection more valuable.

Du Pengfei made a concluding speech for the book at the end of the event. He believes that this sharing will give us a better understanding of the expert exchanges in the appraisal of modern Chinese painting and calligraphy. In this era when few people write letters, letters seem to have become a way of communication far from our daily lives, and because of this, Zhu Wanzhang's collection and research of these letters is even more important, and the value of the book "Rusu Qingfen - A Hundred Years of Painting Garden Shuzha Congkao" is also obvious. "Ruler" not only exudes "Qingfen", but also exudes unique charm and brilliance.

(Guangming Daily all-media reporter Liu Bin, correspondent Liu Ling)