Lu Xun and Shangguan Zhou

The writer Lu Xun and the painter Shangguan Zhou are two centuries apart, and it always feels a bit far-fetched to connect them. In the eyes of everyone, Lu Xun was a writer, known for his articles, and because the articles were too famous, there was a lot of aura on his body, thus obscuring his identity as a collector and art connoisseur. Especially in china's modern emerging woodblock prints, Lu Xun is the "initiator", known as the "father of emerging printmaking", and there are prints such as the collection of prints "Beiping Notes" and the translation of "The Trend of Modern Art History". Lu Xun has collected thousands of ancient books and albums for study, among which Shangguan Zhou's character painting "The Legend of the Evening Laughing Hall" occupies an important position in his mind.

"The Legend of the Evening Laughing Hall" is a classic work that accompanied Lu Xun from his youth to his old age. At the age of 54, he was still thinking about and struggling to find different versions of the "Evening Laughing Hall Painting Biography". In today's parlance, Lu Xun can be called a "super fan" of Shangguan Zhou, who has long entrusted friends to go around collecting different versions of the "Evening Laughing Hall Painting Biography", and even used the owner of the Shanghai Uchiyama Bookstore and the Japanese friend Uchiyama Complete Brother to help. Because the "Tale of the Evening Laughter Hall" has been reproduced in the Japanese Wuchelou, and the engraving and printing quality of this edition is second only to the first engraving of the Qianlong Eighth Year (1743), in Japan, Shangguan Zhou's paintings and Zhang Ruitu's calligraphy are regarded as treasures. Lu Xun believes that Shangguan Zhou's "Late Laughing Hall Painting Biography" is a classic model in ancient printmaking. He began to buy, study, collect, and study in depth from his youth, drawing nourishment from this excellent woodblock print and promoting the development of new woodblock prints.

Here I have to lament the richness of Lu Xun's collection, which alone has more than 6,000 kinds of ancient inscriptions and albums, and collects more than 2,000 works of foreign printmakers. He used most of his remuneration for book purchases. Even in today's developed information, it is still difficult to collect such a large number of ancient books and old albums. Perhaps in Lu Xun's life, in addition to reading and writing, teaching and various social activities, the greatest interest and time-consuming is art appreciation and collection of ancient prints. He drew nourishment from it and worked hard to promote the new woodblock print movement, an interest that dates back to his youth.

Lu Xun described in "From the Hundred Grass Garden to the Sanwei Bookhouse" that in class, while Mr. Li was reading aloud, he secretly drew at the bottom: "With a kind of embroidery called 'Jingchuan paper', it was painted down one by one on the embroidery of the novel, just like the shadow writing when learning to write." More books have been read, and more paintings have been drawn; the books have not been read, but the results of paintings are not few, and the most fragmented are the embroidered portraits of "Dang Kou Zhi" and "Journey to the West", all of which have a large number of books. It can be seen that Lu Xun's habit of loving art was developed from his youth.

Recently, some scholars found lu xun's earliest book purchase list in the reference room of the Lu Xun Museum in Beijing, the list was written by Lu Xun himself, and among the existing handwriting, the "Bibliography to Be Purchased" is Lu Xun's earliest handwriting. There are 15 kinds of books to be purchased, and the place of purchase is Shanghai Dianshizhai Bookstore, including Shangguan Zhou's "Evening Laughing Hall Painting Biography". This list of books happens to be a little-known example of Lu Xun's love of art in his youth, and the bibliography is basically woodcut prints, lithographs and calligraphy books.

Many years ago, I had the privilege of seeing at a friend's place a copy of Mr. Feng Zikai's "Evening Laughing Hall Paintings", which was obtained from the auction of Beijing Poly. The title page also has Feng Zikai's inscription and seal, the book is divided into two volumes, for the first engraving of the eighth year of Qianlong (1743), the collection of historical figures embroidered one hundred and twenty, smooth lines, delicate carving, sharp knife technique, kung fu sophisticated, the character expression naturally stretched, each with a demeanor, each embroidered portrait is accompanied by a portrait praise, the folio is grand, exquisitely printed. For Shangguan Zhou, the author of "The Legend of the Evening Laughing Hall", it is necessary to make some explanations here.

Shangguan Zhou's original name was Shi Xian, later changed his name to Zhou, zi Wen Zuo, zhuzhuang, Fujian Province Changting people, good at painting landscapes, characters, landscape painting "smoke is full of smoke, ink halo is considerable", painting ancient and modern celebrities, kung fu sophisticated, each with a demeanor, is recognized as the founder of the "Min school" painting style. In the later years of Shangguan Zhou, the "Late Laughing Hall Painting Biography" created based on historical data became a masterpiece. The characters depicted in "The Tale of the Evening Laughing Hall" are all exquisite and exquisite, which have a profound impact on the similar works of later generations, and have become a classic model for future generations to study figure painting, and have been highly respected by Lu Xun, Zheng Zhenduo, Feng Zikai, Xu Beihong, Fu Baoshi, Huang Binhong and others. Zheng Zhenduo once praised his "rigorous and delicate carving" and "lively and vivid overview" in the "Historical Outline of Ancient Woodcuts".

"The Tale of the Evening Laughing Hall" occupies an important place in the history of Chinese art and is also highly sought after in Japan. There is a book in Japan that discusses the artistic value and influence of the Tale of the Evening Laughter Hall and photocopied it and distributed it with the book. According to the book, "The emergence of Shangguan Zhou's "Late Laughing Hall Painting Biography" has opened up a new aspect in the method of character painting. ”

Lu Xun highly admired Shangguan Zhou and once purchased the "Late Laughing Hall Painting Biography" and sent it to the Russian woodcarver Alexeiv. In the 1920s and 1930s, when he studied and compiled the Beiping Notes, he repeatedly mentioned, purchased, studied, and donated the book. Paying so much attention and attention to a painting book is rare in Lu Xun's life.

Lu Xun and his literary friend Zheng Zhenduo were the first researchers to devote themselves to ancient Chinese printmaking, and collaborated in the collection and publication of the Beiping Notes. In the process of research, they believe that Shangguan Zhou's "Late Laughing Hall Painting Biography" is a classic of ancient printmaking in China. Lu Xun wrote in his diary on December 21, 1912: "The morning snow stops... He also found a copy of the "Evening Laughing Hall Painting Biography", and also purchased it with seven corners of silver for temporary study. January 9, 1934: "Light snow. In the morning, I sent two letters and drafts. Sent letters and two packages of books to the woodcarver Alexev of The Musk, including a woodblock edition of Gu Kai's painting "Biography of The Daughters of Lie", "The Legend of the Evening Laughing Hall", a lithograph "Notation of Celebrities of past Dynasties", and "Picture Of the Yuanmingyuan", a total of seventeen copies. A few days later, in a letter to Zheng Zhenduo, he said: "A few days ago, I sent some original copies of the "Late Laughing Hall Painting Biography" to the Russian woodcarvers, and after the "Notes" were published, I also sent one. It can be seen that Lu Xun, as the guardian of traditional Chinese culture, can be described as highly respected for "The Tale of the Evening Laughing Hall".

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