He is a world-class wizard in the world of culture
Qi Baishi was grateful that he was the Bole of his own life
(Qi Baishi recalls Chen Shizeng)
Lu Xun was intimate with him and admired his talent
He is a pioneer of Chinese comics
He is a banner figure in the painting circle of the Republic of China
He died young, and he was unknown to the world
Born 140 years ago, the Immortal Chen ShiZeng
In 2016, the National Art Museum of China launched an exhibition with great sincerity: Immortality of the Immortals - Chen Shizeng Special Exhibition. But who was Master Chen? Back in the Republic of China era, the big name "Chen Shizeng" was a famous earthquake in the art circle. Leaving aside his illustrious origins, let's just talk about his circle of friends: sleeping with Lu Xun, being a master and apprentice with Wu Changshuo, Li Shutong calling him a brother and a brother, and Qi Baishi relying on him to become famous. And so on, he can be described as a well-known "leader of the Republic of China painting circle". But unfortunately, the name is mentioned today, it seems extremely strange. What exactly did Master Chen have? Why is he worthy of our generation gap of more than a century, as a flag figure?
Today, these works are in our eyes the Beijing genre paintings of the Republic of China era. But at the time, it was avant-garde, fresh and bold. It is true that in the era of elegant and non-cannibalistic literati paintings dominating the world, Chen Shi once aimed his perspective at the lowest and most despicable people in the streets and alleys of old Beijing, and fixed their images on a piece of paper, chen Shizeng's significance was tantamount to opening a window to the traditional literati painting aesthetics of a thousand years.
Between 1914 and 1923, Lu Xun mentioned Chen Shishi more than 70 times in his diary, talking about how the two men traveled together in the small city and exchanged gifts of calligraphy and painting seals. Lu Xun's brother Zhou Zuoren once recalled: Once Chen Shi and Lu Xun's friends were eating on the street, there was a wedding honor guard passing by in the alley, Chen Shi once threw everyone away, followed the flower car alone, watched all the way, almost collided with the deacon, friends saw this scene and ridiculed his heart, watching the bride fascinated, Chen Shi zeng did not defend, but later learned that he was painting genre paintings.
Although there is no conclusive record, there is no conclusive record of how much Chen Shizeng's artistic ideas are related to his experience studying in Japan. However, we know that Lu Xun, as his companion, is very fond of Japanese ukiyo-e. These red stripes depict the lives of the low-level people in Japan will undoubtedly have a certain impact on Chen Shizeng. After Lu Xun returned to China, in the New Culture Movement, he put forward the artistic idea of "looking down". Chen Shizeng's "Beijing Custom Painting" shows that he has a common proposition with his close friend Lu Xun.
In addition, The friendship between Chen Shi and Qi Baishi is also a good story in the history of art. It is said that in the summer of 1917, Chen Shi, a 42-year-old employee of the Ministry of Education of the Republic of China and a famous artist in the painting world, once visited the Liuli Factory and accidentally saw Qi Baishi's seal, Chen Shi once judged Qi Baishi to be extraordinary with a pair of wise eyes, so he deliberately found Qi Baishi's residence and visited. At that time, Qi Baishi first arrived in Beijing, was not accepted by the painting community, and was poor. The arrival of Chen Shizeng changed the trajectory of Qi Baishi's life. The two became artistic confidants and close friends in life.
At the age of 48, When Master Chen died, Qi Baishi wrote this passage with great sorrow: "I will not advance without jun, and I will retire without jun."
Chen Shi lived in Beijing for about ten years, which was also the climax of his artistic activities, but he preferred to be an amateur painter, and he devoted more energy to education. He wrote a book to enlighten the people to understand the breadth and profundity of traditional culture, and he warned the world that all changes cannot be separated from the carrier of Chinese tradition. The advent of works such as "History of Chinese Painting" and "Research on Literati Painting" is the spiritual wealth of the times that he gave to the world. Unfortunately, just as he was entering his prime and Chinese painting was undergoing great and profound changes, his life came to an abrupt end.
In 1923, when the 48-year-old Chen Shizeng died, Liang Qichao said in his eulogy for Chen Shizeng: "Shi Zeng's death has affected the Chinese art world more than the earthquake in Japan. What is lost by the earthquake is only material, and the loss of our people is spiritual. ”
For more information, please watch this issue of "Cultural Grand View Garden"
Premiere: Every Saturday 12:00-12:30
Replay: Every Sunday 09:30-10:00/15:25-15:55
Broadcast platform: Phoenix Satellite TV Chinese Station
Editor: Wang Zhu Ni Su