Words about Master Chen Wenxi's Friend (3)

In the life of Master Chen Wenxi, there were several people who admired him very much, and they took the initiative to get to know Chen Wenxi and make friends with Chen Wenxi. The first is Xu Beihong.

In the 1930s, Xu Beihong was the head of the art department of central university in Nanjing, and Chen Wenxi was teaching in Guangzhou, Jieyang, and Shantou, when Chen Wenxi did not know Xu Beihong, and Xu Beihong did not know Chen Wenxi. Chen Wenxi saw Mr. Xu Beihong's work "Dead Tree Cat Diagram" from the newspaper, which looked natural and vivid, and his pen posture was vigorous and free, so he wrote a letter to Xu Beihong, and sent some albums that are usually exhibited to Xu Beihong. Xu Beihong replied to Chen Wenxi in about a week, which was roughly to praise Chen Wenxi, saying that he would be a very great painter in China in the future.

Subsequently, there was a correspondence between them, and of course, the correspondence material could no longer be found. Why can I be sure that there is a correspondence between them? Because their interactions with each other were not interrupted, there was neither internet nor telephones and cell phones at that time. At that time, when Xu Beihong was exhibiting in Nanjing, Chen Wenxi also went, and later Xu Beihong went to Hong Kong, and Chen Wenxi went to Hong Kong to meet Xu Beihong, Chen Wenxi said: "In the year of the coronation of King George VI, Mr. Xu Beihong lived in Hong Kong to hold a painting exhibition, and specially invited me to Hong Kong to meet, which was really a happy life. That time I stayed in Hong Kong for half a month, and I had several times with Mr. Ji and talked about painting art..." That is to say, Chen Wenxi and Xu Beihong are already very close friends. Moreover, Xu Beihong also greatly appreciated Chen Wenxi's paintings. It can be said that Xu Beihong was Chen Wenxi's first friend, but unfortunately Xu Beihong died young and died in his 50s.

(Author: Mr. Guo Jiabao)