This is Mr. Harding
Text/Zheng Xin'an
When I was a child, I would meet all kinds of teachers when I learned to paint, some of whom I had met, some of whom I had never seen before. After all, those who have seen it are a minority, and those who know it in the book are the majority.
I remember when I was a child, it was the 80s, and the first person I knew was Qi Baishi, and everyone said that he was a great painter. At that time, we didn't know how to deal with Dafa. Once, I saw Qi Baishi's painting at the art teacher's house and thought, this painting is not like ah, why does everyone say that he paints well? I didn't understand it, and no one told you, but I only now understand that it's good. You say, is it easy to learn to read pictures and understand reason? There is also a picture album, when I was in junior high school, I saw the "Mustard Garden Painting Biography", at that time I did not think it was very good, nor did I want to learn, only painted for a limited period of time. However, even in this way, I have painted furniture paintings for many families. But none of them really loved these albums.
In addition to Qi Baishi, when I was a child, there was also a painter who had a deep impression on me, his name was Harding, and he was a painter from Greater Shanghai. Now no one knows. I know that Harding also saw it at the art teacher's house. It was a yellowed album with street scenes and characters. I think this painting is good, and from the heart, a kind of envy and jealousy and hatred spring up, and I also imagine the foreign atmosphere of distant Shanghai.
At that time, we didn't understand painting, but I liked it. I can't tell the difference between oil painting, gouache, Chinese painting and so on. Just interested in paintings with colors. Harding's paintings are paintings with colors.
A while has passed 30 years, and now I think of this painter named Harding.
A glance at his resume gave him a clear understanding, and it turned out that he was just a very ordinary painter in Shanghai.
But in the 80s, when the information was closed, there were almost no albums, and it was very precious to see a painter's album. Coincidentally, what I saw was Harding's picture book.
After many years, I now know that Harding is a watercolor painter and also paints some oil paintings. In his youth, he was taught by Mr. Zhang Chongren. Mainly painting portraits, the "Harding Studio" was founded in the 1950s, which is now an art class. He has taught at Shanghai Jiao Tong University and Shanghai Academy of Fine Arts. Beginning in 1978, Harding concentrated on watercolor figures. In the 1980s, he was a first-class artist of Shanghai Oil Painting and Sculpture Institute, a member of the China Artists Association, and a director of the Shanghai Artists Association. In 1986, as a member of the delegation of Chinese artists, he went to many African countries to investigate and hold painting exhibitions. In 1988, he held the "Harding Painting Exhibition" at the Shanghai Art Museum. In 1989, he was appointed as a member of the Selection Committee of the 7th Fine Arts Exhibition of Watercolor Gouache. In 1991, he went to the United States and settled in Los Angeles. He is the author of "How to Draw Portraits", "How to Draw Pencil Drawings" and "Selected Paintings of Harding".
Look, Mr. Harding is such an experience, in fact, it is very simple. But why does he have so much influence. It is not that he has held many exhibitions, but that he has published many books on painting techniques. Books such as "How to Draw Portraits" and "How to Draw Pencil Drawings" influenced that era, not only me, but also countless people who painted.
Now, Mr. Harding is gone. The history of modern painting also has very few introductions to him, and no one knows that there is such a Shanghai painter. But to mention his students, no one knows. For example, the famous painters Chen Yifei, Xia Baoyuan, Wei Jingshan, Qiu Ruimin, Fang Shicong, Zhang Peiji, Wang Jieyin, Chen Peirong, etc. were all influenced or influenced by him. When I think of him, I think of my experience of learning to paint when I was a teenager, which was a kind of longing to get a look, an era of looking for painting everywhere.
Who still wants to see the books of Mr. Harding's time, it is estimated that Confucius's old books are sold on the Internet, very precious, the painting method is not outdated, and it is also very valuable. You can buy it to see.
Harding works
Pic 1
It is this book that countless people who have drawn have read it
Shanghai Sketch
Bund sketching
Pic 3
Pic 4