In May 1978, Mr. Xiao Ping and Mr. Fei Xinmei toured Badaling in Beijing
Ask for a new me
Text | Xiao Ping
The year 2003 marks the centenary of Mr. Fei Xinmei's birth. In the past, whenever I went to Suzhou, Mr. Ganjiang Road's former residence was a must-visit, as well as Mr. Wu Yangmu's apartment, which were the humanistic landscapes in my mind. The cultural charm of Jiangnan, especially the tradition of calligraphy and painting in Wumen, shines there.
At the beginning of the new century, many aspects of human culture were looking back over the century. As far as the Chinese book world is concerned, Mr. Fei Xinmei must have a place.
At the age of fifty-six, he suffered from joint tuberculosis in his right wrist and practiced penmanship in his left hand, specializing in calligraphy. In fact, he already had the foundation of the Han Tablet and the Tang Dynasty. It is not difficult for us to get information in the pen and ink and inscriptions of his early right-hand paintings. However, once calligraphy became the target of his specialization, he felt that what he had learned in the past was insufficient, so he traced back to the Jin Dynasty, the Han Dynasty and the Southern and Northern Dynasties from the Tang Dynasty, and finally achieved his own unique style.
From the right hand to the left hand, from painting to book. The former is a change caused by a physical illness, a kind of passivity and helplessness, reflecting his flexibility and perseverance; turning to painting and writing should be his active choice, saying to an artist who is nearly a young man, this choice carries risks, and requires bravery and self-confidence.
The structure of Chinese characters and the tradition of calligraphy are convenient to adapt to people's right hand, the right is the left is reversed, the left book is inconvenient, seeking vitality in adversity, and finding the law in inconvenience is the spirit of the left hand to be independent. When I saw Gao Fenghan's left book in the Qing Dynasty, I naturally saw the shadow of Mr. Fei Xinmei. Fei Lao may not have studied Gao Fenghan, but they have similar artistic experiences: there are Han Li and the foundation of painting, middle-aged illness and ruined right wrist... They all found the law of luck in their left wrist, and they all came back to life in adversity.
Mr. New Me is known for walking grass. His walking grass, which has both vertical and free momentum and horizontal tension, varies in size, makes the rotation free, ups and downs, not bound by predecessors, is the combination of stele and post, is the combination of books and paintings, and has a strong sense of rhythm. This was a new idea in the book world in the 1960s and 1970s.
Mr. New Me's paintings, in its later period, were obscured by his eminent title. The subtlety of his paintings is not under his calligraphy.
He studied Western painting in his early years, and was also engaged in the compilation and drawing of Chinese painting models, applied art, labor and beauty textbooks and simple art technique textbooks. His foundation is very practical and solid. He wants to get beginners started, and his path must be correct, it must be simple, and it must be realistic. By the mid-1950s, his works had attracted attention, including scenes, figures and animals, most of which were simple and vivid, with the basis of sketching, the foundation of pen and ink, and the fresh atmosphere. These works basically do not use the old formula, but have their own programs; most of them do not inherit the old pen and ink, but have their own pen and ink. So the weather must be new. It is simple and popular, but it is simple and complex, elegant in custom, and intriguing. I once got a pamphlet "How to Draw Crayon Drawings" compiled by my husband, and after decades, I took it out and flipped it through, and I still find it interesting. The crayons used by Mr. Fu for children still have a strong Chinese painting style in the strokes, although they are demonstrated to schoolchildren, they also lose the arrogance of a big stroke. After specializing in calligraphy, he occasionally painted, often using the white goose as a game, and the vivid image of stretching freely is a symbol of Mr. Li's lively artistic life.
Mr. New Me is a person with a relatively open mind and personality, which is often associated with his name. Mr. Chen's concept is related to his artistic experience, he was guided by Mr. Chen Qiucao in his early years, but mainly self-study, self-study experience made him develop the habit of not missing any opportunity to absorb new knowledge, which may be his openness or inclusiveness. Regardless of Chinese and Western, little by little accumulation, both learning and use, and experience enrichment, expansion and improvement in hard practice. The knowledge obtained in this way is better than the program style that is systematically instilled, because every bit of it has gone through its own experience and understanding, and it is naturally integrated into the self, and the final formation is an independent self. This may be the path to success for Mr. New Me.
Mr. Li's openness and inclusiveness are also reflected in his modesty as a human artist. Every time we met, he asked me what criticism of his calligraphy I had heard. He always said that he was a halfway monk, still exploring and experimenting. When it comes to Mr. Lin Sanzhi and Mr. Gao Ershi, he always gives a thumbs up and says, "They are really 'old people and books'." He explained: "Wu people call them 'Fei Lao', and their pronunciation is the same as 'not old', and I am indeed a man who is not old!" "Humor and modesty go hand in hand.
I once accompanied my husband to climb the Badaling of the Great Wall, when it was high autumn, when we climbed the mountain through the winding mountain road to look at the mountain, he could not help but sigh: "The scenery of the northern country, the momentum is magnificent, and the small scenery of the non-Jiangnan is comparable!" I also attended the "Lanting Book Club" with my husband, and the tranquility of The Lanting in San'in also aroused interest, and he said to me: "No wonder Wang Xizhiya gathered in Si, wrote beautiful books, and did not know the magic of being immersed in it!" "The fresh feeling of the scenery and the object reflects his quick thinking and broad ambition as an artist.
To commemorate Mr. Xinmei is to gain experience from his artistic journey, absorb nutrition from his art, inherit and carry forward, introduce the old and innovate, and expand the excellent cultural and artistic traditions of our country, which is the responsibility of future generations of art students.
Author Introduction
Xiao Ping
Don't sign Pingzhi and Father Ge. The name of the room is Eileanju. Born in Chongqing in 1942, his ancestral home is Yangzhou. He graduated from the Jiangsu Provincial Academy of Chinese Painting in 1963. He worked as a calligrapher and painter for 19 years at the Nanjing Museum. In 1981, he was transferred to the Jiangsu Provincial Academy of Chinese Painting. It combines calligraphy, Chinese painting, appreciation, historical theory and collection. Painting is eclectic, borrowing from the past and opening up the present, fresh and relaxed. He has held more than 30 solo calligraphy and painting exhibitions at home and abroad, and his works have been collected by more than ten museums at home and abroad such as the Palace Museum. Since 1983, he has been invited to the United States and Europe and Asia to study and lecture, attend the International High-level Forum on Art History, and deliver papers and speeches. He has published nearly 30 kinds of calligraphy and painting collections such as "Xiao Ping Calligraphy and Painting Collection", "Confucian Style in the Painting World, Xiao Ping's Artistic Life", and "Analysis of Traditional Techniques of Landscape Painting", "Analysis of Traditional Techniques of Figure Painting", "Analysis of Traditional Techniques of Flower and Bird Painting", "Study of Gong Xian", "Research of Ni Yunlin", "Lou Dong School", "Chen Chun", "Gong Xian", "Chinese Painting", "Identification of Fu Baoshi", "Danqing on Ancient and Modern", "Xiao Ping's Book, Painting, Jian, Collection, and Treatise" and other research monographs.
He is currently a national first-class artist of Jiangsu Provincial Academy of Chinese Painting, a researcher of Jiangsu Provincial Academy of Culture and Art, a librarian of Jiangsu Provincial Research Museum of Literature and History, a part-time professor of Nanjing University, Southeast University, Nanjing Academy of Arts, Yangzhou University, Southwest University, Jiangsu Chinese Culture College, an appraisal consultant of Jiangsu Provincial Art Museum, an appraisal consultant of Nanjing Museum, a visiting researcher of the Palace Museum, a researcher of the Calligraphy and Painting Institute of the Central Research Museum of Literature and History, the president of the Calligraphy and Painting Institute of Jiangsu Provincial Research Museum of Literature and History, and the president of the Minjin Jianghai Calligraphy and Painting Association. He is a member of the Expert Committee of the Art Appraisal Center of Xiling Printing Society, an expert member of the Jiangsu Provincial Art Appraisal and Evaluation Committee, the director of the Calligraphy and Painting Appraisal Center, the president of the Nanjing Dameitang Calligraphy and Painting Collection Society, the vice president of the Jiangsu Aesthetics Society, the vice president of the Jiangsu Calligraphy and Painting Association, the director of the Culture and Art Committee of the Jiangsu Overseas Friendship Association, and the consultant of the Calligraphy and Painting Room of the Jiangsu Provincial CPPCC. Member of the 7th, 8th and 9th CPPCC National Committees of Jiangsu Province.