Everyone who saw Mr. Zhu Tong would be shocked by the Fairy Wind Dao Bone emanating from his body. You can't help but ask, what kind of years does a person have to go through to wash away in order to leave such a simple and flowing, relaxed and wise demeanor? The eighty-three-year-old gentleman, who does not have eyes or ears, lives in seclusion in Guangzhou with his wife, who is also good at painting, paints for six or seven hours a day, and lives a simple and comfortable life. In guangzhou in winter, back in the summer to Longcheng, there are independent studios on both sides. When we saw him, he was hurriedly cleaning up the house that had not been there for a long time, the movement was brisk, the legs and feet were sharp, the upright eagle hook nose was particularly eye-catching in the faint sunlight, and the simple and simple clothes suddenly had a feeling of fairy fluttering. All the previous preparations for the interview have been overturned by me at this moment, and this is a life that you will immediately be reverent and reverent at a glance, like a sword that has undergone thousands of hammers and trimmed, and once it is sheathed, it will shine brightly. At this moment, Mr. Wang's "tempering" of more than 80 years is the true source of his quiet and quiet art.
University of the fifties
The foundation of his artistic style was laid between 1950 and 1955. During that time he went to college, and the university at that time made him successful, and he also achieved many masters of art. In 1950, Zhu Tong, whose ancestral home was in Yangzhou, Jiangsu Province, was admitted to the Fine Arts Department of Beijing Normal University from Yangzhou Middle School, and at that time, the famous teachers of the Fine Arts Department of Beijing Normal University gathered, in addition to Wei Tianlin, the head of the Oil Painting Master Department, there were also famous painters such as Li Ruinian, Zhang Qiuhai, Xin Mang, zhuang Yan and so on. Two years later, Zhu Tong transferred to the Fine Arts Department of Nanjing Normal University, where the perfect teaching facilities and art concepts were personally created by Xu Beihong, who served as the head of the department for eighteen years. Famous professors including Fu Baoshi, Chen Zhifo, Huang Xianzhi, And Qin Xuanfu are also concentrated, and the style of realism and realism is adhered to here. Mr. Zhu Tong was personally passed down by these masters, and he laid a solid foundation in various fields in a multi-pronged manner.
At that time, the university class was very relaxed and casual, Fu Baoshi loved to drink, every time he came to class, he was full of wine or even drunk, he always held a cup of tea, leaned on the chair, the gods of the south and the sea chatted, at this time, his words seemed to be not very systematic, and lacked logic, but we loved to listen, but he talked about deep artistic philosophy, and let us know this art master more three-dimensionally. There are only six students in the class, and the format of the class is very free. Zhu Tong learned from Fu Baoshi, "Truly obtained the essence of the landscape and benefited a lot!" ”
At that time, the university had thirty-six classes per week, of which twenty-four were compulsory courses and twelve were electives, and for Zhu Tong, every class was taken, and after class, he also ran everywhere to sketch. Zhu Tong was so studious and hardworking that other people's four-year college was transferred to five years by him. In the past five years, it has absorbed the ideological essence of the most outstanding Chinese painters at that time, as well as the different creative styles of the north and the south, and also laid a firm foundation for many kinds of paintings such as Chinese painting, oil painting, and watercolor painting.
Zhu Tong was fortunate to live with his uncle Zhu Peng, a famous painter in Yangzhou, at an early age, and under the influence of his ears, he received the best art education in China at that time, paid his hardest efforts, and when he graduated from college, this future artist was already passionate and wanted to show it.
Zhu Tong was also unfortunate, in the most brilliant years, he encountered a special era and suffered one change after another. Growing up on the shore of the Slender West Lake in March of fireworks, the high-quality student who studied at the "Central University" in the hall was exiled to the golden beach, the bitter cold place where the Yang family would stain the sand with blood, because of a few words that did not hurt or itch, and changed to painting slogans and wall poster murals. More than fifty years later, Zhu Tong looked back on this period of history, sour, sweet, bitter and spicy, and it was difficult to say a word.
Golden Beach Past
Zhu Tong, who is young and vigorous, has his own independent value judgment, and he really dares to say what is good and what is bad. He merely said that "natural science has no class character," and as a result, he was characterized as a "Hu Feng counter-revolutionary" just after graduation, and Zhu Tong, who was deeply wronged, cried out: "I don't even know what Hu Feng looks like!" Afterwards, it turned out that Zhu Tong said this only out of the personal judgment of a young intellectual. In 1957, he was branded a rightist and sent to the rural labor reform in Jinshatan, Huairen County, Shanxi Province, which was still subordinate to Datong at that time. The young Zhu Tong, because of his too clear view of good and evil, experienced the cruelty of this world, although he had painstakingly read "Capital", had a certain degree of understanding of Marxism-Leninism-Mao's thought, and worked as a political teacher for a period of time after graduation.
Zhu Tong said: "I am actually still a person who is more able to go with the flow. "So in his spare time, Zhu Tong kept writing and drawing, on paper, on walls, on trees, on houses, as long as it was a place where ordinary people needed to paint, he was obligated to paint." Ordinary people are actually very simple", they don't really understand what the left is right, you walk in and understand their lives, they will like you. Not long after, Zhu Tong relied on one of his own pens to paint this village and another village, until he painted a "advanced cultural township of the Great Leap Forward" in his township, which was praised by the township mayor, received by the mayor, and the mayor and the municipal government often transferred him to paint. Zhu Tong learned the wisdom of survival in this land of hot blood, and also reached another realm of life - not to be insulted, with his own talent and diligence, start all over again.
Mr. Zhu Tong's reputation slowly rose, attracting the attention and attention of some institutions in the provincial city at that time, and finally transferred him from the countryside to the provincial city and began a new artistic life.
Search for Qi Feng to hit the draft
Mr. Zhu Tong has held leadership positions in the art world and the arts and crafts circles, but he is indifferent to fame and fortune, keen on artistic creation, traveling around the famous mountains and rivers, six on the Huangshan Mountains, seven to Guilin, at that time the transportation is inconvenient, the wind and food are sleeping, walking in the wild every day, the pen is not embellished, experiencing the test of life and death, such a life is of course very bitter, but for Zhu Tong, who sincerely loves the landscape, I think it is also the happiest day. "Search for Qifeng to hit the draft", draw thousands of sketches, and compile and publish the "Zhu Tong Landscape Sketch Collection".
Perhaps for him, this kind of refinement has gone beyond joy and sorrow. We visited Mr. Li's studio, flipped through the "Zhu Tong Landscape Painting Collection" and "Zhu Tong Watercolor Painting Collection" published by the People's Fine Arts Publishing House, and felt pure and beautiful in the face of one quiet and heavy work after another. The vast or majestic landscape seems to be the time when Pangu first opened the world, it is not tacky, and the sky is high and thick. Mr. Mister's wife also said professionally: "In Zhu Tong's paintings, there is a sense of Zen, which can make people tranquil, and even have an epiphany!" As Li Ming, a painter of flowers and birds in Yibi, said: "Everyone wants to be quick, but art that has not been baptized by time can never be scrutinized." Looking at Zhu Tong's paintings, every detail is handled very well, and such works are good works that can withstand the test. ”
After decades of wandering, the spirit of the mountains and rivers is gathered in Zhu Tong's chest, and Zhu Tong, who has a thousand valleys in his chest, has given this aura to his calligraphy and painting works. It is a process of absorption and tuna, more like the process of the artist communicating between people and the world. No matter who he is, his paintings have a breath of immortal wind and bone, which is the most unique place of Zhu Tong.
After the 1970s, he specialized in watercolor painting and landscape painting, constantly exploring the skillful integration of Chinese landscape painting and Western watercolor painting techniques to create a unique artistic style. In the early 1980s, he continued to participate in the Annual Exhibition of the Royal Society of British Artists and the Royal Portrait Exhibition, so he was invited to London to hold a solo exhibition. At that time, it was 1987, and the state was still very sensitive to the fact that artists were going abroad to hold art exhibitions, but it was finally completed. Mr. Zhu Tong's watercolor has been reported and commented by seven British media, and the United Kingdom is the hometown of watercolor painting, and it is not easy to get such attention and high evaluation.
At that time, Zhu Tong, who was nearly a year old, was hired as a visiting professor at the European Academy of Fine Arts in Trier, Germany, and went to Europe every year to give lectures, and walked in many European countries to sketch, Germany, France, Italy, Switzerland, Austria, etc., and drew a large number of sketches. For him, it was an endless practice. Walking, sketching, lecturing, painting exhibitions, Mr. Li entered another peak of his life in an unprecedented state of creation.
After the age of eighty, I will change the law
Mr. Zhu Tong's artistic achievements have made it difficult for many people to look back, but he is very modest, always saying that "the painting is not good, and it is still exploring". But in the eyes of most people, "his fame is far from worthy of his artistic achievements." In such an era, fame is not worthy of achievement, which is probably the highest praise.
At a time when most people were running for fame, profit, and power, Mr. Li had already been indifferent to this, and at the end of the nineties, he lived a secluded life with his old wife and children in a beautiful place on the outskirts of Guangzhou. Writing and painting, sorting out old works, raising flowers and grass, chatting and exploring, immersed in the quiet creation and self-enjoyment of the artistic career in the later years.
This summer, I went to Italy and other European countries, and when I returned, I said with great excitement: "This harvest is quite large, absorbing the nourishment of European contemporary art, and igniting my passion for creation!" ”
At this time, looking at Mr. Zhu Tong's fairy wind Dao bone-like body, maybe we will find some answers. But that's only part of it. Carefully read his resume and life: born in Yangzhou Shuxiang mendi, his uncle immersed himself in calligraphy and painting all his life; his father taught military geography at the Whampoa Military Academy; his mother was one of the first women to receive university education at that time; his uncle was first a warlord of the Republic of China and later served as vice premier of the Duan Qirui government; his younger brother Zhu Cheng was a famous sculptor; the younger grandson won the International Children's Painting Award when he was six years old... "Diligent and sincere, honest, this golden jade good word, as much as you practice, you will gain as much." This is the golden jade good word left by Mr. Zhu's father to Zhu Tong, and also to the descendants of the Zhu family, and how much energy this generation of scholarly families has given to Mr. Zhu is immeasurable.
Zhu Tong grew up in the beautiful water town of Jiangnan in his youth, forming a clean and elegant style in his works, and after his prime, he worked for a long time in the majestic northern mountains and rivers, which also created a strong and thick temperament in his works, because Zhu Tong had a solid ability to paint things, so his works not only had the sense of volume, space and rich color of Western paintings, but also had the unique charm, poetry and Zen realm of Chinese painting. In his view, "truth", "goodness" and "beauty" are the basic aesthetic standards he pursues. Sir talked about what is "true", that is, the truth of love, the truth of meaning, the truth of form, the so-called "good", that is, health, upward, righteousness, and finally due to "beauty", painting should be beautiful, pleasant, let people repeatedly appreciate, immerse themselves in it.