The art world of "the hardest bones" literary master
"Lu Xun's Art World" exhibition.
Photo by our reporter Zhou Changqing
As a great figure in the 20th century, Mr. Lu Xun's personality charm and ideological brilliance have influenced China for almost a century.
He is a famous writer, thinker, revolutionist, democratic fighter, an important participant of the New Culture Movement, and one of the founders of modern Chinese literature.
Mao Zedong once commented: "The direction of Lu Xun is the direction of the new culture of the Chinese nation."
For Lu Xun, if literary creation is a struggle against suffering, his lifelong love for art is the source of his happiness.
This year is the 140th anniversary of Mr. Lu Xun’s birth. Beijing Lu Xun Museum selected 120 pieces (sets) from the collection of cultural relics. The "Lu Xun’s Art World-Beijing Lu Xun Museum Collection of Cultural Relics Exhibition" was held at the Jilin Provincial Museum to let people see this The other side of Mao Zedong as "the bones are the hardest" literary master: rich and colorful art collection and spiritual world.
Collected more than 2,000 original Chinese modern prints, nearly 2,000 original foreign prints, more than 6,000 steles and Han portraits; purchased more than 600 Chinese and foreign art books and magazines; first introduced foreign art to be published in Chinese journals; founded "Woodcuts" "Workshop" trained the first generation of modern printmakers in China... In addition to creation and translation, Lu Xun devoted a lot of energy to artistic activities.
He is not only a pioneer of Chinese modern art thought, but also a researcher, educator and practitioner of modern art.
Lu Xun
As the saying goes: "You look younger at the age of three, and old at the age of seven." The hobbies and family education of adolescence have a huge impact on one's life.
When Lu Xun was a boy, he loved art and was keen to collect illustrated books such as "Shan Hai Jing" and "Poetry and Painting Boats", and photographed the embroidered images in the books.
He has his own unique insights in the field of fine arts, just like the field of literature. Hand-painted drawings are often found in his preserved handwriting, and the covers of his works and translations are mostly designed by himself.
Lu Xun wrote in "From Baicao Garden to Sanwei Bookstore": "It is very suitable for us when my husband is studying and studying... The embroideries of each are drawn down one by one, just like the shadow writing in the time of writing. The more books I read, the more pictures I drew; the books have not been read, but the results of the paintings are quite a lot. The most fragmented is "Dang Kou" There is a large copy of the embroidery of "Chronicles" and "Journey to the West"." It shows that Lu Xun's love for art since childhood is the enlightenment of his love of art throughout his life.
The exhibition exhibited Lu Xun’s favorite New Year paintings and paper-cuts "Fu Lu Shou", "Stealing Ganoderma lucidum" and "Nine Dragon Pillars", which can now be included in the intangible cultural heritage.
In the traditional society of our country, most literati and writers like to collect cultural classics and even calligraphy and painting works.
In people's impressions, Lu Xun held a fiercely critical attitude towards traditional culture, especially feudal culture. In fact, he inherited ancient cultural traditions in many aspects and made a lot of efforts to inherit and promote excellent traditional culture.
He has collected a lot of Chinese paintings, picture albums and Chinese and foreign art books. The exhibitions include "Qin Taishan Carved Stone", "Ode to Master", "Shi Tao Landscape Boutique", "Wu Changshuo Painting Album", "Hundred Hua Poems", "Paintings of Celebrities on the Sea". The original version of "Mustard Seed Garden Painting Book", as well as landscape paintings and flower-and-bird paintings by famous artists such as Lin Qinnan and Chen Shizeng.
Lu Xun also collected a number of portraits created by others for himself. There are two on display in this exhibition: one is a sketch of "Lu Xun's Portrait" drawn by Situ Qiao in 1928; the other is a Japanese portrait cartoonist Junichi Horio in 1936. A cartoon portrait of Lu Xun painted in Shanghai on January 13, and the inscription on the back of the painting: "With extraordinary ambition and great heart, throughout a generation of characters." Lu Xun recorded in his diary that day: "Go to Uchiyama in the afternoon In the bookstore, I met Junichi Horio for making a comic portrait, which is worth two yuan.” It seems that Lu Xun paid for this comic, and the price is not cheap.
Judging from the inscription, the Japanese also admired Lu Xun very much.
"Father of China's Emerging Woodcut Prints"
The emerging printmaking movement in my country was first initiated and initiated by Mr. Lu Xun, and he was hailed as the "father of China's emerging woodcut printmaking."
In 1928, Lu Xun founded the "Chaohua Club" in Shanghai, edited and published "Yiyuan Chaohua", and selected outstanding foreign woodcut works of art.
In 1931, the "Woodcut Workshop" was held in Shanghai to train the first generation of emerging printmakers in China.
In Shanghai, Hangzhou, Guangzhou and other places, he has guided and founded the Chundi Fine Arts Institute, Wild Wind Painting Association, MK Woodcut Research Association and other new art groups, and promoted woodcut research and the emerging printmaking movement to the north and south.
While paying attention to the collection of foreign prints and art books, Lu Xun also introduced these arts to the new generation of Chinese artists to enrich the local creations.
He organized art exhibitions, personally edited and published a variety of foreign prints, and helped woodcut youths to publish a variety of prints.
When it comes to Lu Xun and Xinxing prints, the name Kollwitz is believed to be familiar to many people.
She is a German printmaker and sculptor. Her representative works include "Weavers Rebellion", "Rebellion", "War", "Reaper and Women", etc., conveying the tragic fate of the working class and the spirit of courage to struggle under the capitalist system in a sharp form come out.
She is one of Lu Xun's most respected printmakers.
In 1936, Lu Xun edited and published "Selected Works of Kollwitz Prints" at his own expense, and personally designed the layout, advertisements, wrote the preface, and highly praised it: "Among female artists, there is almost nothing that has shaken the art world. Above Kollwitz-either praise or attack; or defend her against the attack.” In the exhibition, Kollwitz's prints include "Assault", "Poor", and "German Children Are Hungry".
Lu Xun also has a collection of modern prints from some countries. This time he exhibited prints from Germany, France, the Netherlands, and Austria, such as "Picture of Shimintu", "Paris Circus", "Church Market", "Resting Dancer", and "Women and Goats". There are also woodcut illustrations in the Soviet Union's literary works such as "Mushroom Picking", "Marathon Statue", "Books", and "Great Expectations".
Ukiyo-e is Japanese genre paintings and prints, mainly depicting people's daily life, scenery and drama.
Lu Xun, who studied in Japan in his youth, also liked Japanese prints, especially Ukiyo-e.
This exhibition exhibited his collection of "Evening on Seding Street", "Carnation", "Dog", "Hangzhou West Lake" and so on.
Lu Xun also associated with Ukiyo-e: "...an artist, as long as he expresses what he has experienced, of course, he should go outside the study room. If it is not in a whirlpool, then he only expresses the ordinary society he sees. The state is good. Japanese Ukiyo-e, there is no big topic, but its artistic value is... Regarding Japanese Ukiyo-e artists, I liked Hokusai when I was young, and now it is Hiroshige, followed by Gemo. "
Hokusai is famous for painting landscapes and city life. Among his landscape paintings, the series of works "Thirty-six Views of Mount Fuji" is particularly famous, and European impressionist paintings are also influenced by it.
The exhibition exhibited Hokusai's "Thirty-six Spectacles of Tomitake, Tokyo Asakusa Kanji".
Ge Mo's Ukiyo-e is famous for painting beautiful women, with exquisite lines, vivid expressions, strong life atmosphere, distinct worldliness, and even a melancholy and decadent sentiment.
There is Ge Mo's "Mother and Child Game" in the exhibition.
The exhibition also exhibited some foreign art books collected by Lu Xun, such as "White and Black", "Soviet Children's Prints", and "The Story of Library Tickets"; translated foreign literature and art works, such as Soviet writer Plekhanov's "Art Theory", "Ideological Landscape Figures" and "Problems of Modern Emerging Literature" by Japanese writers; edited and published collections of Chinese and foreign prints, such as the "Yiyuan Chaohua" series co-edited with Rou Shi.
In order to promote excellent traditional art, in 1934, Lu Xun and Zheng Zhenduo entrusted Beijing Rongbaozhai to re-engrave the painting collection "Shizhuzhai Jianpu" published in the 17th year of Chongzhen in the Ming Dynasty (AD 1644); the two also co-edited it. A total of 310 woodcut overprinted color papers were collected for the "Beijing Paper Book". Lu Xun personally bound and designed it, and was overprinted by Rong Baozhai.
Lu Xun not only supported the reprinting of ancient art classics, but also collected many contemporary Chinese prints, especially works by young woodcutters, giving them practical support.
This time exhibited woodcut prints such as "Command", "Work", "Zhabei Scenery", "Vagrant", "Peasant", and "Woodcut World" collected by Lu Xun, as well as "Woodcut Creation Method" reviewed by Lu Xun.
Among the woodcut exhibits, there are three pictures depicting Lu Xun himself: Lai Shaoqi’s "Mr. Lu Xun in the Storm" and "Mr. Gorky and Mr. Lu Xun" (also known as "Farewell!") created by Cao Bai in 1935. "Lu Xun and Xianglin's Wife".
"Mr. Lu Xun in the Storm" portrays Lu Xun holding a banner and marching forward courageously against a violent storm.
"Goodbye!
"It depicts Lu Xun taking Mr. Gorky’s heavy package on his shoulders and striding along the direction guided by Gorky, expressing the cultural mission of the two revolutionary literary masters in the same line.
Then, why does Lu Xun vigorously promote emerging prints, especially foreign modern prints?
He said in "Writing in the Middle of the Night": "...I saw another kind of people, although they are not heroes, but they can get close and sympathetic, and the more they look, the more beautiful and the more moving they feel."
From the preface written by Lu Xun on June 4, 1935 for the "National Woodcut Joint Exhibition Album", we can see that he regards emerging woodcuts as an important artistic means for the new generation of young woodcutters to express their vigorous lives. A career with a "brighter and greater" future.
He wrote: "Woodcut pictures were originally something that existed in China earlier. The Buddha statues, playing cards, and later novel embroidery and enlightenment pictures in the late Tang Dynasty, we can still see the real thing. And from this, we understand that it was originally Popular, that is,'vulgar'... The woodcut that has suddenly emerged in the past five years, although it cannot be said that it has nothing to do with ancient culture, but it is by no means buried in dead bones and replaced with new clothes. It is the same in the heart of the author and the public. Therefore, only a pair of stylus and a few wooden boards of a few young people can develop so prosperously. It expresses the enthusiasm of art apprentices, so it is often the soul of modern society."
Lu Xun's collection of rubbings
Lu Xun began to collect gold stone rubbings in 1913, the purpose of which was to protect the national cultural heritage, to study epigraphy, and to learn from ancient stone carving art and promote modern art.
There are more than 6000 gold stone rubbings collected by Lu Xun in the Beijing Lu Xun Museum, including 12 categories such as Han portraits, brick rubbings, tile rubbings, and stele rubbings.
The exhibition exhibited the brick rubbing works "Bricks in Yuanping First Year" collected by Lu Xun, the rubbing rubbing works "Poems on Mount Baifeng Mountain", "Cao Quan Stele", the works of Waltuo "Xuanwu", "Kaifeng Pattern" and "Ganlin", epitaphs "Xiao Yuan's Epitaph", there are Buddhist statues and so on.
Han portraits are outstanding representatives and treasures of Chinese culture and art, and are an important type in Lu Xun's collection.
Han portraits are decorative stone murals carved on the walls of tombs and ancestral halls in the Han Dynasty. The content includes myths and legends, ordinances, customs, customs, etc. In terms of art form, it inherits the simple style of the Warring States paintings, and develops the art of Wei and Jin styles. It was the first to establish the basic laws and regulations of Chinese painting.
Lu Xun believes: "Han people carved stone, the spirit is deep and majestic, the Tang line paintings flow like alive, if the woodcut is taken, it may open up a new level." The exhibition exhibited the Jiangsu Han portrait "Stone Gate of Sheyang" collected by Lu Xun, The Han portrait of Nanyang "The Queen Mother of the West and the Moon Palace, the Jade Rabbit Treating Medicine, the Nine-Tailed Fox", the portrait of the Han Dynasty "Confucius Meets Laozi".
Lu Xun not only paid attention to collection, but also paid more attention to the study of Han portraits. He once collected and compiled the "Han Portrait Collection Catalogue" and prepared to publish the "Han Portrait Collection", but unfortunately he could not implement it due to various reasons.
However, Lu Xun broke through the situation that the study of Han portraits was limited to the fields of archaeology and epigraphy, and focused on its application in the field of art. This is his unique contribution to the study of Han portraits.
The covers designed by Lu Xun for his books and publications are obviously influenced by his favorite art of rubbings of Jinshi.
In the exhibition, you can see: "The Quarterly Journal of Chinese Studies" edited and published by Peking University. The title of the book was handwritten by Cai Yuanpei. The cover designed by Lu Xun was taken from the stone carved moiré pattern of the Han portrait. Luo Xianke’s "Peach Colored Cloud" is a cover design designed by Lu Xun, with characters, beasts and flowing clouds in Han portraits as decorations, concise and elegant; Gao Changhong’s work "The Adventure of the Heart", edited and designed by Lu Xun, "snap The portraits of the tombs of the people of the Six Dynasties were written."
Calligrapher Lu Xun
Strict preschool education, rigorous mentorship, and passion for traditional Chinese calligraphy made Lu Xun a unique calligrapher in modern times.
In the large number of Lu Xun's existing manuscripts, the seal, official, xing, and kai styles are all crafted, and the style of the calligraphy follows the Wei stele one way, broad and majestic, simple and quaint.
Guo Moruo once commented: "Mr. Lu Xun also had no intention of being a calligrapher. His handwriting was his own style, and he was fused with seals in one furnace. , Went straight to the Wei and Jin Dynasties. The treasure of scholars is not expensive because of people."
The existence of Lu Xun's manuscripts is the largest among modern literati, scholars and even calligraphers.
The exhibition exhibited some of Lu Xun's poems, inscriptions, letters, and manuscripts.
Including the manuscripts to Zheng Zhenduo and Hu Shixin, the preface for Xiao Hong's "Life and Death", and the manuscripts of Lu Xun's autobiography, especially the manuscript written by Lu Xun on September 5, 1936 (more than a month before Lu Xun's death) The manuscripts of the essay "Death" containing 7 wills are precious.
Lu Xun’s calligraphy and literature often influence each other, and his literary works were originally produced and formed in the form of calligraphy.
"Lingtai has no plan to escape from the gods. The storm is like a dark and dark home. I send my blood to Xuanyuan." Lu Xun's poem "A Small Portrait of Oneself" was written when he was 21 years old.
In 1931, at the age of 51, he wrote "Small Portrait of Self-Inscribed" again, which not only showed the characteristics of his calligraphy, which was clean, natural, elegant and elegant, but also represented his passionate patriotism.
He also gifted "Self-titled Little Statue" to Shigeru Okamoto, a Japanese friend.
A large number of letters between Lu Xun and Xu Guangping are included in "Book of Two Places."
In the exhibition, there is a letter from Lu Xun to Xu Guangping on May 23, 1929. In the letter, he called him a "little hedgehog" and called himself a "little white elephant", allowing people to see Lu Xun and his lover who were known as "tough guys". The scene of me, Qingqing, I, is laughable.
(Reporter Zhou Changqing)