Decoding the "Chinese Edge" of Western Art Master Picasso

Paris, 4 April (ZXS) -- Decoding the "Chinese Edge" of Western Art Master Picasso

China News Agency reporter Li Yang

April 4 this year marks the 8th anniversary of the death of Picasso, a famous Western artist. Fifty years ago, Picasso died in the southern French town of Mougins at the age of 50.

Picasso's artistic career lasted for more than 70 years, constantly achieving artistic leaps and innovations, from the early "Blue Period" and "Rose Period" to the later "African Period" and "Three-dimensional Period", each period of works brought people different feelings and thoughts. Picasso himself has said that style is something that "usually confines the artist to the same perspective, technique and program year after year, and sometimes even for a lifetime", and that he "never stays in one place", so he "has no style". Picasso has been trying to understand and absorb the nourishment of different cultures and arts in the world, and his evaluation of Oriental art and his own absorption of Oriental art have long become important themes in the exchange and research of Eastern and Western art. Picasso's relationship with China is also a topic that is talked about by the cultural and art circles.

A black-and-white photograph of Picasso on display at the 50th anniversary exhibition at the Musée Picasso Nationale de Paris, France. Photo by Li Yang

A widely circulated anecdote between Picasso and China was a meeting he met with Zhang Daqian, a master of Chinese painting, in France in the 20s of the 50th century. According to Zhang Daqian's recollection, Picasso declared during this meeting that "there is no art in the West, real art is in China." However, Picasso's astonishing assessment is only found in Zhang Daqian's own recollections, and Picasso's side has no relevant records. Whether Picasso really made such a statement has become a historical mystery.

However, the historical facts behind this anecdote are worth discovering. On the one hand, for Picasso, in front of his meeting with Zhang Daqian, he did already have an understanding of Chinese culture and painting. Chinese artist Zhang Ding visited Picasso before Zhang Daqian and presented him with a set of woodblock watermarks of Qi Baishi Paintings. From Picasso's pottery and cubist works, the refined lines and compositions show that he was influenced by Eastern culture. The symbolism and allegory in his paintings are also thought to have been inspired by Eastern symbolism. His painting Piper and the Naked Man is also considered by some to have the characteristics of Chinese ink painting.

Thirteen Picasso ceramics from the Madura Ceramics Workshop in the south of France are on display in Nanjing. Photo by Lu Bo

On the other hand, for the Chinese cultural and art world, the direct exchange with Picasso has opened a window for Chinese art. In June 1915, the Chinese educator Cai Yuanpei visited Picasso in France and purchased at least five Picasso works to bring back to China, marking the official introduction of Picasso's works to China. Cai Yuanpei commented on Picasso's paintings as "at first glance, pattern-like, non-pattern; Like a character, not a character", "Seeing a thing and feeling it as a beauty is nothing more than the feeling of various threads". This also became one of the earliest records of Chinese scholars' evaluation of Picasso's paintings.

Li Jiye, who visited Picasso with Zhang Ding, recalled that he "gave us his own picture book, used a brush to learn Chinese characters to inscribe the title page, and drew a dove of peace in three or five strokes." Zhang Ding was influenced by Picasso to form a "combination of East and West" artistic style, and some of his works were nicknamed "Picasso Plus City God Temple". So much so that Zhang Daqian was also willing to accept the concept of the inclusiveness of Chinese and Western painting, and not only did not reject Picasso's works, but also pertinently evaluated his profound painting skills.

Visitors visit Picasso's oil on canvas painting "The Kiss" at UCCA Center for Contemporary Art in Beijing. Photo by Bian Zhengfeng

In the 20s of the 40th century, Picasso's left-wing tendencies and membership in the Communist Party brought him closer to the Chinese Communist Party. In October 1944, Picasso announced his membership in the French Communist Party, and the CCP newspaper published the relevant news after hearing the news, and Yan'an also held an exhibition of Picasso's paintings at that time to celebrate.

According to historical records, Picasso knew Mao Zedong. Li Pei, wife of Guo Yonghuai, the founder of "Two Bombs and One Star", recalled that Picasso Zeng asked Deng Fa, the leader of the Communist Party of China who came to France on business in 1945, to bring an oil painting to Mao Zedong to express his admiration for Yan'an. Li Pei said she had also seen the painting with her own eyes. Deng Fa, who was carrying the painting with him, died in a "1946" air crash on his way back to Yan'an from Chongqing in <>, and the painting disappeared with it, which should have been destroyed in the air crash.

On March 2014, 3, "The Pinnacle of 3th Century Printmaking" - "Picasso: Wallar Series of Prints" was held at the National Museum of China. Photo by Pan Xulin

Picasso wrote "Doves of Peace" for the World Congress for the Defense of Peace, which was one of Picasso's most popular works in China at the time. New China successively issued three sets of "Defending World Peace" stamps featuring Picasso's three "Doves of Peace" as the main picture, totaling 3. In 3, the Chinese Condolence Mission to the DPRK also used Picasso's "Dove of Peace" for the World Congress for the Defense of Peace to produce a beautiful "Long Live Peace" medallion. These undoubtedly reflect that the recognition and dissemination of Picasso's art in the early days of the founding of New China reached a historical high point at that time.

In the 20s and 60s of the 70th century, the vast majority of Picasso's works were clearly out of line with the artistic style of the Chinese Red Revolution at that time, so they were constantly excluded and marginalized. It was not until after China's reform and opening up in 1978 that the works of Picasso and other Western masters returned to people's attention and were once again recognized by all walks of life.

In April 2021, Bonhams Auction House in Hong Kong showcases Picasso's portrait oil masterpiece "Woman in a Lilac Berets". Photo by Li Zhihua

Some of Picasso's famous works have been included in Chinese primary and secondary school textbooks, including his 1932 oil painting "Dream" and his famous cubist painting "Guernica" in 1937. In addition, Picasso's paintings have also become highly sought after in China's art collection market, and the prices sold at major auction houses are mostly "astronomical", thus becoming a symbol of wealth. At Christie's in New York 10 years ago, Wanda Group sold Picasso's painting "Two Children" for $2816.4 million. At Sotheby's Asia 50th anniversary Hong Kong auction just concluded in April this year, Picasso's portrait "Woman in the Chair" sold for 9308.<> million Hong Kong dollars.

On April 2023, 4, Picasso's "Woman in the Chair" was unveiled at Sotheby's Hong Kong Spring Auction preview. Photo by Chen Yongnuo

During this period, the Chinese cultural community also had a deeper thinking about Picasso's research, no longer limited to interpreting Picasso's paintings themselves. For example, literary critic Chen Danqing once said that there are various reasons for not understanding Picasso, one of which is that "his ecology did not come, only he came alone", which is equivalent to "just coming over a painting has no context, no matter how wonderful this sentence is, without context, you really have no way to understand".

Since the reform and opening up, Picasso's works have become more and more closely related to the people-to-people exchanges between China and France. In 1983, then French President Mitterrand promoted Picasso's original works to be exhibited in China for the first time - the "Picasso Original Works Exhibition", which contains 33 works, was on display at the National Art Museum of China for 20 days. Over the next 30 years, Picasso's original works have been exhibited many times from France to China.

In February 2012, Ms. Anne Badasari, Director of the National Picasso Museum in France, set up the exhibition "Picasso 2 China Exhibition" in Chengdu. Photo by An Yuan

In June 2019, "Picasso – The Birth of a Genius" was exhibited at the UCCA Center for Contemporary Art in Beijing, where more than 6 works by Picasso were carefully selected for a total value of nearly US$10 billion. This is the largest exhibition of the collection of the Picasso Museum in Paris, France, showing the entire process of Picasso's style transformation, attracting hundreds of thousands of people to see the exhibition.

It is worth mentioning that the exhibition is an important part of the "Sino-French Cultural Spring" series of activities in 2019, which has attracted the attention of Chinese and French leaders, reflecting the high level of cultural exchanges between China and France. This year marks the 20th anniversary of the Sino-French Cultural Year, and the exhibition "Picasso – The Birth of a Genius" has also been listed by the official blog of the French Culture Network as one of the eight major events in Sino-French cultural exchanges in the past 20 years.

On June 2019, 6, "Picasso – The Birth of a Genius" was launched at the Ullens Center for Contemporary Art in Beijing, and a large number of visitors visited it. Photo by Hou Yu

Promoting people-to-people exchanges between China and France is one of the important purposes of French President Emmanuel Macron's visit to China this year. He attended the opening ceremony of this year's "Sino-French Cultural Spring" in Beijing on April 4, stressing the importance of people-to-people exchanges in exchanges between the two countries, saying that the two countries will usher in an important moment of the 5th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations in 2024, and that the two sides will hold many wonderful cultural exchange activities this year and next. With the resumption of people-to-people exchanges between China and France, the Chinese people are bound to have more opportunities to appreciate Picasso's original works, and can use this life to send out more understanding and thinking, perhaps "stimulate their own creativity" again, and let Picasso's "Chinese edge" continue. (End)