Rereading Cai Yuanpei's "Physical Sketch"-a topic triggered by Huang Binhong and Qi Baishi's sketches

Author: November 25, 25 12: 42:

Wen/Hang Chunxiao (Ph.D., Institute of Fine Arts, Chinese Academy of Art)

The sketch is a Buddhist term, which refers to a short version of Buddhism. It often appears in the form of small vertical shaft, album, fan, hand scroll, etc., which is more playful. The ancient essays emphasize the elegant feelings of the literati, pursue a light and detached aesthetic feeling, and have a cool atmosphere of being alone in the world. However, watching the sketches of Huang Binhong and Qi Baishi is not the case. Relatively speaking, compared with the ancients, they show a little more closeness to life outside of pen and ink, which makes them more lively and abundant. Or landscape, or grass insects, with a sense of life-sensitive body odor to obtain the authenticity that the ancients lacked-a sense of sketching. The formation of this visual experience is quite consistent with the rumor that Qi Baishi painted while holding crabs and Huang Binhong's sketch travel. In fact, from a certain point of view, this difference is not only reflected in Huang and Qi, but also a different experience gained by Chinese painting in the twentieth century compared with the ancients. It should be said that the acquisition of this experience has something to do with the emphasis on sketch training under the background of "the west wind spreading eastward" in the twentieth century. Among them, Cai Yuanpei's "physical sketch" is an unavoidable problem in this topic.

Cai Yuanpei mentioned in his speech at the Peking University Painting Research Association in October, 1919: "After that, there are two hopes for learning painting, that is, sketching more objects and persevering." [1] The speech was published in Peking University Monthly and Painting Journal successively. It is an important document devoted to painting after Cai's "Aesthetic Education instead of Religion" was published in New Youth in August 1917. Compared with the article in 1917, which only discussed the function of art macroscopically, the views on painting put forward in this speech are more specific and clear. He raised hope at the beginning, and then analyzed the differences between Chinese and western painting methods, and then pointed out the phenomenon that "western painting adopts China painting method". Finally, he called on "western artists can adopt my own strengths, but I can't adopt the strengths of westerners alone?" Therefore, those who are eager to learn Chinese painting must also use the beautiful scenery of western paintings to describe gypsum images and field scenery ... Today, when we learn painting, we should pay attention to it by studying science, get rid of the careless habits of celebrities, get rid of the ridicule of craftsmen, and use scientific methods to enter art. " [2]。 When discussing Cai Yuanpei and the art history of China in the 2th century, the academic circles pay more attention to the 1917 Theory of Replacing Religion with Aesthetic Education. However, the author thinks that, aside from the macroscopic influence of Cai's aesthetic theory on the cultural development of China in the 2th century, from the microscopic point of view of painting, if we can list Cai's as a person who has an important influence on Chinese painting in the 2th century, then this speech is even more worthy of our attention, because it puts forward more clearly and directly that we should study the development of Chinese painting with the scientific method of "sketching from the real" in western painting. Of course, the background of Chua's theory is the * * * same topic that China's cultural innovation faced in the 2th century-the west wind spreading eastward. As an integral part of China culture, Chinese painting is no exception. For example, in 1913, Shen Bao said when recommending the calligrapher Wang Jiefan: "Since the European style spread to the east, scholars strive for new learning, and there are nine times out of ten people who are too busy with calligraphy, but it seems difficult to choose one who seeks excellent calligraphy." [3]。 However, the problem is that the general environment of the west wind spreading eastward does exist, but what is its influence on the creation of Chinese paintings? However, it is a question worthy of our calm reflection [4]. In fact, as far as the information presented by the current academic circles is concerned, there is no information that can show that the internal development of Chinese painting before 1917-1919 was "strongly" impacted by the "west wind" as we imagined and reflected "strongly"! On the contrary, many materials show that the interior of the Chinese painting circle before 1917-1919 was relatively calm, and the traditional literati's elegant societies and painters' activities such as "Xuannan Painting Society" in Beijing and "Qingyiguan Painting Society" in Shanghai were still the leading forces of Chinese painting. Although there was also the speech of "discussing calligraphy and painting and preserving the quintessence of Chinese culture" [5], its foothold was to regard Chinese painting as a unit that needs to be preserved under the external pressure of China culture, rather than to say that Chinese painting should be reformed in response to "spreading eastward and westward". The same is true of the example cited by Wang Jiefan, whose sigh is only aimed at "nine times out of ten people who don't learn calligraphy", not at the abandonment of the so-called "national quintessence" within calligraphy. That is to say, although Chinese painting is in the overall cultural environment where the west wind is spreading eastward, its internal structure is still stable and its development direction shows more self-discipline [6]. However, this "relative calm" has changed when Cai's article was published. Cai's advocacy of sketching, together with Kang Youwei's "Combining Chinese and Western painting into a new era" in 1917 and Chen Duxiu's "Improving Chinese painting, we must adopt the realistic spirit of foreign painting" in 1918, are based on the theory of "taking realism of western painting as the priority", aiming at the internal value core of Chinese painting, and introducing the cultural influence of "the west spreading eastward" from the external environment of Chinese painting to the direction of its internal development and change. Therefore, Chinese painting has to face an inherent innovation problem, and it is no longer just a problem that needs to be preserved as a type of "national quintessence".

At this point, history has played a modest joke, which is enough to cause us to ask-Kang Youwei, Chen Duxiu and Cai Yuanpei are not people in the painting world. What impact will their remarks have on Chinese painting? This is a question worthy of our caution [7]. Looking through the "Discussion Collection of Chinese Paintings" edited by Yao Yuxiang in the 21st year of the Republic of China, none of the above three articles were selected. The book systematically collected and compiled the more important expositions in the field of Chinese painting at that time, "collecting the comments of famous domestic artists on Chinese painting, plus making choices." [8] The starting point of his selection is "people who study Chinese painting now are still thinking before the Tang and Song Dynasties, so they are complacent in their own gardens for a career. People who study western painting blindly copy western faces. So each other's barriers are tight, and there is no sound, and each is its own right and wrong. People who make a fuss about painting are either slaves of the ancients or sons and grandsons of western painting. I don't know why, but they just eat the dregs of the ancients and pick up their wisdom. Hey, it's also good and bitter! In view of this, the brothers thought about sorting out the theory of Chinese painting into a system so that those who later studied Chinese painting would not go astray. " [9] It should be said that the editor Yao Yuxiang's vision of choosing articles is relatively broad, and the 29 articles he chose were also influential articles in the painting world at that time, which was representative to some extent. Then, the social influence of Kang, Chen and Cai failed to be selected, which seems to imply some truth of history to us from one side. Of course, I don't mean to deny anything by saying this, but I just want to remind us that we should adopt a cautious attitude when facing history-analyze and understand people's feelings in concrete phenomena, and restore or collage the relatively real face of history in the process of this feeling. For example, we blindly emphasize the importance of Kang Youwei's preface to the painting of Wanmu Caotang. Of course, it may not be wrong to put forward the value of this article, but if we think that this article has opened up a new era, it is inappropriate. Because even Xu Beihong, who is in close contact with Kang Youwei, does not seem to agree with or respond to Kang's views. When Xu published the Method of Improving Chinese Painting in 1918, he attached an appendix to the article: "People who are close to you often imitate Lang Shining with vulgar paintings, but in fact I am an artist, and I don't advocate sectarianism. I moved to China only because I have studied European paintings, which is more realistic in materials. At first, I didn't dare to give up, so I took shallow people as my teachers. Moreover, there is no one in the world who can restrict his own performance by the creation of the ancients. Lang Shining is still in the beauty of an imperfect era, and artists can convert to it! In the future, Hong will strive to benefit himself, and if he only refers to him, it will be more than luck even if he is stupid! Comrades, gentlemen, look at each other, and sorrow is only the beginning. " [1] Xu Beihong won the support of Kang Youwei, and even he eloped with Jiang Biwei in 1917, which was supported by Kang's. In 1918, Xu Beihong got to know Cai Yuanpei through the introduction of Kang Youwei's disciple Luo Yinggong, and was able to join the newly established Peking University Painting Research Association as a tutor [11]. However, Xu published such a text shortly after he entered Peking University, without any intention of agreeing with Kang's admiration for Lang Shining years ago. And this happens, either because Kang Youwei's articles have a limited circulation and Xu has not read them; Either Xu had read it, but he didn't dare to go along with it because of the strength of traditional painting, and even wanted to draw a line with Lang Shining because of other people's comments. Then it is doubtful that Kang's writings will have much impact, let alone create an era. This phenomenon is enough to remind us that in the face of history, we should try to avoid too subjective judgment, but should carefully look for the true footprint of history in trivial details.

However, as mentioned above, this is not to deny the value and significance of Kang Youwei and Chen Duxiu's articles. In terms of the social influence of Kang and Chen at that time, even if the publication of such words could not have a direct impact on the development of Chinese painting, it was enough to give birth to a public opinion influence of innovation and change in the external environment of Chinese painting [12]. However, this kind of influence is not caused by an isolated phenomenon, nor can it appear immediately, but is a process of gradually influencing together with many other factors. Among these "many other factors", Cai Yuanpei's speech is undoubtedly worthy of our attention. Even from a certain point of view, Cai's article is more important than Kang and Chen Zhiwen, and it seems to have a direct and significant impact on the development of Chinese painting at that time. At that time, Cai was the president of Peking University, initiated the establishment of the Painting Research Association of Peking University, and became the chairman of the school board of Shanghai Fine Arts College in 1919 [13], which had a relatively direct influence in the northern and southern fine arts education research institutions at that time. It can be said that his remarks about Chinese painting at that time were directly in the face of the art world, compared with the people of Kang and Chen Er. Moreover, his "Speech in Peking University Painting Research Association" was published in October 1919 after Chen Shiceng resigned from Peking University Painting Research Association. Today, we don't know the specific reasons for Chen Cai's parting ways, but when Chen's departure, Cai's statement that "we should study painting now, we should focus on it with the method of scientific research, and get rid of the careless learning of the school of celebrities" seems to be correct, because the so-called "school of celebrities" is exactly what Chen Shiceng advocates. It is speculated that there may be reasons behind Chen Cai's breakup that they hold different views on painting. Then, Cai's leaving Chen Shiceng and making such remarks after his departure shows that he attaches importance to the painting research society of Peking University. Therefore, in the specific teaching research, Cai Yuanpei should also try his best to promote his idea of painting. Then, with the intermediary of art education directly facing the painting world, Cai Yuanpei's idea of painting is bound to have a certain direct impact and influence on the painting world. This, however, is a condition that people in Kang and Chen Er do not have. Indeed, Tao Lengyue, Xu Beihong, Lin Fengmian, Liu Haisu and others who will promote Chinese painting in China in the future are all related to Cai Yuanpei's support. Therefore, among the three articles on the innovation of Chinese painting published by Kang, Chen and Cai in 1917-1919, Cai's article is particularly worthy of our attention.

So, what is the specific expression of Cai Wen's importance? Throughout his article, Cai stressed that "Chinese painting and western painting have different ways of starting, Chinese painting begins with copying, and foreign painting begins with writing." This difference makes Chinese painting "the ancients learned painting, and non-literati and celebrities scribbled at will, that is, craftsmen and technicians portrayed and imitated it." Therefore, he stressed that "those who are eager to learn Chinese painting must also adopt realistic western painting sets to describe plaster statues and field scenery." [14] that is, his appeal of "making more physical sketches" was put forward at the beginning. Although Cai's essay does not directly judge the value of Chinese and western paintings, there is no doubt in his writing logic that "Western paintings that value realism are the essential medicine for Chinese painting innovation". This statement is quite in tune with people in Kang and Chen Er. It is this kind of harmony that makes the three advocates different from the quintessence concept under the so-called "West Wind Spreading to the East" of predecessors, but directly points to the "West Wind Spreading to the East" which is the core value of Chinese painting. However, compared with Kang and Chen, Cai's essays have gone beyond a kind of argument only from the cultural level, but under the slogan of "advocating realism", they have put forward a more specific training method, that is, the concept of sketching. Then, this concreteness undoubtedly makes Cai Wen have a stronger impact on the inherent stability of Chinese painting.

In fact, "sketching" as a vocabulary is not new in the history of Chinese painting. According to the available data, it should first appear in the writings of Song people, mostly referring to flowers and birds painted by Zhao Chang. For example, "Famous paintings in recent times, Li Cheng's Ju Ran landscape, Bao Dinghu, Zhao Chang flowers and fruits ... Changhua's sketches are realistic and soft and vulgar, which is unparalleled by the ancients, but there is no comparison between them." [15]； "Just as Zhao Changhua's sketching forced him to pass on the world as a treasure, it was not a flower." [16] At this time, sketching is a multi-biased verb, which means realistically depicting objective objects [17]. In the Yuan Dynasty, people began to be partial to noun attributes. For example, there is a saying in Yuan Jue's "The Map of Huizong Meique" that "the master sketched in god, and a chic Jiangnan spring." [18] To the Ming and Qing Dynasties, sketching became a referential term for flower-and-bird painting. For example, in Wu Kuan's "Painting Lotus and Goose for Bai Langzhong", it was said: "The former painters were like the city, not only competing for mountains and rivers. Dot Zhu and powder are good at sketching, and flowers and birds have a good history. Zhao Changming and Huang Quan Qi, and later called Cui Zixi. " [19] However, at this time, German sketching began to deviate from the original meaning of "realistic description", such as Qian Qianyi's "Peach Blossom in the Snow, the second time Xue Chayun", "Zhu Men's faces set each other off with sorrow, and Zi Mo's dust hated to sell. Who is going to write for sketching, the Wangs still have bananas in the snow. " [2] Wang Mo's "banana in the snow" is quite different from Zhao Changzhi's "painting flowers and birds". Another example is Qian Daxin's "Making Mo Ju Long Roll Out to Show the Title", in which there is a sentence "The master is for sketching, not writing the shape and writing the spirit, dripping ink and splashing ink, and writing with enthusiasm." [21] There is no need to say anything about the difference between the method of splashing ink, which is "only for writing God but not writing form" and "lifelike". It can be seen that "sketching", as a vocabulary, has changed its meaning in the history of Chinese painting: from the way of description to the reference of painting; From seeking truth to writing about god. However, this change is not a complete succession and change in time series, but it is sometimes confused, that is, it is not a scientific concept with a fixed definition in a strict sense, which is essentially different from the concept of "sketching" that specifically refers to physical modeling training in the 2th century. Even the earliest sketch by Zhao Chang, which emphasized the concept of "lifelike", did not refer to the process of "modeling the scene", but only a description of the final effect of the picture "close to reality". If there is a word in the history of Chinese painting that is closest to the concept of sketching in the twentieth century, it may be the word "portrait" in some usages. For example, Yan Zhitui in the Southern Dynasties once said in "Yan Family Instructions": "Painting is also wonderful. Since ancient times, there have been many celebrities who can do it, and I have always had it. It is also difficult for Emperor Liang Yuan to draw cicada, sparrow, white fan and horse map by hand. Prince Wu Lie is partial to photo-taking, so he can sit at the guest's convenience.