Wu Zuoren

Wu Zuoren

Wu Zuoren (November 3, 1908 - April 9, 1997), male, from Jingxian County, Xuancheng, Anhui Province, was born in Suzhou, Jiangsu Province. He joined the Architecture Department of Suzhou Polytechnic College in 1926. From 1927 to the beginning of 1930, he studied in the Art Department of Shanghai University of Art, Nanguo Academy of art and Nanjing Central University. He studied under Mr. Xu Beihong and took part in the reform movement of Nanguo. In his early years, he majored in sketch and oil painting, and in his later years, he specialized in traditional Chinese painting. He has a broad realm and far-reaching implication. He blends Chinese and Western art with concise and accurate image. He is another leading figure in Chinese art circles after Xu Beihong.

In 1984, the Ministry of culture of the French government awarded him the "highest medal for art and literature", and in 1986, the king of Belgium awarded him the "crown Medal of honor".

Wu Zuoren was the provost, vice president, President of the Central Academy of fine arts, and vice president of the Chinese Artists Association. He was elected a deputy to the first to Sixth National People's Congress, a member of the Standing Committee of the Sixth National People's Congress, a member of the Standing Committee of the seventh Chinese people's Political Consultative Conference, a member of the Standing Committee of the Central Committee of the China Democratic League, and director of the Culture Committee. He was formerly professor and honorary president of the Central Academy of fine arts and chairman of the Chinese Artists Association.

Life experience

In 1930, Wu Zuoren went to Europe to study. He first entered the Paris Academy of fine arts, and then entered the studio of Bai Sitian, President of the Royal Academy of Fine Arts in Brussels, Belgium. In the second year, he won the gold medal and Laureate in the summer oil painting examination. He studied hard, mastered skilled professional skills, created a considerable number of oil paintings, showing extraordinary artistic talent. President Bai Sitian praised him as "not a framan school, not a Chinese tradition, but a writer full of personality". He returned to China in 1935 and taught in the Art Department of Central University. During the Anti Japanese War, he moved to Chongqing with the school. In 1938, he led the "field painting group" to paint in the front. From 1943 to 1944, he went to Shaanxi, Gansu and Qinghai to paint from life and copy Dunhuang murals. From 1944 to the beginning of 1945, he went to the kangzang plateau, went deep into the minority areas, wrote various styles, made a large number of sketching paintings, and held many exhibitions. In 1946, he served as professor and Dean of the national Beiping art college, and was elected president of the Beiping art Writers Association. In 1947, he held exhibitions in England, France and Switzerland.

He was professor and Dean of the Central Academy of Fine Arts in 1950, vice president in 1955, president in 1958 and honorary president in 1979. He was elected executive director and vice president of China Artists Association. He was elected vice chairman of China Federation of literary and art circles in 1979 and chairman of China Artists Association in 1985. He was successively elected as a deputy to the first to Sixth National People's Congress. In 1984, the Ministry of culture of the French government awarded him the "highest medal for art and literature", and in 1985, he was awarded the crown Medal of honor of the kingdom of Belgium. Good at oil painting, Chinese painting. He died on April 9, 1997.

Main works

His oil paintings Qibaishi, Sanmenxia and Chinese painting mutuotu are all collected by China Art Museum. Published "Indian Painting", "talk about landscape painting", "some views on oil painting" and other articles. He has published Wu Zuoren's painting collection, Wu Zuoren's painting collection, Wu Zuoren's sketch collection, Wu Zuoren's selected works, etc. In 1986, he held a large-scale exhibition of personal works in China Art Museum. He has visited abroad many times, held art exhibitions and devoted himself to cultural exchanges between China and foreign countries. Published Albums: Wu Zuoren sketch collection, Wu Zuoren ink painting collection, Wu Zuoren painting selection, Wu Zuoren and Xiao Shufang painting selection, Wu Zuoren art, series of biographies of contemporary Chinese Artists - Wu Zuoren, master and famous Chinese painting - Wu Zuoren, Wu Zuoren sketch collection, Wu Zuoren painting collection calligraphy poetry volume, Chinese painting volume, oil painting volume, sketch watercolor volume《 Wu Zuoren's collection of paintings, etc.

creative spirit

After the Song Dynasty, China's feudal society entered a period of stable and slow development. Under the patriarchal system, they are increasingly conservative in culture and conservative in art. Since the end of Ming Dynasty and the beginning of Qing Dynasty, it has become popular to copy the ancients. "It's good to copy the ancients realistically." it's proud to copy the ancients day and night, "just like the ancients." so Chen Xiangyin built a house under the house, and it became smaller and smaller, which made the art life wither and decline. With the budding of capitalism, the demand for personality liberation has become increasingly strong, and some painters in history began to fight. They found their own way, not bound by the ancients, and opposed "I serve a certain family.". He put forward the idea of "borrowing the past to open the present" and "I have me, I have myself in" (Shi Tao: quotations from paintings), which burst out the voice of personality liberation. From the nearly 100 years of painting history, all successful painters are dissatisfied with the current situation, trying to keep up with the times, and taking the development of Chinese culture as their own responsibility. They explore the development path of Chinese modern painting from different angles and focuses. There are three ways: Ren Bonian, Wu Changshuo, Xugu, Qi Baishi, Huang Binhong, Pan Tianshou and so on. They represent the new trend of Chinese literati painting. In the traditional Chinese law, they absorb some characteristics of Western painting, and give birth to new artistic vitality, breaking through the long-term stagnation of the "super stable" state; Gao Jianfu and Xu Beihong are committed to absorbing western tradition Realistic painting skills to improve traditional Chinese painting, the pursuit of western traditional skills and Chinese literati painting brush and ink taste of the combination, expand the aesthetic field of traditional Chinese painting, enrich the skills of traditional Chinese painting; Xu Beihong, Liu Haisu and others, committed to absorb the concept of modern western art, from a new perspective, mobilize the skills of traditional Chinese painting brush and ink, develop a new variety of modern Chinese painting. It is such a group of visionary painters who are committed to reform and innovation, conform to the historical trend, promote the new development of Chinese art history, create a new page of modern Chinese art history, and make China's thousands of years of civilization history into the category of modern culture.

The road of Art

In 1927, nearly 70 years ago, Wu Zuoren, a hot-blooded young man, embarked on the road of art. It was a turbulent time, a time when Chinese society and culture were facing great changes. The new culture movement of the May 4th movement, with its powerful momentum, deeply impacted the traditional pattern of feudal culture, aroused profound social repercussions, and caused a series of debates on major cultural issues. In the new debate, how to understand and treat the traditional Chinese culture, how to inherit and innovate; how to understand and treat the western culture, how to absorb and draw lessons from, is mainly reflected in the relationship between the eastern and Western cultures. In fact, these are two aspects of one problem. In the final analysis, the first is whether to break through the pattern of the old tradition, and then how to dialectically solve the two pairs of contradictions between the East and the west, the space difference and the time difference between the tradition and the modern, so as to create a new era of Chinese modern culture. The older painters have already taken the first step, and it is still the same historical topic to welcome the second generation painters such as Wu Zuoren. Every painter must make a historical choice. Whether it can promote the development of new art can be tested by its value.

In 1935, Wu Zuoren wrote a letter to a friend describing people's anxious, contradictory and complex mentality before making various choices. "The new trend of thought is surging, and the voice of seeking knowledge and truth awakens all illusions. Everyone understands that he is standing in the darkness of the decline of art in the past few hundred years. Escape! Give up! All the old things are cursed. They stand on the wrong side, crying for new things. Like those who have been hungry and thirsty for a long time, they have no time to distinguish the good from the bad. " Young Wu Zuoren felt the decline and darkness of the art movement for hundreds of years, but he tried to learn from the practice of the former people. He was eager and calm, neither escaping nor abandoning. He tried to distinguish and think about the joys and sorrows of the old tradition and the new trend of thought. He firmly believed that the time gap should be overcome, and the ink should follow the times. With the development of the times, the art must change, but the space is poor Distance is undeniable. The special cultural environment formed by regional history and other factors is just an important element of the colorful art. Therefore, "will the style of the past rule the modern art world again? Will western style become the yardstick of Chinese art? No! What is possible may be a new face. We're looking forward to it. " (Chinese painting in tomorrow) Mr. Wu is not only looking forward to this new aspect of art eagerly, but also diligent and hard-working. He has become an important member of the group of painters who made outstanding contributions to the creation of modern Chinese art in the first 50 years of this century. He is also the master of consciously exploring and developing Chinese culture and art in the decades after this century. In his art, Mr. Wu explored creation in the two fields of traditional Chinese painting and oil painting, trying to maintain the basic characteristics of Chinese literati painting tradition: strong artistic personality, poetic intention, elegant and natural brush and ink skills and interest; and also trying to integrate western realistic painting art into art, emphasizing the source of life, body and color A keen sense of color. Therefore, his art, reflecting modern consciousness, has national color and clear personality characteristics. Both his oil painting and Chinese painting have outstanding achievements. His ink and wash paintings have distinctive national characteristics, but they are never misunderstood as flowers, feathers and animals of a family in Ming and Qing Dynasties. They have the characteristics of ancient art, but they are completely modern. They integrate the advantages of Western art, but they are completely Chinese. His oil painting fully inherits the strong points of Western oil painting's modeling and color system, but facing Wu Zuoren's oil paintings, people can clearly feel the temperament of Chinese art. After nearly 70 years of hard exploration, Wu Zuoren finally walked out of his own artistic path.

Inherit tradition

Investigation and comparison

When Wu Zuoren stepped into the art world, he had a point of view to maintain his nationality

Chinese PinYin : Wu Zuo Ren