Gao Xishun

Gao Xishun

Gao Xishun (1895-1982), a native of Taojiang, Hunan Province, was a native of Yifeng mountain and Qingliang mountain. Educator, painter. Good at Chinese painting. He graduated from Hunan provincial first normal school in 1918. Soon, he entered Beijing art school, worked as a master for Wang mengbai, and was guided by Chen Shizeng and Yao Mangfu. In 1924, he founded the Jinghua Academy of fine arts as president and professor. After studying in Japan in 1927, he studied pattern in Tokyo Polytechnic. After returning home, he founded Nanjing Academy of fine arts as president and professor. After 1949, he worked in the Central Academy of fine arts and the Institute of fine arts, Chinese Academy of Arts. Published "Gao Xishun painting collection" and so on.

About the painter

Gao Xishun, a native of Yifeng mountain, was born in 1896. Hunan Yiyang (now Taojiang County) people. He is a famous modern painter and art educator. Good at Chinese painting, art education. At the age of 17, he entered the First Normal University of Changsha, shared the same class with Mao Zedong, and later graduated from Peking national art college. Chen Shizeng, Wang mengbai, etc. had a close relationship with his fellow painter Qi Baishi. When they talked about art and painting together, they cooperated with each other and stayed in the world. Gao Xishun once taught in National Academy of Arts and Normal University. In 1924, he founded Jinghua Academy of fine arts as president and professor. After studying in Japan in 1927, he studied pattern in Tokyo Polytechnic. After returning home, he founded Nanjing Academy of fine arts as president and professor. After 1949, he taught in the Central Academy of fine arts and engaged in the research of Chinese painting in the Institute of fine arts of the Chinese Academy of Arts, and became a famous scholar in the field of modern Chinese painting.

A stroke of lotus

Ancient and modern masters love painting lotus. However, the general emphasis on the charm of the brush and ink to see Kung Fu, as for the lifelike form, it is not much attention. In order to break through the pattern of painting lotus, Gao Xishun put on a five and a half Jin iron ring in his hand to paint, often a painting is a long time. After several years of hard work, he finally achieved the hard skill of "one stroke Lotus". He created "Lotus duck" which is 4 meters high, with smooth ink and powerful, drawing a rare open lotus leaf; and the lotus stem, which is more than 3 meters high, is graceful and lifelike. This painting has been handed down from generation to generation.

Remonstrate Mao Zedong

Associate with Mao Zedong and Qi Baishi

Gao Xishun was admitted to Hunan First Normal University in 1915, where he had the honor to work with the teacher

Mao Zedong

classmate. Among the students in the first normal school, Mao Zedong's articles came first, and Gao Xishun's traditional Chinese painting came first. The two talented students have formed lifelong friendship since then. After graduation, Mao Zedong presided over the work of the primary school attached to the first division, and employed Gao Xishun as an art teacher. Since then, Gao Xishun began his 50 year teaching career. In 1918, Gao Xishun was admitted to the National Beijing Academy of fine arts as the first prize. He devoted himself to studying painting here and made great progress. He was also valued and instructed by the painters of that time, such as Chen Shizeng, Yao Mangfu, Wang mengbai and Ling Wenyuan. He graduated as the first prize and became famous in Beijing. Xuan was employed as an art teacher in the middle school attached to Beijing Normal University, and Qian Xuesen was his student at that time. So far, Gao Xishun's flower and bird paintings have entered the ranks of everyone. Seeing his paintings, Qi Baishi surprised him with a new look. He became a school of his own and did not fall into the stereotype of his predecessors From then on, he changed the precedent of not cooperating with others in painting, and happily cooperated with Gao Xishun in painting. He wrote the most postscripts for Gao Xishun's paintings all his life. There is "taro crab" in Gao Xishun's collection of paintings. Gao Xishun's painting of fish and Qi Baishi's painting of crab has become a rare treasure. There is also a famous painting of "fish Urn", which was completed in the Anti Japanese war. In the painting, fish is hung on the wall, and an unopened wine jar is set up under it. Qi Baishi is full of indignation against the Japanese invaders. Seeing this, Qi Baishi happily holds a pen and inscribes a poem on the painting: "if there is fish under the kitchen, you can't cook, if there is wine in front of the hall, when you don't drink, Li Bai and Liu Ling'an are here.". At the age of 92, Baishi wrote a postscript to Gao Xishun's famous work "playing ducks in the lotus pond": "the people of Yifeng mountain are good at painting, and they have five and a half Jin iron hoops to refine their skills. Therefore, this painting is unique, and it's a real masterpiece!" This caused a sensation in the field of Chinese painting. However, Gao Xishun always loved art education and was enthusiastic about cultivating art talents. He founded Jinghua art college with his life savings. In 1927, Gao Xishun went to Japan to study abroad. He negotiated with the famous Japanese painters at that time, such as Yokoyama Daguan and akacheng suming, on the art of painting. His works were deeply loved by the Japanese people. In 1933, he held a personal painting exhibition in Tokyo, with more than 120 works, all of which were sold out. He was well-known in different cities and was known as the "painter" in Japanese painting circles. After returning to China with a high reputation, he never forgot the cause of art education. He bought all his paintings in Japan and founded Nanjing Fine Arts College. He was the president and professor of Nanjing Fine Arts College at the foot of Qingliang mountain in Jinling. He devoted himself to his paintings and became the peak of a generation of Danqing masters. In 1938, he moved Nanjing Academy of fine arts back to his hometown, mingshitan, yangjia'ao, near Taohuajiang town. He was still the headmaster, and his brother-in-law and famous painter Zhang Yiran (pen name: Shiyuan) served as the dean. He persisted until the liberation of Taojiang and was still running the school.

Chairman Mao invited him to go north

In 1950, when the land reform was about to begin, some peasants did not know the truth and thought that the principal was a "senior official" and a "senior official" was a "big villain". They were about to hold their struggle meeting. When he was depressed, the Savior came: he received it

Chairman Mao

A personal letter inviting him to teach in the north. As for the origin of the letter, Fu Zhushu, a famous old painter in Taojiang and a favorite student of Gao Xishun, said that not long before that, the head of the University told him

Chairman Mao

He wrote a letter about his "hardship", but Chairman Mao replied so quickly! The head of the University was pleasantly surprised to take a close look at it, only to know that the main content was to ask him to "come to Beijing to work as soon as possible.". He went to Beijing with Zhang Yiran, Dean of the University, that night. I remember that they took advantage of the dark to make a detour across Zijiang, and then took the path from Xinqiao River to Yiyang, and then went north to Beijing Qianmen to live in a small hotel. That night, the military and police checked the household registration documents, but they didn't have them. Gao Xishun took out the letter from Chairman Mao. The military and police looked at it, raised their hands, and helped him contact a senior hotel to stay. The next day, he escorted them to the central authorities. Receptionist Report

Chairman Mao

After that,

Chairman Mao

Sent someone to send a note, told them to find the Ministry of culture, asked the Ministry of culture to arrange their work. So Gao was assigned to the Central Academy of fine arts and Zhang to the Museum of Chinese history. "What's interesting is that they give me

Chairman Mao

"They and Qi Baishi, the three great painters, decided to work together to create a painting entitled" peace and happiness live forever. "In the left corner, it says:" Zhang Shiyuan painted bamboo and stone, Gao Xishun painted peony and evergreen, Qi Baishi painted pigeon, and the title was 94 years old. " The painting was sent directly to Zhongnanhai by Gao Xishun and Zhang Yiran. But they stopped outside the gate of Zhongnanhai and only sent the painting in.

Mao Zedong

He was very happy to receive the painting and asked, "who sent it? Did Gao Xishun and Zhang resolutely come, or did they ask someone to send them? " The man came out and asked Gao Xishun truthfully. Gao Xishun said without hesitation, "I didn't arrive. I asked someone to send it." Zhang Yiran didn't understand why he said that. He joked: "you have committed the crime of deceiving the king!" Gao Xishun said with a smile, "I'm afraid

Chairman Mao

It's better not to go in if you are busy and delay his business. " This is the widely spread story of Gao Xishun

Chairman Mao

The story of sending pictures. When Mr. Zhu Shu finished all this, he showed me the picture album of Gao Xishun, which he had brought with him. In particular, he also brought the famous picture for Chairman Mao. Gao Xishun also gave Chairman Mao a meaningful painting, which is known as "Hua Jian"

Mao Zedong

》。 The picture is a pug sleeping under the peony flowers, intended to remind

Mao Zedong

He who is close to a gentleman is far from a villain.

Special times

Before 1957, Mr. Gao wrote for us

Chairman Mao Zedong

He made some pictures. One of them is a picture of a pug under the glory. It shows a beautiful peony flower, and a pug is lying down to persuade

Mao Zedong

We should be far from the villain and near the gentleman.

Mao Zedong

After looking at it, he thought that the painting was unique, far-reaching and precious, so he hung it in his office. However, this painting deeply hurt Kang Sheng. When he turned right in 1957, he suddenly turned right

Mao Zedong

He said, "Madam President, this painting is against you. It's very vicious. So he tried every means to persecute the painter. Jiang Qing, Kang Sheng and others strongly attacked the painting, while Mao Zedong thought that the painting was unique and far-reaching, and hung it in the middle hall.

Chairman Mao

After his death, Gao Xishun was persecuted by the gang of four, and he was forced to stop painting. After spring reappeared, he picked up the brush again until the last moment of his life. He died in 1982 at the age of 86. The year before his death, that is, in his collection of paintings published in December 1981, he wrote the article "autobiography", which said: "while I am donating money to run a school, I am devoting myself to painting. It's not the same to study the six methods in a thick way; it's not the same to sketch from life in order to learn; it's not the same to describe; it's not the same to change the brush and ink in order to use oneself, it's not the same to seek novelty; it's the same to cultivate one's character and practice in order to nourish one's spirit; it's hard to explore, it's sincere, it's fun to draw, and it's the same to be distracted for decades. " This is the best summary of his life character and painting art. In fact, this is a good painting recognized by the whole world, and it has been accepted now

Mao Zedong's collection of paintings.

Catalogue of works

Chinese PinYin : Gao Xi Shun