"The Biography of Xu Beihong"
Shao Xiaofeng by Unity Press
Inner page of "Xu Beihong's Biography"
Shao Xiaofeng's monograph "The Biography of Xu Beihong" (the latest revised edition) was recently published by Unity Publishing House. He has been immersed in research for 30 years, and this time he has added new achievements to Xu Beihong's academic research. The book opens up a characteristic reading mode that integrates historical, academic, readable and interesting for readers, and presents Xu Beihong's true and comprehensive life from the perspective of iconographic research. The book contains a total of 200,000 texts, including 260 images related to Xu Beihong's various periods and his artistic and educational achievements, and 80 representative works, which are divided into five chapters: the growth of talents, the career of studying abroad, the ambition of hesitation, the long way to go, and the ambition of the heart, and systematically shows the artistic life of a generation of masters who are self-reliant, patriotic, cherished, and full of heart with description, analysis and interpretation of iconographic research methods. Readers can go from knowing the painter to being familiar with the painter, while aesthetically appreciating, understanding the era and environment in which the painter lives, experiencing the process of Chinese art from poverty and weakness to rejuvenation, and tasting its difficult and bumpy but rich and beautiful artistic life. From the perspective of academic research, the book is rich in images, informative in research, and connects history in vivid and simple language, which is both theoretical logic and interesting to read.
Narrative with pictures, a new perspective
There are currently four or five versions of Xu Beihong's biography on the market, the most famous of which is Liao Jingwen's "The Life of Xu Beihong". But so far, there has not been a work that studies Xu Beihong from the perspective of iconography. More than 10 years ago, Shao Xiaofeng was already doing data accumulation work. During his one-year study abroad at the University of Hong Kong, he collected about 200 images of Xu Beihong. The book has a total of 340 images, which is more than 3 times the amount of information we can see in Xu Beihong's images as a regular. "One picture is worth ten thousand words", which is the positive significance of iconographic research. Shao Xiaofeng used iconographic methods to carry out a series of root-to-earth research, and after mastering the detailed information, through image description, analysis and interpretation, he explored and restored the historical original situation of Xu Beihong's work and life at that time.
Find the root cause and explain the theory of power
Shao Xiaofeng constantly surpasses himself and expounds new theories on the road of academic research. For Xu Beihong's academic research, he actively excavated new materials and was diligent in thinking. He published the Biography of Xu Beihong (Jiangsu Phoenix Literature and Art Publishing House, 2016), and edited and published The Complete Works of Xu Beihong (Writings) (China Youth Publishing House, 2020). On the basis of the "Biography of Xu Beihong's Paintings", the new book has been systematically excavated, studied and revised for 5 years, adding more than 40,000 words and 70 related images of Xu Beihong, such as Xu Beihong's series of photos at Peking University, the University of Hong Kong, Prague Station in the Czech Republic, Xu Beihong and teachers and students of Central University, Xu Beihong sending off students of the Central Academy of Fine Arts who joined the army, Xu Beihong in Huangshan, Luofu Mountain, Gushan, Darjeeling, etc. Shao Xiaofeng immersed himself in research, spent a lot of time collecting and expanding the image data related to Xu Beihong, and produced a series of new achievements, striving to be based on evidence, argumentation, and provide researchers with new perspectives of literature. For example, the fifth chapter of the book selects Xu Beihong's letters to Sullivan. The French letter was exhibited in Beijing many years ago, but it was not taken seriously by the art history community. Shao Xiaofeng, on the other hand, was deeply touched when he visited the University of Hong Kong Art Museum in 2013 with the collection of Mr. and Mrs. Sullivan, and was deeply touched when he visited the exhibition, so he invited a friend who was proficient in French to translate. In the letter, Xu Beihong revealed that he "began to write a book on the history of modern Chinese art on his own." Although the text message is only more than 100 words, it shows a blank field in Xu Beihong's research, and provides important historical materials for future generations to truly understand Xu Beihong's sense of artistic mission and social responsibility in the context of the art world at that time.
Graphic and text interaction, and for confirmation
The book is interactive, storytelling and interesting. The author's language flows naturally and the reader reads easily. This book involves a large time span, Xu Beihong's representative works and important historical figures are numerous, and a large number of characters and historical materials must be confirmed in the writing. He strives for excellence in the choice of images, and many of the image materials are personally photographed. It is mentioned in the book that Xu Beihong painted Mei Lanfang a portrait of a celestial goddess (Mei Lanfang's role in Peking Opera) scattered flowers. The author has seen some images of this painting in other sources, but the image is blurry due to poor early printing conditions. When Shao Xiaofeng visited the Mei Lanfang Memorial Hall many years ago, he saw the display of this painting, xu Beihong painted it much more delicately than the stills, and he immediately photographed it for research. Therefore, what we see in the book is a very clear picture of the scattered flowers of the Goddess of Heaven.
The book also fills in some academic gaps, and Xu Qingping, the son of Xu Beihong, provides the author with many new clues. Xu Beihong told his beloved son Xu Qingping that he had gone to Fujian to find Master Hongyi. The relationship between Xu Beihong and Master Hongyi is the most detailed record in the publications seen so far. The relationship between Xu Beihong and the Chen Shizeng family described in the book is also the most abundant in the publication.
The road of research is unswerving
Due to fate, Shao Xiaofeng and Xu Beihong have an indissoluble relationship. In 1991, with the ideal of comprehensively studying Xu Beihong's art, he applied for the Fine Arts Department of Nanjing Normal University, which was formerly known as the Art Department of the College of Education of National Central University, where Xu Beihong's artistic ideas were strongly inherited. In 2001, after the establishment of the Xu Beihong Research Association in Jiangsu Province, Shao Xiaofeng successively served as deputy secretary-general, executive vice president and secretary general, further studying Xu Beihong's aesthetic thought and artistic spirit. Shao Xiaofeng has embarked on the road of studying Xu Beihong for 30 years, seeking up and down, and unswervingly. Xu Qingping, director of the Xu Beihong Memorial Hall and son of Xu Beihong, once commented on the author: "Mr. Shao Xiaofeng is a rigorous, steadfast, hard-working and serious outstanding scholar, and also an important art historian in the field of Xu Beihong's research. Wu Weishan, director of the National Art Museum of China, enthusiastically wrote the title of the book, and finished the book with the timeless and profound bronze statue of Mr. Beihong, which is timeless and profound.
The book reinterprets Xu Beihong as a concrete and vivid artistic example, which has positive reference significance for the prosperity of the painting world in the new era and the display of the characteristics of Chinese art. The book interprets and explains the relationship between the nation and the times presented in Xu Beihong's artistic thought and art works through new methods, new materials and new concepts, so that the "spirit of Beihong" can be integrated into the contemporary context, adding new significance to the times, and also injecting new content and bringing new vitality to the study of modern Chinese art.
(Author: Zhao Cheng, Professor of Changshu Institute of Technology, Ph.D., School of Art, Southeast University)
Source: Guangming Daily