Born in 1935 by the hands of Zhang Leping, an outstanding Chinese cartoonist, the little boy "Sanmao", who is always remembered by people, is actually 87 years old.
This comic character with only three hairs is the collective memory of generations in China. You may not remember when you first saw Sanmao, but he was extra kind like an old childhood friend.
"Sanmao's Military Record"
On November 10, 2020, in order to commemorate the 110th anniversary of Mr. Zhang Leping's birth, the China Art Museum (Shanghai Art Museum) and the Shanghai Artists Association jointly hosted the "Looking Back - Special Exhibition on the 110th Anniversary of Mr. Zhang Leping's Birth". The "Looking Back" special exhibition exhibits more than 400 works by Zhang Leping, including comics, Chinese paintings, paper cutting, fashion design, battlefield sketches, painted sculptures, novel illustrations, etc. Due to the enthusiastic social response, the exhibition was postponed for a time.
In order to create a special topic of "Art Rising forward", the China Art Palace selected the key exhibits of the "Looking Back" exhibition to share with you. This online exhibition brings the original work of "Sanmao Congjun" from the precious collection of the China Art Palace (Shanghai Art Museum).
"Sanmao Wanderer" and "Sanmao Congjun" are two popular comic strips by Zhang Leping, "Sanmao Wandering" is a collection of the National Art Museum of China, and "Sanmao Congjun" remains permanently in Shanghai. Zhang Leping donated all the original manuscripts of this comic strip to the Shanghai Art Museum before his death, and it is now a collection of the China Art Palace (Shanghai Art Museum), which is extremely precious.
Zhang Leping once said: "From an artistic point of view, I personally prefer "Sanmao From the Army", but the "Wanderings of Sanmao" is more widely circulated. ”
The full-scale outbreak of the War of Resistance Against Japan broke the stable life of society, and Zhang Leping's Sanmao is a small person who is concerned about the safety of the nation, which appears in "The Record of Sanmao From the Army". The work tells the story of the Japanese invasion of China in 1937, when the homeless Sanmao joined the army, wearing a completely ill-fitting oversized military uniform, solemnly lined up in the queue, and participated in the training of recruits. In the grenade throwing training, the weak Sanmao accidentally lost his hand and threw the grenade into the team. After a loud noise, the platoon leader revealed a scorched black face full of anger...
Sanmao Wanderer was created in 1947. The work tells the bitter experience of the orphan Sanmao, who is homeless, has no food and clothing, and only the stray children with the same fate as him care about him and give him warmth. This image of Sanmao became a household name and became a symbol of the fate of most poor children in China at that time, with strong social irony and critical significance.
With his witty brushstrokes, Zhang Leping described how the thin and diminutive Sanmao worked as a newspaper seller, shoe shine, and apprentice, etc., vividly showing the encounters of this street child in the old society. The various kinds of bullying that Sanmao suffered in old Shanghai aroused the empathy of the broad masses of the people.
After the liberation of Shanghai, Zhang Leping still maintained the child image of Sanmao in the comics, allowing him to grow up healthily under the sunshine and rain of the new society. This extraordinary artistic technique that breaks through the laws of human physiological growth makes Sanmao immortal forever.