Woman
Text: Zhu Ziqing
Honestly, I'm a woman who rejoices; From my days at the national school to the present, I have always rejoiced in women. Although I have never suffered any "women's difficulties", I have often experienced the power of women.
A woman is a magnet, and I am a piece of soft iron; For a fictitious or actual woman, I thought about it for a moment or two, or even a week or two, and I really didn't know the taste of flesh - this kind of thing is repeated.
As I walked along the road, a woman came from afar, and my eyes swept straight past like bees sniffing flowers. But I'm content, an ordinary woman, maybe one or two glances are enough, at most one more turn back. Like one of my classmates, when he met the opposite sex, he stood upright - turned left or right, carefully used his two short-sighted eyes, chased him out from under his glasses for half a day, then disappeared, and then walked away - I didn't need it. There is a local saying in our place: "A good man looks at it, and a fool looks at it late; "I'm probably always on the "good" side.
Wherever I go, the first thing I always look for is with my eyes. In the train, I will go through several carriages to meet women; In the ship I will go all over the ship to find the woman. If I can't find a woman, I go to the playground and the temple fair,—— I boldly add - visit the girls' school; These are places where there are a lot of women. So my eyes were busier! I dragged my two feet along with them, often until I got tired.
What is the woman I am looking for? What is the woman I have seen? This is the art of the woman. In the past, women were compared to flowers, birds, and lambs. They simply say that women are art created by the hand of nature, which makes people delight and admire - just as the children of art are the creations of nature, which make people delight and admire. Not only men rejoice and admire, but women also rejoice and admire; And "jealousy" is the other side of joy and admiration, just as "love" is the side of joy and admiration.
It is not only women who are admired with joy, but also men. "This willow is lovely, like Zhang Xu back then," is a good example; And the phrase "Mei Fengyi" is especially "endless history". But men always seem to have less artistic temperament; Jia Baoyu said it well: men's bones are made of mud, and women's bones are made of water. Is this destiny? Or what about personnel? I don't know yet; I just think that's the case.
You see, when you are learning the "human body study" of painting, who doesn't need a woman as his model? Isn't it because women's curves are cuter? We say that since the beginning of history, women have been more artistic than men; This sentence must be wrong, right? That's why I say, the art of women.
The so-called artistic woman is a woman with beautiful colors, contours and movements, and it is a woman whose appearance, figure, and posture make us feel "self-fulfilled". There is a natural boundary here, and I am only talking about virgins, young women, middle-aged women, those old ladies, eroded by their age, have withered and withered, and in this case, they are already backward.
A woman's consummation is only one of her "human appearances"; She can have great talent, great wisdom, great kindness, great courage, great chastity, and so on, but it is not hindered by this appearance. The phases can help this aspect and make it more fulfilling; This aspect can also help the phases to divide them into their perfections, and sometimes it can cover up their shortcomings. When we look at a woman, if we are attracted by her perfection, we will not care about ourselves, but will not care about all that she has, but will only revel in it; This intoxication is instantaneous, uncaring, and silent.
When we look at women, we are happy and not in love. Love is all-encompassing, and joy is partial. Love is the fusion of the whole "self" and the whole "self", so it is deep and long-lasting; Joy is the fusion of the discontinuities of the "self", so it is shallow and ethereal. Both of these are the joy of life, the gesture of life. But love is for people, and joy is for people and things.
- In addition, there is also "benevolence", that is, "the people and things"; Further, "Heaven and earth are born together with me, and all things are one with me", which is "God's love" and "great love". This kind of love without material is not what I want; But here it is necessary to erect a monument, and every great and majestic image, whether human or belonging, which is sufficient to attract the heart of men, shall be for this kind of love; And the beautiful and gorgeous scene begins in the threshold of "joy". As for love, it is based on the attraction of personality, and it is extremely possessive, but it is different from the two.
Mr. Y divides love and joy equally between people and things, thinking that "joy" is only a thing, and "love" is a person; To say "happy" to a person is to despise his personality. Now many people also think that comparing women to flowers, birds, and lambs is an insult to women; To praise a woman's posture is also to insult a woman. So what? It is to despise their personalities! But I think if we can't exclude the "beauty of the body" from the personality, we have to say it slowly!
And if beauty is a value, and if personality is built on the cornerstone of value, how can we reject the "beauty of the body"? So I thought it was necessary to appreciate only the artistic side of a woman as art, as well as the other beautiful nature; Art and nature are "impersonal", and of course there is no "contempt" or not. From such a standpoint, comparing people to things, rejoicing and admiring, and the difference between oneself and the playfulness of the attack is 108,000 miles, and it should be acquitted of the world. - Only to regard women as "playthings" is really contempt; Even in the so-called "love". Artistic woman, yes, artistic woman! We want to look at her with amazement, and that's a miracle!
Sixteen years have I seen women, and I have discovered one thing, that when you appreciate women as art, you must not let her know; Whether it's rusty, it's more familiar. For it aroused her shame in sexual self-defence or disgust in other kinds, her artistic taste would be thinned; And if we care about her shame or disgust, we can't sit idly by. So we have to look at it in secret; Art is secret, and the creation of nature is secret.
But what is the woman of art whom I rejoice? You'll have to ask. Let me tell you: I have seen Western women, Japanese women, two women in Jiangnan and Jiangbei, women in the city, women in Zhejiang and the West; But my vision is too narrow, I have only seen less than half a dozen women in art! And there is only one Westerner among them, not a single Japanese! The Western virgin met on the corner of a secluded alley in Y City, and passed by with a glimpse. The other two met on two trains, one for half a day and one for two days; Another one was encountered in the countryside and watched it for three months.
- I think that the first thing that a woman in art is to have her gentle air; It makes people listen to the melodious sound of the pipe, like smelling the fragrance of roses, like lying on a thick carpet of velvet. She is as dense as water, and as light as smoke, enveloping us; How can we not rejoice and marvel?
This comes from her movements; Her every move, her waist, her sideburns, her blink of an eye, her bowing head, and even the slight lifting of her clothes and the light dance of her skirt are like the flow of honey and the gentle ripple of the wind; How can we not rejoice and marvel?
The loveliest thing is the soft waist; In the past, people talked about the weeping willows in the wind, and in "Dream of Red Mansions", they said that Qingwen's "water snake waist" was all about the thin and soft waist; But the waist I am happy with is just like the kraft candy in Suzhou, which makes my tongue full of sweetness and my teeth full of softness. The waist is so soft, and the hands and feet are also elegant. Look how full her shins are! From the knee down, it gradually bulges, like freshly steamed bread; Later, it gradually slowed down. This shin is covered with stockings, pale blue? Or white? Pulled tightly, some crepe lines are absent, and the plump curves appear plump; And that sparkling and tender light can simply shine the shadow of a person.
Look up and see how neat her shoulders are! Like twin lambs, and like two jade peaks; It's as thin as Autumn Mountain and so flat as Autumn Water. Above the shoulders, it is time for ordinary people to praise the "face" of the collection. What I will never forget the most is her dove-like eyes, so sharp that they seem to be ready to talk to someone immediately. It is especially gratifying when you are a little tired, because it is like a pair of little brown pigeons that have fallen asleep. and the moist and reddish cheeks, shining like apples, just like the dawn and the sunset, skillfully contrasting. In addition, the dense and fluffy hair that covered the forehead, like the chaotic clouds in the sky, was embellished even more interestingly. And her sweet smile is something lovely, too; A smile is a half-blooming flower, filled with poetry and painting and silent music.
Yes, I've said too much; I don't have to tell you what I see, one by one, I just merge them into a Sketch to show you – that's my amazing type, what I call the artistic woman's type. But I'm too narrow-minded! I'm too narrow-minded!
In women's gatherings, there is sometimes a gentle air; But just general air, no detailed program. Therefore, this is to be appreciated from a distance, which is different from individual opinions; If you look closely, the general air may disappear.
Speaking of this "women's party" of art, I think about the events of a few years ago, which is so melancholy. One Sunday morning in City P, I went to a large church to worship; I heard that there are a lot of women over there, so I went to worship women. The church was separate for men and women. When I went, the women's seat was still empty, and seemed quite distant; My reverie filled every empty seat. Suddenly, my eyes were a little dazzled, and in the thin fragrance, a group of women in white shirts, black vests, and black skirts walked in silently and far away. I don't see God now, but I see these Angels with wings!
Another time, on the lake in the evening, at dusk, there were eight or nine snow-white girls in white sitting in a yacht with little red flowers; The lake breeze danced on their clothes, and they turned white. I think they are the goddesses of the lake, who temporarily appear in the world with the game of Samadhi!
The third time on a bridge in the lake, under the light moon and clouds, there were more than a dozen leaning girls, also girls, hazy and white with the moon. In the trembling singing voice, I met the incarnation of Sister Yue again! - These are the other types that I have seen.
Yes, artistic woman, that's a miracle!
February 15, 1925, (Hangzhou) White Horse Lake.