Peking Opera and Chinese painting are both quintessential arts. Expressing the legendary life of Qi Baishi, a master of Chinese painting, in the artistic style of Peking Opera is an artistic initiative with exploratory significance. The new Peking Opera "Qi Baishi" intercepts the important life experience of Qi Baishi's "decay and change method" in the 20s of the 20th century, showing that he is obsessed with artistic ideals, not driven by secular utilitarianism, only for the sake of artistic exploration, and finally achieves achievements that ordinary people cannot achieve.
The life experience and spiritual connotation of the master painter are not easy to express, although people say that "character is the painting", but the secular ethics and spiritual realm are not completely consistent in the painter. The landscape of the painter's life is mainly presented by paintings. To create the image of Qi Baishi, it is impossible to paint without expressing him, and too much expression will cover his temperament and personality. "Qi Baishi" focuses on the portrayal of the character, his desire for freedom in the spiritual world, the pursuit of his hometown, the respect for his mother and the leading role of his mother in his life, all of which are fully expressed in the performance.
Stills from the new Peking Opera "Qi Baishi".
"Qi Baishi" also expresses Qi Baishi's inner contradiction in his artistic pursuit: he constantly seeks and improves, transforming from a rural carpenter to a master of Chinese painting. He has had the experience of being despised, humiliated, excluded, and suppressed, and he has also had the practical purpose of getting ahead and pursuing worldly utilitarianism; He has had times when he was popular, and there were times when he was lonely and helpless. In the end, he gave up the superior situation of success and pampering, and was willing to change the style of painting for the sake of artistic ideals, change the law and seek innovation, knowing that this is a dangerous and strange move, and if he doesn't get it right, he will ruin the reputation he has accumulated, and will destroy the profit space that has been opened up by itself, so that the family's life will return to poverty, but he is still obsessed with his own ideas and has no regrets. In his own words, it is to "portray ten thousand insects, open the gods for a hundred birds", and write eternal charm for the flowers, plants, people, and animals of nature that he loves.
"Qi Baishi" maintains the plot mode of traditional opera with one person running through the line, and also creates the image of the little lady Baozhu, the opera master Mei Lanfang, the leader of the Beiping painting circle, Zhou Yifu, the calligraphy and painting merchant Su Lizhai, and Qi Baishi's eternal spiritual dependence. As an old-fashioned drama, it is complete. In particular, he also used expressionist techniques to externalize Qi Baishi's heart and create two elves in the netherworld, who are also immortals and Taoists, gods and ghosts, one is "dust thought", one is "divine thought", one is a harlequin, and the other is Hua Dan. "Divine thinking" reminds people of wonderful thinking, representing the spirit of transcendence; "Dust thoughts" make people think of earthly thoughts, representing utilitarian considerations.
Stills from the new Peking Opera "Qi Baishi".
The British theorist of theatre William Archer believed that theatre was the art of crisis. "Qi Baishi" starts from the low ebb of Qi Baishi's life: his grandson is sick in his hometown and needs him to take money for treatment, his money is stored in the bank, but the bank fails. He had nothing to do, nothing to think about, and lay groggily by the bank door and on the street. The crisis also meant a turning point, at this time many art dealers surrounded it, it turned out that Chen Shi had selected Qi Baishi's paintings to Japan to participate in the exhibition, causing a sensation, Qi Baishi's paintings became the object of people's competition. This play shows the dialectical logic of Qi Baishi's life art, and unfolds his behavioral choices in the polar relationship of opposites and contradictions, which not only shows the interdependence of Qi Baishi's life experience, the complementarity of gains and losses, but also shows the ups and downs of his artistic path. No one can succeed casually, even Qi Baishi, who is talented and a master, and his humble background and foreign identity make it not easy for him to become famous in the Beijing School of Painting. If he lived out his old age and conformist, he would be a mediocre painter at best, but he just didn't want to be led by the nose by people who bought and begged for paintings, and painted paintings that were suitable for the occasion, popular by people, and could be sold for a good price. He didn't want to repeat himself, he didn't want to paint those lines, he wanted to start a sect and forge a new path on his own. He has his own merits: a large family needs him to sell paintings to support, he has also had contradictions, hesitations, "dust thoughts" and "divine thoughts" in his heart constantly argue, but in the end he still gave up the money of reality to seek the righteousness of art.
Stills from the new Peking Opera "Qi Baishi".
Qi Baishi and Mei Lanfang have the same goal in the artistic realm, they are both leaders in the industry, and they cherish each other, not willing to be stable and upright, but to be new and surprising. He and Zhou's father did not know each other, although Zhou was condescending to him and disdained his painting methods, but Qi Baishi did not care about the previous suspicions, sincerely apprenticed to learn art, and finally accepted all rivers, turned to many teachers, and the blue was better than the blue, so that Zhou was impressed by him, blue-eyed, and convinced.
Qi Baishi has experienced the destruction of paintings, statues and statues, and every blow is also a ladder for art to climb. He forgot to sleep and eat, and fed on ink, and founded "Red Flower Ink Leaves", "Gongbi Bee Scorpion", "Freehand Characters" and "Expressive Flowers and Birds". Whether it's blue eyes and white eyes, it's okay to be hot and cold, or it doesn't matter if it's a mixed reputation, Qi Baishi is Qi Baishi, his road of innovation and exploration is like putting himself into the alchemy furnace of Taishang Laojun, destroying the old self and forging the new self. Life is reborn, art is in full swing, and he has always been the person who pursues ideals and has a bright nature.
"Qi Baishi" has a complete structure, beautiful lyrics, and the literary drama is not "warm", and "strange" is intentional. Qi Baishi's qi and blood are organically integrated with the charm of his paintings, looking for and seeking, understanding the true meaning, smiling, and the realm is fully opened. In short, this is a good Peking opera with rich content and novel creativity.
(The author, Song Baozhen, is the director of the Drama Research Institute of the Chinese Academy of Arts and a special critic of the Beijing Federation of Literary and Art Circles, courtesy of the Beijing Peking Opera Company)
Source丨China Culture Daily