On the morning of July 22, the "Donation Ceremony of Mr. Jiang Zhaohe's Works" was held in the Guofeng Hall (first floor of Mingde Building) of the China National Academy of Painting, officially opening the prelude to the "Modern Chinese Painting and Calligraphy Masters Series Exhibition" of the China National Academy of Painting. Mr. Jiang Zhaohe is a master of modern Chinese figure painting and art educator, and his "Portrait with Ah Q" created by Lu Xun's character Ah Q is one of his representative works, and it is also a classic work of Chinese ink figure painting. With a high sense of social responsibility, Mr. Jiang Zhaohe's family donated the work to the China National Academy of Painting free of charge, and at the same time donated a total of 18 pieces/sets of Mr. Jiang Zhaohe's stationery supplies, which is a great contribution to the collection of the China National Academy of Painting. Niu Kecheng, President of the Chinese Academy of Arts, delivered a speech at the donation ceremony, and the following is the original text of the speech:
Niu Kecheng, President of the Chinese Academy of Arts, delivered a speech at the "Donation Ceremony of Mr. Jiang Zhaohe's Works".
Today, we will gather here to witness a major event in the history of contemporary Chinese art collection - the donation ceremony of Mr. Jiang Zhaohe's works. We will experience the whole process of Mr. Jiang Zhaohe's masterpiece "Portrait with Ah Q" from donation to receipt, which is really honored! It will be a wonderful memory in our life experience!
The scene of the donation ceremony
Everything happens. The establishment of the donation as a handover event is based on the possibility of contact between the donor and the recipient, that is, the chance meeting. There are thousands of Chinese paintings and calligraphy, why is it "Portrait with Ah Q"? There are countless collection institutions in China, so why is it the China National Academy of Painting?
Mr. Jiang Zhaohe is a member of the Council of the Chinese Painting Academy, the predecessor of the China National Academy of Painting, which seems to have formed the precursor for today's donation. However, it has been 38 years since Mr. Jiang's death in 1986, during which time the development and changes of Chinese society have been constantly eroding the strength of this frontier. In fact, in recent years, some auction companies have approached Mr. Jiang's family and persuaded him to put it up for auction with a huge priceless estimate. In addition, Mr. Jiang Zhaohe left a wish before his death, wanting to concentrate his representative works in one institution, and although the National Academy of Painting has some of Mr. Jiang's works, they are not representative works, so this "Portrait with Ah Q" has no chance to be collected in the National Academy of Painting.
However, as we can see at this solemn ceremony today, "Portrait with Ah Q" was donated by all the relatives of Mr. Jiang Zhaohe and solemnly collected by the China National Academy of Painting. That 38-year-old frontier is becoming a reality today! Why is this?
Liu Wanming, President of the China National Academy of Painting, accepted the donation of "Portrait with Ah Q" from family representatives
On June 6 this year, Mr. Jiang Daiming, the son of Mr. Jiang Zhaohe, wrote a letter to President Liu Wanming, telling us the answer to this question.
The first sentence of the letter reads: "I would like to congratulate Mr. Wan Ming on his appointment as president of the China National Academy of Painting", which shows the extraordinary relationship between Jiang and Liu. In fact, Dean Liu had a deep personal relationship with Mr. Dai Ming, and Mr. Dai Ming admired Dean Liu's detailed understanding of Jiang Zhaohe's creative process and his profound insight into Jiang Zhaohe's art. It is the common love and understanding of Mr. Jiang Zhaohe's art that formed the deep friendship between Liu and Jiang. When President Wan Ming had just taken office, Mr. Dai Ming thought that it was a pity that the National Academy of Painting had not yet produced Mr. Jiang Zhaohe's fine works. After many discussions, Jiang Zhao and his family prudently decided to donate "Portrait with Ah Q" to the permanent collection of the China National Academy of Painting free of charge. This selfless dedication is admirable! It is not only a material transmission of a work, but also a kind of spiritual glory of "returning pearls to the people"!
In 1942, Mr. Jiang Zhaohe published his first album in Beiping, and in his preface, he sighed: "There are not many people who know me, and even fewer people who love me." It can be said that he is Jiang Zhaohe's art across time and space, Jiang Zhaohe and Liu Wanming played the soul of "harmony" through history. Finding a knower and a lover for "Portrait with Ah Q" is "an excellent destination for this work" - Mr. Jiang Daiming said.
Therefore, what we are witnessing here is a period of good fortune in the history of Chinese painting and calligraphy collection. It is a marriage of classics and authority.
Yan Dongsheng, Secretary of the Party Committee of the China National Academy of Painting, accepted the donation of stationery supplies from family representatives
Speaking of classics, we know that after the publication of Lu Xun's "The True Story of Ah Q", there was a boom in the creation of Ah Q's image in the Chinese art world at that time, and Chen Tiegeng, Liu Xian, Ye Qianyu, Feng Zikai, Liu Jian'an, Ding Cong and others all made statues for Ah Q. Unlike these cartoons, prints, illustrations, and other deformations from the subjective imagination and exaggerated language or episodic depictions, Jiang Zhaohe creates a portrait of Ah Q through the sketching of real people. Two years after the completion of this work, Mr. Jiang Zhaohe published "Ah Gui and Ah Q" in the 1940 monthly magazine "Chinese Literature and Art", Volume 2, No. 3, describing the birth process of Ah Q's image: Two years ago, he found a peasant worker entering the city outside the Chaoyang Gate in Beiping, with his hair hanging down and his braided appearance, his face was burnt yellow, and he seemed to have infinite sadness and depression in his heart, so he reminded him of Ah Q. Chiang invited him to eat and drink, talked to him, and listened to him tell his inner sorrows. He almost burst into tears, every vein in his head swelled, and his hands clenched into fists. While Mr. Jiang Zhaohe's portrait of Ah Q created as a model was successful, he was really "heartbroken". A "heartbreak" shows Mr. Jiang Zhaohe's infinite compassion for the vast number of working people living at the bottom of the old Chinese society. Therefore, instead of rendering the ugliness of human nature in a mocking tone, he uses wound-like lines and dry rubbing to express Ah Q's vicissitudes of life, the bitterness of life, and the gloomy pathos of that era. With his keen observation of the human world, Mr. Jiang Zhaohe captures the realistic projection of Ah Q in the novel, and completes the image construction and sincere lamentation of the tragic and bleak social situation. On the basis of adhering to the bone method of brushwork, it integrates the brushwork of landscape painting and absorbs the meticulous modeling techniques of Western painting, forming a new expression of Chinese and Western brush and ink, marking a new height of Chinese realistic ink figure painting in the context of realism.
Group photo of some guests
Yesterday evening, the famous contemporary Chinese painters Tian Liming, Zhao Jiancheng, Lu Yushun, Ji Lianbin, etc., watched the "Portrait with Ah Q" up close before the frame was sealed.
Speaking of authority, the China National Academy of Painting is a state-level art creation and academic research institution focusing on art creation and academic research, leading by classics, establishing a academy of character, and guided by academic thoughts, which is the direction of the future internal and external exchanges and displays of the China National Academy of Painting, which makes it an authoritative platform to promote the development of contemporary Chinese painting. The classic "Portrait with Ah Q" and the authoritative China National Academy of Painting, through today's donation, will surely burst out with 1+1 greater than 2 artistic and cultural vitality.
Jiang Zhaohe, Portrait with Ah Q, 96.5cm×60cm, 1938
Good relationship also means that the two sides face the future of the indissoluble bond. I have been working with Dean Wan Ming since 2007 and am well aware of and impressed by his excellent planning and organizational skills. I believe that he will cherish "Portrait with Ah Q" and plan it wisely, so that it can play the greatest role in display and research. During the exhibition, an academic seminar will also be held to discuss the creative direction and concept of Chinese painting, the relationship between art and life in figure painting, and the relationship between the creator and the object of painting, so as to give full play to the exemplary and leading role of donated art works in the creation and research of contemporary Chinese art. At the same time, the "Modern Chinese Painting and Calligraphy Masters Series Exhibition" was held under the general planning of President Liu, and exhibitions of works by artists such as Liu Kaiqu, Guan Shanyue, Dong Xiwen, and Dai Ze were launched one after another, so as to expound the academic concept of the China National Academy of Painting, enrich the collection system of works, and open up a new journey for the development of Chinese painting. The exhibition of Mr. Jiang Zhaohe's works is the kick-off exhibition of this series of exhibitions. We have reason to believe that the strong east wind of such a grand donation ceremony will be able to nurture the fruitful results of the art and scholarship of the modern Chinese painting and calligraphy master series exhibition! - Let us look forward to it so much, let us be so blessed! Thank you!
The scene of the donation ceremony
(Source: Chinese Academy of Painting, Chinese Academy of Arts)