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The time is October 26th, 2010. The venue is Zhejiang Art Museum. The first thing I do when I see Liu Wenxi, I hand him two 100 yuan banknotes, which I prepared especially for this occasion, and ask him to autograph the banknotes.
“Please don’t take pictures!” Liu Wenxi makes the request repeatedly while autographing on the 100 yuan banknotes from me. He explains that writing on banknotes violates law. But everybody wants him to sign because he is the artist who created the portrait of Mao Zedong on the banknote.
Cao Minghua, a master best known for painting plum blossoms, introduces me to the master. We shake hands. Liu smiles and says that we have met before. Five years ago, Cao and I treated the visiting master to a dinner at a restaurant on the 28th floor of Zhejiang Daily Tower. I still remember Liu’s comments on Cao’s paintings of plum blossoms.
After getting the autographed banknotes back, I present Liu with a copy of the latest issue of Cultural Dialogue. Liu’s wife Chen Guangjian, also an artist, says that the monthly is delivered to their house regularly and that they enjoy reading it.
Liu Wenxi comes to Hangzhou to display his five masterpieces at the Exhibition of Zhejiang-School Impressionist Figure Paintings held in Hangzhou.
Liu Wenxi was born in 1933 in a village in Shengxian County in eastern Zhejiang. After his graduation from Zhejiang Academy of Fine Arts, the predecessor of China Academy of Art today, Liu volunteered to get assigned to work in Xi’an Academy of Fine Arts in northwestern China. He has put his roots down there. Over the past five decades, he has taken various leadership roles in both Xi’an and China Artists Association. Artistically, he is widely recognized as a pioneering artist in figure painting in modern China and the founding father of the Loess School. He finds inspirations in rural people in Shaanxi Province. He has visited the northern part of Shaanxi Province for more than 80 times and created more than 20,000 sketches on these tours. He has exhibited more than 1,000 masterpieces at home and abroad.
While we are chatting, Xiao Feng, who once was also a vice president of China Artists Association, arrives. Liu Wenxi presents his old friend with an album of his latest masterpiece entitled “Masters of Loess Plateau”.
I have a chance to take a look at the album. The latest masterpiece measures 36 meters in height and 21 meters in width, portraying 119 figures. Xiao Feng understands the eagerness in my face: I want to pick a few details for Cultural Dialogue. He offers I can keep the album for a few days. Liu Wenxi says I must remember to return it to Xiao.
After the opening ceremony, Cao and I tour the exhibition with Liu. I take more than 100 photographs of the master. Cao makes arrangements for me to have an interview with Liu. Liu agrees to a half-hour session, explaining that he is hooked to a television drama entitled “Mao Anying”, a blockbuster that tells the story of Mao and his son.
I pick through the pictures I took and have more than 30 printed. I present Liu with the pictures when we meet at seven o’clock that evening. He examines some pictures and says that my composition was not perfect in some pictures. After examining more, he praises some pictures.
He stresses again that we have only half an hour for the interview, for the television drama is scheduled for 7:30. He explains that he holds a profound admiration and respect for Mao Zedong. According to the artists, Mao was a man with a heart for his people. The core of his ideology was to serve the people. Never before was there such a person in China. Liu says, Mao made mistakes in his last years, but by and large he was a good man by nature.
Then we talk about the exhibition. Considered as a banner of contemporary art of China, Liu acknowledges his gratitude to Zhejiang. He was born and brought up in Zhejiang. The province gave him everything he needed to grow up physically and spiritually. He expresses his gratitude to Zhejiang Academy of Fine Arts and the professors with the academy. That is why he comes back and reports back to the people in Zhejiang.
When asked about his art philosophy, Liu Wenxi explains. The people create history. Artists should study the people, learn from them and understand them and create artworks for them. Artworks must be perfect in concept, art and likeability before they can be appreciated by people. The painting style he created is now widely known as Loess School. He practices four guidelines for his style: you must know the people thoroughly; you must be a master of form, you must be a master of art of brushstrokes and ink; and you must be highly innovative and original.
Our interview passes the half-hour time limit, but it continues. Mao Zedong appears on the television screen. Liu Wenxi watches Mao for a while and then reacts. “Mao lived in the northern Shaanxi for a long while. Especially in Jiaxian County when Mao was on the move constantly drawing the enemies after him in 1946. I have visited all the villages in the county where Mao once stayed.”
Then we talk more about why he paints and how he accomplishes what he does best. How time elapses. Before long I become aware that more than an hour is gone. I stand up and says good bye. I am deeply impressed with his honesty and straightforwardness. Before I leave, I ask him to autograph on the album he presented to Xiao Feng in the morning. He signed on the book and says that I need to return the album to Xiao Feng.
After I have a few details of his colossal masterpiece scanned into computer, I send him a text message saying that the album has been returned to Xiao Feng. □
“Please don’t take pictures!” Liu Wenxi makes the request repeatedly while autographing on the 100 yuan banknotes from me. He explains that writing on banknotes violates law. But everybody wants him to sign because he is the artist who created the portrait of Mao Zedong on the banknote.
Cao Minghua, a master best known for painting plum blossoms, introduces me to the master. We shake hands. Liu smiles and says that we have met before. Five years ago, Cao and I treated the visiting master to a dinner at a restaurant on the 28th floor of Zhejiang Daily Tower. I still remember Liu’s comments on Cao’s paintings of plum blossoms.
After getting the autographed banknotes back, I present Liu with a copy of the latest issue of Cultural Dialogue. Liu’s wife Chen Guangjian, also an artist, says that the monthly is delivered to their house regularly and that they enjoy reading it.
Liu Wenxi comes to Hangzhou to display his five masterpieces at the Exhibition of Zhejiang-School Impressionist Figure Paintings held in Hangzhou.
Liu Wenxi was born in 1933 in a village in Shengxian County in eastern Zhejiang. After his graduation from Zhejiang Academy of Fine Arts, the predecessor of China Academy of Art today, Liu volunteered to get assigned to work in Xi’an Academy of Fine Arts in northwestern China. He has put his roots down there. Over the past five decades, he has taken various leadership roles in both Xi’an and China Artists Association. Artistically, he is widely recognized as a pioneering artist in figure painting in modern China and the founding father of the Loess School. He finds inspirations in rural people in Shaanxi Province. He has visited the northern part of Shaanxi Province for more than 80 times and created more than 20,000 sketches on these tours. He has exhibited more than 1,000 masterpieces at home and abroad.
While we are chatting, Xiao Feng, who once was also a vice president of China Artists Association, arrives. Liu Wenxi presents his old friend with an album of his latest masterpiece entitled “Masters of Loess Plateau”.
I have a chance to take a look at the album. The latest masterpiece measures 36 meters in height and 21 meters in width, portraying 119 figures. Xiao Feng understands the eagerness in my face: I want to pick a few details for Cultural Dialogue. He offers I can keep the album for a few days. Liu Wenxi says I must remember to return it to Xiao.
After the opening ceremony, Cao and I tour the exhibition with Liu. I take more than 100 photographs of the master. Cao makes arrangements for me to have an interview with Liu. Liu agrees to a half-hour session, explaining that he is hooked to a television drama entitled “Mao Anying”, a blockbuster that tells the story of Mao and his son.
I pick through the pictures I took and have more than 30 printed. I present Liu with the pictures when we meet at seven o’clock that evening. He examines some pictures and says that my composition was not perfect in some pictures. After examining more, he praises some pictures.
He stresses again that we have only half an hour for the interview, for the television drama is scheduled for 7:30. He explains that he holds a profound admiration and respect for Mao Zedong. According to the artists, Mao was a man with a heart for his people. The core of his ideology was to serve the people. Never before was there such a person in China. Liu says, Mao made mistakes in his last years, but by and large he was a good man by nature.
Then we talk about the exhibition. Considered as a banner of contemporary art of China, Liu acknowledges his gratitude to Zhejiang. He was born and brought up in Zhejiang. The province gave him everything he needed to grow up physically and spiritually. He expresses his gratitude to Zhejiang Academy of Fine Arts and the professors with the academy. That is why he comes back and reports back to the people in Zhejiang.
When asked about his art philosophy, Liu Wenxi explains. The people create history. Artists should study the people, learn from them and understand them and create artworks for them. Artworks must be perfect in concept, art and likeability before they can be appreciated by people. The painting style he created is now widely known as Loess School. He practices four guidelines for his style: you must know the people thoroughly; you must be a master of form, you must be a master of art of brushstrokes and ink; and you must be highly innovative and original.
Our interview passes the half-hour time limit, but it continues. Mao Zedong appears on the television screen. Liu Wenxi watches Mao for a while and then reacts. “Mao lived in the northern Shaanxi for a long while. Especially in Jiaxian County when Mao was on the move constantly drawing the enemies after him in 1946. I have visited all the villages in the county where Mao once stayed.”
Then we talk more about why he paints and how he accomplishes what he does best. How time elapses. Before long I become aware that more than an hour is gone. I stand up and says good bye. I am deeply impressed with his honesty and straightforwardness. Before I leave, I ask him to autograph on the album he presented to Xiao Feng in the morning. He signed on the book and says that I need to return the album to Xiao Feng.
After I have a few details of his colossal masterpiece scanned into computer, I send him a text message saying that the album has been returned to Xiao Feng. □