oil painting

Dong was born in Shaoxing, Zhejiang. He studied in Suzhou Art College and Hangzhou Art College, and then went to the southwest and northwest to study and create. He copied murals in

Dong was born in Shaoxing, Zhejiang. He studied in Suzhou Art College and Hangzhou Art College, and then went to the southwest and northwest to study and create. He copied murals in Dunhuang Mogao Grottoes for three years, and his paintings were praised by many famous painters such as Xu Beihong.

"Pulling out a pillar" is a mistake in architecture, but it is a success in painting.

After receiving the task, through the study of founding ceremony's films, photos and pictures, Dong thinks that the leader and the people in the square are not in the same picture, which is not in line with his own ideas. In his imagination, this painting should be the composition of the founding leadership of New China and the people in the square in the same painting. He decided to break the limitation of realism and choose the picture composition according to his own understanding. Dong Xian drew a sketch and often carried it with him to solicit opinions from people in the art and literary circles.

In the sketch, Dong made two creative breakthroughs: First, except Chairman Mao standing sideways near the middle position, other leaders are standing in the left third of the picture, while the square people are on the right, so that the disparity between the left and right is unbalanced according to the general composition rules, but it can highlight the festive atmosphere; The other is that according to the normal law, there should be a red pillar on the right front side of Chairman Mao, but it was removed from the sketch to make the square more open. To be on the safe side, Dong consulted several architects, and Liang Sicheng commented: "There is a pillar on the right side of the picture that has not been drawn ... This is a big mistake in architecture, but it is a great success in painting art."

Devote oneself to creation.

In order to paint founding ceremony, Dong moved to a relative's cabin. This temporary studio is very narrow, facing a canvas more than 2 meters high and 4 meters long, with only three or four meters to retreat. When Dong paints, his back is against the wall.

You can't get a panoramic view of the picture and you can't see the overall effect of the picture. Dong completed his creation by relying on experience and intuition.

Dong's daughter Dong said, "After founding ceremony started, my father often painted it day and night. At that time, he smoked a lot and the ashtray was full for half a day. When he is fascinated by painting, ask him to eat. Everyone in the family knows that he must not be disturbed at this time, so he has to put the meal away first. "

In order to save time, Dong often spends the night in a chair in the studio. Because the room is too small, the picture is attached to the roof and stuck to the floor. When painting, I climb on the roof for a while and lie on the ground for a while.

The creation of "founding ceremony" has made rapid progress, with 70% to 80% completed in less than two months. From some details in painting creation, it can be seen that Dong's mind is deeply used. Dong said: "When my father brushed the carpet at the door, in order to enhance the texture of the carpet, he mixed sawdust and sand in the sawdust into the paint to enhance the texture of the carpet. The folds on Zhang Lan's robe seem to have been ironed and folded on purpose until the celebration. The railings of white marble are deliberately not painted white, but yellow, in order to show that China is an ancient country with thousands of years of history ... "

In May of that year, Mao Zedong and other party and state leaders reviewed a batch of fine arts works. They were all very excited when they saw founding ceremony. Chairman Mao nodded and praised: "Big country, it's China." This is undoubtedly a great reward and encouragement for Dong. Because it has always been his wish to use oil painting to reflect the style and features of the Chinese nation.

"founding ceremony" is a revolutionary historical painting that met with the masses and won wide acclaim shortly after the founding of New China. Dong's well-designed novel Oil Painting has also been widely praised by people in the art world, becoming the most important masterpiece in his life and his famous work. Dong has long been a famous oil painter in China, but since the publication of founding ceremony, this oil painting full of China charm has made him famous internationally.

Paintings that reflect major themes are always maintained in a specific era to varying degrees. Revolutionary historical paintings are directly linked to the lifeblood of the times and closely linked to people's yearning for light and progress. People enthusiastically appreciate founding ceremony, because it vividly shows the brilliant new century of the Chinese nation. It not only inspired the self-confidence and pride of people of all ethnic groups in China, but also shocked the hearts of people all over the world to celebrate the new China standing in the East. People's love for founding ceremony is undoubtedly influenced by its strong artistry, and painting without artistic sense is impossible to attract people's attention. However, to examine the achievements of a work of art, we should first focus on its social benefits and then estimate its artistic value. The unity of social benefit and artistic value is the standard of whether a work of art is perfect or not. Dong's success lies in the artistic completion of this important historical task and the opening of the first chapter in the history of new China fine arts.

Unfortunately, founding ceremony, now on display in the Museum of Chinese Revolution, is not Dong's original work, but a copy copied by Yan Zhenduo according to the original work and with reference to printed matter. The original was greatly changed because of the lies in the Cultural Revolution, but it can't be restored in the future, so it can only be stored in the painting library of the Chinese Revolution Museum. To commemorate the 40th anniversary of Dong's completion of this important creation, we will record the relevant information as artistic materials for your reference.

When Dong accepted this creative task, he was participating in the land reform in the suburbs of Beijing (1early 950). After he was transferred back to the city, it only took him more than two months to hand in his paper according to the instructions that he must finish it as soon as possible. Although unaccustomed to the creative method of catching up with tasks, he overcame many difficulties with great creative enthusiasm. For example, while collecting written materials and video materials to conceive, he also personally participated in the production of canvas (there was no ready-made wide-facade canvas at that time) and planned various facilities and necessary tools and materials for making large-scale oil paintings.

The composition of founding ceremony has been discussed for a long time. In the sketching stage, he often carries a picture drawn on a heavy cardboard with him like a postcard. Whenever he meets people from the art and literary circles, he takes them out and asks for your advice. The first time I saw this sketch was when I returned to the Academy of Fine Arts from the Liulangzhuang Land Reform Team. The design of sketch is very creative. Based on the solemn and festive atmosphere of founding ceremony held at Tiananmen Gate on June 1949+00+ 1, he adopted a combination of expressionism and realism, and his artistic treatment was bold. However, Dong was not sure at that time, because several questions in his composition might be controversial or even denied. He said to me, "It's a once-in-a-lifetime good luck to have the opportunity to create such a great historical picture of the revolution. But photos and film materials are not ideal for my idea and can only be used as reference. This sketch attempts to connect the mass scene in Tiananmen Square with the state leaders on the rostrum. I don't think it is enough to show the grandeur of the historical event of the founding of New China ... This work must be brainstormed, otherwise it will be difficult to draw well and the deadline will be tight. I am really anxious! " Dong has always been very thoughtful about oil painting creation, and at the same time he is also very open-minded to listen to other people's opinions. In the creative process of founding ceremony, especially in the drafting stage, he was open-minded and not ashamed to ask questions. As far as I know, many colleagues in Beijing art circle have seen this sketch on Xiao Ka, and he has also asked some young artists for advice. It is very valuable for a prestigious professor to show such a conscious public view on business issues.

The sketch of this painting on less than 15 square inch card paper is not much different from the original final composition, and the pattern of the picture can already be seen in the open area of Tiananmen Square. The sketch of the characters is very simple. But you can already see the physical characteristics of the leaders of major countries. Dong's opinions mainly focus on two aspects. The first is about the layout of the characters on the screen. In the sketch, except for Chairman Mao standing sideways in the middle of the picture, other leaders are standing on the left third of the picture, forming a layout with a big gap between the left and right. Judging from the general composition law, it seems to be out of balance. He is particularly worried about what effect it will have after painting into a big oil painting. Secondly, the span between the two pillars in the middle of Tiananmen Gate Tower is greatly relaxed in composition, which is also very different from the actual architectural framework, which may cause people's criticism. The reason why he did this composition processing was to show the clarity and openness of Tiananmen Square and the grandeur of the mass scene! National leaders are placed in such a grand atmosphere, which shows that "the people of China and the country have been established! The people of China have stood up since then! " For the record.

As for the former question, I thought there were few or no subjective characters in the composition, and suddenly everyone felt very strange. But Dong told me that no one among the painters opposed it, and many people still liked it. On the second question, most colleagues think it is bold. From the overall space of Tiananmen Square and the gate tower, it is necessary to increase the span between the two pillars. From the visual experience, it's fun not to draw the right column, but it's tedious to draw it. Li Zongjin was teaching in the Department of Architecture of Tsinghua University. He heard from Liang Sicheng that the idea was successful. Liang Sicheng, an expert in ancient architecture research, pointed out that not only the span between two columns has increased several times, but also from the perspective, half of the columns that should be visible on the right side of the picture are not drawn. He said that this was a big mistake in architecture, but it was a great success in painting art. He believed that painting should abide by its own artistic laws and appreciated such bold composition processing.

Rumor has it that Dong himself said that he painted fewer lanterns than columns. But when Liang Sicheng pointed out this problem, Dong did not deny it. Then why did he say it again? I think it's because it's easy to draw a column at Tiananmen Gate (sometimes called "moving a column"), which is far-fetched, and some people think it's unlucky, so they want to avoid pestering this problem. More importantly, people only feel that Tiananmen Square is carefree and bright, and there is no feeling of lacking a pillar. My colleagues in the art world are interested in this issue because Dong creatively applied the principle of artistic perspective in this painting. He broke through the mechanical method that has always been measured by the principle of perspective, making the composition more in line with the visual effect of painting space modeling.

Another perspective problem is that the Zhengyangmen Gate Tower on the screen is located on the vertical meridian on the screen, which is slightly different from the orientation of Tiananmen Gate Tower. Dong told me that he wanted to draw the Zhengyangmen Gate Tower in a north-south direction, also to make the square feel open. I don't think it's very useful. Anyway, he drew it this way. There are some perspective problems in founding ceremony, but the perspective professor who loves to find fault has not made any criticism, which also shows that Dong's creative ideas have been understood by everyone, mainly because of the touching effect and persuasiveness of the picture. If the picture looks awkward, it must be attributed to the perspective error.