Where is Xu Beihong’s ancestral home?

Xu Beihong

On July 19, 1895, Xu Beihong was born in Qitingqiao Town, Yixing County, Jiangsu Province, southern China, 15 kilometers west of the vast Taihu Lake.

The shores of Taihu Lake are a gathering place for talented people, poets, and painters of all ages in China. It not only has clear lessons from its mountains and rivers, but also has hard-working and brave people and a long and glorious cultural tradition. According to legend, Fan Li and Xi Shi lived in seclusion in Yixing during the Spring and Autumn Period, making a living by making purple clay pottery. He is known as Tao Zhugong, the ancestor of purple clay pottery. Yixing has a reputation as the pottery capital of China to this day. There is also a historic site called "Jiao Bridge" in Yixing, which was a place used by Zhou Chu in the Jin Dynasty to kill dragons for the people. Xu Beihong's father, Da Zhanggong, was an upright painter. He was good at poetry, calligraphy, and seal cutting, and was especially good at painting. He had profound attainments in landscapes, figures, flowers and birds. He did not admire fame, but only sought to be famous. He once carved many seals to express his aspirations, such as "Half tillage, half reading, half fishing and woodcutting", "My home is in the sound of reading", "When I have free time, I will write pictures and sell them, without having to commit sins in the world." "Money", "son's heart, hero's courage..." His love and pursuit of art and his noble moral character deeply influenced Xu Beihong and led him to embark on the road of painting.

Xu Beihong began studying with his father at the age of 6. When he went to Liyang by boat with his father at the age of 10, he had a poem that said, "The spring water is filled with green, the spring mountains are beautiful, the sailing is good, and the boat passes thousands of mountains." , is famous in his hometown for his artistic talent of creating poems on the spot. After he finished reading the "Four Books" and "Zuo Zhuan" at the age of 9, he began to learn painting from his father, copying one of Wu Youru's paintings and figures every day. Wu Youru was the largest illustrator in the late Qing Dynasty. He could depict pavilions, pavilions, insects, fish, birds and beasts, exotic flowers and plants, and even thousands of armies and horses on a large scale. Every time Xu Beihong went to the city with his father, he would go to the painting shop to view the works of Shi Tao, Ba Ren, Ren Bonian and others. After returning home, he would write from memory. Under the diligent instruction of his father and the influence of innovative senior painters, he laid a solid foundation for Chinese painting. In his lonely boyhood with few toys, Xu Beihong quietly fell in love with many animals around him, and carefully observed and described them, such as docile cows, galloping horses, quacking white geese, and ducks floating on the water. The depictions of flowers lying tiredly in the corner or growing on trees... all appear in his brushstrokes one by one, as if they were alive.

When he was 13 years old, there was a flood in his hometown. Da Zhanggong took Xu Beihongjin to make coal in another place. He painted figures, landscapes, flowers, and animals, carved seals, and wrote Spring Festival couplets. At that time, there was only portrait photography in the city, so they often painted portraits of people. For the young Xu Beihong, this was an extremely stringent test that would have a significant impact on his future outstanding achievements in figure painting. Of course, this career as a busker not only honed his artistic skills, but also brought him more into contact with the lower class society and the working people, inspiring his concern for the country and the people. He often signed his paintings at that time "Shenzhou Boy" ", "Jiangnan Poor Hero" expresses his great ambition.

As a boy, Xu Beihong was already exploring and creating a new painting style. At that time, the Bandit brand cigarette boxes came with animal pictures. Beihong loved to collect them. When he saw various animal specimens, he painted them. Sketch strictly and conscientiously. Some copies of the works of Western art masters gave him a vague desire to study art in Europe. However, the cold reality stood in front of him. The wandering life made his father seriously ill, and they had to return to their hometown.

Seventeen-year-old Xu Beihong became a well-known painter in Yixing and taught art at Yixing Women's Normal School, Pengcheng Middle School, and Shiqi Primary School. When Beihong was 19, his father died of illness. After burying his father with deep sorrow, Beihong decided to go to Shanghai to look for opportunities to work and study. When Zhang Zufen, a Chinese teacher at Yixing Junior Normal University, said goodbye to him, he encouraged him diligently: "You are young, smart, and hardworking, and your future is limitless. I hope you will remember this sentence: 'People can't be arrogant, but they can't be arrogant.'" I have nothing to give you, so I will give you these words! Xu Beihong felt infinite gratitude from the bottom of his heart and remembered these words throughout his life. He still carried them with him as a motto until the end of his life. She said to me tenderly: "Mr. Zhang Zufen can be called my first confidant!" "

In 1914, Xu Beihong came to Shanghai. Xu Ziming, a fellow countryman who was a professor at a Chinese public school, recommended Beihong's paintings to Xia Tian. The president of the university was highly praised and was given the opportunity to arrange work. Promise. When Xu Ziming accompanied Xu Beihong to the principal, the principal was very surprised and whispered to Xu Pingming: "He is as young as a child, how can he work?" Xu Ziming argued passionately: "As long as he has talent, why do you care about his age?" "Later, Xu Beihong wrote several times to the president of Fudan University, but received no reply; so Xu Beihong lived in Shanghai. While he was wandering without time, Xu Ziming introduced him to Yun Tieqiao, editor of "Novel Monthly". Xu Beihong took his Hua and Xu Ziming's letter went to see Huai Tieqiao, and he was favored. He agreed to find a small position as an illustrator for Xu Beihong in the Commercial Press, and asked Xu Beihong to hear back in a few days.

At this time. It was already the season of autumn rain. Xu Beihong didn't have an umbrella, so he went to hear the news in the rain. Mr. Yun Tieqiao said happily: "It worked!" You will be able to move to the Commercial Press soon. "A warm feeling came to Xu Beihong's cold body. He immediately rushed back to the hotel and wrote to his mother and friends in his hometown saying that he had found a job.