Biography of painter Liu

Liu, whose original name is Liu Tingtan, whose name is Baiyun, is Laolian, Yezhuweng, Laoteng and Laomei, is a famous contemporary landscape painter. He was born 19 15 in a wealthy family in Fucheng Town, Fengyang County, Anhui Province. He was obsessed with painting and calligraphy since he was a child and devoted himself to the art world for more than 70 years. He died in Guiyang, Guizhou Province on August 14, 2003 at the age of 89.

From 1922 to 1932, Liu studied poetry and copied the Map of Mustard Garden in his hometown of Fengyang, and studied under the guidance of his grandfather, Beibei, Yan, Liu, Ou, Zhao, Liu. From his ode of "Plum Blossoms, Thin Jade and Pure Bone", it can be seen that Liu, who was less than 20 years old at that time, had forged a certain ideological realm. Liu, the eldest son, was obsessed with painting and calligraphy. Against his father's wishes, he gave up the assets in charge of the enterprise and decided to embark on the road of painting. 1933 was admitted to the Chinese Painting Department of Suzhou Academy of Fine Arts, and once joined the "Hundred Flowers Painting Garden" run by Zhu and Zhang Xingjie to study Chinese painting. At that time, Mr. Gu Yanping, head of the Department of Traditional Chinese Painting, highly praised Liu and accepted him as an apprentice. 1935, Liu lived in Mr. Gu's "Meng Chun Bookstore" in Suzhou Yiyuan and studied Wumen painting. Often follow Mr. Gu to visit Suzhou painting celebrities. He was lucky enough to read the ink of many famous painters in the past dynasties, and listened to many incisive opinions, which, coupled with hard study, laid a solid foundation for his painting. Liu Shi studied the "Four Heavenly Kings" from Mr. Gu, but he himself had a special liking for four eminent monks, such as Shi Tao and Shi Jing. Although Mr. Gu only painted the "Four Kings" all the way, he did not object to Liu learning from Shi Tao, leaving him room for self-development. Mr. Gu Yanping once took a sentence from Tao Yuanming's farewell speech, "Prosperity", and named it "Prosperity", while Liu took the sentence "Spring water begins to flow" and named it "Trickle". This nickname, which was taken by the teacher at that time, coincides with his endless lifelong pursuit of painting art like a trickle of spring water.

1937, the Japanese invaded and the situation was turbulent. Liu returned to his hometown as a teacher and taught in Fengyang County No.1 Primary School. The next year, the war spread and the school closed. Liu had to leave his hometown with his family and began a bumpy life in exile. First, I went to Hankou via Fuyang, and then from Changsha to Dongan, Hunan, where I made a living by printing and painting, and often traveled between Guilin and Guangxi counties to do some small business to subsidize my family. 1942, Liu Qu visited the county seat of Guangxi and taught in Datong Middle School in the county seat. He still spends his spare time on painting and calligraphy. 1944, Datong Middle School was evacuated due to the war, and Liu went to Guilin with his family, then to Guiyang and then to Chongqing. Along the way, he went through hardships, was bombed by Japanese planes, was ravaged by robbers, and lost all his luggage and paintings accumulated for many years. After arriving in Chongqing, he still made a living by printing and painting. 1946 After War of Resistance against Japanese Aggression's victory, Liu returned to his hometown Fengyang and taught at Fengyang Middle School. 1948, when the school moved south, Liu once again took his family across Hangzhou via Shanghai, out of Jiangxi to Hunan, and returned to the county seat of Guangxi, and opened the "Baiyun Tiebi Pavilion" in Zhongshan Street, which was still a painting for printing. During these days of running around, although Liu struggled to maintain his family life and raised 1 1 children at home, he still insisted on studying poetry books hard, practicing the skills of writing on the floor and painting on the nail wall without using a brush. He also summed up the academic thought of "having him without me at school and having me without him when painting". He painted about 20,000 paintings during this period. It can be seen from the preserved paintings that he has a solid foundation in Chinese painting. He broke free from the shackles of tradition and walked out of his own way in the footsteps of the ancients.

1949, Liu left the county to Guiyang, settled in Guiyang, and made a living by setting up stalls and lettering in Zhongshan Road and other places. From 65438 to 0956, due to the cooperative movement, Liu joined Guiyang Publishing and Engraving Society. 65438-0958 transferred to Guiyang Arts and Crafts Factory as an art designer. 65438-0964, transferred from the art factory to the national studio of Guiyang Institute of Arts and Crafts. At this time, Liu had an environment where he could concentrate on research and creation. Even so, his family's food and clothing problem is still not guaranteed, and they are still hungry and cold. Even children often do not have enough to eat. All kinds of difficulties did not overwhelm Liu. During the ten years from 1949 to 1966, he insisted on painting more than 10,000 paintings. The works of this period, with natural and unrestrained painting style and uncertain brushwork, have been born out of imitating the ancients and their techniques tend to be mature.

Less than two years after the stable days, 1966 started the Cultural Revolution, and Liu's research work was forced to stop. Because of his birth, he was questioned by working groups, propaganda teams and neighborhood committees for many times. In this movement, he was not only forced to write down his knowledge and confession endlessly, but also frightened the whole family. Moreover, the books and a large number of paintings and calligraphy that he always regarded as life disappeared in several property raids. In the face of hard life, indomitable Liu was almost defeated by this incomprehensible cruel reality. He often wandered around the nearby Nanming River, pouring out his infinite pain to the silent river.

1970 In the spring, Liu was sent to the countryside of Ximahe District, Longli County, Guizhou Province with his sickly wife and two minor children, and rented in a farmer's house. This is undoubtedly another bad luck for the Liu family, but it is also a relief for Liu to stay away from the absurd and impetuous city at that time and come to the natural and simple mountains. Soon, he found spiritual comfort from the rocks and nymphs of Xima River. Rain or shine, he goes out early and returns late almost every day, and goes deep into mountains and rivers all day, sketching, collecting herbs, collecting firewood and digging wild vegetables, and experiencing the changes of nature from rocks, trees and streams. He often stops at the villagers' farmhouse to make tea and chat with them, learn about the weather season, plants and flowers, and farm work experience, and give acupuncture and medicine to the villagers for free. Liu has completely forgotten the influence of the "Cultural Revolution" and started to be happy and happy in the life of knowing and doing. This life of being friends with mountains and water has completely transformed his painting style into "learning from nature, learning from nature".

Guizhou plateau has always been "the ground is not three feet flat, and the weather is not sunny for three days." The drizzle often lasts for ten and a half days, and the plateau Shan Ye is shrouded in water mist, which is more beautiful and humid. Liu traveled back and forth to Qiannan and Qianxi many times to appreciate the landscape characteristics of different regions in Guizhou and devote himself to studying the expression techniques of Guizhou landscape. Lack of paper, he used all kinds of wrapping paper, cigarette case and all available paper to sketch; Lacking pen and ink, he made his own brush with pig hair and wild bamboo, burned willow branches into charcoal strips, and collected peach gum from the peach forest to adjust the ink color. In just two years, he has accumulated more than 5000 sketches, which laid the foundation for his personal style of splashing ink on mountains and rivers in the future.

1972, the policy was implemented, and Liu was able to return to Guiyang and resume his original job. In 1970s and 1980s, Liu not only went deep into Guizhou mountainous areas to sketch many times, but also visited Huangshan Mountain, Diancang Mountain, Emei Mountain, Qingcheng Mountain, Lushan Mountain and other famous mountains, and compared them with Guizhou landscape to figure out the essence of Guizhou landscape.

In July 2003, Liu held his first solo exhibition after liberation in Guizhou Exhibition Hall. 1985 was hired as an art consultant of Guiyang Painting and Calligraphy Institute, and published many monographs such as Liu Hua Ji and Liu Shan Shui Hua Ji. 1988165438+10, held a solo exhibition in Beijing Central Academy of Fine Arts. In May 2000, Guiyang Federation of Literary and Art Circles held an exhibition of Liu China's paintings for him in Guizhou Provincial Museum. Famous scholars and other Beijing-based experts personally attended the Liu Zhong Traditional Chinese Painting Art Seminar.

Liu Zeng once said: "As a painter, one should study tradition honestly, two should study nature extensively, three should bear loneliness, four should dare to constantly surpass oneself, and five should not be afraid of difficulties and obstacles and the coming of old age". His academic thought of "studying with him without me, painting with me without him" requires us to study the tradition in a down-to-earth manner, imitate it painstakingly, then understand the tradition from learning from nature, and finally draw our own landscapes in our own way. He summed up his painting learning process in four words: "Fa, Shun, Gong and Hua". Looking at the 70-year artistic life of the elderly, it is from these four words that they have come step by step. He has studied painters such as Mi Fei, Shi Tao, Xu Wei and Huang for more than 60 years, not only to learn their brushwork, but also to understand the artistic conception of traditional art and the spiritual thoughts of the masters. He never paints with lead, no matter how big or small, he only emphasizes the word "fast", and rules and regulations emerge one after another. He thinks that the pen and ink drafted before painting is easy to be restrained, and it is rare to be naive and lively; If you want to draw at the same time, it will inevitably harden and lose the interest of pen and ink. These are the reasons why you are heartless and don't work hard. Therefore, he said: "Painters must learn from the ancient masters, understand the changes of tradition, understand the spirit of China culture, get the connotation of nature in nature, and have a myriad of weather in their hearts before they can do whatever they want."

Mr. China Academy of Art, the former vice president and famous scholar, was amazed at Mr. Wang's paintings and took the initiative to give Mr. Liu a preface to his paintings. From a few words, we can see his admiration for Mr. Liu Lao's painting style: "Liu Lao's paintings are authentic Chinese style and China charm! The height of pen and ink has entered the realm. From the origin of landscape painting, Liu Lao's paintings show the styles of Shi Tao and Xi Shi, and their height is by no means below two stones. His landscape is completely from the real Guizhou landscape, completely original and unique, without any old feeling. On the contrary, it is refreshing to see the real charm of Guizhou's mountains and rivers! I feel that Mr. Liu's paintings have been personalized, and Mr. Liu's people have a tacit understanding with heaven and earth, mountains and rivers, and nature. This is really the highest realm that painters are most difficult to achieve! "

Famous literary critics in China believe that the wildness revealed in Mr. Zhi's paintings not only shows the ups and downs of Mr. Zhi's life, but also shows the changeable chapters and powerful pen and ink created by his lifestyle.

Ke, a famous literary critic, also spoke highly of Liu. "Knowing Bai Lao is, after all, a person who has ideas about China classics and has his own unique pursuit. What he kept was his clean air, which was better than that of monk Shi Tao. Shi Tao can cope with princes and ministers, but not when he knows he is old. He is taller than Shi Tao rather than inferior to him. So he got Shi Tao's strengths, avoided Shi Tao's entertainment, and finally found himself competing with Shi Tao. He has reached the climax of complete loneliness. The full value of Liu Lao's painting lies in that he does not repeat the techniques of ancient masters, and at the same time reaches a tacit understanding with the ancients in spirit. "

Liu Yisheng regards fame and fortune as a cloud. He stayed away from painting all his life and insisted on the free character and independent thought of art. He lives in a big family full of children and grandchildren, and among many students. They live in harmony and enjoy themselves. He is content with his own small circle and ignores the right and wrong of the outside world. He doesn't even care about his own work. As more and more artists and critics praised him, the price of his works rose. However, Liu is not keen on this. He is like a monk, detached from things, and God is in the painting.

Liu always wanted to hold a solo exhibition in his hometown Fengyang in his later years, but the old man didn't wait until this day. He painted all his life, and just a few hours before he left, he threw the last bit of ink in a daze and put down his brush. "Two stones brush thin, see Bai Yunfei's" day south ". China has been strange since ancient times, and there is nothing. " Let's use Mr. Wang's poem to remember Mr. Liu. White clouds are silent, all in people's hearts.

(Sun Wenhai, Sun Xiangkuan finishing)