Cultural Perspectives: What kind of Shanghai style art master exhibition do we need today?

Mondo Culture Updated on 2024-01-19

Cui Shuqiang, a professor at the Department of Calligraphy of the Academy of Fine Arts of East China Normal University, found that the calligraphy of Shen Yinmo on display is rarely large-scale, which is far from the so-called "exhibition hall calligraphy" that is often 6 feet and 8 feet, which has an eyeball effect. Is this just because Shen Yinmo's creative space was limited at that time?Cui Shuqiang believes that there are also differences in aesthetic pursuits. This makes Shen Yinmo's art worth reading again and again. The star-studded group of Shanghai-style art masters can be described as a precious wealth of Shanghai. When more and more art exhibition halls are keen to focus on Shanghai-style art masters, some professionals in the industry point out that the exhibition is "better than well-organized". In addition to bringing together masterpieces, we should further explore the unique value of masters and their works in art history and their enlightenment for the present, so that the spiritual wealth in them can be effectively shared by more people and transformed into more inspiration. The integrity and innovation of facing the public with beauty have inspired today's calligraphy creation, and the "Creation of the Extreme" exhibition has caused a lot of repercussions in the industry. Gathering more than 100 works of calligraphy, poetry and books written by Shen Yinmo to comprehensively display his talents and contributions in various fields, on the one hand, on the other hand, it is actually the significance of the times revealed by the exhibition in the form of seminars and other forms. The peaceful and elegant Zhengda atmosphere is the intuitive impression left by Shen Yinmo's calligraphy to many audiences. The formation of such a face is closely related to Shen Yinmo's many efforts in addition to calligraphy creation. Pan Liangzhen, director of the Shanghai Calligraphers Association, pointed out that Shen Yinmo spared no effort to promote calligraphy, believing that calligraphy should start from the doll and face the future. For example, he has written a large number of popular articles popularizing calligraphy, and has also held amateur calligraphy Xi classes at the Youth Palace. Among the exhibits in this exhibition, there are many calligraphy stickers that flew into the homes of ordinary people, witnessing Shen Yinmo's efforts to popularize calligraphy. From the perspective of the industry, the idea of popularizing calligraphy education has also deeply influenced Shen Yinmo's calligraphy appearance, and he faces the public with beauty. For a long time, how many calligraphy creators have used their brains to catch the eye and come up with new ones. Large-scale decorative calligraphy works have given birth to a new concept of "exhibition hall calligraphy", but the trend of excessive pursuit of visualization and sense of form has also caused concern in the industry. There are also all kinds of "random books" and "ugly books" that are popular, confusing the public's aesthetics. Literary critic Mao Shi'an said frankly that when he saw Shen Yinmo's calligraphy, he couldn't help but sigh that calligraphy can be so beautiful and moving, like flowing water in the same industry. He believes that it is not the avant-garde and conservative that determine the superiority of artworks. It is also remarkable to carry forward the tradition and do it to the extreme. In this sense, Shen Yinmo's integrity and innovation have given people a lot of inspiration today. Looking back at the Shanghai School of art masters, in order to better find their sense of resonance with the present, is increasingly reaching a consensus in the industry. Recently, several similar exhibitions have been held in Shanghai in different ways. Zhu Qizhan Art Museum ushered in the "Pure and Wonderful - Guan Zilan Art Documentary Exhibition", which is the first large-scale exhibition in China to sort out and present Guan Zilan in the form of research and exhibition after Guan Zilan's solo exhibition in 1930. Guan Zilan was one of the first female painters in China to study in Japan and influenced by Western Fauvism, using her brush to be bold, chic and wanton, without pretentiousness, and containing perseverance and grandeur, forming a unique style that blends Eastern and Western charm, with romantic colors and feminine warmth. Some experts pointed out that as an early representative style of expressive painting language, Guan Zilan's artistic expression has reserved historical reference coordinates for the current practice of reintegrating modern art forms with Chinese cultural styles. Not long ago, in the "Brave and Enterprising - Yu Yunjie Documentary Exhibition" launched by the Art Museum of Shanghai Oil Painting and Sculpture Institute, Yu Yunjie's oil painting "Singing and Soaring", which had been sealed in the dusty warehouse for half a century, was "salvaged" and made its public appearance for the first time. This work is believed to have opened up the path of realist creation with revolutionary romanticism, and it also directly influenced a large number of Yu Yunjie's students, including Chen Yifei and Qiu Ruimin. If this is the case, it is believed that it will still be effective for a long time in the creation of thematic paintings. At the same time, the industry has also pointed out that it is better to run the art master exhibition diligently than to do it well, and there is no need for so many purely "timely" exhibitions for both ordinary audiences and industry insiders, and there is no need to repeat them once every few years. Exhibiting for the sake of exhibition, hurriedly "putting together" some works with "old faces" is a waste of resources and disrespect to the master. The two exhibitions that are being held at the moment seem to be incompatible, but they both bring lessons for how to more effectively organize the Shanghai School Art Masters Exhibition. The exhibition at the Art Museum of the China Academy of Art, "The Great Road to the Boundless: Zao Wou-Ki's Centennial Retrospective Exhibition", which took five years to prepare, is certainly impressive in its lavish line-up, but its meticulous combing of rich documents may be easier to "replicate". This is a timeline that is specific to Zao Wou-ki's life, combing through each year, converging into an exhibition line of more than 100 meters, with countless past events and details drawn out by the branches, and some of the propositions that are still thought-provoking. "Matisse's Matisse", which was exhibited at the Shanghai branch of the Ullens Center for Contemporary Art, has won a reputation for its curatorial excellence, although there are not many representative works of Matisse. For example, the large number of drawings on display shows Matisse's outstanding ability to generalize shapes, and it is this deep understanding of drawings that has made Matisse's minimalist artistic style, full of the rhythm of life. It can be seen that the master exhibitions that people need today are not the standard for masterpieces, but the research and planning that they put their hearts into.

Author: Text: Fan Xin Editor: Fan Jing.

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