Chongzheng 10th Anniversary Autumn Auction 2023 Lot 716
Xu Beihong, eagles flying wildly, colored silk lenses.
130×85cm
Xu Beihong's works before 1920 are extremely rare, and the earliest and most famous one in the market is the "Kang Nanhai Sixty Lines of Music" made by Kang Youwei in 1917, in addition to "Gunma Picture" and so on.
Xu Beihong made "Kang Nanhai Sixty Lines of Music" in 1917
Detail of Xu Beihong's "Eagles Flying Around".
Xu Beihong's "Eagles Flying Wildly" style.
This piece of "Flying Eagles" is known as "Ding Si Yangchun", both made in 1917, but it is different from the two above, but it is similar to a piece of "Tiger" given to Ma Heng, the former director of the Palace Museum, in 1918, which is quite a "compromise between China and the West" of the Lingnan School of Gao's Kunzhong. The calligraphy of the painting title is obviously influenced by Kang Youwei's calligraphy style when he was about 60 years old.
Xu Beihong's 1917 "Eagles Flying Around" was compared with Ma Heng's "Tiger" in 1918.
From this point of view, compared with "Kang Nanhai Sixty Lines of Music" and "Gunma", this "Eagles Flying Around" reveals more information about Xu's early painting style, calligraphy style and ideological feelings, and is also an important work to study the formation of Xu Beihong's painting style.
In addition, this piece of Xu Beihong's inscription "A group of eagles flying wildly", but the picture does not see the eagle, representing the eagle in the sky, representing the foreign invaders, the tiger is on the ground, representing the guardian, and the meaning of defending the land is responsible.
01, the background of the times.
On July 28, 1914, World War I broke out. The two major imperialist camps, the Central Powers led by Germany and Austria-Hungary, and the Entente led by Great Britain and France, fought fiercely in order to redivide the world and compete for hegemony. Britain, France, Russia, and other countries hoped that China would join the Entente and stop paying German Gengzi indemnities to weaken Germany's war funds, while Japan had long coveted Qingdao, which was formerly a German colony, and was afraid that China's participation in the war would affect its interests in China, so it tried its best to obstruct it. By the beginning of 1917, in the midst of the subtle changes in the interests of the hegemonic countries, the call for China to join the Entente to declare war on Germany was already loud.
Although it has been six years in China, the concept of republicanism has not been deeply rooted in the hearts of the people. At the beginning of that year, Chen Duxiu's "New Youth" published Hu Shi's "Discussion on Literary Reform", which greatly demonstrated the spirit of freedom, democracy, and science, and the vigorous new literary ** movement kicked off, but on the other hand, the remnants of the "Hongxian Empire" still had a growing trend, believing that the republican system was not suitable for China, and the view that the non-monarchy was not enough to solve China's problems still had a market, so it evolved from the dispute between the government and the court and had the "Zhang Xun Restoration" in June 1917.
On the one hand, the international environment is the covetousness of the bandit neighbor Japan against China, and on the other hand, the artillery fire of the First World War, the main battlefield is the Europe where Xu Beihong wants to study, and it is unknown when the dream will come true, and the pain and desire to break the situation are stirring in Xu Beihong's heart. In China, there is a surge of ideas, and in an environment of poverty and weakness and withering people's livelihood, fierce wrestling and tearing. The predicament of the times fell on Xu Beihong, and the pain of tearing and struggling was inevitable: an important figure in his circle of mentors and friends was Kang Youwei, the former leader of the "Reform School", on the one hand, he was a supporter of the imperial system and an important behind-the-scenes promoter of Zhang Xun's restoration, and on the other hand, he shouted that Chinese painting was "extremely debilitating" and "if it remains unchanged, Chinese painting should be extinct", Xu also had close contacts with the Gao brothers, the founders of the Lingnan School of painting, who had a revolutionary spirit.
Therefore, this "Eagles Flying Wildly" is also Xu Beihong's patriotic declaration. The red leaves in the picture foreshadow the slaughter and tragedy of the season, which is a reflection of the general environment at that time, two tigers entrenched on the withered mountain cliff, looking at the viewer, there is a great king's majestic wind, and the meaning of being strong and protecting the land and dignity jumps on the page.
02. Interaction with Gao's Kunzhong.
According to the "Xu Beihong Yearbook" record: in 1915, Xu Beihong, who was only 21 years old, came to Shanghai through the introduction, once poor and had no fixed place, and got the help of two nobles surnamed Huang (one is Huang Jingzhi of the Commercial Press, and the other is Huang Zhenzhi, a businessman in Shanghai), and has a fixed place, after having the conditions for painting, he painted the art journal "Truth Pictorial" founded by Gao Jian's father and Gao Qifeng brothers, and the Gao brothers greatly appreciated it, not only published his paintings, but also invited him to be a special author of the Aesthetic Library. Let Xu Beihong have an income**. The Gao brothers are the founders of the Lingnan School of painting, who studied in Japan and joined the League in their early years, and were not only revolutionaries, but also pioneers of Chinese painting innovation, advocating "eclectic Chinese and Western". In the process of contact with the Gao brothers, it was almost natural for the young Xu Beihong to be subtly affected, so whether it was the "Double Tiger Picture" painted in "Ding Si Yangchun" or the "Tiger" given to Ma Heng in 1918, there was clearly the mark of the "Lingnan School", but it was only "between the similar and the dissimilar", Xu Beihong had already shown extraordinary realism at that time.
This painting also seems to answer a long-standing question: why did Xu Beihong get acquainted with the founder of the Lingnan School at an early age, but then embarked on a different path of "integration of East and West" from the Lingnan School? I am afraid that this is also related to the aesthetic taste that he had formed in his early years, and I am afraid it is also directly related to Kang Youwei.
From May to November 1917, Xu Beihong and Jiang Biwei had a trip to Japan for about half a year, during which he observed a large number of Japanese painting exhibitions and devoted all his money to buy Koro editions of Japanese paintings, leaving nearly 3,000 words of "Japanese Literature Exhibition" long article, which expressed Xu Beihong's clear aesthetic orientation in the early days, such as his criticism of Japanese painting in "not choosing the fine, the rough, the beautiful and the evil", "the painting topic is not chosen", and all of them are "recklessly written" and so on.
Later, in "Beihong's Self-Statement", there were: "I feel that Japanese writers are gradually able to get rid of their habits and habits, and they will focus on creation, mostly for the prosperous realm of Boli, so the flowers and birds are especially good at winning, and they want to track Xu, Huang, Zhao, and Yi, and take my seat, which is the merit of Shen Nanping." But gorgeous and thin, solid and less rhyme, too eye-catching, without the wind of Pumao. This passage can be used as his experience of half a year of "sightseeing" or "study tour" in Japan.
Obviously, Xu Beihong does not agree with the choice of painting topics and the pursuit of "eye-catching" without "containing the style of Pumao". And these characteristics are the main "crimes" of "two highs and one Chen" that were criticized by the traditional faction at that time.
Therefore, the "Eagles Flying Around" by "Ding Siyangchun" and the Gao brothers have already shown that Xu Beihong started his artistic life in his early 20s, and he selectively absorbed rich nutrients, including the Lingnan School of painting, and gradually achieved a peak.
03, get acquainted with Kang Youwei.
Xu Beihong took a group photo with the portrait of Kang Youwei painted by him.
Xu Beihong also belongs to the typical example of "the title of the book is covered by the name of the painting". His words are moving, the weather is open, the posture is ancient, and the mood is depressed, all of which are from Kang Youwei, especially in his later years. The commentator believes that Xu Beihong's handwriting is "the farthest away from the health body and the closest to the health body, the so-called wonder is in the ability to combine, and the god can be separated", Kang Youwei tried his best to advocate "the Han Dynasty follows the Wei to take the Sui", and advocates "the new and the change", and Xu Beihong's handwriting has also been reflected, and this "Eagles Flying Wildly" inscription handwriting is an example.
Xu Beihong's "Eagles Flying Wildly" inscription is compared with Kang Youwei's "Handscroll of Wanmu Thatched Cottage Collection of Paintings".
According to the annals, in February 1916, Xu Beihong was admitted to the French Department of Aurora University, and studied French and worked hard to paint. On February 28, Ji Juemi, president of Shanghai Hartung Gardens Shengzhi University, published a revelation in the "Times" entitled "Soliciting the Relic of Cangsheng", and in early March, Xu Beihong created a three-foot-tall "Cangsheng Statue" to apply. In April, he was hired as the art director of Hartung Garden and a professor of art at Cangsheng Wise University. Hartung Garden is the largest private garden in modern Shanghai, the owner Hartung is Jewish, understands Chinese culture and is enthusiastic about education, Cangsheng Wise University is a compulsory school located in Hartung Garden, the school is based on Cangjie as the first teacher, and employs celebrities such as Kang Youwei and Wang Guowei to teach. Xu Beihong got acquainted with the most important noble person in his life - Kang Youwei, who was nearly sixty years old.
As early as 1889, Kang Youwei completed the foreign masterpiece "Guangyi Boat Shuangji", which established an important position in the history of his calligraphy, and in 1916, when "Kang and Xu became acquainted", he experienced the loss and depression of political opinions, and the broad vision of traveling around the world, Kang Youwei's arrogant and uninhibited character added depression, which was reflected in calligraphy, which was with another kind of majestic style - a kind of vertical and horizontal, open and closed the beauty of Shen Xiong's spirit, including his previous blind "respect for the monument" Instead, he began a kind of unconscious return to Theology.
Xu Beihong's annals" said that in 1916, Xu was hired as a painting instructor in the Kang family's "Zhaiguan", but in fact he was Kang's entry**. Kang often invited Xu to live in the Kang Mansion in Xinjia Garden, and took out the treasured Chinese and foreign famous paintings for Xu to enjoy and learn from, and at the same time gave Xu comprehensive guidance in Chinese literature, gold and stone, calligraphy, painting, etc. As the initiator of the "Reform and Reform", Kang Youwei was surprised in politics and had unique insights in culture and art, and was the pioneer of the "Art Revolution" in the early days. As early as when he was in exile after the failure of the Wuxu Reform, he deeply felt the strength of Western art realism and had the idea of reforming Chinese painting. His most famous arguments about the "extreme decay and defects" of Chinese painting and "if it remains unchanged, then Chinese painting should be extinct" comes from his 1917 "Preface to the Catalogue of Paintings in the Collection of Wanmu Thatched Cottage".
Kang attaches great importance to Xu, not only in Xu Beihong and Jiang Biwei's "elopement" to give full support, before leaving the inscription "sketch into the gods" to Xu Beihong, and Xu Beihong introduced Xu Beihong to the famous Japanese artist and cultural relics collector Nakamura Fuzhi (who studied in France), until his death in 1927, has been concerned about Xu Beihong's growth, on his deathbed to Xu Beihong's painting evaluation: "Profound and gorgeous, hidden and majestic." Standing alone in China, there is no coincidence. ”。Xu Beihong reciprocated the favor by meticulously painting several works for Kang Youwei and his family, the most famous of which is the "family portrait" painted by Kang Youwei on his 60th birthday in 1917. Historical coincidence, it seems that two people from different worlds have a subtle and profound connection, the master and apprentice have not been together for a long time, but Xu Beihong's "single-mindedness" is in a sense the continuation of Kang Youwei's artistic thoughts.