The name of Mr. Qi Baishi is believed to be familiar to everyone. He not only showed extraordinary talent in the art of painting and achieved outstanding results, but also a respected patriot.
In 1953, he was praised as a "People's Artist" by the Ministry of Culture, and in 1956, the World Peace Council awarded him the "International Peace Prize" in recognition of his outstanding contributions.
The two great men, although they have different identities, have a deep friendship. **Revolutionist; Qi Baishi, artist. They are from the same place - Hunan. ** He has a lot of research on poetry and calligraphy, so the two have a lot in common.
There was an interesting story: Qi Baishi gave the sketch of his practice to *** and fell in love with him at first sight, and sent someone to frame it. When feasting Qi Baishi, ** specially mentioned this painting and invited Qi Baishi to appreciate it.
Qi Baishi admired a painting, but had an argument with ***. **It means that there is his name in the painting, Qi Baishi wonders how to be famous without words in the painting? What happened to the two before?
Qi Baishi and *** are fellow villagers, but they did not meet before the founding of New China. **Busy with the revolution, Qi Baishi focused on painting. It was not until after the founding of the People's Republic of China that calligraphy and painting became a bridge between the two.
** and Qi Baishi's personality is very different, ** take the world as his own responsibility, and always pay attention to national affairs and people's suffering; And Qi Baishi does not seek fame and fortune, is indifferent to fame and fortune, and does not like to fight for entertainment, especially not involved in officialdom.
It is this indifference to the world that enables him to maintain an innocent heart and immerse himself in the artistic conception of art and romantic poetry. Qi Baishi's paintings are tranquil and interesting, and the nostalgia, childlike innocence and peasant heart are truly and vividly displayed in his paintings.
Qi Baishi, the master of art, was born on January 1, 1864 in this fertile soil of art. He started as a carpenter and stepped into the path of art. At the age of 57, he chose to settle down in Beijing and devoted himself to painting, especially flowers, birds, insects, fish, and landscape figures.
His paintings are bright in color, rich in artistic conception, and naturally exude a unique taste. In addition to painting, he is also proficient in seal carving and calligraphy, and has served as an honorary professor of the ** Academy of Fine Arts and the chairman of the Chinese Artists Association.
His artistic career is a vivid history of art.
The reason why Qi Baishi is disgusted with officialdom stems from his childhood experience. At that time, the country was in turmoil, Qi Baishi witnessed the rise and fall of the Qing Dynasty, Beiyang**, the Kuomintang regime and the Japanese invasion of China, and the scene of government corruption made him have no good impression of **.
One year, when he was six years old, a petty official from the Qing Dynasty came to the township, and everyone rushed to watch, but Qi Baishi politely declined. His mother said to him, "We eat according to our ability, what is the great thing about being an official or not?" ”
Qi Baishi has been disgusted with officialdom since then. However, after the founding of the People's Republic of China, his attitude towards ** has changed.
Qi Baishi's friendship story with *** The purpose of New China is to serve the people, not corruption and plunder. This made him have a deep affection for the people who single-handedly promoted the establishment of New China.
Long before the founding of New China, Qi Baishi had heard of the name of ***. Later, I was fortunate enough to meet *** and he himself was very happy. ** Qi Baishi was also highly appreciative, and soon after the founding of New China, he invited Qi Baishi to Zhongnanhai as a guest.
The conversation between the two covered art and literature, and because they were both from Hunan, they also shared the cuisine of their hometown. This meeting deepened Qi Baishi's admiration for ***.
In order to express his love and respect for this Hunan fellow, he carefully engraved two seals with the words "** seal".
After careful inspection, he found a piece of rice paper, carefully wrapped the two seals properly, and entrusted someone to send them to Zhongnanhai. **After receiving this gift, I was very happy, and immediately opened the rice paper and carefully studied the seal.
When he was about to put away the rice paper, he noticed the painting on the rice paper. After staring for a moment, he called his subordinates, framed the painting, and cherished the two seals.
In order to thank Qi Baishi for his intentions, ** held a banquet in Zhongnanhai and invited Qi Baishi to participate. In order to let the two old friends get together happily, he also specially invited Guo Moruo.
In the atmosphere of drinking, the chairman specially mentioned the two seals to Qi Baishi, he said that he liked the two seals and the painting very much, and wanted to thank Qi Baishi. Qi Baishi was a little puzzled and asked the chairman if he had ever painted for him.
The chairman smiled and told him to drink first, and then tell him when he was done. After Qi Baishi finished drinking, the chairman asked the secretary to take out a painting for Qi Baishi to confirm. Qi Baishi saw this painting, although it was only an essay, but the composition was unique and meaningful.
Although he recognized that this painting was painted by himself, he couldn't remember when he painted it, and after thinking for a while, it suddenly dawned on him, it turned out that this was a waste product that he had not practiced when he had practiced before, how could it be in the hands of the chairman?
He began to think deeply. Thinking of the two seals given to the chairman, he suddenly realized.
Qi Baishi has a unique habit of wrapping paintings for others, always using unused rice paper as a wrapper. On one occasion, however, he may have mistakenly given the paper he had already drawn to the chairman as new rice paper.
After realizing this mistake, Qi Baishi was deeply apologetic. He said to the chairman: "Chairman, I was really negligent, this is the scrap I drew during my practice. If you like this kind of brush and ink, I'll go home and paint you another one at once, but I will never give you this one. ”
However, ** laughed and said, "That's exactly what I liked." The chairman turned his head and asked Guo Moruo, who was admiring it on the sidelines: "What do you think of this painting?" ”
Guo Moruo was very impressed with the painting, and when he heard the chairman's inquiry, he immediately replied: "The birds in the picture are talking to each other, as if sharing the beautiful scene of their dreams, and the old cow is holding its head high, looking a little reserved, as if quietly listening to the conversation of others."
The artistic conception of this painting is very far-reaching, and the painting skills are also very exquisite." The chairman nodded in agreement, and said to Qi Baishi: "And the use of brush and ink is very imposing, looking at this brush from the head of the ox to the tail of the ox, smooth and natural, it can be seen that the painter's skills are very superb." ”
Hearing the chairman's praise like this, Qi Baishi was even more restless, after all, this painting was just his practice work, and he didn't expect to win such a high evaluation from the chairman.
Qi Baishi's painting was presented to the chairman, and the chairman praised his superb skills. Qi Baishi was worried that the chairman would exaggerate and wanted to take it back and paint another one. The chairman said that he would drink and drink, and he wouldn't talk about this, which made Qi Baishi a little anxious.
Guo Moruo came over and carefully examined the painting, saying that he should ask him first before taking the painting away. Qi Baishi was puzzled, and Guo Moruo explained that there was his name on the painting, because there were five birds on the painting, and the initial letter of his name was "Guo", so it was his name.
The people present looked at Guo Moruo together, and everyone was impressed by his wit.
Guo Lao said: "There are five birds on this tree, isn't it my name?" Qi Baishi touched his long beard and said, "You are really a poet's mind, and Guo Lao's tuba is Shangwu." ”
Guo Moruo smiled, picked up the painting directly and said, "The thing is returned to the original owner, and this painting is mine." But Guo Moruo stopped: "Wait, didn't you see my name on the painting?" ”
Guo Lao asked, "May I ask your surname?" * Picking up the conversation, he humorously added, "What do you think is this tree?" Qi Baishi replied: "I think it's a plum tree, and it's quite lushly painted." ”
When Guo Moruo heard this, he applauded with a smile and praised: "Wonderful, Bai Lao, you are really a painting in a painting, and the lush meaning of the plum tree is far-reaching." ”
When the Red Army decided to evacuate Yan'an, ** said a word to Yan'an: "Those who leave will win." Sure enough, they managed to evacuate and emerged victorious. Therefore, ** loved the name very much and used it for his two daughters.
After learning of this fact, Qi Baishi made a request for an inscription to the two ladies. One of them expressed his willingness to follow the Chair's decision, and the Chair smiled in approval.
Once, ** took off the brush from the side and wrote on the painting without thinking, "Danqing Yi can't make the original", Guo Moruo praised after reading it: "This poem quotes Su Dongpo's sentence, it's wonderful."
Subsequently, Guo Moruo followed it with "There are often poems in the painting chest", which made the battle of the whole painting more neat. Qi Baishi was very happy to see their message, thanked him again and again, and said that he would take the painting back.
At this time, ** understood Qi Baishi's intentions, and said with a smile: "It seems that the two politicians are not as good as an artist." In the end, the painting returned to Qi Baishi's hands, and the friendship between them became even deeper.
In addition to this time, ** often invited Qi Baishi to Zhongnanhai to sit down, and even joked: "We are all fellow countrymen, your name is Chunzhi, my name is Runzhi, and our nicknames are Azhi, so I should call you brother."
Qi Baishi deeply felt the cordiality revealed between the jokes, which made the relationship between the two closer and closer. He is deeply loved and has received praise from the chairman: "I heard that there are many foreign collectors who like to collect your paintings, and I am also one of your calligraphy and painting lovers." ”
Qi Baishi was overjoyed by this, and carefully selected two works and presented them to the chairman as a token of respect.
By an unexpected opportunity, Qi Baishi and his friend Zhang Boju talked about a painting given to ***, but accidentally found that one of the works was written incorrectly. The original poem was "The sky is the hometown of the crane", but he mistakenly wrote it as "The cloud is the hometown of the crane".
Qi Baishi was very remorseful, and the more he thought about it, the more ashamed he felt. Thinking that *** is a knowledgeable scholar, it would be a shame to find that he even wrote the wrong words. Zhang Boju comforted him and said that there have been examples of changing poems since ancient times, and changing "sky" to "cloud" is actually very meaningful.
Will definitely compliment you.
Qi Baishi gradually relieved under the guidance of Zhang Boju, and in order to repay the kindness of ***, he selected a few fine calligraphy and paintings from his collection to give to the chairman.
Due to Qi Baishi's advanced age and physical condition is not as good as before, after learning about this situation, ** has always been concerned about his health.
Before his death, Qi Baishi said to ***'s secretary that if he was cured, he would still want to go to Zhongnanhai to take a photo with ***. ** and Qi Baishi are not only bosom friends of mountains and rivers, but also friends who are like brothers, and the deep friendship between them is enviable.