Modern literature: reminiscing about the old man Baishi

Ai Qing

1949 Soon after I went to Beijing, I inquired about the situation of the old man Baishi. Knowing that he is still alive, I want to visit the old painter. I made an appointment with two comrades, Sakov and Jiang Feng, accompanied by Comrade Li Keran to see him. He lives in Xicheng Cross Hutong 13. There lived a little old man with no beard in the small room that entered the door. Later, I heard that it was a little eunuch of the Qing royal family who guarded the door for him.

At that time, all three of us were cultural takeover members of the Beijing Military Management Committee, wearing military uniforms and armbands. Inevitably, the three of us will be surprised to see him. On the recommendation of Li Keran, he received us. I immediately went up to him and said, At the age of eighteen, I watched four albums of Laojun and was deeply impressed. I haven't seen you for many years, so I came to visit you today. ?

He asked: Where did you see my painting?

I said:? 1928, it has been 2 1 year, in Hangzhou West Lake Art Institute. ?

He asked: Who is the president of the Art Institute?

I said:? Lin Fengmian. ?

He said:? He likes my paintings. ?

Only then did he know that the visitor was from the art world and was much closer. He immediately asked the nurse to grind the ink, pulled his sleeves and took out some pieces of paper to draw for us. He gave each of us an ink painting and a two-foot piano piece. I drew four shrimps, translucent, with two small fish on them. Inscription:

? Mr. Ai Qingyazheng is 89 years old, Baishi? , seal? Baishiweng? , the other party? All I can do is be happy. .

We are very happy and say goodbye to him with gratitude.

I am the military representative who took over the Central Academy of Fine Arts. It is said that the old man Baishi is a professor. He goes to school once a month to draw a picture and give a demonstration for the students. Some students proposed to stop his salary.

I said:? Such an old painter has made a great contribution by painting once a month. The Japanese came, and he didn't starve to death. He didn't starve to death when the Kuomintang came. How could he starve to death? Moreover, Xu Beihong, president of the Academy of Fine Arts, attached great importance to him and collected many of his paintings. Of course, such a suggestion will not be adopted.

The old man worked hard all his life. He was born as a carpenter, studied sculpture, and later learned painting. He has been painting for more than half a century, and his technique is improving. He is also an innovative person, and his paintings have a wide range of subjects: landscapes, figures, flowers and birds, insects and fish. I didn't see him copy others'. He has a keen observation and a particularly strong memory, and can accurately capture images. He has a pair of microscope eyes, and all the insects he painted in his early years are exposed. I saw the moth he painted lying on the ground, covered in white powder and with two tentacles on his head; There seems to be a buzzing sound on the wings of bees he painted; Draw the wings of cicadas and dragonflies into gauze; His grasshoppers are bright red and green, much like post-impressionist oil paintings.

He painted cockscomb and peony, but his painting method was different from others, with big red flowers and thick brush strokes, and only a few leaves were painted in black ink. He painted loofah and lying melon; I especially like painting gourds; He loves painting residual lotus. It's messy, but it's imposing.

There is a sunflower he painted. Title:

? Qi Baishi's eighth year painting in Beijing? , seal? Wood lay man? . Poetry:

? Mao Yan is short and long, and the leaves are thinned by wind and rain. The drought is still sunny and smooth, and my heart is dedicated to Japan. Is there a problem with the weak light in Baishishan? . Seal? Baishiweng? .

There is a persimmon, accidentally, with red fruit. Write? Eleven years of old residential building in Xingziwu, Jinghua? , seal? Woodenhead? .

He also painted mountains and rivers, but he didn't see them, which is easy to see on weekdays. He wrote in a landscape painting:

? I want to write landscapes with my own pen and ink, but everyone is confused and I agree. Baishishan Weng and the title? . Impression? Baishishan Weng? .

And write it in the blank of the picture? This picture has no date. It was written twenty years ago. Please ask again today. Eighty-eight white stones , seal? Dutch? .

The fact is that he doesn't want to draw what others draw.

I bought a small pine forest and a two-foot ink painting by him in Duoyunxuan, Shanghai. I took it to Peace Bookstore and showed it to Xu Linlu. I thought it was fake. I told him to go to the old man Baishi and help him hang up. I said:? I bought this painting from Shanghai. He said it was false, and I said it was true. what do you think? He looked at it and said that no one else could draw it. ? Signed Qi Baishi, what is the seal? Baishiweng? .

I also bought an eight-foot big picture, which shows a pine tree with no leaves and a pine cone with a poem on it. Pine needles are as thin as worms, and pine nuts are moss for the rest of their lives. Have pity on this tree, rain, wind and thunder. Grandpa tasted this language and went to the summer first. The pine trees around Tang's old house ate its leaves and looked for insects. One day, there was a big storm and lightning, and the insects became extinct. Since the fourth day, the insects have lost their appetite because of the pine trees behind the pavilion. Andrew Geng's afternoon thunderstorm can't be obtained. Xin Youchun painted this in the first month and inscribed it. 300 lithographs, rich people, five crossing doors? There are eight words below:? The word "An De An" was originally used to describe words? . Seal? Baishiweng? .

After reading it, he actually said: This is a fake painting. ?

I smiled and said: I kicked it out last night. ? He knew he couldn't fool me, so he said, I'll exchange two paintings for yours. ? I said:? Even if you give me twenty paintings, I won't change them. ? He knew it was a compliment to his painting.

This painting was painted when he was in his seventies. He looked at it carefully with a magnifying glass and said, how hard I painted when I was young. ?

A picture shows nine sparrows flying around. Title of poem:

? When the leaves fall, the vines are messy, and the cold day sounds like birds singing. I want to sing a poem, and the wind blows my skirt. Dead vines and cold finches never existed. They create new paintings and poems. Old people who borrow mountains are not lazy. Who is the painter Lao Helang? . Seal? Dutch? . After reading the painting, he asked me: Who is Lao Helang?

I said:? I was just about to ask you. ? He said:? I don't remember. ? This painting was painted by him in his early years, with a big seal? Building houses? .

I have seen him draw chickens many times. They are furry and cute. I've also seen his osprey. The water is green and vivid after entering the water.

He appreciates his art very much. Once when he was painting shrimp, he drew a long beard on paper with a pen and said to me, I am so old that I can still draw such a line. ?

He hung three pictures for me and asked me, which one do you think is good? I asked him: What is this? He said, you know. ?

I have accompanied foreign guests to visit him many times. Once, he was very unhappy. I asked him why, and he said that foreign guests didn't praise him when they saw his paintings. I said:? He boasted, you don't understand. ? He said what he wanted was a thumbs-up from the foreign guests. How naive he is!

When he was 93 years old, the State Council celebrated his birthday and made a movie. He took a photo with Premier Zhou Enlai, and he was very happy. The next day, I drew some pictures as a thank-you gift, signed my name on red paper and personally delivered them to several people's homes. A two-foot-long colored painting he gave me was a basket of lychees and a loquat. This is the second photo he gave me, which reads:

? Mr. Ai Qing Qi Huang Baishi is 93 years old? , seal? Dutch? Besides, there's a big seal in the lower corner? People still regret it? .

His original decoration, ordinary painting is four yuan per foot. I bought his paintings at a price of 10 yuan per foot, which doubled the meticulous brushwork, landscapes and figures. I always invite him to the restaurant and then drive him home. He loves prawns, and it is said that he can eat up to six. His stomach is very strong. Peanuts are only bitten in half and then swallowed. He doesn't smoke and can drink one or two glasses of white wine every meal.

One day, I received two seals he carved for Chairman Mao, both of which were Mao Zedong (he didn't know Chairman Mao's name was Runzhi). I asked Chairman Mao's secretary to hand in the scores. Chairman Mao gave a banquet in return, accompanied by Guo Moruo.

He received many students, and it is said that even Mei Lanfang knelt and kowtowed, among which Li Keran was the best. Lee Won Jae West Lake Art College studied painting and has a good sketch foundation. During her stay in War of Resistance against Japanese Aggression, she painted several pictures of soldiers nailed to the wall by the Japanese army. Li is a professor at the Academy of Fine Arts, and he worships the old man Baishi as his teacher. Li has a picture of a lying cow, with its back and spine painted one by one. The momentum is good. A child with bare back and a birdcage in his hand, the birds in the cage are chirping, and the cow turns to listen to the birds.

The old man Baishi saw a picture and wrote:

? I'm doing well ideologically, and I will succeed in becoming a master in the future. The 87-year-old Baishi Jiahai? . Seal? Baishi inscription? .

One day, I went to see him He asked me with a piece of paper: What kind of person is this? Poetry is not bad, and the export can become a cavity. ? I took it and saw that it was written by Liu Yazi. What does this poem mean? You are twelve years older than me, so you should be my teacher? . I was surprised to say: You don't even know Liu Yazi. He is a member of the Central People's Government. ? He said:? I turn a deaf ear to what's going on in the world, and I don't even know such a big man. ? Feel a little ashamed.

I bought a small banner from the eunuch who guarded the door, which read:? Home mountain apricot dock, idle will be evening. I suddenly forgot to go home and followed in the footsteps of cattle. ? Seal? Archie. Another seal? I am eighty-two? . I especially like his poems, which are full of life and have a simple beauty. In his early years, some people said that his poems were written in regular script by Xue, which was really unfair.

I went to see him several times, all accompanied by Li Keran. This time I heard that he moved to a female disciple's house, which was the home of an uprising general. He saw Li Keran suddenly asked. Your family name is Li Keran, and I immediately knew that he was unhappy and said? I've been busy recently and didn't come to see my teacher. ? He turned to me and said, Mr. Ai Qing, at the beginning of liberation, I was so grateful that I thought I could draw a few strokes. Li Keran said at once? Mr. Ai went abroad recently and didn't come to see the teacher. ? He calmed his anger. He said that someone came from Hong Kong recently and asked him to go to Hong Kong. I said:? What are you doing in Hong Kong? Many people there fled the mainland. What should you do if you die on the way to Hong Kong? People in Hong Kong want my calligraphy and say they can sell paintings in Hong Kong. ? He didn't know that someone tricked him into selling fake paintings in Hong Kong.

Soon, he moved back to Crosscar Hutong 13.

I want him to draw a picture that he hasn't painted before. I said, you draw me a picture album, a picture that he hasn't painted before. ? He readily agreed, and the nurse arranged it. He walked to the front of the painting case and drew an ink painting: a frog jumped into the water, one hind leg was caught in the grass, and three tadpoles were swimming in front of the frog, showing the frog's anxiety. He said happily? This, I haven't painted it. ? I'm glad, too. He asked me what project I wanted to ask. I said:? Get to the point. I am your student. ? Other questions:

? Julia, my younger brother, Huang Shitong is studying painting in Beijing. When he was 93, did he remember Qi Baishi?

One day, I saw an album in Lunchizhai. The first album was painted by an old man named Baishi: a plate was full of cherries, and five of them fell under the plate. The plate is on a shelf in Xiao Mu. I want to buy this painting. The shopkeeper said:? Buy the whole book if you want. ? I don't like other paintings. I just want this. He bid high, but I didn't buy it. I immediately ran to the old man Baishi and said to him, I just saw the cherry you painted in Lunchizhai. It's really good. ? He asked: I told him what it looked like, and he immediately said: I'll draw one for you. ? He painted a two-foot piano piece, but the color was not as bright as that of Lun Chi Zhai. He said: the western red is gone. ?

After painting, he wrote two poems in big letters:

? Teaching population, words and feelings well will always hurt your soul?

He is obviously senile. I invited him to Quyuan for dinner, drove him back to the cross-car alley, and then went to Lunchizhai to buy the album at a high price. Signature? Qi Baishi? , seal? Woodenhead? .

Later, I showed this painting to Wu Zuoren, who said that he had seen it in an exhibition one year, and it was the most outstanding painting in the whole exhibition.

Once, he asked me to write a biography for him. I think I know too little about him. He is over 90 years old, and I only met him in the last seven or eight years. Besides, I read his chronicle and said, don't you already have a chronicle? I'm talking about the chronicle of Qi Baishi written by Hu Shi, Deng Guangming and li jinxi and published by the Commercial Press. He remained silent.

Later, I asked someone why he was not satisfied with his chronicle. It is said that the chronicle put his. Law of crossing the sea? I wrote it. 1937 when he was seventy-five, the fortune teller said that his life was bad, so he added two years.

I seldom went to see him after that, and he became less and less talkative.

The last time I went to see him, he was lying on the sofa dying. I went up to hold his hand and asked him, Do you still recognize me? He gave me a weak look and said softly, I have a friend named Ai Qing. ? He seldom said anything, so I said, I'm coming to see you. ? He said:? If you come again, I'll leave. ? He had a premonition that his life would not last long. Unexpectedly, this farewell turned into a farewell, and then a movement sent me to the Great Northern Wilderness.

He was 97 when he died. Actually, it's 95 years old.