Riding the wind of rebirth

Chapter 1376 Cheap

Previously, Grandma Yuan brought Zhou Zhi to Rongbaozhai to purchase a large number of paintings and calligraphy from modern calligraphers and painters. This matter has changed. This time, Zhou Zhi spent a large amount of money and purchased another painting from Rongbaozhai. A large amount, amounting to more than two million.

Of course it's a big customer.

The incident actually arose from the restoration of "Two Monkeys in the Leaves".

Of course, Rongbaozhai will not sell the restored "Two Monkeys with Coary Leaves" in the short term. It will be displayed as a treasure of the museum for a long time, and in the end, it is very likely that it will be recruited by the state. Once you enter a museum, it is difficult to enter the market.

Zhou Zhi was itching to see this painting, so he asked the two elders, since many ancient painting critics unanimously regarded the deer ape painting as Yi Yuanji's "special work", and "the secular world cannot peek into his vassal", then why should Yi Yuanji do it? After Yuan Ji, is it true that no one can draw at his level anymore?

The two elders looked at each other and gave an affirmative answer, yes, Zhang Daqian.

Zhang Daqian once painted a picture, which was also about two apes. The title was "Yi Yuanji's Picture of Two Apes", and it was blatantly pirated.

However, there is also the confidence to be blatant, and the painting really imitated 99% of the essence of Yi Yuanji.

However, Zhou Zhi inquired again and found out that the painting is now in the National Palace Museum in Taiwan and is not yet on display to the public. It can only be seen in their publications.

Seeing Zhou Zhi's disappointed expression, Grandma Yuan smiled and said, "If you like apes and monkeys, there are actually several other painters whose works are pretty good."

The next day, grandma took Zhou Zhi to Rongbaozhai and called out the names of several painters.

These are all big names in the first echelon. Zhou Zhi owns their works, most of which are masterpieces. He bought them from places such as Shudu Gongmei, and occasionally picked up some.

At that time, Grandma Yuan had the idea of ​​​​grabbing wealthy households to help poor artists. In addition to the works of famous Bashu artists that Zhou Zhi deliberately collected, they were all painters with great potential and whose works were very cheap.

For example, Zhang Daqian, Zhou Zhi now owns landscape paintings of representative styles of each period, except for the last splash-color landscape painting, which he has not yet acquired, all the others have been collected.

"For example, Zhang Shanzi is Zhang Daqian's brother." Grandma Yuan said with a smile: "Zhang Daqian first learned the technique of painting apes from Zhang Shanzi."

In fact, up to now, Zhou Zhi has included works by modern and contemporary painters in batches several times. Including Li Keran, Wu Guanzhong, Jiang Zhaohe, Xu Beihong, Qi Baishi, Zhang Daqian, Wu Changshuo, Yu Youren, Lin Sanzhi, Sha Menghai, Xie Wuliang, Qi Lao, Wang Lao, Fan Zeng, Ouyang Zhongshi, Liu Bingsen, Wu Changshuo, Shen Peng, Li Duo Everyone.

The rest is the harvest from several house searches, including the latest house search of my own house, where I also obtained a large number of works by modern calligraphers and painters.

"Who?" Zhou Zhi became interested immediately.

Gao Qifeng, Zhang Shanzi, Zhang Qiyi, Zhou Beixi, Liu Jiyao, Zhao Shaoang, Feng Dazhong.

Later, he visited the capital, and under the leadership of Grandma Yuan, he collected a large number of painters' works from the Painting Academy, Panjiayuan, and Rongbaozhai.

However, most of these works are landscapes, flowers, birds, and figures. Most of the mammals are cows, horses, donkeys, and tigers.

Really fluffy, furry animals are rarely depicted in Yi Yuanji's way.

Only after listening to Grandma Yuan's explanation did Zhou Zhi realize the special nature of this painting method. In the original Chinese painting techniques, the depiction of animals started from freehand brushwork, usually sketching first and then dyeing. Later, after development, a new technique for flowers and birds - "boneless painting method" - was used for butterflies and birds.

However, this painting method is extremely difficult to apply to mammals. Yi Yuanji's painting of apes is a special example.

On the contrary, on an island country across the sea, some similar techniques were developed under the influence of Western watercolor painting.

Gao Qifeng studied painting with Ju and his father and brother when he was young. Later, he traveled east to Japan and conducted in-depth research on the techniques of famous artists of the Kyoto School. Later, it became the most established and influential school that emerged after the Shanghai School of Painting. . Together with his father Gao Jianfu and Chen Shuren, they are known as the three founders of "Two Gao and One Chen".

He carried forward the fine traditions of traditional Chinese painting. In terms of painting techniques, he used the "boneless method" to depict animals instead of the outline method. He used the "water-impact" and "powder-impact" methods to depict flowers, combined with the techniques of Western watercolor painting, and applied it to birds. The animals and landscapes achieve lifelike and vibrant effects.

This is the famous "Lingnan School of Painting".

Several other painters also have such backgrounds.

For example, Zhang Qiyi, whose great-grandfather Zhang Deyi once served as the Qing government's envoy to Europe, was the only Chinese to witness the entire process of the Paris Commune Revolution. He studied Western painting techniques at Hebei Art Normal School, Tianjin Academy of Fine Arts, and the Art Department of Fu Jen Catholic University.

Known as an "all-rounder in Chinese painting," Liu Jiyou was educated by his father in the Western Painting Department of TJ Municipal Art Museum. He systematically studied drawing, sketching, watercolor, and oil painting under the guidance of oil painter Liu Fenghu.

Zhao Shao'ang was first Gao Qifeng's apprentice, and later engaged in printing design and plate making for a period of time, before specializing in traditional Chinese painting.

Only Zhou Beixi, known as the "Monkey King of Bashu" and self-taught, was less influenced by Western styles and found a "unexpected path" in painting monkeys. This can be regarded as another verification of the saying "Bashu produces geeks".

Generally speaking, Yi Yuanji's deer ape painting method has been basically unparalleled for thousands of years. It was not until the west wind spread to the east that a large number of Western techniques were absorbed by Chinese painting talents. After they integrated them and achieved breakthroughs in their own creations, they finally became worthy of recognition. with antagonists.

The introduction of the theories and techniques of Western painting was actually a watershed and leap forward for Chinese painting. However, Chinese painting has gone downhill since then. The reason is that painters have paid more and more attention to the study of painting and neglected the calligraphy side, which is related to the creation of Chinese painting. The spirit gradually drifted away, eventually turning Chinese painting into "Chinese-style Western painting", re-disconnecting painting and calligraphy, and losing the soul and essence of "calligraphy as painting" developed in the Song Dynasty.

There was nothing that could be done about it. Zhou Zhi thought that he had to wait for the next leap forward in Chinese painting, which would be the time when a person who was "unparalleled in calligraphy and painting" reappeared.

However, until he traveled through time himself, such characters seemed to be rare and increasingly rare.

It’s no wonder that the paintings of the first generation of Shanghai-style Chinese painters, who had both a foundation in traditional Chinese painting and an influence in Western painting, and the generation they said they radiated from them, have become highly sought after in the next few decades, and the auctions have become increasingly expensive. .

The outstanding ones such as Zhang Daqian, Xu Beihong, etc. are actually now outstanding. Fortunately, the ones named by Grandma Yuan, Gao Qifeng, Zhang Shanzi, and Zhang Qiyi, belong to the second echelon of modern painters and the first echelon of modern painters. Liu Jiyao passed away just ten years ago, while Zhou Beixi and Zhao Shaoang are still alive. Feng Dazhong is only in his forties and still belongs to the ranks of "young and middle-aged painters".

Therefore, the paintings of these people are not expensive at all now.

Cui Ruzhuo's painting Zhouzhi gave him 200,000 yuan. That was because he had captured his sixteen largest-sized paintings, plus a masterpiece equivalent to the largest-sized painting of sixteen chapters. It was equivalent to spending two hundred thousand yuan to win thirty-two paintings. The "big two" works are also in series, and the average price is only 6,000 yuan per piece.

According to the calculation of later generations, the size of the house is 48 square feet, and the total size is only 1251 square feet. It is almost as cheap as grandma's house.

(End of this chapter)