Almighty painter

Chapter 468 Successor
"Miss Anna, is this an inference you made during the interview, or was it a private inquiry?"

Cao Xuan still didn't answer Anna's question immediately, but raised his eyebrows and asked again.

"You should know that I can add this conclusion directly into the interview without asking for your consent, just like many media people will do. I have the ability to decide all the content of my interview."

Miss Elena said calmly.

"This is my right."

She was silent for a moment with dignity, and then suddenly, she smiled as brightly as the ice broke.

"But okay, Mr. Cao Xuan, now is the time for private conversation, I promise you."

The old man seemed to like this answer very much.

He grinned.

"His name is Gu Weijing. He is a very interesting child. And yes, he is the kid I mentioned at the annual meeting. If you meet him in the future, maybe you will like him."

"Gu Weijing?"

Anna repeated it several times.

She stared at the signature on the paper for a moment.

In fact, before Cao Xuan said the name, Miss Elena did not know who the owner of this painting was.

Anna speaks German, English, French, Spanish, Russian and Latin.

I can also hear some Hungarian.

In a time when political ambitions were still high a few hundred years ago, her ancestors were famous for their ability to give birth to beautiful daughters, their familiarity with multiculturalism, and their ability to communicate well in the complicated palace struggles under the curtain of Europe.

Ok.

In a sense, the two are the same thing.

Give birth to a bunch of beautiful daughters who are famous for their radiance and beauty, and then select the best ones among the suitors of crazy bees and butterflies, and marry them off.

Marry the cousin of the Bourbon monarch, marry the elector of the Holy Roman Empire, or marry a colonel count who just rose to prominence in the musketry regiment during the Thirty Years' War... relying on various hearings The private secrets and the pillow wind blowing wildly in the circle of ladies can expose your opponent's cunning conspiracy, and then bury the opponent with the cunning conspiracy you have weaved.

It's a very common method.

Everyone likes to do this.

Miss Irina's deceased father had high hopes that his daughter would one day become Austria's ambassador to a major European country, a senior diplomat in the cabinet, or something like that when she was born.

On the basis of his status as an MEP.

Embark on the second spring of the family's full return to the center of the political stage.

If the Cessna 172 had not turned into dust and smoke in the white snow of the Alps, the guardian of the aunt would have preferred to respect the little girl's personal interests and hobbies.

Miss Elena's life should be opened in a completely different way.

Maybe, she is not holding a glass of wine and chatting with Cao Xuan now.

Instead, as a third secretary or second secretary, Yan Yan was holding a glass of wine and chatting with a member of the Women's International Club at a banquet held by the Austrian Consulate General in St. Petersburg.

Even if he embarks on a different life path than his father planned.

Anna has been exposed to many different cultural environments since she was a child.

Austria is a country with a very mixed ethnic group. According to statistics, in some areas the average per capita speaks 3.4 languages.

As for Russian and Latin, this is for the sake of reading the original documents.

The Russian aesthetic literature, headed by the Repin Academy of Fine Arts, which competes with European aesthetics, is naturally mainly in Russian, with a small part in French.

However, professional books written in the Renaissance era and before in Western Europe were mostly in Latin and less in Greek and French.

Being a person who can master first-hand information is a basic requirement for becoming a top professional scholar.

Unfortunately, Chinese belongs to another independent language system entirely.

It’s very difficult to learn.

You can't learn it by just being exposed to it, changing your accent, or changing the etymology.

Miss Elena knew that the creator of Chinese paintings would leave a seal and signature at the end of the volume.

But let's be honest.

No one knows everything.

Anna's understanding of Chinese characters was not enough to support her ability to identify the calligraphy and seal script on the seal.

This is why Anna would mention that she is not an expert in the field of Eastern art.

"how?"

Cao Xuan looked at Miss Elena.

He noticed that the tone of the other person's words was somewhat unusual.

"It's okay, it's just...nothing. Isn't he old? Has he won any important painting awards? Or have you ever mentioned his name in an interview or recommended him?"

Anna spoke softly.

She vaguely felt that the name sounded vaguely familiar.

It seemed like I had seen that somewhere before.

But for a moment, Miss Elena couldn't compare this name with the artistic celebrity in her mind.

strange?
Before she came here, she deliberately read so many recommended materials related to Cao Xuan's life. If "Gu Weijing" was mentioned in it, she shouldn't be unable to remember it.

"No, of course not. He is a complete amateur of art." Cao Xuan shook his head, "The moment he is ready to step into the spotlight, he will step onto the stage by himself."

"Well, that's it."

Anna decided to put this issue behind her for the time being.

"Then is he your chosen successor?"

Anna asked probingly.

"If so, please tell me quietly. Maybe I will start to consider buying some of his paintings. There are not many such good deals in the world. Maybe I won't be able to afford them in the future?"

Miss Elena told a joke.

"As a generous collector who just donated 137 Picasso works and a Leonardo da Vinci manuscript this month, your words sound very unconvincing."

Cao Xuan also joked.

Pointed out the actions of Anna Versailles. "For you, don't you just pay for the beauty of art?"

"You imagine me to be too noble, Mr. Cao." Anna replied calmly, "Who can refuse free money? Besides, the petals are very beautiful."

Cao Xuan burst out laughing.

The old man stared at the paintings on the wall for a while, then slowly shook his head.

"Do not."

"He is not?"

"I don't know either. The inheritance of Eastern art is a heavy responsibility."

"Great fame, great wealth, great honor. It always means great pressure." Anna nodded.

"I can entrust my property to Xiao Ning without blinking an eye, to Lin Tao, or to Gu Weijing in the future."

"Death is like a lamp going out. I have no children, and Eastern art is my flesh and blood. Chinese paintings are not only my children, but they are also my parents. I would always be more cautious when entrusting your parents and children to others. You said he Will you become my successor and the next leader of Chinese painting? Sorry, I really don’t know how to answer.”

"Maybe, maybe not, maybe it's Tangning, maybe Zhou Ming, Liu Ziming, or someone else. Because the decision-making power is not in my hands, but in their own hands."

Cao Xuan gently punched the head of his cane on the ground.

"All I can tell you is that, at least at the moment, he's doing great, better than I expected."

"When I received this work, I wrote him a word -" Cao Xuan hoarsely translated the words in "Shishuoxinyu" into English and told Miss Elena, "The Pearl of Luminous , There is no need for the jade to come from the Mengjin River. It does not need to be collected from the Kunlun Mountains."

"Do you compare it to a shining pearl or a beautiful jade pendant? It's very poetic."

Anna nodded.

"Only truly dazzling pearls and world-famous jade walls can make the beauty of oriental art shine throughout the world. This is my affirmation and expectation." Cao Xuan said seriously.

Miss Elena hesitated.

finally,
She still spoke her mind.

"I'm sorry if you were offended."

"I want to say, are you too stubborn about the so-called 'school inheritance'? We live in a very diverse art era. It is no longer the years when you were born. Today's art world We are no longer accustomed to using obvious painting schools and genres to define and define a specific painter, right? Even the aesthetic style has gradually changed from the creative content to the creative style. "

Anna is not a flatterer like Lao Yang who only behaves submissively to Lao Cao and does whatever he says.

She is very opinionated.

Even if you think this topic may offend the other person.

But Anna still clearly pointed out the different opinions that had been in her mind just now.

"I don't comment on whether this change is progress or regression for the industry. But this is the industry phenomenon of the entire art world. One successor, one school of painting, this form will seem too old-fashioned. Even if Chinese painting does not What about the successor in your mind? There are more than two hundred countries in the world, and there are hundreds of thousands of artistic movements, and most of them have no real concept of "successor" or "leader". From a macro perspective, things like pop art are in the minority. This is the true face of global art.”

"Of course, I respect your achievements and even more respect your persistence. I didn't mean to-"

"It doesn't matter, don't worry that my self-esteem is so fragile. Please continue, what you said is very good, I am listening." Cao Xuan waved his hand, indicating that she could continue speaking boldly.

"Well, if you don't mind, please let me take Nigerian art as an example. Nigeria is an ancient civilization in Africa, with a history of at least 12 centuries. But I can't imagine a very famous successor to Nigerian art, or Nigeria. A master of art.”

“But that doesn’t mean West African art has disappeared.”

Miss Elena stretched out her arms gracefully.

"For example, critics can see a lot of West African elements in the style of Picasso's paintings. Although many people very sharply think that this is plagiarism and theft, there is no doubt that Nigeria's traditional graffiti is completely different in style. The form, reincarnated, takes on a new vitality.”

"If we look at it on a scale of thousands of years, it is very likely that all current artistic styles will die out in a long timeline. They will be broken, they will die, and they will be reorganized in AI, digital painting, three-dimensional themes, and the universe. Who will they become in the end? I can’t recognize it, maybe this is where the entire art world belongs, right? In that case, is it really that important to have a suitable successor?”

Anna said in a leisurely voice.

"It's very important, because Chinese painting is Chinese painting. It will never die or be broken." Mr. Cao asserted categorically.

"why?"

Anna asked in an eloquent manner, "Why are you sure that traditional Nigerian painting in the strict sense has disappeared? Why are the fates of the two different? Is it because this form of painting is more sophisticated than Nigerian painting? Is it more important?"

"Yes, more important."

"Oh. Mr. Cao, I regret to point out to you that your statement is surprisingly similar to my great-grandfather's thoughts. He believed that he was the chosen people and regarded African painters as rude monkeys. Later, people regarded this This idea is called 'Eurocentrism' and has been proven wrong by history. Generally speaking, my great-grandfather is a respected person, but everyone has shortcomings."

The woman spread her hands.

"I will not deny it for him. The tendency of European supremacy in his thinking is one of them." The African continent has a long history, and the blood of many people is as solemn and pure as the truth. Tens of thousands of years ago, the ancestors of the Maasai people may have Living near the Garden of Eden, and those races that have only become prosperous in recent centuries only know how to arm themselves with weapons and pride, how can they be compared with the pure blood and arrogance of the Maasai people? - Mr. Cao, this is an excerpt I wrote when I was in high school. Comment on my great-grandfather’s words in the diary.”

"Later, I wrote it again in the special commemorative issue of Oil Painting commemorating the 100th anniversary of his death."

Anna turned her head and stared into Cao Xuan's eyes, not allowing him to dodge in the slightest.

This question is too acute.

Miss Irina said that it would be a humiliation for her to change her tendency in art criticism and speak favorably for a person because of changes in personal relationships.

That's what Anna said, and that's what Anna did.

My great-grandfather, Miss Irina, writes sharply and accurately, but are there any exceptions for others?

Lao Yang was dumbfounded.

He really wants to take the quick-acting Jiuxin Pill now.

It was not for Mr. Cao to eat, but for himself to eat.

Mr. Cao still looked calm and calm, but his little heart, Mr. Yang, really couldn't bear it anymore and twitched.

sister.

Do not,
You are my aunt.

Are you an ancestor?

This pretty little girl, should we be so cruel! I just finished calling Sir Brown a "NAZI" at the annual meeting. In turn, I was accusing Cao Xuan of having centrism.

It's big bombs coming one after another.

Poor him, Old Yang, naively thought that the biggest bomb tonight was with Tang Ning, but in the end, she went to Cao Xuan.

The atmosphere in the room was so solemn that it was almost suffocating.

Suddenly.

Mr. Cao laughed.

"You completely misunderstood what I meant, Miss Elena, but I have to say that you are such a very personal person, so cute. I like you, really, just based on those words, you gained My respect. You are an excellent critic.”

(End of this chapter)