Almighty painter

Chapter 89 Anna's Trouble

"Professor Sakai, I wonder if Gu Weijing can help you, look up information, run errands or something?"

Gu Tongxiang said this very well.

Being able to run a gallery for half his life in such a chaotic situation in Myanmar, the old man may not understand academics, but he understands the world.

Uncle Sakai's original words are - if someone guides, it is not difficult to publish a good paper.

But what the old man said is still, ask Gu Weijing to help Professor Sakai, not ask Professor Sakai to guide Gu Weijing.

The latter is too greedy, who should be the master and who should be the second.

Gu Tongxiang's heart is divided.

A professional thesis in liberal arts can often be hundreds of thousands of words long.

If the publishing house is interested, many doctoral dissertations in art can be directly compiled into a book and published.

Of course, it may be more difficult to find a picture than to write a thesis on this subject matter about the mysterious impressionist female painter in the nineteenth century.

But simplicity is also relative.

Even if it is an SSCI, Gu Weijing also does not have the ability to complete this paper alone.

It's not just a matter of article depth.

Liberal arts papers of the magnitude of A&HCI all have a standard format, requiring professional expressions and authentic English words and sentences.

Everyday English and academic English are two different concepts.

It is a bit similar to the imperial examinations in the feudal era of Eastern Xia.

To be published in top literary journals requires not only depth, but also beautiful writing and elegant sentences.

The wording is wrong, and the reviewers are too lazy to read it.

Not to mention that Gu Weijing is a middle school student born in Yangon, far away from the cutting-edge art field,
This requirement is not even met by many professional professors.

Therefore, in non-English-speaking countries, there are fewer people who can publish an A&HCI paper than those who can publish a top science paper such as a related sub-journal of "Nature" that puts more emphasis on experimental data.

If such an article can really be born, the main credit and hard work must be Professor Sakai, and Gu Weijing would at most put a name at the end of the thesis.

Don't be discouraged,
If Professor Sakai is willing to give you a name, you have already taken a huge advantage.

For a more stingy scholar, after hearing the secret of this painting, he kicked Gu Weijing away long ago and went to write a thesis in private.

"This paper doesn't need to be too long, and it can't be too long for this kind of topic. It's estimated to be a few thousand words at most, or even one or two pages. It depends on luck whether you can post it or not."

Facing the temptation of an A&HCI, Uncle Sakai hesitated for a moment.

He finally made up his mind and shook his head: "It's fine for Gu Weijing to write. I can offer guidance. There is only one request?"

"You say?"

Gu Tongxiang was overjoyed when he was hit by a pie falling from the sky.

At this moment, Uncle Sakai wanted the painting itself.

As long as the thesis can be published,

The old man is [-]% happy.

Tens of thousands of dollars is certainly a lot,

But tens of thousands of dollars to post an A&HCI that can last for a lifetime is too cost-effective.

Liberal arts papers do not spend tens of millions or hundreds of millions of dollars for experiments like science and engineering papers, but let alone 60 dollars, even if it is [-] dollars, it is a dream for those top universities to produce an A&HCI Can wake up with a smile.

Among other things, the annual basic salary of a tenured professor in a prestigious university is at least 10,000+ US dollars, which is only a drizzle compared with research funding.

If this painting is really an early Impressionist work in the [-]th century, it should be worth more than $[-], but it usually ends up in a few hundred thousand dollars.

And the art auction market is uncertain.

Even Andy Warhol and Pop Art, which have been popular for 20 years, have been declining in the past few years, and they have begun to become cold among collectors.

How much can it really sell for?

God knows.

There is no such thing as a paper that can be seen and touched.

"Since this painting was discovered by young people, let young people write it, and let Shengzi be the second author. What do you think, Mr. Gu? Shengzi actually grasps the trend of art and is professional in academics. Excellent enough for these references and textual summaries."

Uncle Sakai pointed to his daughter.

"I?"

Sakai Katsuko, who had been sitting cross-legged in front of the drawing board and studying the paint without distraction, raised her head in surprise when she heard that there was still her own business here.

"Shengzi, this is your chance."

Uncle Sakai was stroking his daughter's head, with a smile on his face matching his round body, like a Santa Claus who was about to deliver gifts.

The reason why he proposed to publish the article was for this request - to give his daughter the authorship right of a heavyweight article.

Although minors publish heavyweight papers, although they are rare, they occur every year.

The university of Tokyo, which ranks number one in Asia all the year round, has three or four SCI papers under its name in the annual admissions interview; it went to the Malaysian Observatory in summer and discovered an asteroid; as a member of the Japan Patent Office [A level patent] holder's...

Many of these people are papers written by parents engaged in the scientific research industry, and then bear the names of their children.

The Japanese academic circle is highly closed, and everyone turns a blind eye.

Of course, there are also some real bulls.

At Katsuko Sakai's age, for an art student, the awards she can get have long been relented.

But a paper of sufficient standard has a very different meaning.

Among the major countries in East Asia, it is indeed relatively rare for women in Japan and South Korea to have such a low social status.

It's not even as good as Myanmar in this regard.

In the traditional Japanese culture in the past, the orientation of women's education is still to be a good wife and a qualified mother.

Whether she is a qualified woman is more important than whether she is talented or not.

Professor Ueno Chizuko of Dongda University once criticized at the opening ceremony of Dongda University in 2019-the society’s discipline for girls is that while women maintain perfect beauty and youth, they can also perfectly complete housework and childcare Task, this is Japanese society.

During the peak period, more than half of the Japanese girls would become qualified housewives according to the tradition, no matter whether her career was successful or not.
Even a queen like Momoe Yamaguchi is no exception.

Painters are like singers,
In fact, no matter how good my daughter Katsuko Sakai draws, as long as she develops in Japan, she will naturally be at a disadvantage in social relations in the future.

The status of a scholar is different.

A heavyweight thesis is the key for her to break free from the shackles of fate.

Although there are few female scholars in Japanese universities, they all have high status.

If they can become female tenured professors, the society will regard them as gods.

It's true that wherever you go, someone will bow to you out of respect.

In particular, female scholars who have published outstanding papers in the field of art are almost the best way out for girls, both noble and honorable.

Even the eldest princess of Japan's current Reiwa royal family has chosen to become an art scholar and female doctor at the Tokyo Museum.

When Gu Weijing expressed his conjecture about the painting.

Uncle Sakai knew right away that his daughter Katsuko Sakai was waiting for an excellent opportunity.

Under normal circumstances, when a paper is published at Katsuko Sakai's age, people will always question the independence and originality of this article.

Father is a great artist, both good and bad.

To put it bluntly, there are bound to be people who gossip and feel that this professional paper was not written by Katsuko Sakai himself.

However, in this case, the worries are much less.

The thesis of the two young people, the origin of the painting is innocent, and the content of the article is not complicated.

Not only is there no doubt that someone else wrote the thesis, but it is a good talk.

At least the published papers are more convincing than those "genius" high school students who used their "spare time" to do chemical experiments in the laboratory under the father's name.

……

the other side of the earth.

For a long time, the city of Glitz has been the private garden of the Austrians.

There are many museums and art galleries here, but it is not as crowded with international tourists as Vienna, and life is calm and indifferent.

Heading east from Castle Hill, the highest point of the city, past the Baroque-style Mausoleum of Ferdinand II, between the Griez Art Museum and the Opera House with a golden statue, there is a small building with a blue roof and red brick walls .

Here is the headquarters of "Oil Painting" magazine.

The ancestors of the Jelena family bought the building from the Austro-Hungarian government in the [-]th century.

In the following 200 years, whether it was turmoil or peace, the world's artistic situation flowed around it.

The citizens of Glitz are also proud of the "Oil Painting" magazine and the art-loving Elena family.

It is said that any member of the Elena family can eat in the cafes in the city for free, and any door in the city is willing to open for them.

Even the council halls of the city government, they may pass through by virtue of their surnames.

But today,

For the first time in the last 100 years - the last heiress of the Elena family - has been turned away by Paint Magazine.

"Miss Elena, I'm sorry, I don't know what happened, but your work permit has been suspended."

Just now, Anna found that her office certificate could not open the door of the elevator.

This kind of VIP-style elevator is exclusively used by the high-level executives of the magazine, and a corresponding authority card is required to unlock it.

At first she thought it was a system failure.

The nursing lady pushed her wheelchair to the front of the counter, and the concierge lady fiddled with the computer card reader for a while with her work card, and then said with a confused face.

"The file shows that you have been temporarily removed from the file library since yesterday afternoon."

"This is ridiculous. Is today April Fool's Day? Miss Elena's family founded this magazine, and she is the owner of this magazine. Who has the right to drive the owner out of the house?"

There was some disbelief on the face of the nursing lady pushing the wheelchair.

Anna waved her hand.

In principle, she does not actually own the magazine.

In the 60s, in order to make the magazine more professional and public, Anna’s great-grandfather transferred 80.00% of the magazine’s shares to the Austrian National Publishing Group and the European Fine Arts Association at a price of 1 Austrian shilling.

By the time Anna took over the family business, she was still the magazine's largest private shareholder.

But the head of the magazine is Sir Brown from Denmark, the chairman appointed by the European Art Association.

Her only official position in the magazine is the senior editor and freelance writer of the visual art section of "Oil Painting" magazine.

If the management sees that Anna is unhappy, they can naturally fire an editor.

"Is this... aimed at me?"

Anna knows that the magazine has been in trouble in recent years, especially after her aunt died.

The new generation of management is often dissatisfied with the too much personal imprint of the old Jelena family on the magazine "Paintings".

It's just that everyone's friction is usually carried out secretly, and on the surface at least they are on good terms with each other.

It was the first time that this kind of thing was blatantly directed against him.

Anna took out her mobile phone from the pocket of her gray lady's suit and dialed a number in the address book.

There was a long beep, but no one answered.

She hung up the phone with a blank expression, and clicked to replay again... until she dialed the number for the third time, and this time, the call finally got through.

"Chairman Brown, I would like to make an appointment to meet... No, I am not asking for your opinion. I am notifying you to arrange a meeting. As a private shareholder, this is my right."

Ten minutes later, on the top floor of the "Oil Painting" magazine headquarters, in the chairman's office.

"Welcome, my boy. Tea? Coffee?"

Sir Brown is 70 years old this year, but he is very energetic. He has a small white beard on his chin, but his hair has been dyed thinly, and there is no trace of white hair.

He looked very kind, he didn't look like a professional manager, but like a kind old professor in school.

"Would you like some candied cherry from the Philippines? It suits my taste."

Sir Brown pushed a small silver fruit box towards the opposite side of the desk: "Sorry, about the work permit, I planned to go to Elena Manor tomorrow and explain the magazine's decision to you personally."

"You want to fire me?"

Anna asked coldly.

"Of course not, who can fire a Miss Irina here?"

Sir Brown smiled embarrassingly.

As the current head of the magazine, he doesn't like Anna's influence in the magazine.

But he was still unwilling to fire the last heir of the Elena family.

This is a huge scandal for both parties.

"It's just that we need to have a necessary conversation. You know that our magazine has been in a little trouble recently."

Sir Brown handed over some newspapers.

"Although those media reports are all nonsense, ... we still have to consider the bad influence it has caused."

Anna took the newspapers and magazines and flipped through them casually.

The first one was the front page news of "THE MOON" that I had seen.

"Since the reports are all nonsense, why should we bother... Besides, we are not politicians. When will we care about the reports of vulgar newspapers such as "The Moon"?"

Anna looked straight into Sir Brown's eyes: "Is there anything else I don't know?"

"Now that it's here...to be honest, yes."

Sir Brown shrugged.

"I've been told that De Jong Van Doorn doesn't want his name to appear in the same art review guide as an Internet illustrator who... I think this is an insult to him, and if we don't cancel his account, we will contact a lawyer to sue the magazine."

"Then revoke his [Buyer's Guide]. Does "Oil Painting" magazine need to pay attention to the threat of an insignificant old hooligan who only draws some empty lines that lunatics are talking about?" Anna did not flinch.

"Son, before jumping to conclusions, I suggest you take a look at this."

Sir Brown handed over a facsimile of a document.

Anna took the document and scanned the two lines, her face was as cold as ice.

The file is actually not that long.

The content is nothing more than to accuse "Oil Painting" magazine of degrading to hire an inexperienced little girl like her to become an art critic by relying on her family name, and to allow such an unrefined painter as a web comic illustrator. Recommended columns for serious painters.

The person who wrote this fax said that he believed that "Oil Painting" magazine had lost its professionalism, and hoped that he could withdraw from "Oil Painting" magazine's buyer recommendation.

Van Dorn is not the only one behind the signature.

A total of seventeen well-known painters headed by Van Dorn were included.

Van Dorn has a wide range of paths in the art circle. Many of these names are close friends of Van Dorn, and some of them are because the paintings have been refuted by Anna in past art reviews with a pungent tone. place, and the guy who holds a grudge because of it.

At this time, they also seized the opportunity of hot public opinion to jump out of the joint name.

Van Dorn may indeed be an old rascal, but his connections are undeniable.

He himself is by no means insignificant as Anna said. The seventeen names added together would make even the senior executives of the "Oil Painting" magazine feel embarrassed.

"This is forcing the palace. They don't really want to quit "Oil Painting" magazine, they are just demonstrating. An art review organization compromises with an artist. Once this kind of thing happens, there will be a second time."

Anna shook her head.

"And I stand by my point of view, the lady of Detective Cat is an excellent painter, her painting level and artistic accomplishment are enough to reach the standard of "Painting" magazine."

She was not willing to compromise at all: "Detective Cat..."

"Perhaps, child."

Sir Brown's tone became impatient: "You haven't understood what I'm talking about, Anna. Detective Cat? Oh, maybe she's enough, maybe she's not enough, it doesn't matter. People can't live in the art world forever, today The topics we discuss have nothing to do with art, but with reality."

"And the reality is that your actions have caused a public relations crisis for Oil Painting magazine."

"In view of the public opinion on the Internet, I have asked our editorial department to withdraw the buyer recommendation on Detective Cat."

said Sir Browne in a polite but undeniable tone.

He went on: "And I need you to write a formal letter of apology to Mr. Vandoorne in order to obtain the other party's understanding."

(End of this chapter)