Almighty painter

Chapter 95 Discoveries That Changed Art History
When Gu Weijing found reading room B16 in the inner part of the library,
Sakai Katsuko was already waiting in it.

"Shengzi, I knew you would come to Dulwich College, but I didn't expect Mrs. Sakai to come too."

Gu Weijing put his schoolbag and coat on the cabinet and sat down at the study table.

"Ah."

Sakai Katsuko just let out a soft snort in response.

"Don't worry, I'm alone in Myanmar. She's bored after staying in the hotel's long-term rental room all day, so she just came to teach the children."

She didn't look up as she spoke.

Sakai Katsuko twirled a signature pen with her fingertips, looked down at the notebook in her hand, her short black hair just fell on her earlobe.

The double study room is highly regarded as the sanctuary of love on campus and its reputation is well-deserved.

Because of the close distance, Gu Weijing could even smell the faint fragrance of fresh apricots on the other party's hair.

He sat down slightly higher than Sakai Katsuko.

Therefore, as long as you turn your head slightly, you can see the attractive curves between the ice cream-like white neck and neckline of the other party.

In all fairness,

Sakai Katsuko is the most feminine lady Gu Weijing has ever seen in his life.

Mona is more like a friend, Kou Kou is a bit elusive, but Sakai Katsuko, she seems to have the innate gentle temperament of an oriental girl.

The innocence of not disturbing the world makes Shengzi have a pure temptation.

He fell into a brief silence.

Gu Weijing may not have any other thoughts, it's just that he rarely stays with girls of the same age in such a small private space on campus.

Even the former Mona thought that blatantly being alone with Gu Weijing in this unspoken campus rules of a couple's dating spot was a bit too intimate for their relationship.

The two-person group homework is often done at the homes of both parties, or in the shade under the trees in the playground.

Facing this situation for the first time, it made him a little uncomfortably nervous.

"No, this is the outline I wrote, why don't you take a look?"

Sakai Katsuko didn't notice that the companion next to her was a little overwhelmed by the "feminine power" unintentionally exuded from her.

She handed the light blue notebook she was reading to Gu Weijing.

"I sorted out and compared the early masters of Impressionism, such as Monet, Alfred Sisley, Manet and Renoir, with their processing styles for deep-toned pigments. The notes are what I concluded."

Sakai Katsuko took out a large brown file box that looked very important from under the table, and pushed it in front of Gu Weijing.

"This is the dissertation material recommended by my father and several old professors who have studied Impressionism in the Tama Art Academy. He suggested that if we are willing to keep improving, we should read all these papers. I made two copies of all the materials. This is for you. In the past few days, I have roughly read all the documents on the plane. The content that I think is the key is simply marked."

Gu Weijing knew that Sakai Katsuko was doing these things these days.

The reason why she did not return to Yangon to transfer school until a few days after the start of school was because Katsuko Sakai flew to several art galleries in Japan and France some time ago, and visited the authentic works of several famous impressionist masters.

Gu Weijing opened the folder,

Writing a thesis is just a matter of selecting literature.

Impressionism, as the foundational school of modern art, is a prominent study of artistic styles, and various materials are mixed.

Some low-value junk papers are not only a waste of time to read and may mislead you, but if you accidentally quote them, it will even stain the entire article.

Those top art publications are only of relatively high quality, and they also have hydrology.

As for those liberal arts publications that are close, they may really be looking for food in the garbage.

Many art scholars spend their time reading these useless contents.

Professor Sakai is extremely concerned about this paper, and even carefully selected and prepared valuable literature materials that can be cited.

This is obviously the treatment only given to biological daughters.

The reading room fell silent, only the rustling of pages turning.

After entering the working state of discussing papers, Gu Weijing became a little more relaxed.

He flipped through the densely packed text in the notebook. He didn't say anything on his face, but he was a little shocked in his heart.

In life, you will always meet those excellent and hopeless people.

They have a higher starting point than you, a better family background than you, more talent than you, and even work harder than you, leaving no way for others to survive.

Sakai Katsuko is a typical example.

It's not good to say,

Gu Weijing originally thought that this thesis was actually written with the help of Uncle Sakai, Katsuko Sakai put his name on it, and he just followed suit.

I didn't expect Miss Shengzi to work so hard.

Gu Weijing just glanced at the documents casually, and knew that this was definitely not a simple rough reading in her mouth.

All the papers for myself were marked with colored marker pens, and the lines were reviewed in English.

The blue notebook on the side summarizes the painting styles of different artists in very elegant and accurate language.

"How about it?"

Sakai Katsuko asked softly.

"Excellent..."

Gu Weijing also entered a state of concentration: "But there is a small problem. I see that you mentioned that "The Old Church" is similar to the painting style of Van Gogh, who also likes to paint night scenes. It is constructed with distorted long lines and broken color points. an unreal night sky, full of restless curves and restless hallucinations."

"what happened?"

Sakai Katsuko tilted his head and asked back.

"Van Gogh is a post-impressionist painter, and post-impressionism pays more attention to the artist's subjective feelings about the painting objects. Van Gogh's painting style is caused by his fateful tragic life and crazy spirit. But the emotional style of this painting is not similar."

"Emotional style?"

Sakai Katsuko frowned lightly.

"The painting styles of the two are similar, but the emotions contained in them are different. Van Gogh's works are crazy and psychedelic at night. The thunderstorm in "The Old Church on a Thunderstorm" is grand and enthusiastic."

"Shengzi, recall your intuitive feelings about the works of these two painters. Do you really think that the two have the same emotions?"

Sakai Katsuko bit her lower lip with silver teeth, lost in thought.

Different.

She herself is a girl who is very sensitive to the abstract concept of "beauty", and she soon has an intuitive answer in her heart.

But why?

Sakai Katsuko clearly analyzed the paint and composition of the two paintings in detail. Both are dark night sky, and both are broken long and short lines and a large number of color dots.

Similar recipes and similar brushwork should yield similar results.

But why sometimes the emotions of the two paintings are different.

She never quite understood it.

Just like Katsuko Sakai has always been very confused. When she copied the "Old Church", the paint formula was more accurate than that of Gu Weijing, and the brush was more detailed and restored, but in the end it was difficult to reproduce the thunderstorm painted by Gu Weijing The feeling of the weather.

"Can you teach me, how do you appreciate this painting?"

Sakai Katsuko looked at Gu Weijing with dark eyes, which were full of longing.

Gu Weijing only noticed at this time that Miss Shengzi's pupils are not pure black, it should be due to mixed blood, like a little bit of ultramarine blue mixed into the dark paint, when viewed from a close distance, it appears like lavender .

"It's hard to tell."

Gu Weijing looked away, concentrating on thinking.

"If you talk about it in detail academically, the reason for the difference in the perception of the two painters' works should be the sharpness of the paint and the combination style of the color points. The difference between the little drops adds up to cause a macroscopic difference. But , I actually think it’s better to use perceptual understanding.”

"Emotional understanding."

Sakai Katsuko repeated Gu Weijing's words word for word, with a tone like a confused cat.

"I do not understand."

"Empathy - is the basis of emotion, this is my feeling."

Gu Weijing said softly: "If a painter wants to reveal his own emotions in his works, the basis for this step is empathy."

"Empathize with the work, empathize with the subject matter, and empathize with the world."

"Mr. Van Gogh's mental state has been ups and downs in history. When he painted the famous "Starry Night", he was living in the St. Remy Mental Sanatorium for treatment. Van Gogh once left a famous saying-for art, I Risk my life; half my sanity is broken because of it."

Gu Weijing said: "It is for this reason that even the calm night sky, in the understanding of Mr. Van Gogh's spiritual world, is turbulent, rolling, turbulent and restless."

"But the "Old Church" is different. I believe that the painter Carroll will not be tortured by life like Van Gogh. The gentleness that changes with emotion, the warm candlelight provides people with the power to dispel anxiety..."

Gu Weijing recalled how he felt when he was painting.

Sakai Katsuko listened quietly.

When Gu Weijing was amazed by Sakai Katsuko's seriousness and hard work, Sakai Katsuko was also amazed by Gu Weijing's understanding of emotions.

This kind of perceptual knowledge full of spiritual intuition made her even a little ashamed.

"And, I have a better proof of it."

Gu Weijing took out his IPAD from his schoolbag on the cabinet, unfolded the tablet and placed it on the table.

"I found the church archives left by this church."

In the 19th century, the religious paper products issued by the Holy See to missionaries, whether it was the Bible or registers, were all printed and produced by an old paper mill in Florence, Italy, on high-quality thickened paper mixed with plant fibers. very good.

When the missionaries evacuated because of the war, these documents were all wrapped in moisture-proof oil paper and stored in a strong iron box. They were well preserved and the handwriting was still clear.

But after all, they are hundreds of years old objects. In order to prevent damage caused by repeated reading, after Gu Weijing got these printed products from the janitor Alai, he used the scanner in the gallery to process all the paintings and calligraphy works and made them into PDF electronic versions .

He lights up the iPad screen and calls up the file.

"Church Records."

Sakai Katsuko's eyes lit up all of a sudden: "Is there any news about Ms. Carroll?"

"In total I found three different leads in the files."

Gu Weijing found the page he had marked.

"The first Carol that appeared was an old lady from Yangon. After she was baptized in the church, she took the foreign name Carol."

"The local granny."

Sakai Katsuko sniffled: "I think it's unlikely to be her."

"I think so too, and it's recorded that she was 59 years old when she was baptized, so it shouldn't be her."

"The second Carroll was the wife of an English merchant. I only found this name in the records of the missionary list from July 1865 to September last year. There is no more information... Personally, I think it is this In 7, although the pioneers of Impressionism such as Monet, Degas and Renoir had formed their own art style, it was too early to spread to Burma.”

Gu Weijing shrugged: "What really surprised me was the third clue. I saw this description in a missionary diary mixed in the church archives."

As he spoke, he called up the corresponding page.

[On December 1876, 12, with only one week left before Christmas, Father Andrew asked us to prepare wine for the Holy Communion, which was not easy.I’m going to go to the Colonial Governor’s Mansion to ask. I heard that there are grain-fed steaks and frozen beer shipped from the sea, but they are special offerings for high-ranking civil servants...]

Gu Weijing read——

【...I left the gate of the church and met an impressive young lady.Wearing a sun hat, with sculptural features and red-gold hair, she was an impressive girl.A textile merchant from Plymouth, fresh from his confession, approached her and offered her coffee.She didn't agree, because she was - "observing the world".An unusual answer...]

【December 12rd... I met that girl again. I saw her holding a drawing board. Is she an artist?A female painter, which is as rare as a female sailor...]

[December 12th... I mispronounced the word at midnight mass on Christmas Eve.Father Andrew was not angry, he was just telling me that I am a servant of God, and I think he has discovered something.

These days, I often think of that girl with blond hair, she is so beautiful.Sometimes I start to wonder if I chose the wrong career.

If I didn't go to seminary, I would definitely try to pursue her...]

[December 12st... I knew I shouldn't do this, but I came to several hotels in the city as if driven by the devil.I thought it would be a consolation for me to find out about the girl, even to know her name.

Maybe it was luck, maybe it was punishment, the hotel staff immediately realized who the girl I was talking about was, and he seemed to have the same illness as me.

The hotel head waiter told me that he heard the girl's companion call her Carol, and unfortunately, she had left.

"On the day after Christmas, I boarded a cruise ship back to Europe." The foreman said disappointedly...]

Gu Weijing looked at Katsuko Sakai, with excitement in his tone: "Shengzi, I think it should be the female painter with golden-red hair in the missionary's diary. Although there are no more clues, the December 1876 Moon, that in itself is a big discovery!"

"1876, 1876, which means..."

Sakai Katsuko also read the time in disbelief, and she even grabbed Gu Weijing's hand in excitement.

"She was earlier than Mary Stevenson Coxart." Sakai Katsuko and Gu Weijing looked at each other, and they spoke the key to the problem almost in unison.

Mary Stevenson Exart, she is the student, lover and confidante of the Impressionist master Degas, and is famous all over the world as the first female impressionist painter.

Miss Mary was born in a wealthy family in the United States, and his father was a famous stockbroker in the United States.

When she was 22 years old, her father issued an unbearable ultimatum to her art-obsessed daughter—"I'd rather you die than become a painter."

This high society lady still withstood the pressure from her father and the society, went to Europe alone, studied painting with Degas, and became the first female famous artist in modern society.

She also became one of the most important painters in America's short history.

Generally speaking, the first work of Miss Mary's Impressionist style is "Little Girl in a Blue Armchair" in 1876, and the work that is truly recognized by the world as fully mastering Impressionist techniques is "Lydia in the Box" in 1879. ".

This is about three years later than the time in the diary of the missionary that Gu Weijing found.

Three years!

This shows that their findings may be able to update the understanding of the entire art history.

Long before the American painter Mary, there was already a female painter who mastered the Impressionist style.

That's enough to create a stir in professional art circles, how can it not be thrilling?

……

The time at noon passed quickly.

The door opened, and Gu Weijing and Sakai Katsuko walked out of the double study room together.

"You really made a remarkable discovery."

Sakai Katsuko still sighed in his tone.

"It's us." Gu Weijing said with a smile.

"Hurry up, class is going to be in the afternoon!"

The door of the study room ahead slammed open, and the two disheveled mandarin ducks rearranged their coats and rushed towards the elevator.

"Continue tomorrow."

The boy said to the girl with a smile while pressing the elevator button frantically.

"You bastard."

The girl spat secretly, and twisted the boy's arm severely.

Sakai Katsuko looked at the two disheveled classmates who were "studying" with a puzzled expression on their faces.

Gu Weijing lightly tugged Sakai Katsuko's sleeve, and moved slightly away from the two lovers who had just been exercising intensely.

But the boy still noticed the movement here.

He turned his head and saw Gu Weijing.

He didn't know Gu Weijing, he was one or two grades younger than Gu Weijing, and he was not a celebrity on campus.

However, when his eyes fell on Sakai Katsuko beside him, he was still shocked by the girl's appearance.

The boy immediately turned his head again, looked at Gu Weijing from the beginning to the end, and when Gu Weijing was on the elevator, he patted Gu Weijing's shoulder lightly while his girlfriend was not paying attention.

what the hell?

In this picture, after seeing someone flying and dunking a slam dunk in basketball class, how did the expression of "buddy, you are so awesome" appear from the bottom of my heart?
Did he fucking make up something wrong.

(End of this chapter)