Chapter 56 painting

Su Manshu was fond of graffiti when he was young.When he was four years old, his mother took him to the park to play. Manshu was attracted by lions, and Fu Di painted lions stretching frequently, lifelike. Su Shaoxian wrote in "The Boyhood of My Uncle Su Manshu": "At the age of five (should be six), my great-grandmother Huang and uncle Yuzhang brought them back to Guangdong. When I was in the boat, I asked someone for a pencil. As for paper, painting a large boat, when people look at it, it looks like a steamboat. Everyone thinks it is different. When he was four or five years old, all the objects he painted were not unworthy. He is a genius in painting. root cloud."

In 1898, Kang Youwei's disciples Xu Qin and Tang Juedun founded the Datong School in Yokohama, Japan. Su Manshu enrolled in this school, and his painting talent was revealed from this.Feng Ziyou recalled: "Manshu was quite blunt in literature at Datong School, but he was a genius in painting alone. He used painting as a play in his childhood and had no mentors. He wrote like an old painter. His classmates were all surprised." Later Feng praised him in "The True Face of Su Manshu" "The two pictures of "Chen Yuanxiao's Inscription on the Wall" and "Stone Wing King Drinking Horses" are sophisticated and exquisite, and have the same name, which is amazing. ".

Datong School lacked art teachers, so Su Manshu taught art classes concurrently; Liang Qichao and other teachers compiled textbooks, and Manshu took on the job of painting illustrations for textbooks.At that time, most of the illustrations in the elementary school textbook "Landscape, Sun and Moon" were written by Manshu. Keshi described Su Manshu's paintings in "Four Pole Talks": "A friend and Manshu are known as inseparable. One day, Manshu came to his home. His son was eight or nine years old, with a hippie face. He asked Manshu to paint pictures. Take a piece of grass paper, spread it on the table, and then use a large brush to soak it in ink. The paper is full of energy, dripping and hearty, and Wu Changshuo's works are almost surpassed."

In 1905, Su Manshu followed his friend Liu Jiping to Nanjing Army Primary School as an art teacher.When teaching, Manshu used a pencil to draw the outline of the painting on the Chinese painting paper for the students one by one, with only a few strokes, which was vivid and vivid. Chen Duxiu commented on Su Manshu's paintings: "Manshu's paintings teach people to see them as if they are thousands of miles away. They are fascinating, unlike vulgar painters who waste pen and ink." Su Manshu once painted "The Picture of Burying Flowers" as a gift to Deng Yizhe, and Chen Duxiu wrote a poem saying: "In front of the jade steps of Luosock, there is the east wind and willow smoke. What do you do with a hoe, and it is easy to speak with two swallows." After the People's Republic of China, it has been hung on the wall of his apartment, even during the "Cultural Revolution", the painting never left his body.

Su Manshu once collected and depicted a hundred styles of ancient women's hair buns in Japan, which is called "Pengying Mansion History" (that is, "Hundred Pictures of Women's Hair Buns").Some of the hairstyles of the Han and Tang Dynasties were traced by him from the illustrations of ancient books in the Japanese library.When Manshu left, he gave Sun Bochun the History of Pengying Mansions.Sun recalled: "In the first four or five years of the Republic of China...Manshu visited Asakusa Park in Tokyo. There was a Guanyin Hall in the garden, and village women often came to pay homage. Manshu often drew a roll of paper among the crowd. It took several years for the success of this scroll. For a long time, Xun Kebao also."

Lu Lingsu, Mrs. Liu Jiping, wrote in "Anecdotes of Master Manshu": "The Master and Ma Xiaojin, a martyr from the east of Guangdong, passed Huajing at the beginning of the fifth month of the Republic of China. After dinner, I asked for rouge to paint. By that time, my sons and daughters were all asleep. Find a piece that looks like a pancake, and put it on a painting plate. The master will paint and talk and laugh, and it will become "The Picture of Yellow Leaf Building" in an instant, and I will draw a fan for Yu. I will also dip it in ink to make a banner. The remnants of crows are all the color of purple sauce, and they are still stored in the boxes today, which is a spectacle."

A friend asks Su Manshu for a painting, but Manshu never writes lightly.Friends from Nanshe boasted thousands of miles to send a message, and asked Manshu to draw "Hidden Cold Map", which was repeatedly postponed, and it was difficult to get it every year. The editor-in-chief of "Pacific News", Ye Chulan, admired his ancestral lady Ye Xiaoluan, and asked Manshu to paint "Dream Hanging in Fendi" many times.Li Shutong, who also works in the newspaper office, has a studio on the third floor, well furnished and equipped with all kinds of painting tools.One day, when Li Shutong went out, Ye prepared Manshu's favorite candies, cigars, beef, etc. indoors, and invited Manshu to come in and taste them.As soon as Manshu entered the room, Ye locked the door and told him, "I must finish the painting today, and I won't let you out if the painting is not good."Ye Chulan then opened the door and presented Manshu with a leopard mattress, and the two happily drank together.

In 1914, Su Manshu's health became increasingly weak and he was hospitalized in Tokyo for treatment.At this time, he was troubled by his friends (mostly confidante) asking for paintings, and said in a letter to He Zhensheng: "The monk has no life, and the debt is like a mountain." He also compiled a list of old debts Those who claim for painting debts are listed one by one. Gao Jianfu said: "Manshu's paintings are always given as gifts. He likes to use Japanese hemp paper and silk, and he never likes coloring. His painting style is extremely lofty. Therefore, some people later said that he "applied the methods of the Middle East and mastered them thoroughly." , not very ink, but the air of elegance overflows Chu Biao'."

Huang Binhong said to his friends: "Manshu only left dozens of paintings in his life. It's a pity that he died early, but those dozens of paintings are worth as much as the number of paintings in my life!" Chen Shiqiang, the author of "Su Manshu's Images", said: "Manshu's paintings are extremely simple in brush and ink. He often 'cherishes ink like gold' and draws in a way of 'cutting corners and materials', but the scenes are extremely fulfilling." Huang Kan commented on Su Manshu's paintings: "Su Zigu's paintings are extremely desolate and distant."

After Su Manshu's death, his friend Cai Zhefu compiled his paintings into a book and published it, and Huang Binhong inscribed "Master Manshu Mo Miao".After Cai's death, Manshu's original painting was collected by his wife Tan Yueguang, but it was stolen from his home in 1948.Tan Yueguang said: "Su Manshu's Picture Album was stolen and spread to Hong Kong. ... The reason for the theft was that a friend asked me to sell this picture album, and was willing to give me one billion gold coupons. I don't want to sell it, but I hope there will be good people in the future When the country was governed, it was given to the country for preservation. The thief knew this, so he stole this precious cultural relic.” The authenticity of Manshu’s posthumous paintings is still unknown, and the “Su Manshu Picture Album” at that time was funded by Li Gengen, who was in charge of the office in Guangdong. Four hundred copies were printed, only dozens of copies were issued, and the remaining three hundred copies were stored in official houses and destroyed by fire.