Chapter 88 Art

The Wen family has collected a lot of calligraphy and paintings. Wen Yi often watched his parents appreciating and painting paintings when he was a few years old, and he developed a strong interest in painting.His old family, Wei Qi, took him to see a play in Bahe Town, and when he got home, he began to draw the characters in the play.When Wei Qi saw the embroidered portrait in the book, he asked Wen to copy it with paper.This is also one of the reasons why Wen Rihou embarked on the road of art.Because of this, Wen Yiduo has a deep relationship with this old family member who participated in the Taiping Army uprising. Wei loves to eat dog meat. Some people in Wen's family would not let him stew on the stove, and even scolded him, but Wen Yiduo always protected him.

When he was a child, Wen Yiduo always asked his family to cut paper for him.Seeing someone riding a sedan chair, he asked his eldest aunt to cut the appearance of two porters carrying the sedan chair; seeing the porter put the hat on the table, he asked his eldest aunt to cut the appearance of the hat on the table; the porter went to eat , he wanted to cut another picture of eating. When he was studying in Tsinghua University, Wen Yiduo often went to sketch outside the school. Some people said: "Wen Duo's watercolor landscape paintings are exposed to the sun and have a bright and sunny scene." It was put together by Wen Yiduo with various pieces, very special.

When Wen Yiduo was studying at the University of Colorado in the United States, he was appreciated by Ms. Limings, the director of the art department of the school.Limings said to Liang Shiqiu once: "Mistowen is really a rare artist. Regardless of his works, he is a work of art. You can see the lines on his face and the smile on his mouth. Rhythm!" Wen Yiduo was painting oil paintings at the time, his hair was long and loose on the back of his head, and his studio cloak was red on one side and green on the other, with water and oil stains everywhere.Whether Wen Yiduo is wiping his nose, wiping the table, wiping his hands, or protecting himself from the rain, he always uses this cloak.Liang Shiqiu commented: "A perfect painter!"

Limings once suggested that Wen Yiduo participate in the annual art exhibition in New York, and Wen Xin readily agreed.He immersed himself in painting, forgot to sleep and eat, like a madman, he locked himself in the room for more than a month, and only allowed Liang Shiqiu to come to his room to criticize when the painting was almost finished.Once it was time for dinner, Liang went to ask him to eat, but the knock on the door was answered. Liang saw him poking on the canvas through the keyhole, so he stopped disturbing him and let him have a hungry meal.Wen sent more than a dozen paintings to the exhibition, but only one figure painting of an American detective won a gold star.Wen was very depressed, and since then he has lost interest in painting.

After arriving in New York, although Wen Yiduo continued to study painting, he didn't take classes seriously. At first, he went fishing for three days and posted nets for two days, but then he quit altogether.He began to grow long hair, making it look like an artist. After a long time, his hair poked his neck itchy, so he asked friends to fix it for each other.At that time, Zhang Yujiu, Zhao Taimo, Xiong Foxi and others who often interacted with him also had long hair and shawls. They often slept until the sun was high, and at night they went to a nearby Cantonese restaurant to drink Wujiapi and eat wontons, living a Bohemian life.

When he was studying in Tsinghua University, Wen Yiduo's Tsinghua Xinyou Class once organized a singing troupe, and Lin Yutang was invited to be the teacher. Wen Yiduo also joined it, sang the bass, and served as the secretary. As early as in Tsinghua University, Wen Yiduo developed a strong interest in drama, and liked to write scripts, often writing late into the night with his classmates.In the first eight years of Tsinghua University, Wen Yiduo wrote scripts and participated in short play competitions every year. All the short plays in Wen Yiduo's grade were written by him. In October 1916, Xinyou Class of Tsinghua University performed the drama "Penglai Meeting" to celebrate the Double Tenth Festival. Wen Yiduo played a donkey in the play.

While studying at the New York Academy of Art, Wen Yiduo, Yu Shangyuan, Zhao Taimo, Xiong Foxi and others who were also in New York launched two Chinese costume dramas: "The Cowherd and the Weaver Girl" and "Yang Guifei". Wen was in charge of costumes and sets.At that time, brocade robes were not available in the United States, so Wen had to paint them himself. Dozens of brocade robes were painted by himself. They were very exquisite, and the performance was a great success.Liang Shiqiu recalled: "I can't see traces of colored pens under the light. I have made a lot of contributions in this performance."

In 1926, Wen Yiduo took his wife and daughter to Beijing and rented a house near downtown.Xu Zhimo recalled the decoration of Wen's studio: "He painted the walls all black, and inlaid the narrow ones with gold rims... In one room, a square shrine was dug out on the outer wall, and it was dedicated... to Mirovi. Statues like Nass... are taller than a foot, and the stone color is yellow and clear like steamed glutinous rice, set against a black background, don't let it have a distant dream..." In 1927, Wen Yiduo sent a letter to Rao Mengkan saying: "The painting book is my original wife. She came back from overseas and stayed away for two years. His wife passed away and his poems were promoted to his wife. Recently, he bought a young lady named Ji - seal carving. That's right. The jade-like spirit, the flower-like face, and the bright ability to cage the special room, made Mrs. Poet suddenly feel sad about abandoning the fan."

During the Anti-Japanese War, Wen’s family had a difficult life, and a friend suggested that Wen Yiduo should engrave a sign and stamp.I heard that engraving stamps was quite hard at first, and ivory stamps were popular in Yunnan, so he practiced with stones first, and he felt that it was almost the same, and then carved ivory.The ivory is very hard. I heard that the ivory will soften when it encounters acid, so I soaked the ivory in vinegar for a whole day and night, but it didn't soften at all, so I had to work head-on.The first dental seal took a whole day, and Wen's right index finger was worn out. I was discouraged and desperate several times, but I still gritted my teeth and went on.Two years later, when he told Wu Han about the initial engraving, there were still tears in his eyes.

Two-thirds of the income of Wen's family of eight depends on Wen Yiduo engraving seals.Wen engraved stone stamps cost 200 yuan per word, and tooth stamps cost 400 yuan per word.By 1945, due to inflation, the stone seal was 1,000 yuan per word, and the tooth stamp was 2,000 yuan per word.Wu Han once said to Wen Yiduo: "When there are no chapters, I am anxious, and the family has a problem eating; when there are chapters, I am also anxious, so many chapters come that I can't engrave them all at once, and the customers don't agree."