Chapter 33 The third part opens up the new land of literature and art and organizes art exhibitions

In 1929, Xu Zhimo participated in the preparatory work for the first National Art Exhibition held by the Ministry of Education of the Nanjing Kuomintang government, and was elected as the preparatory task, and co-edited "Art Exhibition Huiyan" with Yang Qingxin.Xu Zhimo published "Preface to the Art Exhibition" in this publication. In the "Preface to the Art Exhibition", Xu Zhimo clarified the importance of art and the attention of governments of various countries, and narrated the timeliness of art and the issues of comparative research between China and foreign countries.

Xu Zhimo said that it was a gratifying thing that the first national art exhibition was able to officially open safely under the circumstances of many difficulties. It is only in recent years that the public exhibition of art works has become popular in China, and the nature and scale of this art exhibition are unprecedented.Not only calligraphy and painting, sculpture architecture and arts and crafts are available, not only domestic artists, but also artists from overseas are all produced; not only contemporary art, ancient and foreign works are also displayed for reference: so it is a pioneering work in terms of scale.

In terms of nature, this art exhibition is sponsored by the Ministry of Education, which is the first official expression of the government's advocacy of fine arts.In history, the Song Dynasty once had a magnificent painting academy, and the Qianlong period of the former Qing Dynasty also had a page of rich art history; but in the past, art was the exclusive appreciation of kings and even dignitaries. For ordinary people, what Liang Daizhao Li Longmian Waiting for the famous name is just a first-class rumor of the fairy mountain on the sea, and it is impossible to admire it.Until now, apart from the Forbidden City Museum and the Three Halls in Beijing (which are also rarely open) to give the public an opportunity to open their eyes, where can they find any valuable art in other places? The gates of a few collectors are not made of iron. Armed Indians watched, except for a few rich and powerful or foreigners, who could see it?If the achievement of art is the most proud part of a nation's wealth, if art is an important condition for making life meaningful and interesting, if getting close to great art is the most direct and powerful education that inspires the soul, then the government and How can the public work together to generate various opportunities for artistic publicity?

On this point, modern countries are trying their best to move forward.Needless to say, several culturally advanced countries in Europe, such as the United States, where mechanism and materialism are the most developed, and even Soviet Russia, where communism is practiced or tried, are amazing in their efforts and endeavors in the popularization of art.In New York, there are at least 50 art exhibitions every month; in Moscow, there are more than 100 open museums and art academies.What kind of weather is that?Regardless of whether the economic system is capitalism or communism, whether the political system is republic or dictatorship, no matter whether the era is in revolution or peace, life cannot be without meaning and interest.Therefore, art and even art education should be actively advocated and rewarded. Only idiots or poor people who are full of fame and wealth can deny the importance of art to life.

In fact, due to various expected and unexpected difficulties, this art exhibition is of course not satisfactory.On behalf of the Preparatory Office, Xu Zhimo hopes that people in the society will forgive them, but in terms of the achievements they have made, they feel that it is not easy in the face of many difficulties.Except for a very small number of famous painters who refused to accommodate their works due to other reasons or their sincerity in soliciting, and the inland area where the transportation is too inconvenient to participate in time, they said that there are representative works of contemporary domestic famous and unknown writers exhibited at the exhibition (Unfortunately, because of status, we have to limit the number of products produced by each company).From this a visitor can get a fairly accurate (at least a judgmental) impression of the totality of the artistic endeavors of the era.

The past few decades have been a very important link in the history of the development of the Chinese nation.During this period, various activities in life are subject to changes from within and from without.Therefore, from this art exhibition, we can see the interest of the era reflected or expressed in art; from the reference and evaluation of ancient art, we can infer the size and strength of the creativity of this era; from foreign art, especially Japanese, Experience the wisdom of Eastern artists adopting Western European methods; from arts and crafts, imagination to the fun of real life in the era.These are all issues that interested people should pay attention to.

Creation cannot be compelled, and in general it tends to be directly proportional to the energy of the nation.Europe went through a great spiritual revolution from the dark age of the Middle Ages to the bright age of modern times, and its greatest success was the birth of a beautiful new life.Revolution is the liberation of energy, and when the power of life becomes unstoppable, it will naturally burst into a wonderful work of creation.