Chapter 10 Transcript of Huang Yongyu's speech at Yuelu Academy 4

River embankment finishing Painter and Qing Gao I have said long ago that artists are always dependent on others. Yan Liben of the Tang Dynasty was called to sketch in the court, painting peony or lotus, The queen was beside him, and he painted on the ground by himself, sweating profusely, not daring to move at all, and painted for a whole day. After returning home, he told the descendants: "Children and grandchildren, you can no longer do painting." He was not only tired, but also felt insulted. The three masters of the Renaissance were all raised by princes and ministers. Princes and ministers who are more fair and open-minded also know how to say some nice words.

For example, the emperor of Italy at that time, a great sculptor Dounatello made sculptures for him all his life, Florence can still be seen now, and his sculptures are everywhere. When the emperor came to see his sculpture, Donatello said, thank the emperor for taking care of me and achieving such an achievement. That leader (emperor) was great, he said, no way!I am honored to be living in Donatello's time today! Da Vinci went to France because of the quarrel, and later died in France.Where in France did he die?Died in the arms of the King of France. Raphael died very young and was buried in the first shrine of the Pantheon in the center of Rome, the second is buried king,

The third number is Galileo and others, who are buried in the first. There was also a lot of respect for art at the time.When Napoleon attacked Egypt, he sent a group of scholars with him. What are these scholars going to do?Grab the artwork. So in the middle of his team are the professors and the donkey.After the professor appraised the artwork, he transported it back with a donkey. As for me?As long as I can live a better life, it doesn't matter in whose arms I die or not. (laughs, applause) Painters like to talk about being lofty, and I say that painters have never had the possibility of being lofty.

If there were no salt merchants in Yangzhou who supported you to buy your paintings, there would be no Eight Eccentrics in Yangzhou back then. If someone raises you, you still have to brag about it. If you don’t get along with this or that, in fact, no one will raise you, and everything is impossible. Art is meant to be what you are. In the Yuan Dynasty, there was Ni Yunlin, who was a great painter. He has a bad temper and is very clean. He is often bullied by rich and powerful people. He is beaten and keeps silent. People asked him why he didn't make a sound? He said: Just say it.

This is the spirit of Ah Q. He was arrested and sent to jail because he liked to be clean. The prison guards probably had someone “take care of him” and deliberately tied him next to the dung bucket. He was in great pain. The person in charge of the cell brought food, and he said why didn't you raise your eyebrows, it's so rude.As a result, I got scolded again. This kind of thing, the painter will encounter. Intellectuals have a weakness. It is easy to feel that politicians or wealthy capitalists put on airs, but he forgives learned scholars for putting on airs. The strange temper of scholars can also be forgiven, and if they are learned, they can be put on airs.Putting on airs is a kind of fortification that is afraid of being seen through by others.

Old man, like me, I put on airs to defend myself, you are here so as not to see through my shortcomings. I am uneducated, and I read very little. When you young people come, I will put on airs and set up defenses, which is equivalent to pointing a machine gun at you. I shot you for being rude, (applause) is a sign of weakness. Pretentious learning is actually a manifestation of lack of learning, a manifestation of emptiness. Artists like to talk lofty.The great ones like Wu Daozi, Gu Kaizhi, and Yan Liben are titled as waiting for the imperial edict of the painting academy, enshrining in the inner court, or walking in the harem,

Neither are pretty jobs.In the old society, the head was shaved, and the grade of the painting academy was the same. The common people did not see the emperor's impoliteness towards him, so he was still very proud of the common people. It is a traditional problem to show off one's aloofness even though one is living under another's roof while enjoying a high-end taste. Today, our intellectuals are a little bit famous and a little bit old, and that airs are very arrogant, Looking at it from the side and from the back, it feels like another problem. Back then, it was the rich salt merchants who maintained the Yangzhou Eight Eccentrics. Now it is the capitalists who maintain the livelihood of foreign painters. How can ordinary people afford your paintings?

Assuming that there is a highly skilled painter living in Gansu and Qinghai, tell me what you rely on for your innocence?No!