Author: Yi E (Director of Research Department, Research Librarian, National Art Museum of China)
2023 coincides with the 125th anniversary of Feng Zikai’s birth. To commemorate this pioneer of modern Chinese comics, “Stars in the Sky——Feng Zikai Comic Art Exhibition” is held in Huzhou Art Museum, Zhejiang Province.
Feng Zikai is not only the pioneer of modern Chinese comic art, he is also a well-known writer, educator, translator and binding artist due to his versatility. He has created countless popular cartoons throughout his life, nourishing and enlightening generations of Chinese people. In China, the use of the term “caricature” began with Feng Zikai. His comics have been loved by everyone since their birth. Today, Feng Zikai’s comics are well-known to everyone, and people often read them often. The most important reason is probably due to the poetic and philosophical thoughts in his works.
Spring Tour Apricot Blossoms Blowing All Over Your Head (Comic) Feng Zikai
“The integration of poetry and painting” is one of the characteristics of Chinese art. It can even be said that the essence of Chinese painting is the essence of poetry. Su Dongpo commented on Wang Wei: “When you taste the poems of Mojie, there are paintings in the poems; when you look at the paintings of Mojie, there are poems in the paintings”; Feng Zikai’s artistic language breaks through the outdated schema of traditional literati paintings. The poetic flavor in his paintings is a good inheritance of the poetic core of traditional Chinese painting.
Feng Zikai is essentially a literati with a poetic heart. He uses poetry to paint, and his paintings are full of poetry and blend with poetry and painting. He loved classical Chinese poetry all his life, and he knew many classic lines by heart. He not only explained them to his children and grandchildren, but also created poems himself. His comic works not only vividly elucidate classical poetry, but also poetically express real life. Poetry is not only Feng Zikai’s creative material, but also his artistic essence.
Feng Zikai is good at substituting the artistic conception of classical poetry into real life, and at the same time infusing fresh breath of the times. In the early 20th century, the style of imitating the ancients was prevalent in Chinese painting circles. Feng Zikai broke through the vicious circle of the ancients in one fell swoop with his poetic expression of human emotions. “Poetry” comes from his good inheritance of traditional culture, and “newness” comes from his deep understanding of the true meaning of art.
Lang Riding a Bamboo Horse (Comic) Feng Zikai
In Feng Zikai’s comics, no matter how rich the poetic flavor is, it is born from the beautiful emotions in the world such as family, friendship, and love. He described and praised the true feelings in the world with highly concise brushwork, expressing his love for life. “A Hook at the New Moon and the Sky Like Water” created by him in 1924 is his earliest published comic work. The bamboo curtain is lightly rolled, and the crescent moon is like a smile. With just a few strokes, it expresses the joy and comfort after gathering with close friends. In “The Old Swallows Before Wang Xietang”, two spring swallows flit in the air and fly into the small farmyard with red peaches, green willows, yellow walls and black tiles. Next to the house, a mother is drying clothes, followed by her child, and the warmth and peace of ordinary life overflow the screen. The beauty of love is the same in ancient and modern times. “The Willow’s Head on the Moon” shows the scene of a girl waiting for her lover. The distant mountains are faint, the green waves are rippling, the willow branches are fluttering, the full moon is rising, the two rabbits are near the ground, and the black cat is looking up. This scene is intoxicating.
Feng Zikai’s comics inherit the poetic tradition of ancient literati paintings with simple strokes and ink. The pictures are concise, ethereal, fresh and timeless, which fully embodies the aesthetic charm of Feng Zikai’s art of “the small can see the big, and there is a lingering sound beyond the strings”.
If the poetry in Feng Zikai’s cartoons makes people feel the artistic conception of beauty, then the philosophical thinking contained in them can inspire people to realize the meaning of life. He depicts everything in the world, not just to simply record the state of the world, but also to express his deep understanding of nature and life. He once wrote “Husheng Painting Collection” to persuade people to cherish life and cultivate a heart of benevolence. Love is not only the foundation of Feng Zikai’s life, but also the keynote of his art.
Wang Xietang Qianyan in the Old Times (Comic) Feng Zikai
Feng Zikai calls himself an “admirer of children”, and often praises children’s innocence and purity with passionate brushes. Really, it is not only Feng Zikai’s way of being a man, but also his way of being an artist. Feng Zikai expresses childlike innocence with a pure heart, and the children in his paintings are all so innocent and innocent. The irritable child who dragged his grandma out in “The Sound of Gongs and Drums”, the naive little son in his father’s clothes in “Dad Is Back”, the gluttonous baby crying on his back in “Unsatisfied Peanuts”, “Desire” The naive child in “Going to the Blue Sky and the Bright Moon” stretches his small hand out of the window to catch the moon, the one in “Saliva” who regards the saliva on En Ge’s face as pockmarks, the one in “Zhan Zhan’s Car” who uses the cattail leaf fan as a bicycle Zhan Zhan…Feng Zikai is so keen on children’s subjects, in fact, he looks at the children’s world with the eyes of a philosopher.
The poetry and philosophy in Feng Zikai’s cartoons all stem from his great love for all living beings and his deep affection for the world. It is this broad love and sincere affection that creates the eternal beauty of Feng Zikai’s art. In June 2020, the Asteroid Nomenclature Committee of the International Astronomical Union named an asteroid discovered by Chinese astronomers “Feng Zikai”. The day the asteroid was discovered was November 9, 1998, which was the centenary of Feng Zikai’s birth. Feng Zikai often said that his heart is occupied by four things: gods and stars in the sky, art and children in the world. This great artist, like a star in the sky, will always shine in our hearts.
“Guangming Daily” (version 09, June 4, 2023)
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责编：董大正 ]