Lin Fengmian

Lin Fengmian ( Chinese  林风眠 , Pinyin Lín Fēngmián ; original (personal) name Fengming ( Chinese  凤鸣 , Pinyin Fèngmíng ); born November 22, 1900 in what was then Mei County, Guangdong Province ; † August 12, 1991 in Hong Kong ) is an important Chinese Painter and first President of the Chinese College of the Arts .

biography

He comes from a distinguished family of folk artists. His life was shaped by the cultural opening of the Chinese Empire to the West around 1900, by his stay in France and Germany in the 1920s and by the connections he made with influential personalities of cultural development in China in the 20th century, above all Cai Yuanpei .

His paintings quickly established themselves in the cultural scene in China and he was active in setting up a modern training system for art in China. He was a co-founder of the National Academy of Art in Hangzhou and Beijing . In the Sino-Japanese War he lost a large part of his works, which was catastrophically repeated in the Cultural Revolution . In 1977 he was allowed to leave the PRC. He briefly visited his family who lived in Brazil, returned to Hong Kong and repainted some of the lost and other works. He organized numerous exhibitions of his works in China and internationally. His leading membership in cultural institutions in the PRC shows the high level of recognition he has gained for his art and activities.

Formative childhood

Lin Fengmian was born in Gegong Village (Chin. 阁 公) under the Garrison Town of Baigong (Chin. 白宫) in Mei County (Chin. 梅县), Guangdong Province . His father, Lin Yü'nong (chin. 林雨农), was a traditional stonemason and also knew a little about Chinese calligraphy . In this environment, Lin Fengmian practiced the templates of the painting manual of the mustard seed garden . At the age of 15 he passed the entrance exam to the provincial secondary school in Mei Prefecture. With his friends he organizes the poetry society "Tan Cuo" (investigations). His drawings were already appreciated at that time.

Departure to France and Berlin

In the 1920s, a large proportion of the young Chinese students went overseas as visiting students. After finishing secondary school in August 1919, Lin Fengmian received information from a friend in Shanghai that there was an opportunity to go to France as a working student. And so, after a short stay in Shanghai, he traveled to France on the French post ship as the sixth student to study the European art he admired. He arrived in Marseille in January 1920, then worked in Fontainebleau as a painter of billboards and, after work, took French courses in secondary school.

Studies in Dijon and Paris

Together with the Chinese writer Li Jinfa (chin. 李金发, 1900–1976) he then studied at the École nationale supérieure des beaux-arts , Dijon and gained the esteem of the then principal of the school, Hubert Yencesse (Paris 1900–1987, sculptor ). In September d. J. alternated Lin and Li on the recommendation by the École nationale supérieure Yencesse in the beaux-arts (Paris) and were in the studio of the earliest known representative of the Academic painting , Fernand Cormon , admitted. In realistic naturalism and in the painting style of the academics, he paid particular attention to what he could not find in China.

On the advice of Yencesse, Lin Fengmian turned away from academism and turned to the study of "Eastern Art" and modernism .

Berlin

In 1923 he finished his studies at the Academy in Paris and in the spring went to Berlin as a guest student at the invitation of Jūn Ruìzhī (Chinese 君 锐 之). Several of his oil paintings from this period are listed by name, including a. “Berliner Caffeehaus”, “Fishing Village after the Thunderstorm” or “Golden Pagoda”. There he met the chemistry student Elise von Roda, who was given the Chinese name "Fang Loula" by the Chinese. In the sources used here, two people are generated from this, but both are assigned the fate of having married Lin Fengmian (Fang Luola in the winter of 1923; Elisa von Roda in the spring of 1924). Both of them died in Paris in 1924, giving birth to a child, who also died afterwards.

Second stay in France

When he - newly married - returned to France, he founded the artists' association "Phoebus" with a group of Chinese artists. The co-founders included:

• Liǔ Jìpiāo (1901–1992; Chin. 刘 既 漂. Also from the Mei district)
• Wǔ Dàyǔ (1903–1988; Chinese 吴大羽. Comes from Jiangsu, went to France in 1927)
• Lín Wénzhēng (died 1989 at the age of 87 in Hangzhou; Chinese 林文铮; married to a daughter of Cài Yuánpéi's. Informative short film about where he lived and where he lived) and
• Wáng Dàizhī (1900–1947 ?; Chinese 王 代 之. Art theorist, civil servant under the Guomindang; 1920 in France, returned to China in 1925).

In 1924, the Phoebus Art Association joined forces with the “Committee for the Preparation of an Exhibition on Ancient and Modern Chinese Art”, headed by Cài Yuánpéi , who was then living in Strasbourg . On May 21, 1924, the exhibition was actually opened in Strasbourg. Lin Fengmian exhibited 14 oil paintings and 28 colored pictures.

Lin Fengmian married Alice Vattant in late 1925.

Return to China. Style development

At the invitation of Cai Yuanpei, he returned to China and was rector of the Art College in Beiping (under the Guomindang government name for what is now Beijing). In 1928, with his participation, the Chinese University of the Arts was established in Hangzhou. There he became professor and head of the academy. In 1937 the Sino-Japanese War broke out. Lin Fengmian was the director of the Art Schools Committee . Hangzhou State Art Academy moved its headquarters to Xi'nan and was merged with Beiping College of Art. Lin Fengmian resigned from his position as rector of the college. He then withdrew from teaching modern art in China and devoted himself to his actual purpose to paint. He integrated impressionism , fauvism and individualism into traditional ink painting and tried to incorporate the concepts of modern western painting into Chinese painting. This biography also includes numerous images of the paintings in good resolution, each with detailed comments (Chinese). After the 1950s, he was Vice Chairman of the Shanghai Branch of the Association of Chinese Visual Artists .

The cultural revolution

The Great Cultural Revolution began in 1966 . Lin Fengmian was forced to soak over 1,000 Chinese-style paintings and flush them through the toilet. The oil paintings were burned. This was the second time his work had been destroyed. His house was searched several times by the Red Guards. In 1967, when he was 68 years old, he was sent to a labor camp. In August 1968 he was imprisoned in a prison in Shanghai for four and a half years as a "Japanese agent" and "spy". In 1972, at the age of 73, he was released from prison. In a broken body he continued his research single-handedly in Shanghai (here Chinese). In 1974 he was attacked again during the Black Painting campaign . (It was a debate at the end of the Cultural Revolution. Zhou Enlai and others wanted to sell Chinese contemporary art abroad in order to buy some foreign currency for the state. Jiang Qing , who was still powerful at the time, was against it and branded artists whose works were for export In 1978, through the intervention of General Ye Jianying , who was also from Meixian and then vice chairman of the CCP Central Committee, he was able to leave the prison and move to Hong Kong.

Last years in Hong Kong

In the years that he lived in Hong Kong, he experienced numerous exhibitions of his works a. a. in Taiwan, France and Japan, in which he was able to participate. See the list of exhibitions. In the spring of 1978, he traveled to Brazil to visit his wife and daughter. 1982 his wife Alice died in Brazil. In 1987, at the age of 88, he traveled to Thailand and Korea. In 1989, Yáo Měiliáng (1955–1999, Chin. 姚美良), Malaysian industrialist and patriotic overseas Chinese, donated RMB 1 million to build a museum for Lin Fengmian. Lin Fengmian refused to build the museum and donated the amount to the Eternal Art Foundation of the Chinese College of the Arts. In November 1989 the Chinese Artists' Cooperative together with the Chinese Art Research Academy inaugurated the Symposium on Researching Lin Fengmian 's Art . On March 22, 1991, Taiwan awarded him the Gold Award for Literature and Art and the Award for Special Contribution to Art . He passed away in Hong Kong on August 12, 1991 at 10:00 am from a heart condition. On August 17, 1991, the cremation took place in Hong Kong. The urn will remain in Hong Kong. On December 8, 1991, a funeral service was held in Shanghai for the "Great Teacher of Art, Lin Fengmian." On September 19, 1991, a symposium was called in Beijing to bid farewell, remember and learn from "Great Teacher Lin Fengmian".

List of exhibitions

Lin Fengmian has had numerous exhibitions of his work:

• In 1908, when he was 9 years old , he sells his first painting, Vogel in a Kiefer, to the merchant Zhèn Xiānglǐ
• In 1922 his painting Herbst was exhibited in the Paris Autumn Salon . That year his father passed away.
• 1924, May, he exhibits in Strasbourg in the Palais du Rhin in the Chinese exhibition. A total of 42 works (oil painting and Chinese painting)
• 1924, October, an oil painting (Momentary test) and a Chinese painting (desire for life) are in the Paris Salon d'Automne shown
• In the spring of 1925, several excellent works by him are shown at the Small World Exhibition in Paris and are acquired by non-Chinese collectors
• On March 15, 1927, Lu Xun attended an exhibition of Lin Fengmian's works. He then published the article On the Future of East-Western Art .
• 1928, January, participates in the First Art Exhibition in Nanjing
• 1928, March 26th, solo exhibition in Shanghai
• 1929, April, he exhibits several oil paintings at the First National Art Exhibition . He is also among the jurors for the exhibition.
• 1929, in August, he takes part in the "First Art Exhibition" organized by the Art Movement (chin .: 艺术 运动 社) in Shanghai
• In the spring of 1931, the third exhibition of the art movement takes place in Nanjing
• 1934, March, participates in the Fourth Shanghai Exhibition of the Hangzhou National Art School with the Sino-French Society .
• 1936, autumn, exhibition of over a hundred works (oil and Chinese painting) at an exhibition of the “Public School” in Shanghai
• 1937, April, participation in the "Second National Art Exhibition".
• 1937, solo exhibition at Hong Kong University with over a hundred works
• 1939, autumn, the French administration of the French Concession (in Shanghai) organizes a solo exhibition with one hundred pictures. The exhibition goes from Shanghai to Hong Kong and Haikou , to Hanoi in Vietnam. Then to Kunming and Chongqing .
• In 1940 a propaganda painting depicting the murder of the Japanese in the war is exhibited in the library of Hong Kong University.
• 1945, participation in the Fourth National Art Exhibition
• In 1946, after the end of the anti-Japanese war, the French Cultural Association in Shanghai dedicated a solo exhibition to him
• 1946, ten of his paintings are shown at the exhibition of contemporary Chinese painting in Paris
• 1960 images in the Lin Fengmian International painting exhibition Czechoslovakia added
• In the summer of 1961, the Exhibition of Flowers and Birds in Shanghai takes place in Shanghai . It is also shown in Beijing. With four works by Lin Fengmian.
• 1963. Shanghai Artists Cooperative holds an exhibition of 70 works by Lin Fengmian. It will then be shown in the gallery of the Art Academy in Beijing.
• 1963. An exhibition of Lin Fengmian's works is held in Hong Kong .
• 1966. Beginning of the Great Cultural Revolution . Lin Fengmian was forced to soak his 1,000-plus Chinese-style paintings and flush them through the toilet. The oil paintings were burned. This was the second time his work had been destroyed. His house was looted several times by the Red Guards.
• 1978, fall, solo exhibition in Hong Kong
• 1979, July, at the age of 80, solo exhibition in Shanghai with 127 paintings and 12 pictures on ceramic plates
• 1979, in August, at the invitation of the French government, solo exhibition at the Museum Guimet , Paris, with 80 works
• In the summer of 1983, works by Lin Fengmian were selected for the 33rd Exhibition of Hong Kong Artists . Wu Guanzhong (1919–2010) wrote the article Memories of the Gardener in the Garden of Hundred Flowers
• In 1986 he traveled to the opening of his solo exhibition in Tokyo at the invitation of the Seibu Tetsudō industrial group
• In October 1989, the National Historical Museum (Chin. 国立 历史博物馆) in Taibei opened a memorial exhibition for 90-year-old Lin Fengmian
• 1989 Beijing Museum of Chinese Art opens a solo exhibition for Lin Fengmian in November.
• In 1990 he was invited for the second time by the Japanese industrial group Seibu Tetsudō for a solo exhibition in Tokyo

Publications

• 1927, May, Lin Fengmian opened the "Conference of Artists" in Beijing and published "The Art of Art and the Art of Society". He also publishes “For a National Art”.
• 1928, October. The magazine of the "Chinese College of the Arts", "Apollo" (chin. 亚波罗) publishes three articles by Lin Fengmian: "The art of primitive man", "What to look out for", "Where we cannot go".
• 1929, March, "A New Theory of Chinese Painting"
• In October 1929, the "Apollo Society" is founded and the magazine "Apollo" is published
• In 1931, with a significant contribution from Lin Fengmian, the “art movement” founded the magazine “Athena”.
• 1932, Lin Fengmian publishes "The Hangzhou of Art" (chin. 美术 的 杭州)
• 1933, Lin Fengmian publishes "The Future of Chinese Painting We Want"
• 1934, Lin Fengmian published "Which is our way?"
• 1935, “Zhongzheng Shuju” (Central Book Publishing House) publishes “Discussions on Art” (Chinese 艺术 丛 论). It contains nine articles on art theory by Lin Fengmian, written between 1926 and 1934. 2013 available in a second edition from 1947.
• In 1936, "Shangwu Yinshu Guan" (Commercial Publishers) published "The Art of the World in 1935" (Chinese 一九 三 五年 的 世界 艺术) on the occasion of the 70th birthday of Cai Yuanpei. Numerous art authors, including Lin Fengmian with the article "Knowledge and Feeling".
• In 1948 he published the study report "Picasso and contemporary painting"
• In 1957 he published "The two problems in the world of art." And "Taking research seriously."
• In 1958 the “People's Publishing House of Fine Arts” in Shanghai published “The Painting of Expressionism” under Lin Fengmian's editorship. Because of this, he is (politically) criticized.
• In 1958 the “Collection of Lin Fengmian's Paintings” was published by the “People's Publishing House of Fine Arts”. It contains 12 paintings.
• 1961 The cartoonist Mi Gu publishes the article "I love Lin Fengmian's pictures". It was published in the fifth edition of the magazine “Die Schönen Künste” and was then heavily criticized.
• In 1962 he published "Expression of feelings, lifelike and other" and "The rich and colorful lacquer painting in Vietnam".
• 1963. Lin Fengmian publishes "Memory and Sensation"
• 1978. “Lin Fengmian's Collection” (Chinese 林风眠 画集) is published in Hong Kong.
• 1979, in September, the "Collection of Lin Fengmian's Paintings" published by Xi Dejin (Chinese: 席 德 进) is published in Taiwan.
• In 1981, in memory of the late Xi Dejin, he published "On the Painting of Fengtu" (chin. 冯 吐)
• In September 1989, Hong Kong's Rongbaozhai Publishing House published “Lin Fengmian. People, Landscapes and Still Life ”. Wu Guanzhong writes the preface. Lin Fengmian writes "I'm still looking."
• 1989. In December, the Taiwanese publisher “Haohua” publishes the series “Nightmare” created by Lin Fengmian in Hong Kong.
• In 1990, the "Zhejiang Art Publishing House" published "Discussions on Lin Fengmian", written by Zhèng Cháo and Jīn Shàngyì

Works

Works by Lin Fengmian are in the Guangzhou Museum of Art .

proof

1. ↑ ^{a b} Biography of Lin Fengmian in baike.com (Chinese) . www.baike.com/wiki. Retrieved March 15, 2013.
2. ↑ Representation of Mei County in Guangdong Province from the sights . meet99.com. Retrieved March 18, 2013.
3. ↑ Section 赴法 留学, annual entry 1923 . baike.baidu.com. Retrieved March 24, 2013.
4. ↑ Biography Lin Fengmian listing: 人物 年表 annual entries 1923 and 1924 . baike.baidu.com. Retrieved March 24, 2013.
5. ^ Marriage with von Roda, entry 赴法 留学, annual entry 1924 . baike.baidu.com. Retrieved March 24, 2013.
6. ^ Website of the Hakka in Meizhou . hakkanews. Archived from the original on May 10, 2012. Retrieved March 22, 2013.
7. ↑ Central internet platform for fine arts in PRChina . artist.artxun.com. Archived from the original on February 7, 2013. Retrieved March 22, 2013.
8. ↑ Encyclopedia baike baidu . baike.baidu.com. Retrieved March 22, 2013.
9. ↑ Short film daughter Cai Yuanpei . www.letv.com. Retrieved March 22, 2013.
10. ↑ web article about the incident "black painting" . www.chinawriter.com. Retrieved March 9, 2013.
11. ^ National Museum of History, Taibei. To identify the museum only . guide.easytravel. Retrieved March 10, 2013.
12. ↑ Internet article for the journal Athena . Wan Fang Data. Retrieved April 1, 2013.
13. ↑ second edition 1947 Yishu Conglun . bookinlife.net. Retrieved April 1, 2013.

Note: This article places the family name before the person's first name. This is the usual order in Chinese. Lin is the family name here, Fengmian is the first name.