/kloc-at the beginning of 0/979, I studied in the oil painting research class of the Academy of Fine Arts. You should remember the situation at that time. For a time, it was widely rumored that Jiang Feng was going to work. This name used to be taboo, but it is strange to us young people. At the first private art exhibition "Spring Festival Exhibition" at that time, we first knew that there was such a "Jiang Feng" alive, because the preface of the exhibition was written by Jiang Feng himself. I heard that this content and text were very different from the previous order and were quickly copied to various places. Not long after, a poster actually appeared in our class, calling on Jiang Feng to return to the Academy of Fine Arts as the dean. It is also stipulated that everyone who agrees should sign. That's what students do. Although we have never met him, there are many teachers and old comrades who support us privately. I remember that the newly copied posters were circulated underground. Teacher Zhao Yu, who was still alive at that time, came in and said simply after reading it: "Ok, post it!" A few days later, the bottom of the poster was almost covered with the names of teachers from the Academy of Fine Arts.
After the poster was sent out, we painted as usual. At that time, the Ministry of Culture had appointed Comrade Jiang Feng as the dean, but we didn't know it at that time. One day in May, the inaugural meeting was held in the auditorium. I have heard from many teachers that Comrade Jiang Feng is resolute, quick-tempered, easily excited and often angry. I stood in the last row that day and found Mr. Jiang Feng himself according to this description and guidance. I was somewhat disappointed. He speaks with a strong Shanghai accent. From a distance, his appearance reminds me of my grandmother. I can't remember what he said that day, but his gesture of raising his right hand and pointing upwards left a deep impression on me, which was much more powerful than his voice and voice. I have seen his gestures again and again since then, and now I think about it, it is almost clearer than his appearance.
He has been very busy since then. I met him again at the symposium where we graduated to attend the exhibition. He sat with his back to us, and I was in the back row, and I could only see his thin head. But when he spoke, he waved his right hand and seemed familiar. That speech was his typical "style": it was so extreme, but it sounded pleasant. Seeing his selfless true feelings, it is clear that he is by no means the kind of person who encounters difficulties or shows indifference. He talked about the depression of oil painting and the urgent need to improve artists' conditions. His words were fierce and rude, as if he were quarreling with someone, and he also brought out an abusive sentence. I was shocked and clapped my hands on the fourth floor. He didn't wait for the applause to stop, but his voice became louder, and then there was a second spontaneous applause. I couldn't see the expression on his face, so I heard everything and applauded together.
Last spring, I applied to the Academy of Fine Arts to study in the United States at my own expense. When the report arrived at the hospital office, it was said that Mr. Jiang Feng wanted to talk to me. This is the first time that I have spoken to him alone. I don't know if he will agree, because I only stayed at school for half a year; I don't know if he knows me, although he paid attention to the paintings in our graduation exhibition, so I went to see him a little nervously. This time, I looked at him carefully and found a stubborn look on his face. His first sentence was, "Why don't you go to France? What are you doing in America? " I panicked and thought it was going to explode. But I have no relatives or friends in France, and no one supports me. Why don't I want to go? I said bluntly and looked at him nervously. He listened and didn't look at me, which made me feel that he was angry. But suddenly I remembered my grandmother: an old lady's kindness flashed across her face. "All right," he began slowly, still looking away, as if thinking about something else. "But France must go! And Italy. I just got back from France, and the paintings in the Louvre are very big! " He suddenly got excited and stretched out his right hand to draw a big circle in the air. He spoke a long list of paintings and the names of painters with a Shanghai accent, which I could easily hear. He was talking about Verane Ness, David, Gro, Delacroix and Jericho. "You can go to copy! I asked them to bring some paintings to China for exhibition, and they have agreed! " At ease, his face became heavy and kind, and even showed a smile. I really haven't seen him smile. "Bitter is not afraid. Young man, have some bread and sausage! People are outside, and when they are in trouble, they will write back. I have friends in France. " Looking back on the conversation at the moment, I ate bread and sausage several times in the museum, and sometimes I only drank tap water, but I didn't write to him and I didn't have the money to go to France. I heard that some Tibetan paintings in the Louvre were really sent to Beijing for exhibition recently.
Then he met me in the school yard and asked me, "Did you draw any pictures? The approval of the Ministry of Culture is still early, and the painting has to be redrawn. After painting, I want to see it. " At that time, I didn't have time or mind to draw, but I still said I wanted to draw. It scares me to think that if he really wants to visit. According to the teacher, when he was the dean, his classmates came back from painting in the countryside, and he would go to the dormitory to see the paintings that night. I hope he will forget about it when he is busy at work, but a month later he asked a teacher, and I still didn't show him the new work.
After the autumn, with the approval of the Student Union, my classmate Sun Jingbo and my wife Huang Suning and I once exhibited some paintings by Fang Ding, a student of Nanjing Art Institute, in the classroom for two days. The response was so good that many teachers went to see it. Later, I heard that Mr. Jiang Feng also went, and I enjoyed the large portrait of farmers created by Fang Ding with a brush. Now I want to meet this young man. Of course, we are very happy. We held Xiaoding to see him. We forgot our address and called him halfway to ask for the house number. After entering the building, as soon as the elevator door opened, I saw the old man coming down from the tenth floor to meet us in person, fearing that we would find the wrong one again. "Yes, yes!" He looked at us as if he didn't know which one was Xiaoding, and then gave play to his views on Chinese painting and oil painting. Later, a graduate student of Chinese painting department who went with him said: "Teacher Jiang Feng's discussion about Chinese painting and China painters is not as biased as the legend outside!" When we left, he found out who Fang Ding was. He pinched Xiaoding's strong arm with his hand, squeezed it hard and said over and over again, "Good! Good! " Later, Fang Ding's paintings were introduced into art, but I think he was still a small car in the art world, and Mr. Jiang Feng was already the chairman of the Artists Association. In fact, Fang Ding also exhibited several small paintings in abstract style at that time. A classmate told me that Jiang Feng forgot to wear reading glasses that day and didn't see what those small paintings were, otherwise Jiang Feng wouldn't be interested in his paintings (everyone, especially the students, knows that Teacher Jiang Feng should be angry when he sees his classmates drawing abstract paintings). We heard that the old man forgot to bring his glasses that day. But on second thought, the old man is not as glib as we are. His likes and dislikes seem to be between realism and non-realism, but in fact, his generosity, intention and will are not in these trivial matters, but he values his career, supports his younger generation and expects the art world to be strong and prosperous. He saw the happiness of youth and the animation of abstract painting, not from partiality and prejudice, but purely from reality. If he had worn reading glasses that day, those glasses would not have changed his enthusiasm.
At the end of the year, I went to say goodbye to Lao Feng. This time I only talked for ten minutes. He was very excited. He talked about American collector Hammer coming to China to hold exhibitions, sending people to Belgium to paint, and taking some outstanding young painters from all over the country to the Academy of Fine Arts for further study. "Do these things, and China's oil paintings will go up?" He smoothed his sleeves and raised his right arm to the sky. Those things, I heard later, all came true. Several of my good friends from other provinces recently wrote from Beijing that they had entered the Academy of Fine Arts for further study.
It has been nine months since I arrived in new york. A gallery will hold an exhibition for me next spring. I asked my wife to ask Mr. Jiang Feng to write a preface to this exhibition. I like to read the preface written by teacher Jiang Feng, which is concise and powerful, but most of them are written by great painters, such as Si Tuleideng Joe. I'm just a fresh graduate. I wonder if he is willing to write? At the beginning of September, my wife graduated from the Department of New Year Pictures and Comics of the Academy of Fine Arts. Teacher Jiang Feng was present to take a group photo with her classmates. My wife conveyed my request to him. She wrote that the old man was willing to write and asked me to send some recent photos so that he could look at the painting and write. I am very happy. I'm not afraid I didn't show it to him this time, but I came to other places and painted earthy things. I don't like watching them myself. I don't know what he will think, so I'm a little confused. I was about to send it to you recently, but I didn't expect to hear the news of teacher Jiang Feng's death.
I remembered the gesture, expression and Shanghai accent of the old man. These days, I have been thinking that the old man fell ill during the meeting on September 13, probably because of this action and fierce speech. Every time I think about that situation, tears will come up. I'm afraid Jiang Feng is the only one who passed away like this. (1September 25, 982, new york)
From Wu Guanzhong's autobiography: I have a negative attitude towards Dan Qing;
I want to talk about some feelings about Jiang Feng. When I transferred to the Central Academy of Fine Arts, Jiang Feng was appointed as the party secretary of the Academy of Fine Arts, that is, the top leader, who was in charge. He is an old revolutionary from Yan 'an, not only the Academy of Fine Arts, but his words and deeds actually affect the whole art circle in China. There is no doubt that he is the mainstay of firmly defending revolutionary literature and realistic art, and "formalism of bourgeois literary view" like me is of course the object of his exclusion. However, I feel that he is very upright and aboveboard. He often talks about art at the end of the meeting of the Ministry of Culture, and even at the end of the meeting, he has no time to discuss it. He publicly criticized the minister of culture for his lack of culture at the teacher-student meeting in the auditorium of the Central Academy of Fine Arts. At that time, the Minister of Culture was Qian Junrui, and everyone admired Jiang Feng's revolutionary qualifications and courage. Qian Shaowu's Head of Jiangfeng Granite is a realistic masterpiece with both form and spirit. Ironically, however, in the anti-rightist movement, Jiang Feng, an absolute leftist, was classified as a rightist. It is said that almost all Chinese painting teachers are unemployed because he opposes Chinese painting and thinks that Chinese painting can't serve the people, but isn't this extreme left? How can it be used as evidence of the Rightists? I don't know the details, but he really became a rightist. He disappeared after the anti-rightist movement. After a long time, a note appeared on the door of my residence at No.1 18, Qianhai: Jiang Feng is visiting. I am shocked, but I regret that I missed this strange fate when I went out. Soon, I met Jiang Feng in Huguosi Street. Everyone is very polite. I apologize for driving for nothing. He praised my landscape painting for its distinctive features and can be exhibited, but it is not the time yet. After correcting the Rightists' wrong drawing, Jiang Feng returned. He participated in the Spring Festival oil painting exhibition, which was opened in Zhongshan Park, and gave a more objective and tolerant view, and greatly appreciated this free painting activity, which was quite concerned and welcomed by the art world. He is still a leader who has mastered the direction in the art world, and his views are more enlightened than before the anti-rightist movement, but he hates abstraction and has no room for discussion. People often say "explore", and he is disgusted: explore what? There seems to be a hidden danger of realism in the exploration. I published an article about abstract beauty, and Jiang Feng was very dissatisfied with it. He criticized me in many speeches, calling Matisse and Picasso nothing to learn. Yao Ming is still a lover, and it is very cold to meet. At a meeting of the board of directors of the National Artists Association, Jiang Feng delivered a speech attacking abstractism. He was very excited, really excited, and suddenly fainted. Too many chefs look for nitroglycerin and send it to the hospital for emergency treatment. Fortunately, he woke up. But not long after, at the meeting of the Standing Committee (probably at the Overseas Chinese Hotel), Jiang Feng's speech touched on abstraction again. He flew into a rage and fainted at once. Unfortunately, he didn't come back this time. He made sacrifices to defend realism and oppose abstraction. He is committed to faith, not selfish ideas.