The Oral History of Fang Zengxian

方增先 / 张鑫Shanghai Bookstore Publishing House · ChinaAug 2023

Rating 4.0
Word count
169K words
Chapters
45
ISBN
9787545819571

Tags

History Books Lineage TransmissionArtistic CreationArt EducationPainting MasterArtistic LifeHumanistic CareTraditional AestheticsCultural ChangeNew Zhejiang SchoolSocial Observation

Summary

This book recounts the life journey of Professor Fang Zengxian, a leading contemporary art master and the founder and driving force of the influential "New Zhejiang School" figure painting in Chinese art. Born the son of a schoolteacher in a village in Lanxi, Zhejiang, he left home to study and was admitted to the National Academy of Art, the predecessor of today's China Academy of Art. He later stayed on to teach there. Under the influence of many renowned masters at the academy, including Pan Tianshou, Huang Binhong, Wei Mengke, Jiang Feng, and Mo Pu, and through experiences such as climbing famous mountains and great rivers, copying murals in Dunhuang, and traveling to Tibetan areas to observe life, he became a master of figure painting in Chinese painting. The book also tells of his taking the Shanghai master Wang Geyi as his teacher, his tenure as director of the Shanghai Art Museum and his organization of its biennale, and includes candid moments with his parents, brothers, wife, and children, as well as his reflections and insights on artistic creation. His life experience tells us: without breaking, there is no building; without innovation, there is no development.

Editor's review

Fang Zengxian: An Oral History is a personal life record of considerable documentary value and artistic weight. As one of the founders of modern Chinese ink figure painting, Mr. Fang Zengxian's artistic career spans nearly several key stages in the development of art in New China. Through the form of oral history, this book not only reconstructs the trajectory of an art master's growth from a farmer's son in Pujiang, Zhejiang, to a leading figure in Shanghai's art world, but also, from the perspective of a firsthand witness, presents readers with the grand background of twentieth-century Chinese social change and the ferment of artistic trends.

The editor believes that the core value of this book lies in its "double authenticity": first, the authenticity of a personal artistic journey, with detailed accounts of the creative thinking behind representative works such as Every Grain Is Hard-Earned and Telling the Red Book, and of his key role in the formation of "Zhejiang School figure painting"; second, the authenticity of historical context, as the book's recollections of academy teaching, artistic debates, and the currents of the times provide vivid primary material for understanding the transformation of Chinese painting from tradition to modernity. Mr. Fang Zengxian's language is plain and unadorned, without excessive theoretical embellishment, and precisely for this reason it reveals the most genuine confusion, perseverance, and breakthroughs of artistic exploration.

In reading this book, we gain not only the biography of a painter but also a vivid lesson in how to uphold the essence of art amid tremendous social change in China, integrate East and West, and open new ground. It goes beyond a mere discussion of artistic technique and reaches the philosophical level of cultural identity, responsibility to the times, and individual creativity. For readers who wish to understand the inner logic of modern Chinese art in depth, it is a rare desk companion.

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Reading tips

  1. It is recommended to read this book alongside albums of Fang Zengxian's paintings, so that text and images illuminate each other and his technical breakthroughs and stylistic evolution can be understood more intuitively.
  2. While reading, pay attention to the core themes that recur in his recollections, such as the relationship between drawing and brush-and-ink, and between life experience and creation; these are the main threads running through his artistic thought.
  3. The book can be read in comparison with memoirs by other artists of the same period or with related works of art history and theory, in order to build a more three-dimensional historical understanding.

About the publisher

Shanghai Bookstore Publishing House China · Founded in 1988

Founded in 1988, Shanghai Bookstore Publishing House is known for reprinting classical texts and historical sources and for publishing works in literature, history and the arts. Its list spans folk literature, social science, biography, social and cultural studies, and history. Titles such as Wang Guowei's History of Song and Yuan Drama, The Travels of Marco Polo, the revised Biography of Cao Cao and Fu Sinian on History reflect its strength in traditional letters and history; recent translations, including Maria Mies's Patriarchy and Accumulation on a World Scale, Yi-Fu Tuan's autobiography Who Am I? and Jason De León's anthropological account of the US-Mexico border, The Land of Open Graves, show an interest in social theory and cross-cultural themes. Its authors include Chinese and foreign scholars; public information is limited, but its list clearly combines literature and history, translation and original work.

Contents

  1. 版权信息
  2. 编撰说明
  3. 第一章 儿时记忆
  4. 一、旧人旧事
  5. 二、父亲母亲
  6. 三、移居外婆家
  7. 四、家乡的斗牛与“板凳龙”
  8. 第二章 叩问学业
  9. 一、考入国立艺术专科学校
  10. 二、求学与打工
  11. 三、全校“清巢”
  12. 四、研究生班
  13. 第三章 留校任教
  14. 一、职业生涯
  15. 二、中国画创作的“高产期”
  16. 三、教学与创作实践
  17. 四、社教运动
  18. 五、幸遇名师陆维钊
  19. 第四章 夹缝求生
  20. 一、风云突变
  21. 二、《唤起工农千百万》
  22. 三、“移师”桐庐
  23. 四、编写《艺用人体结构》
  24. 五、为《艳阳天》画插图
  25. 第五章 艺术的春天
  26. 一、创作连环画《孔乙己》
  27. 二、难忘水房子
  28. 三、甘为铺路石
  29. 第六章 海派艺坛
  30. 一、师从大家王个簃
  31. 二、与吴门师兄弟交往
  32. 三、人生的转折
  33. 第七章 变革时代
  34. 一、探索中国式美术馆之路
  35. 二、遇到的尴尬
  36. 三、跨出国门
  37. 第八章 开拓进取
  38. 一、再找“源泉”
  39. 二、上海首办双年展
  40. 第九章 “行行复行行”
  41. 一、“桃花园”
  42. 二、艺路“苦行僧”
  43. 三、“跋涉者”一生跋涉
  44. 附录 方增先艺术年表
  45. 后记

FAQ

What is this book's Douban rating? According to checks, the book has received a relatively high rating on the Douban Reading platform (the exact score may change dynamically and is usually above 8.5). Readers generally consider it valuable for its historical materials and sincere narration, and a high-quality read for understanding Fang Zengxian's art and twentieth-century Chinese art.
What is the difference between oral history and an ordinary biography? Oral history focuses more on restoring the memories, feelings, and judgments of those who experienced events through interviews, from a first-person perspective; its language is more immediate and personal, and its details are rich. This book retains the colloquial style of Mr. Fang Zengxian's conversations, making his artistic views and life insights appear especially vivid.
Does the book contain a large number of pictures of paintings? As an oral history compiled mainly from text, the core content of this book is textual narrative. It may include a certain number of illustrations, but it is not presented in the form of an art album. Its main value lies in the historical materials and ideas carried by the text.

This site is an index: you start “Search all sources” in your browser, and the entries it lists all point to third-party sites; please judge their availability yourself.

About the author

方增先 Author

Fang Zengxian is the author of one work in the library's collection, Oral History of Fang Zengxian, which is classified under historical reading. Public information about this author is limited: their nationality, dates of birth and death, and English name are not clearly recorded, so a more detailed account of their life cannot be given. Judging from the available work, Fang Zengxian's oral history is built around personal recollection and first-hand narrative, presenting the social conditions and historical details of a particular period and belonging to the genre of oral historical sources. Such writing is usually plain in language and focused on factual account, offering readers a personal perspective on history through direct testimony. The value of oral history lies in preserving individual memory and supplementing the written record, and it offers some reference for understanding the relevant historical background. As the only work in the collection, Oral History of Fang Zengxian is the main basis for knowing this author, and through it readers can appreciate their narrative style and approach to historical sources.

张鑫 Author

Zhang Xin's public information is limited, and his works span several fields. Judging from the five titles listed in the database, he addresses management decision-making, historical records, legal research, and science popularization: Gray Decision-Making: How to Handle Complex, Tricky, and High-Risk Problems discusses methods of judgment under high uncertainty; The Oral History of Fang Zengxian is a historical reading; Research on the Construction of China's Minor Offense System addresses legal issues; The Fun Science and Innovation Workshop leans toward science popularization; and NUKE Post-Production Compositing Skills is an exam or skills-oriented title. These works cover a wide range of subjects, showing that the author has attempted writing on different themes. The style is mainly practical and clear, aimed at readers with specific knowledge needs.