Qiao Shiguang's Path to Lacquer Painting

"It is the lacquer painting that accomplished Qiao Shiguang, and it is also Qiao Shiguang who accomplished the Chinese lacquer painting", whether it is because of the frescoes, which prompted Qiao Shiguang to choose the lacquer painting, to choose the lacquer, I think the past is not allowed to assume. Art ****existence, dependence for Qiao Shiguang made the best choice, and made it clear that this choice is wisdom, he is a trend, but also an objective.

In the early spring of 1962, Qiao Shiguang went to Fuzhou under the leadership of Mr. Lei Guiyuan for a year and a half of study of lacquer art. From the understanding of the properties of lacquer, the use of tools, the basic techniques of painting and grinding, to lacquer painting, color painting, gold painting, to Chibaosha (a kind of variegated lacquer technique), "shavings" (inlaid tin in metal inlay), "kiln" (a kind of variegated lacquer imitating ceramic kiln), to eggshell inlay, to "Kiln" (a kind of variegated lacquer imitating ceramic kiln), and to eggshell inlay, Qiao Shiguang learned the art of lacquer. (a kind of imitation ceramic kiln change in the change of paint), and then to the eggshell inlay ...... faced with hundreds of lacquer technique samples, its ever-changing techniques, mysterious and magical effects, so that Qiao Shiguang as if into the labyrinth, and once again strengthened his resolve to devote himself to the art of lacquer paintings.

In the summer of this year, on the way to Fuzhou for the second time to study lacquer, because the train was blocked and stranded in Hangzhou, when he saw the thatched cottages, bamboo bushes, paddy fields, shepherd children, fishponds, sails and shadows of the Jiangnan, so that the son of this northern country's peasant family felt that is friendly and fresh, a sudden burst of interest, painted the first lacquer painting "Fish and Rice Township". This is Qiao Shiguang in the study of certain lacquer techniques, after repeated brewing trial production of "fine art".

Now it seems that his creative mindset at that time is still unreservedly in front of everyone, the pure heart that longs for the beautiful, the persistence, the pursuit of upward youth, all of them are embodied to the fullest extent: fish swimming freely in the fish ponds, the cheerful shepherd boy on the ridge, the quiet and cozy cottage ...... composed a song of The painting itself, though, is a very interesting one. Although, as far as the painting itself is concerned, the painting skills are not yet skillful and the details are slightly rough. More often than not, he lacks his own personality. But the spiritual elements he contains, the artistic language he reveals, the formal instrument he pursues and the way he handles the material tools have in fact covered up the shortcomings of the picture itself, and people strongly feel the sincerity and lush artistic talent revealed from it, which is not difficult to make a better interpretation for the status of the father of Chinese lacquer paintings in the future.

Although lacquer painting is related to crafts, handicrafts, and folk art, it belongs to painting, and it has the same characteristics as all forms of painting. When most painters devote their whole life to turn their attention to painting itself, Qiao Shiguang is still concerned about the possibilities and overall harmony that lacquer technology brings to him; he cannot become a lacquer painter if he understands only lacquer art but not painting; he cannot be a lacquer painter if he understands only painting but not lacquer art. The amphibious character of lacquer painting attributes the practitioner's uneven and rugged artistic path from the very beginning.

Because of his desire to explore the many possibilities of lacquer painting, and because of the need to teach, Qiao Shiguang went to Yangzhou to learn lacquer carving and inlay, to Chengdu to learn carving and filling, to Pingyao to learn "rubbing colors," and to Beijing to try to work with masters to knock down the gold and carve the lacquer, and to Xinjiang, Shanxi, to try with masters to try "cloud carving," which is a form of "cloud carving. "Cloud Carving" (a kind of lacquer carving)...... All these have left a series of footprints on the road of his lacquer painting. Since then, the combination of heart and hand, and the collision of soul and mind have pushed his skills to maturity, and also played a transition and paved the way for the rounding of his art in the future.

The Central Academy of Arts and Crafts during the teaching period, the painter's mind, accompanied by the Su School of realism of the flow of the tide of the momentary reversal, began to impinge on his inspiration, he was quite a feeling of rebirth. Facing the impact of Western literary and artistic trends, the Chinese painting world was reflecting. As one of the most representative pioneering painters of avant-garde tendency in that era, Eileen Pang and Lei Guiyuan's influence on Qiao Shiguang was far-reaching and positive. The quality of folk art formed the foundation of Qiao Shiguang's lacquer paintings, which to a certain extent also stipulated the style of his lacquer paintings. However, the formal rules and artistic language of painting have no national boundaries, and are subject to the sway of people's subjective aesthetic interests, and at that time, China put forward the absorption method of "taking the best and removing the dregs" in its culture, and blended and fused everything good into it. The Chinese culture at that time proposed to "take the best and remove the dross", and to combine all the good things and then integrate them into their own nation. Of course, there are also many wrong behaviors of taking the garbage discarded by others as the most precious. Qiao Shiguang, in such an uncertain era, on the basis of respecting the Chinese national culture and traditions, was compatible, emphasizing the decorative nature of lacquer painting, striving for balance, echo, symmetry, harmony, and focusing on the spatial beauty of the picture, planarization, and programming. He has made a deeper sense of metamorphosis by his physical practice. He insists on externalization as a teacher, not relying on classroom training to maintain the original essence of a painter, which is also the necessary artistic posture and style of a true master.

Not long after, the Cultural Revolution broke out, and the atmosphere at the Central Academy of Arts and Crafts was tense, with teachers on edge, fearing that they would be labeled as "bourgeois formalists" and "formalists". But as a result, Eileen Pang is still for the 30's organization of the decisive Lan society and was said to be the drummer of formalism, Zhang Ding was criticized as "Picasso city god temple". ...... witnessed a farce staged, Qiao Shiguang began to dare not have to cross the half-step, especially after experiencing the "inspiration explosion" purgatory, the painter's ego gains and losses and success or failure to appear less important, prompting him to take up the brush with great courage to draw the "Shaoshan", "Yan'an". Shaoshan", "Yan'an", "Beijing", "Portrait of Mao Zedong in the Jinggang Mountain Period" and a series of lacquer paintings. Certain critics at the time believed that "Qiao Shiguang's works in this period were entirely in the form of pan-political pandering and showmanship"...... I beg to differ with those who hold this view. Under the special environmental background, it is difficult for people not to be bound by the time and space, and alone, on the contrary, can put the perspective of art, into social life, and the times parallel, and only such works have the tension of art, can withstand the test of history and elimination. Art itself should not be "pandering and show" right or wrong, but more importantly, human factors and provocations. The painter's psychological contradiction and existence at that time has been unable to recover, so he is at a higher aesthetic level, will be purely vernacular ethnic themes into the social reality of the form, this is not simply the external rhetoric jealousy, but the inner perception of its artistic heritage; whether from the breadth and depth of the subject matter, but also horizontally and vertically, I think it is a kind of progress.

Early after the publication of the "Speech at the Yan'an Literary and Artistic Symposium," Comrade Mao Zedong put forward the idea that literature and art should be in the service of politics. Compared to pandering to more suspect forms of literature, the mere tendency to paint subjects at best serves as a mapping of phenomenal symbols. Qiao Shiguang paid a heavy price, and this heavy, and does not seem to be recognized by him, that is, in the interior decoration work of the Beijing Hotel expansion project, due to the "Gang of Four" criticized "black paintings" aborted when his charming bone still seems to be steadfast and unyielding. Yes, this is Qiao Shiguang! This is the unchangeable painter Qiao Shiguang!

But, needless to say, all of Qiao Shiguang's creations in the meantime, just for the future of a higher level of exploration to open the channel. He is good at collecting materials and practicing sketching, not limited to lacquer paintings only, but also oil paintings, Chinese paintings, drawings and sketches at the same time, because he understands that the essence of sketching is not only for practicing and collecting creative materials, but also for creating works directly. Different from the general purpose of sketching, Qiao Shiguang's sketching pays more attention to artistic feeling and individual expression. In particular, he tried to introduce traditional Chinese literature, music and calligraphy techniques to enrich his paintings. This is an important step for any artist who is good at controlling the whole situation, and it can even be said to be an important shortcut that drives him to a higher level.

Artistic diversity has been evident in such representative paintings as The Water Festival (1978), Guangzhou Peasant Movement Seminar (1977), and Dai Women Combing Their Hair (1978). Taking "Water Splashing Festival" as an example, the artist chose the backs of several women as the foreground, and the boiling crowd and the fierce scene of dragon boat racing as the background; the people in the painting are watching the scenery, and the people outside the painting are watching the people in the painting. The near shore, the opposite shore, and the dragon boat are all treated horizontally, while the figures of several women are upright, and attention is paid to the changes in the gathering and dispersing of them, their correspondence with each other, and the staggering of their heights. This structure of intertwining horizontal and vertical, warp and weft, seems to be natural, but is in fact deliberately arranged. In terms of craftsmanship, the comprehensive use of eggshell inlay to show the white clothes of the Dai women, stud inlay to show the patterns on the tube skirt, silver foil overlay lacquer and then grinding method to show the beautiful dress, and the surface of the water is painted with clay and silver, the overall effect of the bright and magnificent, seemingly Tang style. In addition to the painting, the painter borrowed Bian Zhilin's "Broken Chapter" in the "you are standing on the bridge to see the scenery / see the scenery of the people upstairs to see you / / the bright moon decorates your window / you decorate other people's dreams" of the poetry of the mood, the artistic language of painting to another high level.

In 1979, "Water Splashing Festival" won the second prize (the first prize was not awarded) in the 30th anniversary of the founding of the People's Republic of China (the Fifth National Painting Exhibition), and was collected by the National Art Museum of China. This is the result of Qiao Shiguang's pursuit of art and valuing life.