Shaanxi Provincial Culture Bureau Art Creation Group, Liu Wenxi "Happy Drain" partial
I know what labor is:
Labor is the source of all joy in the world and the source of all good things.
-- Gorky
Xu Beihong's "Yugong Yishan
From ancient times to the present
A large number of art works have taken laborers as their subject matter, and
reflecting the artist's experience and feeling of labor.
The hardships, joys and strengths of laborers are recorded ......
Today is May 1st, let's focus on the classic paintings of working people in the history of art from ancient and modern times, and enjoy the elegance of working people in each era!
Working People in Paintings
In ancient times, although there was no Labor Day, in order to encourage farming and weaving, the ruler would order people to draw pictures of farming and weaving to promote and encourage labor. From these paintings, one can deeply feel the joy of the people's labor, who were well-fed and happy to live and work.
Yuan-Cheng Kai Copying of Lou Shuan's Painting ofTillingand Weaving
During the Shaoxing period of the Southern Song Dynasty, the "Tilling and Weaving Picture" drawn by Yu Qian County magistrate Lou Shuan (shú) was presented to Emperor Gaozong of the Song Dynasty and was deeply appreciated by him and received an inscription from Empress Wu. The emperor also summoned him to see him and showed his "Cultivation and Weaving" to the harem, which was praised by the court and the public, thus triggering the first climax of the development of "Cultivation and Weaving". Many "Cultivation and Weaving Pictures" appeared one after another in society, forming a unique phenomenon in the history of Chinese painting, technology, agriculture and art, and a great treasure of Chinese cultural heritage.
The Kangxi version of the picture ofTilling and Weaving
Among theTilling and Weavingpictures, the Yongzheng cultivation and weaving picture now in the National Palace Museum is the most exquisite and unique. The picture book is well-written, meticulously engraved, and the figures are vivid and realistic. Between the landscape, green trees, village houses and strangers, chickens and dogs; adults are busy with intense labor, children grazing and serving food, or playing around the knee, holding clothes to look at each other, so that the viewer is in the realm of life, vivid. A kind of joyful feeling of labor with abundant clothes and food, living and working in peace and happiness leaps out on the paper, just like a painting of idyllic style of Peach Blossom Garden.
The Yongzheng version of "Tilling and Weaving
During the Qianlong period of the Qing Dynasty, the Qianlong emperor not only ordered the drawing of the picture of cultivation and weaving, but also restored the beautiful scenery in the picture of cultivation and weaving with the actual landscape, which is the basis of food and clothing that is related to the country's livelihood, using a combination of art and reality mosaic in the gorgeous lakes and mountains of the Qingyi Garden.
Xu Beihong, "Nothing to do in the whole country but to be happy with plowing" on paper, banner 150×250cm, 1951
Through the work of three peasants, Xu Beihong depicts the humdrum and uniform side of working life, allowing people to appreciate the greatness of ordinary life and thus to respect the hard-working peasants.
Xu Beihong, "Drawing Water for the People of Sichuan
In 1937, Xu Beihong went to Sichuan with the Central University and witnessed the plight of the people in Shu, so he created the Chinese painting "The People Drawing Water". This painting depicts the scene of people drawing water in Shu at that time. At that time, the people had to draw water from the river, carrying heavy barrels on their backs and filling them with water, walking home along the rugged and steep mountain roads, sometimes even making several round trips. Such a detail of life touched the heart of Xu Beihong. The whole picture highlights the charm of the object, and the technique is enriched with the expressive power of Chinese painting by Western painting methods, with the muscular part slightly chapped and dyed, and the sense of sinewy volume properly enhanced on the picker's body.
Xu Beihong "Yugong Yishan" Oil on canvas 213cmx462cm 1940 Xu Beihong Memorial Museum Collection
The painting "Yugong Yishan" is a masterpiece created by Xu Beihong when he lived in India, and the figures in the painting are mostly modeled by Indians. One of the figures in the painting is repeatedly depicted as Lu Zhishen, whose model is the school's cook, Raghu Mallaiya. Whenever Xu Beihong asked him to be his model, he was happy to be on call.
Xu Beihong "Yugong Yishan" Chinese painting 144×421cm 1940
Xu Beihong was asked why he wanted to add the image of Indians to the Chinese historical subject, and he said, "Although they are Indians, they are all hard-working laborers, the image is different from the Chinese, but the meaning is the same." In order to paint the more than ten characters in the painting, Xu Beihong drew as many as dozens of drafts and sketches. Yugong Yishan" conveys the determination and perseverance of an ancient people with its grand momentum and heart-stopping intensity.
Jiang Zhaohe's "Jiu Lan Ramming" (Chinese painting)
In his work, the painter enthusiastically eulogizes the beauty of health, strength and simplicity unique to laborers. This female army of the new China's water conservancy construction represents both the working people and the women of the new era, showing the strength of unity, the perseverance of steel and the fiery enthusiasm.
The Snow and the Flood", 1984, Huang Zhou
The idea of "Snow and Flood" came from the artist's personal feelings during his journey on the Qinghai-Tibet Highway, when he and his companions were trekking for a week on the Great Gobi, with no people in sight, when suddenly, the sound of camel bells came from the distance and lifted their spirits. A team of geologists came upon them, an unforgettable surprise that set the tone for the painting. Many years later he still recalls this moment from time to time: "I dared to paint, mainly because I was feeling my way through life. For example, when I painted The Flood of Snow and Wind, I was so excited to see hundreds of geological surveyors in Golmud, working hard on such a vast land."
Wang Wenbin "Ramming Song" (oil painting)
Ramming Song" is a work in the collection of the National Art Museum of China, which was selected for the National Art Exhibition and compiled into the "China Art Yearbook". This work is Wang Wenbin's graduation creation and his masterpiece. Wang Wenbin went through a lot of trouble to create "Ramming Song". While sketching in the Yimeng Mountains, he was deeply impressed by the simple working girls' faces and smiles, and decided to create this painting. In order to get away from the feeling of life sketching, Wang Wenbin went deep into the rural intellectual youth, to the Yellow River water conservancy site to deepen the feeling of life. After years of attempts, many color expressions and composition modifications, the final achievement of the passionate "ramming song". When the peasants are ramming, they sing powerfully while beating, which is unforgettable.
Li Huanmin's "First Steps on the Golden Road" (Printmaking)
Completed in 1963, "First Steps on the Golden Road" reflects the theme of democratic reform in Tibet. "The serfs were liberated, had their own land and means of production, and were very excited to work. During the autumn harvest, they took the grain back in the evening and piled it up in the yard, and at night they kept singing and dancing, too happy to sleep. At that time, when I went to Tibet to sketch, I was often awakened by their songs in the middle of the night." The picture is dominated by the golden yellow color symbolizing the harvest, and the contrasting black, white and red colors highlight the joyful and confident Tibetan women. The lines are full and strong, aptly expressing the mood of the Tibetan people as they welcome the first harvest year after the peaceful liberation.
Zhan Jianjun "The Tide" Oil on Canvas 177×196cm 1984 Collection of the National Art Museum of China
Tide" is an oil painting created by Chinese oil painter Zhan Jianjun in 1984, in which the artist portrays a young contemporary Chinese farmer who is standing on the ground and full of confidence with an exaggerated and realistic approach. This work of contemporary Chinese peasants is regarded as "the epitome of China's reform and opening up in the 1980s" and symbolizes the stirring tide of new peasants building a new countryside.
Fang Zengxian's "Every Grain Is Hard Work" (Chinese painting)
Fang Zengxian's "Every Grain Is Hard Work" celebrates the virtue of diligence and frugality of Chinese farmers and the positive outlook of the times in the new era. The large rough hands are the hands of the laborer, which create abundant material wealth; the carriage behind him is full of the joy of harvest, the reward of labor, the good life that truly belongs to the ordinary laborer. The old farmer in the painting is an extremely ordinary member of the hundreds of millions of farmers in China, yet he exudes the traditional virtues of the Chinese nation - thrifty, simple and kind, as simple and kind as his father and brother back home.
Du Jian's "Marching in the Rapids" (oil painting)
The creation of Marching in the Rushing Current began in 1962 and was completed in 1963, which took two years. It was the graduation creation of the painter when he was studying in the oil painting research class. For this purpose, the painter went to the Yellow River crossings in dangerous sections such as Yumen, Shanxi Province and Songjiachuan, Shaanxi Province to experience life and collect materials for creation. The painter did not show the expression of people fighting with the rapids from the front, but through the contrast between the swirling and turbulent river water and the calm and steady characters, the contrast between the Yellow River ferry like a small boat and the large area of raging and turbulent waves, the exaggerated expression of the water reflects the strength and spirit of people, which perfectly embodies the theme of the work.
Shaanxi Culture Bureau Art Creation Group, Liu Wenxi, "Happy Drain" 227×208cm 1974
Created in 1974, "Happy Drain" is a painting by the Shaanxi Provincial Culture Bureau Art Creation Group, with Liu Wenxi as the main penciler. The work reflects the labor scenes of the Party leading the military and people in the liberated areas to carry out the mass production movement in a realistic way. In addition, as a representative work on the cover of the 1974 National Art Exhibition, many magazines, such as "Comic Strip Newspaper" and "Yan'an Pictorial Newspaper", have published it as the cover in large numbers.
Four Generations of Grandchildren" (Chinese painting) Liu Wenxi
The painting adopts a triangular composition. "Grandfather" has a white handkerchief tied around his head, a dark face with a slight rustic smile, and a glowing gaze, hale and hearty. Red belt tied around the waist, and plain clothes to form a contrast, black and gray work clothes draped over the shoulders, a pair of rough and strong hands supporting the shovel folded in front of the chest, looks old and strong, full of energy. An old farmer who has experienced the old society and is experiencing the new socialist life at this time is vividly displayed in front of the viewer.
Golden Season" by Zhu Naizheng, oil on wood 160x168cm, 1962-1963, Collection of the National Art Museum of China
The Golden Season" is a work by Zhu Naizheng, created between 1962 and 1963, and is a representative work of his life in Qinghai. The work shows two Tibetan women raising barley, and because the perspective point of the picture is extremely low, the figures of these two Tibetan women are "standing on top of the sky", which makes them appear more solid, tall and magnificent.
Wang Xia, Island Girl, oil on canvas 175×87cm 1961, Collection of the National Art Museum of China
Created in 1961, "Island Girl" was Wang Xia's graduation work during her studies at the oil painting studio of Dong Xiwen at the Central Academy of Fine Arts. The image depicts a fisherman's girl, dressed in work clothes, physically fit, carrying a shovel, and full of confidence in her work in the sunset sunlight.
Steel Water - Sweat" Guang Ting Bo 1981
It took the author about three years to complete the work from the idea, life experience and sketching. He departed from the previous formula of directly depicting the intense labor of the workers in front of the furnace, and through his detailed depiction of the four steelmaking workers sweating, undressing and drinking, he indirectly conveyed the theme he wanted to express: quality steel is earned by the hard work of the workers. This work is often displayed next to "Father" in the collection of the National Art Museum of China, which is also interesting and intriguing, reflecting the new trend of mainstream art form from different aspects.
Zhou Sicong, Lu Shen, "Miners' Picture No. 2, King's Way, Happy Land", 177×236cm on paper with a mirror heart, March 1982
The group painting "Miners" is an ink painting created by Zhou Sicong and Lu Shen in the early 1980s, mainly depicting the whole liberation process of peasants leaving their hometowns, fleeing from the wilderness to survive, digging coal in the coal mines, fighting with the factory owners, and winning the struggle to become masters. Due to Zhou Sicong's health, only four of the nine planned works were completed: "The King's Way of Happiness," "Hell on Earth," "Compatriots, Traitors and Dogs," and "Orphans" from the "Miners" group. For Zhou Sicong, "I love ordinary people" is her lifelong pursuit of artistic language, which is also her understanding of the suffering of working people, her reflection on history, and her pursuit of art.
Wu Shanming "Cang Sang" (Chinese painting)
With concise brushwork and rhythmic treatment, "Cang Sang" accurately captures the external features of the characters, capturing the most common and representative momentary scenes, taking in the creation and highlighting the image of spirituality, delicate and subtle, with all the strength of bones, and the inner world of the characters visible and touching, artistically reflecting the sufferings of the Chinese people under thousands of years of feudal dictatorship, dynastic changes and bloody suppression. Their appearance is so old, silent and tired, yet their life is so plain and tenacious.
Chen Yifei and Wei Jingshan, "Pioneers of the Open Road" 1973
Pioneers of the Open Road" was created in 1972, when it was the 30th anniversary of the "Speech at the Yan'an Literary and Art Symposium" and the National Art Exhibition was about to be held. So Wei Jingshan and Chen Yifei went to Nanjing to sketch the Meishan iron ore project and painted this painting after they returned. On this 4.5-meter-long oil painting, a group of road construction workers carry rails in the wind and rain, showing the majestic spirit of the working class.
Luo Zhongli, "Father" 216x152cm Oil on canvas 1980 Now in the National Art Museum of China
Father" is an oil painting created by the famous Chinese oil painter Luo Zhongli in the early 1980s. The artist uses thick oil paint and subtle and delicate brushstrokes to create a sincere, pure and simple picture of his father. The background uses the golden color rendered by the original color of the land to enhance the spatial sense of the picture, reflecting the outer rustic beauty and inner noble beauty of "Father". The image of the farmer created in this work "represents the millions of farmers of the Chinese nation, and it is their hard work that has raised generations of Chinese children, and he is our spiritual father!
Dai Daquan's "Excavation Crew" (Printmaking)
Dai Daquan's works have a strong and vivid visual impact, conceiving a prosperous and colorful world with the simplest black and white. The printmaking "Excavation Team" presents the positive and devoted spiritual qualities of human beings prominently, affirming that society needs the human dignity of each person to be protected and respected.
Labor is magical, and labor is great.
With their diligent hands and wisdom, laborers
Weaving this colorful world.
They create the civilization of human beings.
On this special day, let us
Let's pay tribute to the workers all over the world!
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