“An Old Man in Red Cloak”, Li Hu
Color ink on paper, 72cm×55cm, 1956, courtesy of Li Hu’s family
In Chinese figure painting, Li Hu had his own ideas on the innovative way of combining with traditional Chinese ink painting, which we also discussed in our class while showing model pictures of his works. For example, we can take two famous paintings of him, one is “An Old Man in Cloak”, which makes people feel some features of Western painting, yet when you take a closer look, you will find that basically there are not so many colors other than ink, and it also gives people a positive misunderstanding that as if rich colors change between cold and warm tones in the painting. And when Mr. Li Hu talked about these techniques, he did not shy away from telling some of his secret skills, as we found that some teachers in the academy were “showing the works without disclosing the techniques” – not passing on the ropes to others, which is a manifestation of conservative teachers in ancient times. Like, here is an embroidered mandarin duck, looks good? Yes, it is good, but I will not tell you how I made it and just give you the working needle. It was not the case of Mr. Li Hu. Such as this portrait of the old man, he used very thin paper and dealt with the changes of shade and light through ink without especially emphasizing the outdoor light. It took several steps to finish the painting, like how to present the structure of key parts, how to make a transition, and some colors were made in front while some from the back, which required consideration of the final effect because it was impossible to know it on rice paper until the last minute. It also needed the process of marouflaging, unlike creating an oil painting or watercolor, in which the first brush will lead to the final visual result of the color rendered. Painting a Chinese painting on the paper, whether the first stroke takes on the final effect or not on the parchment or rice paper, Mr. Li Hu would specifically talk about their subtle changes. With such a teacher who passed on his integrative experience that tested by practice, unlike those who spoke big ideas or cheap truth, or taught something that can get from books on the street, we learned a lot from his classes. Therefore, in terms of how he made innovations on the basis of traditional Chinese figure ink painting, we can feel that he was creative and exploratory through his teaching method. Another one is “Portrait of Guan Hanqing” that was printed on a stamp. For Guan Hanqing, we do not have any reference materials at present, unlike Confucius, who has always been recognized as such a saint image standing with both arms folded. Guan, however, was selected as a world cultural celebrity as a great Chinese dramatist, not to mention that Shakespeare was a world-famous dramatist. The drama was quite developed in the Yuan Dynasty and Guan Hanqing is one of the representatives. How does this painting describe a Chinese dramatist? First, it is to let people feel the Chinese painting style. Mr. Li Hu took great pains to create the image with his understanding of the dramatist, especially in posture, as he finally chose this pose as if Guan has completed a script and is watching the rehearsal, showing his concern on the stage effect. You see, he does not sit there firmly, not taking a rest or reflection, but seems to have written a play and conduct a rehearsal – is it meet my intention? Paying high attention is an expression of scriptwriter and director. His facial depiction apparently absorbs some elements of Western painting, but it still feels like Chinese ink painting combining the useful features of the West that made by Chinese people, which, of course, owes to Mr. Xu Beihong’s instructions. Moreover, the line is more than the ordinary line and is also different from the line of the eighteen traditional Chinese painting skills. There is a well-known saying in his class: “pay attention to the line because it should be vertical to your face.” He understood it this way that you should feel the line when you paint it down, to feel it is vertical to you in three-dimensional, very expressive and concise instead of simple and decorative. So, I think you can even count how many strokes in the painting, but despite this, it is very expressive. There are some subtle points, such as the beard, reveal a talent in Guan’s steady appearance, which was the result of Mr. Li Hu’s great efforts. My father once reminded him: “you draw too hard and it will exhaust you”. It was when he painted “Night Navigation on the Three Gorges” that my father said these words, as he worried that Mr. Li Hu was too attentive on painting, and it might do harm to his health. From this episode, we can see that Mr. Li Hu was very dedicated to his artistic creation. Thus, in our mind, Mr. Li Hu was a competent, responsible and capable teacher who respects tradition and was not conservative. Until now, I still can recall his image. His earnest attitude toward teaching also demonstrated in his dress in the class, very serious and neat, and he had never been late for classes, making you feel that he treated teaching as a noble cause. In conclusion, Li Hu left me with a very good impression.
Excepted from Li Yan’s Reminiscences of My Teacher Li Hu
Li Yan, the son of the painter Mr. Li Kuchan, is a professor at the Academy of Fine Arts of Tsinghua University, Deputy Director of the Li Kuchan Memorial Hall
