AN era might create a master, while a master might guide the era. Although Shanghai-style painting has only a short history of 100 years, various talented artists have emerged with their own characters in China's modern art history.

Lu Yanshao was one of them, who established his unshakable status in the modern traditional ink-wash painting field with his unique landscape paintings.

However, the master is multi-faceted. Many of Lu's figure paintings have also received high acclaims. Lu started to create figure paintings in the 1950s. For example, he created a picture book titled "The Gadfly" based a homonymous novel by the famous Irish writer Ethel Lilian Voynich (1864-1960), which was well received at that time throughout the country.

During that period, Lu painted many drafts featuring modern people. Among them, the figures were either laboring in the fields or reading in the rooms with vivid facial expressions. Although many of them were small in size, their intricate details and vivid expressions were extraordinary. The artist couldn't have reached such a high acclaim without a profound life experience.

Compared with his landscape paintings, Lu's figure paintings reveal his concern on the people in his era, and show a pioneering spirit of a master toward art.

We have already introduced many of Lu's landscape paintings, this edition will guide the readers to his figure paintings, which used to be ignored by the public. We also invite his students and industry insiders to comment on his works.

(Stories translated by Wang Jie)

The power of the brushstroke

Chen Jialing

Although Lu Yanshao rose to fame through landscape paintings, he was also an expert in drawing birds, flowers and figures. It seems that every object became vivid and energetic under his brushstrokes.

In my view, to become a successful painter one has to be equipped with knowledge in various areas. Such an artist must not only be able to paint landscapes, but also figures, flowers and birds. My teacher Lu Yanshao is such an artist. His superb painting technique culminates in a "free kingdom." In my memory, he just treated painting as a game - something to play with.

When Lu was teaching at Zhejiang Academy of Fine Arts in 1961, he taught us how to paint. During the class break, I asked Lu to draw the backdrop for us. He casually picked up a piece of paper and painted a tree. I was so impressed that painting could be so interesting and relaxing, and his wild and uncontrolled brushstrokes even today have a strong influence on me.

Later, Lu moved to Shanghai and I was lucky enough to see him painting at his home. While painting, his hand would never put on the table, and he was so free to make his masterpiece with hand in the air. At that moment, I suddenly realized that a painter can't create a quality picture unless with his hands leaving the table.

At his home, I also learned how to use a brush, as he was able to use every part of the brush, including the tip, the middle and the bottom of the brush. Viewing Lu's creation on rice-paper is a kind of enjoyment, just like watching Michael Jordan playing the basketball. Here, success or failure is not important, what matters is the expression of technique. During that period, I watched him painting in the morning and imitated his style in the evening. Step by step, I tried to absorb the essence of his painting technique.

Lu's painting technique actually broadened my art scope.



(Chen Jialing is a modern ink-wash painter, also a student of Lu Yanshao.)

Enjoy the realistic themed figure paintings

Wang Yi

The landscape paintings of Lu Yanshao is widely known today in the art circle, but few people know of his figure paintings with realistic themes.

In fact, the style of Lu's figure paintings could be categorized into three phases. The first phase appeared in the 1930s and 1940s, the theme involved ancient subjects such as "Beauty Luoshen," a poetic article by Cao Zhi (AD 192-232), drawn with single lines and pale colors.

The second phase appeared in the 1950s focusing on both modern and traditional themes such as "Teach Mum to Read" and "Dongfang Shuo," a well-known scholar in the Western Han Dynasty (206 BC-AD 24), drawn with single lines and heavy colors. The figures started to merge with the background scenes.

The third phase appeared in the mid-1960s, expressed the themed subjects such as "Jiao Yulu" (1922-1964), a national good example as a county head in poor area, drawn in a modern style with heavy colors.

Lu's early figures originated from his landscape paintings, as he needed figures to decorate his paintings. The figure paintings that he created in the 1950s were both modern and ancient, as he imitated many ancient masterpieces. At the same time he also drew many paintings with realistic subjects.

The figure paintings in the mid-1960s were mainly themed ones. The figures in the paintings were enlarged while the backdrop was blurred. During the same period, those decorative figures that appeared in his landscape paintings were also more intricate with stronger sense of scenarios.

Lu's latter two phases of modern figure paintings and the decorative figures in the landscape paintings occupy a large percentage of the products in his life. It is also an epitome of the transition of a landscape painter from the old days and the direction of the artist's exploration.

The skills of Lu's realistic themed figure paintings far exceed those of most veteran landscape painters. The way he uses brush and ink has reached an unparalleled level that makes the pictures most vivid and accurate in his own style.



(Wang Yi is a traditional ink-wash painter, also director of Lu Yanshao Art Gallery.)

Lu Yanshao (1909-1993) was born in Nanxiang Town, Jiading District. He showed great interest in painting when he was only a boy. He was tutored by famous artist Wang Tongyu in ancient poetry and painting. Later he learned from famous painter Feng Chaoran and officially began studying painting.

During his life, Lu was not hungry for fame and money. His life was filled with twists and turns, but the man never gave up on his passion for art whether during the war, social turmoil or poor living conditions. Lu inherited the spirit of the masters in the Song (960-1279) and Yuan (1271-1368) dynasties. He absorbed inspiration from nature and travelled widely throughout the country. He stayed in Sichuan Province for eight years during the War of Resistance against Japanese Aggression, and later went to Xin'an County in Henan Province, Jinggang Mountain in Jiangxi Province and Yandang Mountain in Zhejiang Province.

He fused the spirit of the old times with the new epoch and finally created his distinguished Lu-style landscape paintings. In the 1980s, he started tutoring post-graduate students in landscape paintings at the national art academies and nurtured many high-level professionals. He also established a systematic education mode for landscape paintings. Due to his profound knowledge of poetry and calligraphy and his contributions in these areas, he is known as one of China's modern landscape painting masters.

Lu was president of Zhejiang Painting Academy, member of Chinese Artists' Association, professor at Zhejiang Academy of Fine Arts.