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Late illustrator found art in the everyday
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ARTIST He Youzhi, who recently passed away, was famous for his line drawings. About five years ago I was honored to be invited to write English texts for his drawings.
The first such book I worked on was “Old Shanghai,” published in 2010. Nearly all the 90 stories in the book were familiar to me, either through direct experience or secondhand accounts.
I was born in 1927 and have lived all my life in this unique city. Most of He’s drawings remind me of my childhood and I feel it is very important for younger Shanghainese to know that part of history.
In 1952, He began to draw for a living; he mainly learned on his own by creating many line drawings. Those I have seen are just a small part of his life’s work. However, I do know that his masterpieces have been displayed in Germany, Britain, Switzerland, Norway, Singapore, South Korea and many other countries.
His drawings illustrate many aspects of the daily lives of people in old Shanghai — including some foreigners — but his main aim was to show the lives of ordinary people, especially the poor.
Of all his recent masterpieces for which I have written English texts, I like best those that portray the lives of residents in the houses that appeared in one of his latest books, “Longtang Life in Old Shanghai.” There you can see the many people living at the back of the building going about their daily affairs, including a poor writer in his garret.
One picture in He’s book vividly shows how the residents in the house had to line up to use one tap to wash their faces and brush their teeth. How could the people living in those houses ever have a shower or a flush toilet? Every morning they had to empty their chamber pots and clean them. I had the experience of living in such a house with seven other families for eight months and my mother even longer, from 1949 to 1976. And what about the life of those families who could not afford to live in these longtang houses?
It is a pity that He was unable to show the readers what each room of those residents looked like. In “Old Shanghai” there is one picture with the title “A Coal Ball Delivery Boy;” it shows coal balls being delivered to a woman whose whole family lives in one small room where they cook, eat and sleep.
If anyone has had the experience of living in such conditions for a week they may sympathize with those poor people. From 1938 to 1949 my family of six (later five after the death of my father in a coal mine in Japan in 1943) learned what such a life was like. We sweated in our tiny windowless attic on hot summer days and in rainy weather we had to use all kinds of containers to catch drips from the ceiling.
Readers may ask why He kept on drawing even after his 90th birthday. For more money or fame? No, neither of the two, as far as I know. He wanted to go on doing something for others as long as he could.
I went to He’s home a few times. He and his wife lived in a fairly large room on the second floor of an old longtang house. Before I entered their room I could see a big rectangular table; that was his working table. The minute I walked into the room my eyes caught sight of a sofa, two beds on the other side of the room and a table for meals nearby.
Some of his friends suggested that they move into a more comfortable apartment but He always declined the kind suggestions. Was it for lack of money? No.
I was very touched when he told me the main reason. “If we moved into a fancy house, that would mean I would be separated from ordinary Shanghai people. How could I have the chance to know about their daily lives and how could I get the feel for them for my drawing?”
Nowadays, through buying and selling art works people can earn a lot of money. He donated the copyright of all his works to the Shanghai Art Museum. He told me the reason why he had made that decision: “My purpose in drawing is for the people, mainly the ordinary people, to enjoy my works. If I had sold them for money, how could ordinary people see them?”
We can learn a great deal from this old gentleman. I personally feel that the best way to say goodbye to He Youzhi is to learn from what he did for ordinary people.
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