Appreciation of Paintings and Calligraphy by Modern and Contemporary Masters

Author: Deng Ming
Publisher:
Publish Date: 1999-12-01
Features: This book introduces the main works, specialized skills, artistic characteristics, biographies, and seals used by 196 famous modern Chinese calligraphers and painters. Huang Ruozhou (1906-), originally named Jicai, styled Ruozhou. He was born in Shanghuang Town, Yixing, Jiangsu. His ancestors were farmers, and he lost his father in childhood. Supported by his widowed mother who wove cloth and farmed, as well as by pawned belongings, he pursued his education. At the age of seven, he entered Shanghuang Primary School. Impressed by his intelligence and love for painting, his clansmen asked him to illustrate the clan genealogy, and he was praised by the locals. Determined to excel in painting, he studied figures, flowers and birds, landscapes, and calligraphy, each with its own style, and was regarded by the elders as a promising talent. At the age of 20, after graduating from middle school, he was supported by his clansmen to apply to the Shanghai Art College for further studies. During his three years at the college, he studied flower painting under Zhu Wenrong and Pan Tianshou, calligraphy under Li Jian and Zhu Fugang, seal carving under Gu Tingmei, and also took courses in sketching. In 1928, he graduated and returned to his hometown to teach. He taught at Liyang Primary School, Liyang Middle School, and Wujiang Zhenze Middle School, then returned to Shanghai to teach at Huzhou Schools in Shanghai. He continued self-study in his spare time, focusing deeply on landscape painting and running script calligraphy. In the summer vacation of 1934, he traveled alone to southwestern China to gather inspiration, collecting numerous sketches. Among them, his horizontal scroll "Southwest Journey" was selected for the national art exhibition, making him one of the early practitioners of landscape painting in border regions. During the "" (a period of Japanese occupation in Shanghai), he taught at Shanghai Youth Middle School, Aiqun Middle School, and National Yude High School. Deeply aware of the importance of popularizing calligraphy with hard pens, he wrote and published China's first book introducing common calligraphy scripts in 1939, titled "" (Common Calligraphy). This book was later revised and renamed "Fast Writing Method of Chinese Characters," and over the decades, it sold over 20 million copies, becoming a pioneer of modern calligraphy with hard pens. After 1941, he moved to Chongqing and served as a special editor for the Ministry of Education, while also teaching art theory at the National Conservatory of Music. After the war, he returned to the Jiangnan region and successively served as a professor at Jiangsu Provincial Institute of Education and China Business College. After the founding of the People's Republic of China, he became the director of the library at Shanghai Physical Education College. In 1972, when five schools merged, he helped establish the Art Department of Shanghai Normal University and served as a professor. In addition to teaching, he actively promoted the teaching and popularization of the "Fast Writing Method of Chinese Characters" and explored a new style called "" (The Bond of Calligraphy and Painting), achieving initial success. Currently, he is a member of the China Artists Association, the China Calligraphers Association, and serves as an advisor to the China Education Society, the Calligraphy Education Research Association, the Shanghai Art Education Committee, and the Association of University Calligraphy Education. He has written books such as "Fast Writing Method of Chinese Characters," "Techniques of Flower and Bird Painting," "One-Stroke Calligraphy of Huang Ruozhou," and "The Bond of Calligraphy and Painting," as well as the films "Teaching Chinese Painting" and "Teaching Chinese Calligraphy."