American Beauty: A Sketchbook of Modern Beauties from Around the World

Author: Xiao Huixiang
Publisher:
Publish Date: 2002-12-01
Features: Modern linear drawing is a form of modern painting with high difficulty. Why is it considered difficult? Because modern linear drawing requires pure sense and low technique. It demands "relying entirely on sense" to create, where even a slight lack of sense makes the work fake, while excess technique is useless. Technique offers no help in modern linear drawing. Without sense or with little sense, trying to "fill in the gaps" with technique will only distort the work and strip it of life. Artists with pure sense dare to challenge this form of modern linear drawing. As a result, in the history of modern art, there are few masters of linear drawing, and outstanding linear works are scarce. Matisse, Picasso, Schiele, and Rodin are the only few. Their linear works are like scattered stars in the vast night sky, radiating beauty in the history of modern art. I love Matisse; he is a painter with pure sense. Looking at Matisse's linear drawings: his lines are full of beauty and life, revealing his extraordinary temperament and noble soul. Whether he draws the human body, faces, flowers, leaves, ornaments, or still life, his lines present simplicity and rustic beauty. With just a few strokes, he captures the essence rather than the mere likeness, conveying the spirit without focusing on details. Matisse's lines can be called "lines of life." He pours his life into his lines, and when we view his paintings, his life spirit vibrantly flows into our lives, filling us with joy and beauty. Even in 3000 years, a future teenager looking at Matisse's paintings will still be moved by the vitality of beauty in his lines, just as we are. This is the eternal vitality of art. "All is flux," as Heraclitus said. In the cosmic river, all things are born and die, all things pass, and all things fade into nothingness. Yet, only artists can miraculously preserve life through a single line, conveying the joy and beauty of life into eternity. Imagine drawing a line—how simple and easy it seems. Yet, drawing a line that truly expresses the artist's sense is seemingly simple yet incredibly difficult. Drawing a line that lives forever—the line that embodies the artist's true sense—is more difficult than climbing the heavens. This is a line of life, a mysterious line. What is called genius is to fill the work with beauty, with one's own spirit and life, to pour one's spiritual life into every line, every dot of ink, and every form. Simple, rustic, and natural, it appears as a simple and easy line—this is Matisse's line.
Looking at Xiao Huixiang's linear drawings: her lines are simple, rustic, and authentic, full of life. They seem like extremely simple lines, yet they connect form and spirit, nature and the artist, matter and the spirit. Xiao Huixiang sketches portraits with extremely fine lines, capturing both beauty and likeness. A certain indescribable and intangible expression fills the lines, overflowing beyond the form. At the same time, Xiao Huixiang releases her own simple, rustic, and free-spirited nature, aligning it with the simplicity and purity of the lines, allowing her true self to fully unfold, pouring it all into the lines with complete honesty and without concealment, enabling people to directly witness her life. As Mr. Gaotai said: "In the artist's talent and skill, there permeates a personality like a solitary crane flying alone, coming and going freely. Like a wild colt unrestrained, it leaps and gallops wildly, so it is beyond comprehension." In 1988, I painted the female writer Zhang Jie. After finishing, she was surprised to say to me, "You paint like a fortune-teller! You've captured my past and future in your portrait." Why is this? Even I was surprised. This was my first meeting with Ms. Zhang Jie, and I knew nothing about her. In just portrait, withsimple lines, I was able to reveal her past and future. Even a real fortune-teller, or even her relatives and friends, would find it difficult to discern her true nature, as people often hide themselves deeply. Who can truly find their authentic self? A simple line can contain the essence of nature and the rhythm of life, revealing the mysteries of art.
In 1988, the portrait of the female painter Zhou Sichen was included in "Portraits of Contemporary Cultural Figures." This year, a German collector named Hai Mo came to Los Angeles. After seeing the album, he said he loved Zhou Sichen's portrait. I asked him why, and he replied, "The woman in the portrait seems capable of enduring all the hardships in the world, without complaint or regret. She has remarkable resilience. She is a beautiful woman, an extraordinary Chinese woman." Zhou Sichen's ability to endure was rare among our generation. His words were so accurate, as if he had met her in person—even though he had never seen her or her paintings. He had only seen this portrait. Zhou Sichen's spirit lived in the portrait, truly moving this German friend. In her lifetime, only I painted her portrait. At the time, she was ill, with thin hair. With her permission, I added fullness to her hair. After her passing, I gave this portrait to her husband, Lu Chen, as a of our friendship.
In the early 1960s, I began painting these simple, rustic lines. At the time, I was persecuted in Shanxi and suffering from a serious, incurable illness. A doctor told me, "There's no cure for your illness. You should go home." It was then that these lines grew from my frail life, helping me through the crisis and restoring my health. They also became synonymous with curses, being called ugly and labeled as counter-revolutionaries, sent to hell. From the 1960s to the 1980s, I was persecuted in every movement, until the 1980s when these lines finally gained liberation. Some called my linear drawing distorted. Once, Mr. Lin Fan asked me specifically, "Your distorted lines are beautiful. Please tell me how you achieve this distortion." I replied, "I don't distort; I just draw according to my sense. The shapes I draw faithfully express my sense." Mr. Lin Fan said, "But the shapes you draw are not ordinary. They are much more strange and beautiful." What I said to Mr. Lin Fan was the truth, but he did not seem to believe it. I remember him shaking his head as he left.
To draw a line with life, the first step is to rely entirely on sense. My life has an innate pure sense—fresh, simple, rustic, and of excellent quality. As long as I allow my sense to be more open and free, pouring my life into the lines with joy, it is a boundless delight. Opening the sense brings immense happiness. The second step is to discard concepts,, judgments of beauty and ugliness, good and evil, all of which must be abandoned. The depiction of all forms and spirits is not intentional but natural, allowing the subconscious to take the lead. All conscious concepts must be, entering a state of no-self. Discarding technique is even more essential, let alone distortion. Like sailing on rivers and lakes, following the flow, you naturally reach the other shore. The third step is to abandon the self, entering a state of no-self. Once, I painted a rock singer on the street. The music was deafening, making it impossible to sit still. As soon as I began painting, I lost all sense of the music, as well as everything around me, and even myself. After finishing, I returned to the world of sound, only to hear the music again. Those few minutes of painting were a "spiritual communion" with nature, cutting me off from the world. Though I was surrounded by the roaring drums of a rock band, I felt as if I were at the other end of the world, as if my self had disappeared. This is indeed a mystical experience. Only those who have experienced it firsthand can understand it. Countless words have been written about this, all confusing and vague, without clarity. This issue belongs to Freud's theory of the unconscious. Sense is a combination of physiology, psychology, and physics, and varies from person to person due to differences in these aspects. The same object evokes one hundred different senses in one hundred people, ten thousand different senses in ten thousand people. The same form can transform into countless variations through different senses. These countless variations are the same form, shaped by individual, true senses. Once the form is externalized through human sense, it is no longer the natural form but a creation of the human mind. A natural object—through human sense and concept—becomes countless personal conceptual forms. This is the marvelous phenomenon of cognition. A natural object, once perceived by human sense, becomes countless artificial forms different from but greater and more beautiful than nature.
I summarize this in a formula:
Form (natural) — Human sense and concept — Countless conceptual forms (self-determined).
Nature — Human — Art. The intermediary is the human, who connects the two ends. The one end of human sense is nature, and the other is art. Humans are the channel between nature and art. Nature must pass through humans to become art. There is a mysterious channel between the three, accessible only to the one within it, at that one moment. Thus, art cannot be imitated or repeated. This one—this moment—this path—this art.
During my ten years of teaching at the Central Academy of Arts and Crafts, I tried to incorporate these new ideas into my teaching, encouraging students to develop their own sense and helping them overcome obstacles in their sense, opening up their sense channels, and finding the forms that emerge from their sense to express their true souls. I hope to cultivate more true artists and more people with genuine creative spirit.
—Xiao Huixiang