Feng Zikai (A Realist with a Bodhisattva's Heart)

Author: (Norwegian) Ha Mo Xie, translated by Zhang Bin
Publisher:
Publish Date: 2005-05-01
Features: Feng Zikai—Modern China’s true artist of artists. This is not because he was versatile, playing the piano, drawing cartoons, and writing essays. What I admire is his true artist’s sincerity, his abundant love for all things, and his temperament and character. The author of this book is a Norwegian named Christoph Harbsmeier. He is a sinologist and currently a member of the Norwegian Academy of Science. Born in Germany in 1946, he studied Sinological Linguistics at the University of Oxford. We can see the influence of his youth in Professor Ha Mo Xie’s choice of Eastern art. When "some Western scholars of art history, in search of more refined and mentor-like artworks to display in museums and discuss in multi-volume works or popular magazines, traveled across East Asia," he turned his attention to Feng Zikai. The purpose of writing this book is to introduce Feng Zikai’s cartoons to Western readers. He said, "If I were to write a dull, conventional academic review of Feng Zikai’s cartoons, I would find it inappropriate. The comments and explanations in the main part of this book are bold and subjective. They are not the theoretical summaries of pseudo-authority that one might expect from an art historian." Therefore, his writing is concise, clear, and full of humor, complementing Feng Zikai’s cartoons perfectly. Reading these words, we can everywhere feel that he, as a Westerner, has truly discovered the seemingly simple yet profound wisdom of an Easterner and feels deep sympathy for it. Reading these words, we can everywhere feel that he, as a Westerner, has truly discovered the seemingly simple yet profound wisdom of an Easterner. Feng Zikai (1898–1975) was from Tongxiang, Zhejiang Province. His name was Ren, also known as Yingxing. He had a love for art from a young age. In 1941, he entered the Zhejiang Provincial Normal School and studied painting and music under Li Shuxiang, graduating in 1919. In 1921, he went to Japan to study music and art. After returning to China, he served as an editor at Shanghai Kaixin Publishing House, a professor of art at Shanghai University, Fudan University, and Zhejiang University. In 1924, he co-founded Lidu Academy with friends. During the War of Resistance, he traveled across various regions in Southwest China, teaching at some universities and colleges. Starting in 1943, he retired from teaching and devoted himself entirely to painting and writing. After the founding of the People’s Republic, he served as the Director of the Shanghai Chinese Painting Institute, Chairman of the Shanghai Branch of the Chinese Artists Association, and Vice Chairman of the Shanghai Federation of Literature and Arts. He was skilled in painting and calligraphy, as well as prose writing and literary translation. He authored works such as Introduction to Music, from Yuan Yuan Hall, and Feng Zikai’s Calligraphy.