Engraving: Wu Bide, the artist's self-narration

Author: Wu Bide
Publisher:
Publish Date: 2006-06-01
Features: A destitute youth with a wandering life, fleeing the iron hooves of the Japanese invaders, moved from Jiangnan to the Sichuan rear area. Fortunately, he entered the "Youcai School," founded by the later renowned "Model Teacher for All Generations," Mr. Tao Xingzhi, for refugee children. Here, he not only found a home but also found friendship, ideas, and a good education, as well as nurtured his artistic talents. The author writes about his studies and life at the Youcai School and at the Chongqing office of the Eighth Route Army, detailing his interactions with a group of teachers, friends, and professional revolutionaries. He expresses the life of a youth yearning for progress, Yan'an, and the "Luyi" (Art College) amidst the turbulent yet romantic and passionate atmosphere of the rear area during the War of Resistance. After the victory of the Anti-Japanese War, the author participated in the work of the Communist Party of China delegation during the Old Political Consultative Conference and eventually became a student at the much-desired "Luyi"—the Fine Arts Department of North China's "United University." After undergoing the trials of land reform and the liberation war, he joined the Central Academy of Fine Arts in the new China as a teacher. In the 1950s, he studied abroad at the Repin Institute of Fine Arts in the Soviet Union, becoming a famous printmaker. The author's personal story does not end there; he has also experienced all the ups and downs of China's half-century since then. He narrates his observations, thoughts, creative experiences, family and children, as well as his shortcomings and traumas, showcasing the marks left on his life's journey.