Xu Beihong and his activities in the field of popularization of Chinese painting abroad

Fei Yan Postgraduate student, Department of Art History and Pedagogy of Art, A. I. Herzen Russian State Pedagogical University 191186, Russia, g. Saint Petersburg, ul. Nab. Reki Moiki, 48 yan_fey2020@inbox.ru

Xu Beihong (1895 – 1953) is widely known as the father of modern Chinese painting. His role in the development of Chinese art is illustrated by innovative ink works, which largely contributed to the revival of traditional Guohua painting, as well as the artist's creative experiments with Western techniques. The figure of this outstanding figure of art has become the subject of consideration by a large number of scientists. A number of existing scientific works are devoted to the analysis of Xu Beihong's creative innovations, assessment of the importance of his painting in the context of the history of Chinese painting and art education^[1]. At the same time, the activities of Xu Beihong related to the popularization of the Chinese artistic tradition outside the country remain practically unexplored. Fragmentary information on this issue can be found, for example, in an article by Song and Tsai ^[3], who provides a number of valuable factual data about the artist's visit to the USSR. This study is devoted to the analysis of Xu Beihong's international activities in general. The significance of this issue is due to the fact that Xu Beihong's foreign trips and the events that took place with the direct participation of this outstanding artist were the first serious step that allowed showing the heritage of Chinese art culture to the general public abroad, bringing Chinese painting to the international arena.

Xu Beihong was born in Yixing, Jiangsu Province, in 1895. The future artist grew up in an artistic family, it is not surprising that his talent manifested itself quite early. In 1915, he went to study in Shanghai, the center of Chinese and Western cultures. There he met the scholar and political reformer Kang Yuwei, who became his mentor and greatly influenced his thoughts on the need to integrate Western practices and ideas into Chinese art. Xu Beihong felt that Chinese art had degenerated into pure copying of other paintings and was divorced from real life. As a result, the artists did not see the need to learn from nature. Xu Beihong was not the first to formulate this idea, but he was one of the first to propose a solution and determine the direction of further development of Chinese painting. At the same time, in his opinion, in the future, the evolution of painting in China should not be solely the result of the "reformation" of national or the merger of Eastern and Western traditions, but primarily be conditioned by the task of displaying the realities of the era ^[3].

In 1919, Xu Beihong went to Paris on a scholarship from the Chinese government. Despite the fact that at that time the French art scene was being conquered by the experiments of Surrealists and expressionists, it was realism that turned out to be closest to the Chinese artist. He felt that painting should be real and should be understandable to people, so he remained a follower of realism all his life as a co-founder and teacher of South China ^[6]. Returning to China in 1927, Xu Beihong became an art academy in Shanghai. He held a number of important posts, such as Chairman of the Central Academy of Fine Arts and Chairman of the National Association of Artists of China, which provided him with prestige and influence in China until his death in 1953.

In 1933-1934, Xu Beihong organized a traveling exhibition of Chinese painting in Europe (France, Belgium, Italy, Germany) and an exhibition of modern Chinese painting in the USSR. In 1939-1941, his solo exhibitions were held in Singapore, India and Malaysia. The purpose of these events was to raise funds for people who suffered during the Sino-Japanese War (1937-1945). Xu Beihong took very deeply the tragic events that took place in his country. During these years, especially in the period 1939-1941, the artist created a number of paintings in which anti-Japanese themes were subtly reflected. Of course, these works were intended to help raise the morale of the Chinese during the war: "It was his way to inspire the Chinese people to fight the Japanese, praising their resilience in the face of adversity" ^[6].

In addition to the above events, Xu Beihong participated in a collective exhibition with Ren Bonyan and Qi Baishi, masters of Chinese ink painting. The exposition, which presented 171 works, was held in the Victoria Memorial Hall in March 1939. At the end of 1939, Rabindranath Tagore, an Indian poet, writer and philosopher, Nobel Prize laureate, at that time president of the Sino-Indian Cultural Society, invited the artist to hold exhibitions and give presentations in India. Through him, Xu Beihong met Mahatma Gandhi, whose sketch portrait is included in the exhibition.

Let's take a closer look at Xu Beihong's exhibition activities abroad. In 1930, as part of the diplomatic service, Xie Shoukan visited Belgium. He brought Xu Beihua's paintings for the purpose of holding a special exhibition in Brussels. It was the first solo exhibition of a Chinese artist outside of China. The exhibition, which was attended by the Queen of Belgium, received positive reviews. Later, Liu Dabei, an employee of the French-Chinese Institute of Lyon, organized a collective exhibition, which presented the works of Xu Beihong and the works of other Chinese artists. The success of the events inspired hope that now a large exhibition of Chinese art will be held in Paris.

In 1933, Xu Beihong embarked on an ambitious project – an exhibition of modern Chinese painting. During a trip to France, Belgium, Germany, Italy and Russia, "the five most civilized countries of the world" ^[9] in recognition of the Xu Beyhuna was conducted in a total of seven exhibitions. Four special collections of contemporary Chinese art have been created in major museums and universities. This traveling exhibition received a huge response: positive reviews and reviews were published in newspapers and magazines with a total circulation of more than 200 million copies. The artist himself noted: "Even in fascist Italy and the communist Soviet Union, these paintings – sharp weapons with ideas and power, but without the smoke and noise of fighting – were accepted wholeheartedly" ^[9].

At the same time, he pointed out that the success of the exhibitions was not so much the result of his personal efforts, as it was due to the works that were exhibited. The artist rightly believed that by this time the European public was already partly prepared for the perception of Chinese art: in the collections of many museums and individuals in Europe, bronze, jade, ceramics and embroidery from China were presented. In addition, the names of some ancient Chinese artists, as well as Chinese sages and philosophers, such as Confucius, Lao Tzu and Li Bai, were known in Europe. As Xu Beihong wrote, "almost every member of European high society (not necessarily knowledgeable) knows them. Many have read and understood their books… Therefore, every achievement I have achieved abroad should be attributed to our ancestors who created civilization and its glory, and to countless nameless heroes who were great artists, but at one time were considered artisans. Since our predecessors sowed seeds in the hearts of Westerners, we, modern Chinese artists, simply collect the fruits by presenting our works."^[9]

During the preparation of the European exhibition, a lot of effort was spent on selecting suitable, according to the organizers, works. The requirements were that "the works should be pure and representative Chinese art, not Western or Japanese" ^[7]. The project was not only to demonstrate Chinese art, but also to become a propaganda tool in support of China. The exhibition opened on May 10, 1933 at the National Gallery of Foreign Art in Paris. The enthusiastic response that the event received led to the fact that the exposition was extended for fifteen days. The total number of visitors exceeded 30,000 people. The catalog has been republished twice.

The exhibition was attended by artists from different painting schools of the country, and most of the works were presented by the main artists of each school. When organizing the exhibition, Xu Beihong never mentioned the Chinese government, only academic organizations such as the Central University, the French-Chinese Institute in Lyon, the Chinese Painting Society, the Suzhou Academy of Fine Arts and the Xinhua Academy of Fine Arts, which offered their assistance in preparing the event. This was no coincidence: if the exhibition was successful, the achievements of the work done should belong to the entire population of China; in case of failure, Xu Beihong was going to take full responsibility without involving the country in it ^[9]. Initially, the project received support not from the Chinese Government or Chinese cultural organizations, but from Mr. and Mrs. Gu Weijun and the French-Chinese Institute in Lyon. Only three days after the closing of the Paris exhibition, a grant was received from the Chinese government. Due to the fact that this Chinese cultural and propaganda project in Europe was a great success, Xu Beihong further strengthened his desire to popularize Chinese art outside of China.

As we have already mentioned, this exhibition event caused a great public outcry. So, three times the influential art critic Camille Mockler spoke positively about the exhibition and about Chinese art in general in her critical reviews in the publications "Figaro" (Le Figaro) and "Friend of the People" (L'ami du Peuple). Other positive reviews were written by Raimno Millet ("Le Temps"), Borri ("Intranriqent"), De Visme ("L'hebdomadaire Artistique") and Jean Cassou ("L'hebdomadaire Arts et Litt?rature du critique d'art du gouvernement fran?ais"). In addition, many newspapers in Belgium, Great Britain, Spain and even countries as far away as the United States published reviews of the exhibition, it is obvious that it attracted a lot of attention in these countries. Subsequently, the French government bought 12 exhibited works, including works by Qi Baishi, Gao Qifeng, Wang Yitin, Chen Shuzhen, Fan Yaoyu and Zhang Daqian.

Countries such as Belgium, Italy, Spain and Germany not only expressed their positive opinion about the exhibition, but also expressed a desire for further cooperation in order to hold art exhibitions of Chinese art. The Belgians invited Xu Beihong to hold a second solo exhibition in Brussels. After that, invitations from the UK, Spain and Italy poured in.

By invitation (Verein Berliner Kunstler) in November 1933, Xu Beihong held a solo exhibition in Berlin. The event did not go unnoticed in the artistic circles of Germany. An unprecedented art exhibition of Chinese paintings was held in a magnificent palace in Milan, Italy, the country where da Vinci created his "Last Supper", the hometown of Giuseppe Castiglione. The exhibition was held from December 19, 1933 to January 19, 1934. Since the event took place in winter, difficulties arose in the course of its organization and holding. As Xu Beihong recalls, "the palace was too big to be heated. Our hands and feet were numb during the arrangement of the exhibition space" ^[9]. And, nevertheless, the exhibition was also a great success in Italy, as, for example, the Italian media attest. Of interest is that the event was filmed as a documentary to be shown throughout Italy.

On February 19, 1934, Xu Beihong presented an exhibition of modern Chinese painting in Frankfurt. Lu Yawen and Ding Wenyuan played a big role in organizing this event. Lu Yawen, who at that time held the post of director of the Chinese Institute at the University of Frankfurt, and Ding Wenyuan, his deputy, were members of the Sino-German Committee for Art Exhibitions. They wrote to Xu Beihong, who was in Rome, about their interest in bringing Chinese paintings from Rome to Frankfurt. Thus, with the support of the Chinese Institute at Frankfurt University, another exhibition was organized, which was held at the National Art Gallery. The reaction of the public was extremely enthusiastic, but the exhibition was scheduled for only two weeks. Despite requests to extend the duration of the exhibition, Xu Beihong refused due to other exhibition obligations. Even before the closing of the exhibition, Xu Beihong had to return to Italy, because this time he was invited to show Chinese paintings in Rome, the Borghese Palace became the venue for the exhibition ^[9]. Nevertheless, this exposition was not destined to take place, which Xu Beihong later often regretted, since the possibility of holding a Soviet exhibition competed with it in terms of timing.

Another large-scale exhibition project of the Chinese figure was a traveling exhibition in the USSR. Xu Beihong's interest in exhibition activities in the USSR and cultural cooperation with this country was not accidental. During his stay in Europe, the artist hoped that, in addition to popularizing Chinese fine art among the foreign public, he would have the opportunity to get the works of foreign artists at his disposal in order to take them to China and present them to compatriots based on the results of the trip. However, the European art community showed little interest in the exchange of works. By the time he left for the USSR, Xu Beihong had only a few works that his friends gave him. In this regard, he had high hopes for a trip to the USSR.

In the Soviet Union, Xu Beihong was received very well. The artist notes that, compared to previous visits to European countries, many of his problems were successfully solved: "in Russia, the All-Union Society for Cultural Relations with Abroad (VOX), an important organization responsible for all international cultural relations in Russia, took care of everything, and I had nothing to worry about" ^[9]. On May 7, 1934, an exhibition of Chinese paintings opened in the Historical Museum on Red Square. In his opening speech, VOX Chairman of the Board A.Ya. Arosev noted that the purpose of the art exhibition of Chinese painting was to provide conditions for establishing mutual understanding in terms of the cultural identity of the countries and strengthening friendship between the two peoples. During several months of his stay in Moscow, Xu Beihong was busy every day, making invited presentations at the Union of Artists, the Architectural Institute, etc., as well as communicating with Soviet artists and scientists.

From June 19 to July 19, the exhibition was held in the Hermitage. At that moment, Xu Beihong received an offer to leave some of the exhibited works in Russia. He agreed, and the Hermitage staff selected 12 paintings. As a reciprocal gesture, Moscow presented 13 masterpieces of famous contemporary Russian artists of the XIX century as a gift to China. In addition, Xu Beihong donated 15 paintings by contemporary artists such as Qi Baishi, Zhang Daqian, Chen Shuzhen and Wang Yiting to the Moscow Gallery of Fine Arts.

According to the memoirs of Xu Beihong, Soviet citizens perceived the work of Chinese artists with genuine interest. Much in Chinese painting turned out to be incomprehensible and alien to the Soviet consciousness. The artist wrote: "Some Russian workers asked me why the spirit of socialism is rarely found in Chinese painting, with the exception of my work "Poetic Life in the Six Dynasties", which, in their opinion, is most consistent with socialism... Chinese fine art ... can rightly be called the fine art of hermits. Chinese artists interact with nature in their own way and imitate it ... Indeed, Chinese artists paid little attention to the social reality surrounding them, and none of them sought to reflect the lives of ordinary people in their paintings" ^[9].

The 1934 exhibition was the first Russian exhibition entirely devoted to Chinese painting. The exhibition featured both traditional Guohua art and works by contemporary artists. The catalog of the Leningrad exhibition, divided according to the thematic principle, included 339 works by more than 100 artists, as well as a number of exhibits from the Hermitage collection (paintings, ceramics, porcelain, carpets). All the paintings were accompanied by the artist's name in Russian and Chinese, information about the place of birth and sometimes about education. One of the two introductions was prepared by Xu Beihong himself. The author of the second preface was also an outstanding philologist-sinologist V. M. Alekseev.

One of the valuable results of Xu Beihong's activities abroad was the article "Propaganda of Chinese fine Art in Europe", which he writes upon returning home and in which he attempts to comprehend the experience gained. The Chinese artist was greatly impressed by the art museums of the Soviet Union.  In addition, he could not help but note the fact that the art of China enjoys constant success abroad, is of great interest to ordinary people, as well as specialists in Chinese studies and representatives of artistic circles. Nevertheless, based on his experience of perception of foreign painting, Xu Beihong admits critical remarks about Chinese art: "Chinese artists continue to neglect reality, there is not a single person who would depict the everyday life of people" ^[3].

Five years later, at the beginning of 1939, Xu Beihong embarks on a new journey, already through the countries of Southeast Asia. In March 1939, he had a solo exhibition in Singapore. In an effort to re-establish cultural relations between India and China, Rabindranath Tagore invited Xu Beihong to the Kala Bhavana (Institute of Fine Arts) of Vishwa Bharti University, Shantiniketan in 1939. The Chinese artist was offered cooperation in organizing exhibitions and lectures on Chinese art. Inspired by this invitation, Xu Beihong arrived in Shantiniketan in 1939. For several months, he regularly lectured and conducted master classes in Chinese painting and calligraphy. It was the golden age of Visva-Bharati, the luminaries of the Shantiniketan school of Art — Nandalal Bose, Ramkinkar Baij, Gauri Bhanja and Binod Behari got a valuable opportunity to observe the skill of the Chinese artist, learn from him and communicate with him.

Rabindranath Tagore was an ardent admirer of Xu Beihong's style and wanted him to teach Chinese painting and calligraphy to the students and teachers of Kala Bhavan. Of course, Xu Beihong's lectures on the artistic and aesthetic significance of Chinese and Japanese traditions played a vital role in fostering the interest of Indian artists in the art of the Far East. In 1939, Xu Beihong organized his first exhibition of paintings at Visva-Bharati University, and then in February 1940 presented the paintings in Calcutta. Finally, in December 1941, Xu Beihong completed his tour of India and returned to Singapore for the fifth annual exhibition of the Society of Chinese Artists.

During his two-year stay in India, Xu Beihong made many trips around the country, where he created a number of works of art inspired by this country and its people. Along with numerous portraits and sketches, the artist painted landscapes, trying to capture the serene charm of the nature of Shantiniketan. Thanks to Tagore's progressive ideas, Kala-Bhavana was entering at this time on a new path leading beyond the framework of colonial academic art. Kala Bhavana has become the core of a new movement in Indian art, bringing a modern sound and comprehensive character to it, connecting East with West, encouraging Indian artists to follow a completely new path, the path of innovation and freedom of imagination. It is in this sense that Xu Beihong's teaching and exhibition activities in India have played a big role. The artist was a master of both Eastern and Western painting techniques, his experience in the field of Chinese watercolor and calligraphy techniques helped Shantiniketan artists realize their true potential and create a new artistic movement. The fact that the teachings of Xu Beihong had a significant impact on the artistic practice of the pupils and teachers of Kala Bhavan was reflected in the paintings of artists such as Nandalal, Gauri Bhanja and Binod Behari, painted after 1940 ^[8].

The material discussed above proves the importance of Xu Beihong's pedagogical, public and exhibition activities as an important stage in the establishment and development of China's cultural dialogue with the countries of Europe, Southeast Asia and the USSR. It is difficult to overestimate the merits of this outstanding artist. Using a variety of forms of representation of Chinese painting: exhibitions, lectures, master classes, scientific reports, information platforms, etc. the Chinese artist was able to greatly interest the foreign viewer in the works of Chinese masters, to give a relatively deep and reliable idea of Chinese artistic thought and aesthetics. His work and the art of China in general had a greater influence on the artistic circles of the countries he visited, on the work of European, Soviet, Indian, Malaysian artists. Xu Beihong himself was also strongly influenced by the culture of other countries, and his works and his theoretical concepts that influenced the development of art and art education in China are talking about this, he wrote enthusiastically: "I was lucky enough to wander around the world and find out how huge it is. Looking back, I see the great achievements of our ancestors..." ^[9].