When interviewing Chu Jinxia, she was instructing students to forge an iron painting in her workshop. If it weren't for her introduction, the scene before us would be like a manufacturing workshop. The red-hot iron taken out of the furnace is being shaped by her students.
For Chu Jinxia, these processes have already been integrated into her life. Born into an iron painting family, he began to learn iron painting forging skills with his father Chu Yanqing at the age of 16. He has been engaged in iron painting for nearly 60 years, and is the fifth generation of Wuhu iron painting. In her words, "I grew up in the atmosphere of an iron painting family, so it can be said that the development history of iron painting is my growth history."
On May 10 this year, Chu Jinxia and her team unveiled the iron painting Wan Xiang in Shenzhen Hall, showing the development achievements of Shenzhen Special Economic Zone in the past 40 years of reform and opening up. When the people present were deeply shocked by this huge iron painting, Chu Jinxia couldn't help but think of his experience in creating the iron painting "Welcome Pine in the Great Hall of the People" with his father half a century ago.
"Do one thing to the extreme with your whole life" is the most appropriate sentence for Chu Jinxia. Looking back on her 60-year iron painting creation, she gritted her teeth and insisted on it, loving it from the heart, then persisting in development and artistic sublimation. She said that she had already practiced King Kong. She often said: "Although I am a woman who creates iron paintings and works while the iron is hot, I want to be a woman who works while the iron is hot. A woman who doesn't make iron can't make iron. "
"I have never reluctantly accepted it in my heart."
"Strike while the iron is hot, that's what girls should do!"
196 1 year, when her father asked her to inherit the iron painting, this was the most frequently said by Chu Jinxia. That year, Chu Jinxia, who was 16 years old, originally decided to apply for the previous Anhui Art School. She was an art scientist, but she was blocked by her family and failed to do so.
"When I was in elementary school, I had the desire to take an art school, because I could learn both cultural knowledge and art majors. But my dad found out when I applied for the exam, and he didn't agree with me to take the art school. He said,' Since you don't study, learn to strike while the iron is hot with me'. At that time, I was very reluctant to strike while the iron was hot, but my father's words were very authoritative at home and I couldn't change them. I hope my mother can help me convince my father, but my mother doesn't agree with me to take the art school either, so I decided to strike while the iron is hot. Chu Jinxia said.
In the face of her family's decision to let her paint while the iron is hot, Chu Jinxia, a girl who was in the flower season at that time, was extremely struggling inside, and she felt very unlucky. "At that time, my parents kept telling me about the inheritance of iron paintings. My idea was, what does this have to do with girls!"
As a last resort, Chu Jinxia was forced to enter the iron painting industry in 196 1 year. "Similar to traditional Chinese opera art, wrought iron painting art also pays attention to childlike innocence. Many times, I am engaged in the creation of iron paintings. I have been practicing kung fu for the first ten years or even the first ten years. In the next few decades, I also started as a handyman and practiced' work'. "
Father Chu Yanqing, master of iron painting
Wuhu iron painting began in the late Ming and early Qing dynasties, with a history of about 370 years. Iron painting is made by melting iron in a red furnace, then chiseling, filing, forging and shaping. It not only has the basic characteristics of Chinese painting, but also has the aesthetic feeling of sculpture, especially paying attention to meaning, and is known as "a must in China". In 2006, Wuhu Iron Painting was included in the first batch of intangible cultural heritage in China.
When ironmaking, it should be inserted into coal to burn red. In the apprenticeship stage, Chu Jinxia basically revolves around coal every day.
"At that time, the coal quality of Huaibei Huaibei Coal Mine in Huainan was quite good, with large size, dark color and strong fire. We buy this kind of coal specially to make iron. At that time, the forging method of iron painting was still very traditional. After the purchase, the large pieces of coal need to be crushed into small pieces of coal with a size of 3 cm. It was this initial process that I implemented at that time to ensure that my brothers and sisters smelt normally every day. This work has been carried out intermittently for three years. " Chu Jinxia recalled.
Playing coal every day makes Chu Jinxia feel distressed. "At that time, I went home crying every night and complained to my mother. At that time, my mother was also very wronged. She once asked my father,' You asked her to draw and pull the iron at the same time, but now she is asked to do coal chores every day. "What's the plan?" "
"Then my father said to my mother,' What do you know? If she can't get through this, she can't paint while the iron is hot. It takes an iron will to paint while the iron is hot. I'm just honing the bitterness that she has to eat. My mother was speechless by my father, so she had to come back to persuade me. Then I gritted my teeth and persisted. "
The phrase "grit your teeth and persist" tells the story of the first stage of Chu Jinxia's iron painting creation career. Although the length of more than three years is quite short in her 60-year creative career, that experience is very special and unforgettable for her.
Gradually, Chu Jinxia got used to the atmosphere of iron painting creation, but her heart was never ignited by this art, until once, when she saw the forged iron connected together bit by bit and finally formed a beautiful picture, her heart began to turn from rejection to acceptance.
After that, Chu Jinxia began to create iron paintings by secretly learning to do. Once, she secretly made a man named Qiu Hua herself. While she was having fun, she found her father standing behind her. She thought that her strict father was going to teach her a lesson again, but his father smiled at her after reading her work.
"I was really happy at the time, and this kind of happiness sprouted my interest. After watching what my brothers have created, I will find leisure time to secretly try to do it. The more you do, the more interested you are, and the more you feel. If I can't do it well, I will do it again. "
From small chrysanthemums to orchids to plum blossoms, gradually, Chu Jinxia became more and more fascinated by the production of iron paintings. Later, she completely fell in love with the forging technology of iron painting. Seeing the beauty finally presented through forging, processing and creation, she felt very happy and fulfilled.
In the past 60 years, Chu Jinxia has found happiness again and again in the creation of iron paintings and gained a sense of accomplishment again and again.
"That exercise affected my life."
Today, 76-year-old Chu Jinxia still maintains her passion for iron painting. In order to create Vientiane in the Bay Area, she personally went to Shenzhen to collect folk songs. Later, he led more than ten designers and disciples to fight for more than five months. After continuous improvement, he finally completed a spectacular and magnificent "big production".
In Chu Jinxia's creative career, she has experienced many unusual "big productions", and every big production is a valuable asset for her. The greatest influence on her was the great creation she participated in for the first time after she entered the business, and it was from then on that her creative passion and Excellence began to grow in her creative career.
1959, the Great Hall of the People, the first ten buildings in new China, was completed. Chu Jinxia participated in the development and creation of six works, including the giant iron painting "Welcome Pine", "Meishan Reservoir" and Mao Zedong's poem "Spring and Snow in Qinyuan". This is the first exercise that Chu Jinxia experienced in her creative career. When she recalled the past, it was still fresh in her memory and memorable.
"At that time, every province accepted the task of soft decoration in the Great Hall of the People, and every province wanted to present what it thought was the best in its own hall." Chu Jinxia recalled, "Anhui is famous for its three sculptures in Four Treasures of the Study and Huizhou and our iron paintings in Wuhu. At that time, in order to decorate the Anhui Hall and highlight the characteristics of the province, the provincial party secretary summoned all the famous craft elites in the province to Hefei, the provincial capital. At that time, our team moved the production workshop in Wuhu to a large workshop in Hefei Model Factory to create iron paintings, where it took two years to create six works in the Great Hall of the People.
Chu Jinxia, together with her father Chu Yanqing, artists and workers, forged the painting "Welcome Pine" by Wang Shicen, a famous painter in Xin 'an, Anhui Province.
The creation process of the iron painting "Welcome Song" is not easy, and it is an unprecedented test for Chu Jinxia. The combination of branches and trunks of welcoming pine is very clever and overlapping. The scales on the branches are uneven and bright, which is the effect of hammer marks of various shapes. Each branch is forged by 60-80 pine needles as a group.
"At that time, for a long time, including me, about 10 people were making pine needles every day." Chu Jinxia recalled that there was no electric welding machine at that time, and it was all forged by hand, and then processed into pine flowers and branches, which was very time-consuming. When connecting the main branches, the workers glued the branches that had just been burned red from the stove together while it was hot. This process only takes a few tens of seconds, but it needs the cooperation of many people to keep pace. "
Finally, an iron painting "Welcome Pine" was created, which was forged with 200 kilograms of wrought iron and the most primitive, time-consuming and labor-intensive forging steel process, and then sent to the Anhui Hall of the Great Hall of the People. This creation made Chu Jinxia feel for the first time that the creation of iron painting needed a lot of training, and she learned a lot. Many of her creative ideas were obtained from this experience.
"There are too many doorways for iron painting creation. The premise is based on your understanding of art, just like understanding a painting, you must understand the composition, level, far and near theme and other elements of the whole painting before you can start creating. " Chu Jinxia revealed the essence of iron painting: "Iron is the bones and muscles, and painting is the soul."
Participating in the creation of the iron painting "Welcome Song" had a great influence on Chu Jinxia. After that, she studied hard, tried to figure out, and achieved the production skill through hammer forging. Coupled with his father's words and deeds, iron painting skills continue to grow.
Gradually, Chu Jinxia formed her own creative style and made many personal achievements. She is not only good at forging huge works, but also carefully making exquisite treasures. Her works such as Chicken Fun Map, Xianglan Map, Horses Map, Lotus Poem Map, and Goddess of Mending Heaven endow stubborn iron paintings with artistic vitality, form their own unique style and become exquisite iron paintings.
From 65438 to 0986, Chu Jinxia served as the director of the iron painting workshop, leading and organizing the production of the Asian Games panda "Pan Pan" iron painting gift, which won praise at home and abroad. 1990, Chu Jinxia served as the deputy director of Tiehua Research Institute, engaged in product research and development. At that time, the new product gold-plated painting developed by the craft factory made the traditional iron painting look brand-new What makes Chu Jinxia unforgettable is that 1992, she went to Taiwan Province Province to perform iron paintings with the delegation of "Dunhuang Ancient Science and Technology Exhibition in China" of China Association for Science and Technology, which caused a sensation throughout the treasure island.
Today, Chu Jinxia still feels that the creation of iron painting is an art that can never be learned and is always worth exploring. "Whether it is a landscape painting of Chinese painting or a flower-and-bird painting, iron painting can be expressed, but when you are deeply immersed in it, you will find that iron painting is too deep."
"The charm and vitality of details are the key to the success of an iron painting." Chu Jinxia said: "The material of creation is iron, the hammer is a tool, and the painting is in the heart. These are all available, so that your work can blossom at the bottom of the hammer. "
Chu Jinxia's 60-year creative road was hammered out. "In my life dictionary, there seems to be only two words,' iron painting'." Looking back on her creative career, Chu Jinxia often said that this is the art she will always pursue. She said that creating iron paintings requires both physical and mental work, which is a skill with both collective wisdom and mental wisdom. Sometimes you even need to concentrate all your strength on one hand. Women are not suitable for this skill, but they have already become iron ladies.
We should pass on the iron painting skills.
Determined to inherit the iron painting skills, Chu Jinxia has not only experienced ups and downs for 60 years, but also brought many apprentices and students, and let her eldest daughter enter the industry to continue the inheritance. Today, Chu Jinxia's disciples have been engaged in iron painting creation for twenty or thirty years.
But what worries Chu Jinxia most is the inheritance of iron paintings. After hundreds of years of development, iron painting has had its glory and its trough. In recent decades, Chu Jinxia has personally experienced the ups and downs of iron painting.
At the end of 1990s, due to various reasons, Wuhu Arts and Crafts Factory declined, and only a handful of old artists won the essence of iron painting. There are large and small iron painting workshops in the society. Some iron paintings are shoddy and mixed, and Wuhu iron paintings are in a downturn. Chu Jinxia saw it in her eyes and was anxious in her heart.
In 2002, Chu Jinxia resolutely retired, founded Wuhu Chu Shi Tiehua Arts and Crafts Co., Ltd., rented a building as a factory building, and embarked on a difficult road to entrepreneurship. She pays attention to production, management, running the market and taking apprentices. Her greatest wish is not only to inherit the traditional craft of iron painting in her own hands, but also to carry it forward.
After several years of hard work, Chu's iron painting has now become a leading enterprise in Wuhu iron painting industry and is favored by the market. In 2005, Wuhu iron painting was included in the first batch of national intangible cultural heritage, and Chu Jinxia felt extremely gratified.
Today, Chu's iron paintings have been passed down for a hundred years, and have gone through three generations of Chu family. Chu Jinxia also wants more people to know about and enter the iron painting, and wants the art of iron painting to become a hobby of young people. She often said that, as a treasure of China folk art, the iron painting skills have not been easily passed down so far, so she can't be the "watcher" of Wuhu iron painting.
postscript
Iron painting is only the representative and epitome of many traditional cultures in China. Wuhu Iron Painting is a gorgeous artistic wonder in China Arts and Crafts Park, a work of art with spiritual connotation in China traditional culture and a classic masterpiece of Huizhou culture. The forging skill of iron painting is "a must in China".
Iron painting originated in Wuhu, and only in Wuhu. This unique craft needs to be passed down from generation to generation and carried forward.
In recent years, Wuhu iron painting takes "intangible cultural brand" as the core, constantly bringing forth the old and bringing forth the new. While highlighting the rich history and culture, we actively combine intangible skills with modern life. It not only inherits the classic "intangible time-honored brand" but also leads the trend of "fashionable new domestic products". It is exquisite in craftsmanship, exquisite in packaging, close to the current consumer demand, deeply loved by the public, showing its distinctive quality, and has become an important carrier for the public to understand Wuhu.
At present, the iron painters in Wuhu, represented by Chu Jinxia, are trying to innovate the great traditional craft of iron painting creation, so that it can return to people's vision and reproduce its glory. Chu Jinxia, the inheritor of iron painting for 60 years, explained the protection, inheritance, innovation and development of iron painting with practical actions.
The pursuit of art is endless. Only on the basis of inheriting the tradition, dare to innovate, further explore and protect, can the flower of folk art never fade and bloom forever.
This article was published in the 508th issue of Shenzhou.
Author | Shi Kai Dong Yuping
Edit | Skye