"My hometown is still there. Although it is not the same as it was when I was a child, I can still go back. Through painting and writing, I really want to return to the hometown of my heart, a hometown where I can settle my soul." When the well-known painter Li Xueming, who is over 70 years old, talked about his hometown, his words were simple and honest, and full of nostalgia.
The "Endless Intentions - Li Xueming Chinese Painting Exhibition" (April 26-May 6), hosted by the National Art Museum of China, Shandong Federation of Literary and Art Circles, Shandong University, etc., is on display at the National Art Museum of China these days. It includes four major sections: "Forgetting the Forest and the Spring, Relaxing in the Mountains and Lakes, Thinking of Hometown, and Cultivating the Spring Garden". The most impressive ones are "Thinking of Hometown" and "Cultivating the Spring Garden", which are based on Li Xueming's life, hometown customs and folk customs. The Paper recently had a conversation with Li Xueming about his creative journey.
"In the courtyard, pears and dates ripen in August, and I can climb the tree a thousand times a day"
Li Xueming was born in Shen County, Shandong Province in 1954. He is a professor at Shandong Institute of Arts and Crafts and an honorary professor at Shandong University. He is also a painter with considerable cultural character and artistic personality in the field of contemporary Chinese figure painting, and is particularly well-known for his paintings of rural areas and folk customs.
Painter Li Xueming
Thinking of my hometown, I return to my hometown through writing
The Paper : What impressed me most in the exhibition at the National Art Museum of China were the two sections “Thinking of My Hometown” and “Ploughing the Spring Garden”, which are imbued with memories of and attachment to the countryside. Could you first tell me about your impression of the countryside?
Li Xueming (hereinafter referred to as Li ): Actually, I spent a long time in the countryside, from birth to 19 years old. Later, because my father worked in the county, my mother fell seriously ill in the spring of my 19th year. My father was worried and moved our family from the countryside to the county. Before that, I had lived in the countryside for 19 years. I participated in and experienced all the rural activities, such as farmers' associations, folk customs, New Year celebrations, floods, earthquakes, farm work, joys and sorrows. Our place is an ordinary Shandong village, belonging to Liaocheng. I am a fellow villager of Mr. Han Yu, and his hometown is more than 50 miles away.
The Paper: I remember a chat with Mr. Han Yu a few years ago. He was born in 1931. He talked about attending temple fairs when he was a child and the impression was still very clear. He remembered that there was an ancient temple in his childhood village with murals in the temple. The folk New Year paintings, folk paper-cuts, and country operas had a profound influence on him.
Li : My place is just an ordinary rural village. There is an ancient kiln to the east of the village, where kilns were fired in the past. There is an ancient tomb over there, but it is not a wealthy family. Further in is the Tuhai River, which is a very old river and is considered one of the nine rivers dredged by the Yu Dynasty. It flows into the East China Sea. It is seven or eight miles from our village to the county town. There is a Song Dynasty tower in the county town, but it was destroyed in the 1960s. There are really some interesting people in our village. My uncle is very interesting. He can't read a word, but he can draw and make kites. He can make all kinds of kites. He is very skillful. He can make airplanes, butterflies, bees, swallows, and everything else.
My grandfather was a local paper-making artist. Many villages were not as good as him. When I was a child, my grandfather drew the lanterns for the Lantern Festival. My grandfather made lanterns every Spring Festival. At that time, the village still had a bit of ancient style. Every family had lanterns, but the paper on the lanterns would be damaged after a few days. During the Spring Festival, they would send lantern frames and ask my grandfather to paste them. Every year, I put a bed of them. I have a very deep impression of that. My father was a well-known cultural person in the five or six villages in our area. He was a well-known calligrapher in the local area. At that time, people often asked him to write couplets. I really like calligraphy and painting because I was influenced by my grandfather, my uncle, and my father since I was a child. It is a comprehensive influence.
There was another interesting person next to our village. He was a folk painter who painted monkeys, tigers and other animals. I loved to see them at that time. These memories are too deeply impressed in my mind. I have felt since I was a child that there is nothing better than painting.
"Lights on the Night"
Spring Comes to the Mountains
The Paper: You watch them do these things every day. So I see that there are quite a few Lantern Festival lanterns you painted in the exhibition. Perhaps they can also be regarded as memories of your childhood, memories of your grandfather and father in your childhood memories?
Li: I saw all of this with my own eyes, and I just wanted to express these memories. Last time I went to Mr. Feng Jicai's home, he said he was also from Shandong - his mother was from Jining and lived to be 103 years old. He said these paintings brought back many memories of his childhood.
The Paper: Visiting the exhibition brought back many childhood memories for me, because we also made lanterns when we were young. When I saw your "Starry Sky", I thought of lying on the grass with my friends on a summer night when I was a child and looking at the sky full of stars. It was so beautiful. Just a few strokes, very simple, but it brought back many memories for me.
Starry Sky
Li: These are my childhood memories. Mr. Feng Jicai also said that these scenes in the painting are not added casually, but are the result of emotions. To paint these, you must first move yourself.
The Paper: When did you start consciously painting rural folk themes?
Li: This is not a conscious act. I used to paint normally, but in recent years, as I’ve gotten older, my attachment to the countryside has become stronger, so I want to paint these things and express these memories.
The Paper: It’s a bit like the essays of Wang Zengqi’s rural memories written when he was in his sixties. The people who pulled carts and sold pulp in the ancient city of Gaoyou that he wrote about were very moving. They were all small people, and there was a kind of ordinary beauty in them. I think your portraits are as touching as the essays of his childhood memories. I see that you also pay attention to long postscripts, which is related to reading.
vegetable
Li: Because I have been at home since I was a child, I missed the good time for reading. Fortunately, there are several books at home.
The Paper: You are lucky. You were born in the 1950s and grew up in a period of great changes in the historical environment. There was even a time when there was a theory that "studying is useless."
Li: That’s right. When I was studying, there were really few books to read. I couldn’t even borrow a book if I wanted to read one. People who read books don’t necessarily paint, but people who paint must read books. The ancients once said, “The deeper the source, the longer the flow.” When a painter reads, he is seeking the source of his brush and ink, drawing nourishment from the source and consolidating his foundation. Books open up the mind, expand the mind, and nourish the literary mind. Over time, the temperament will change, and the painting will have the air of elegance and bookishness.
The Paper: Reading cultivates your temperament, and now it comes to your painting. What kind of change process is this?
Li: I started painting birds and landscapes, and I put a lot of effort into it. I went to college at Qufu Normal University, the Art Department of Qufu Normal University. The Art Department had two majors, fine arts and music. It was very informal at the time, and there were no teachers. At that time, everyone was mixed together. The most important thing was that there were no teachers, because it was the first class, and our department head hired teachers from all over the country, and we taught whatever teachers we hired.
Over the years, as I have grown older and my mind has changed, I have also developed a new yearning for painting styles. In the past, I have painted landscapes, flowers and birds, and ladies. I have painted complex and simple paintings, from complex to simple, from simple to complex, and I have repeated this process several times. Then I continue to understand the intentions of the ancients from their classics.
The Paper: Art is about respecting and discovering people’s inner world and discovering freedom. Time will make choices. This is very important. True art is chosen by time, not by power and capital.
Li: Anyway, it’s enough to just draw it now and feel free.
The Paper: I saw a handwritten article on display in the exhibition hall that specifically wrote the word "free".
Li: Being at ease is a state of mind. In my paintings, things like farm fruits and vegetables, music, chess, calligraphy and painting are all common to me. These themes are actually an expression and description of my life state. They are a natural expression of life without any deliberateness. I feel very happy and at ease when I paint these themes.
"Mountain Dwelling"
Li: I have been transferred to Jinan for 40 years. I am now in my old age. I bought a small courtyard and planted some vegetables in it. The process of planting and harvesting these vegetables is endless fun. It reminds me of the feelings in the countryside in the past. Why don’t I paint flowers and birds? I rarely paint these things. I just paint what I see in the vegetable garden. Sometimes I feel very moved and happy when I paint these things. This kind of freedom and happiness cannot be experienced by non-painters.
The Paper: This kind of happiness is truly indescribable to outsiders, just like being able to vaguely touch Tao Yuanming’s thoughts.
Li: Some time ago, I drew a winnowing basket with a basket of dates inside. There are many date trees in our village, and we have a date tree at home. We pick dates every year. The process of picking dates is so exciting. After finishing the painting, I feel very happy. I have a fellow villager who feels the same way. He said that we also have a date pole at home. When I saw your painting, I had tears in my eyes, and I missed my hometown. Now those date trees are gone and no longer exist.
The Paper: There is a saying that "everyone's hometown is falling", but everyone hopes to have their own utopia and home in their hearts, so you are actually building a garden on paper, going home on paper, returning home on paper, and returning home through pen and ink.
Li: Actually, this idea comes from the fact that although my hometown still exists and is no longer the same as it was when I was a child, I can still go back there. Through painting and writing, I really want to return to the hometown of my heart, a hometown where I can settle my soul.
From Qi Baishi and He You to Jin Dongxin
The Paper: I think Qi Baishi lived in Beijing in his later years. The shrimps, fish, frogs, lotus ponds, etc. he painted are all memories of his hometown, a spiritual return to his hometown. He really relied on this group of works to become famous. If it weren't for these paintings and calligraphy full of memories of his hometown, he would not have become the Qi Baishi who had such a huge influence later on.
Li: That’s for sure, Qi Baishi is very talented.
The Paper: He is a person who has sudden enlightenment, unlike scholars. He is born with supernatural powers. I saw the group of Qi Baishi's figure paintings that you exhibited on site. They were well painted. Because I particularly like Baishi, I felt moved when I read them.
Li: I like Qi Baishi very much, because Mr. Qi Baishi is really genuine. The most valuable thing about him is that he expresses the things in his heart in his most ingenious language in a simple and unpretentious way. For example, I think his paintings of cabbage are unprecedented and unparalleled, as are the shrimps. His paintings of candles and cut salted eggs are probably about his life in the countryside.
Li Xueming's Painting of Qi Baishi
The Paper: That was what he saw and heard, and it was filled with deep emotions. I remember subscribing to a magazine called "Composition" when I was in elementary school. The cover at that time often published Qi Baishi's paintings, such as cherries and shrimps. When you read them, you could feel the transparency in the air and the true taste of the world, including the cut salted duck eggs and candles you mentioned. I have also experienced such a life, so I can feel it particularly deeply.
Li: If you calm down and look at his candles, you will find that they are dancing, especially the flame of the candle and the one that catches the candle below. It is so subtle that it cannot be expressed in oil paintings. He draws it in one stroke, and it is truly a stroke of genius.
The Paper: Qi Baishi’s drawings are sometimes labeled “a stroke in the morning”, which seems to be careless, but looking at many of his drafts, he clearly marked which lines to use light ink and which to use thick ink, very fine ones, like this candle, which must have taken a lot of work. I think of him as a carpenter, and every stroke of his knife and brush is very accurate, powerful, and very precise.
Li: Yes, you can see the cabbage he painted. It is so touching. In my hometown, we use sweet potato vines to make cabbage. We soak the sweet potato vines in water and then we make cabbage when it is almost the beginning of winter. When I saw him painting that cabbage, it was so vivid. People who have had this experience were touched.
The Paper: I remember receiving the book "My View on Qi Baishi" sent by Mr. Han Yu a few days ago. The 94-year-old man is still reading about Qi Baishi and writing his thoughts, which shows the charm of Qi Baishi.
Li: That's true. Art can transcend time and space.
The Paper : We say that Qi Baishi is good at painting fish and shrimp in the mountains, but in fact his landscape paintings are also extremely good. I have always believed that his landscape paintings are the real innovation of Chinese landscape paintings.
Li: He painted the willows in the landscape so well. One of his paintings moved me so much because I have this experience. The foreground of the painting is a group of dead trees, and the background is all red. I have experienced this image. When I was a child, there was a flood in our village. My grandfather and I fled to Hebei. After the flood receded, on the way home from Hebei, we suddenly encountered a red glow at dusk. Since then, I have never seen such a red glow in my life. The red glow reflected everything red, and there were thousands of dragonflies on the water, and the dragonflies were all red.
Qi Baishi's landscape paintings
The Paper: I have also experienced such images. Of course, what I saw was not exactly the same, but the mood was the same. Perhaps Mr. Bai Shi was also moved by the scenery back then, and he couldn't stop thinking about it and painted it, which moved you and me.
Li : Yes. So again, you must have this experience. Qi Baishi is the painter who has had a profound influence on me, and the other one is Jin Dongxin.
The Paper: I see that your painting of lotus leaves in the lake was directly influenced by Jin Dongxin. In fact, Qi Baishi was also greatly influenced by Jin Dongxin. Among the Eight Eccentrics of Yangzhou, Jin Dongxin's style is the highest, simple, with a good atmosphere and high style.
Li: His cultural knowledge is much deeper than that of other painters.
The Paper: He also collects things, and he has a deep cultural background. He started painting relatively late, in his fifties, so he was not very good at it, but being very good at it was a good thing. He was not very familiar with the paintings, and he painted freshly. Thinking about it, the "freshness and maturity" of Chinese painting and calligraphy is also very interesting, because freshness is related to the inner interest and freedom.
Li: In fact, for a painter, the most important thing is consciousness. The direction of artistic pursuit is the most important. At a certain point, the skills are secondary. It is true. But Chinese painting is still about this stroke. If this stroke is not good, it will not work. Even if you have ideas and good consciousness, you can't express them.
The Paper: What Mr. Bai Shi always pursued was truth, including what he said about “similarity and dissimilarity” in his paintings, which was also a manifestation of his pursuit of truth.
Li: This is easier said than done. It is not something that can be done overnight. How can we distinguish “similar from dissimilar”? It is actually a long-term process.
The Paper: So we say “accidental success” and “harmony between mind and hand”. It is very difficult to achieve these two goals.
Li : It seems simple, but it is actually not simple. It is not simple, but concise, winning more with less, and these are what we pursue in the end.
The Paper: The same is true of Jin Nong. He painted orchids, bamboos, and calamus in double-hooked strokes. His paintings were simple but full of meaning.
Li : The inscription on the calamus he painted is really great.
The Paper: Yes, for example, “Don’t be surprised that calamus flowers are rare, they won’t bloom unless they meet a bosom friend” and “A barren woman marries a man from the calamus family, and they have to drink water every morning and have no food to eat”, both of which left a deep impression on us.
Jin Nong's "Acorus"
Li: His cultural atmosphere and connotation, so when I look at his paintings, his poems about calamus are really well written, and I try to make up for it in this area.
The Paper: Jin Nong's best work is his style and atmosphere, which influenced Qi Baishi. Among the "Eight Eccentrics of Yangzhou", his style and atmosphere are the best. Before the "Eight Eccentrics of Yangzhou" were Bada and Shitao, each of whom has his own merits. Bada is pure and simple, while Shitao is broad. Although sometimes it feels mixed with mud and sand, it has a strong sense of worldly life.
Li: Yes. And Hongren, I like him too.
The Paper: Your landscapes are obviously influenced by Hongren, and of course Hongren was greatly influenced by Ni Zan.
Li: Paintings like those by Hongren are really a wake-up call for those who are learning to sketch from life. I told my students before that sketching from life has become a trend now. People sketch from life at any time, just like taking photos. When sketching from life, they copy everything on the picture, even a can of soda. I told them to look at Hongren's "Sketch of Huangshan" when they were sketching. He really did a lot of sketching from life.
Hongren's Huangshan Pictures
The Paper: Many sketches nowadays are done with the eyes, not with the heart. Hongren's sketches are definitely not sketches of the scene, and the same is true for Huang Binhong. Sometimes he might just make a few strokes, and then come back to develop them, memorize them silently, and imagine them in a wonderful way. Chinese painting sketches are different from Western perspective sketches. The eyes of Chinese painting are the mind, which can travel and roam the mind to the ends of the earth. It is completely different.
Li: It’s completely different. The Chinese way of painting is to travel and observe. How should we paint using their method?
The Paper: I think your painting "Watching Snow at the Lakeside Pavilion" can be called a tour. In fact, Zhang Dai's "Watching Snow at the Lakeside Pavilion" and Su Dongpo's "Red Cliff" and "Record of a Night Tour of Chengtian Temple" are all very picturesque.
Li: Why are Su Dongpo's articles so good? He is a great painter, and his articles have a strong sense of picture. In fact, there were many theories of freehand brushwork since Su Dongpo's time. This existed in the Han Dynasty. When it came to Qi Baishi, there was a great improvement in integrating freehand brushwork with folk art.
The Paper: Qi Baishi is considered to be a huge turning point in Chinese literati painting, which has something to do with the fact that he was a carpenter. Chinese art has two inheritance lines: one is literati painting, and the other is folk art. From the folk art of the Han Dynasty to folk carpenters like Qi Baishi, there has actually not been much of a break. The good thing about Qi Baishi is that he found the point of combination.
Li: I really like folk art. The current so-called art academy styles are all from the West, the Soviet Union, drawing sketches, light and shadow, but it is not good for learning Chinese painting, not at all, it restricts Chinese painting, because they look at one thing and paint one thing, even if they look at it several times, they can't paint a single stroke, Chinese painting is exactly not like that. For example, if you want to draw a person on a wall, you can start from a toe and paint upwards.
The Paper: I think of Mr. He Youzhi and Mr. Cheng Shifa from Shanghai. They draw people from the hands and feet, and they can start from anywhere.
Li: I admire He Youzhi so much. His "Great Changes in Mountain Villages" is the pinnacle of comic strips. No one can surpass him.
The Paper: He is also very good at leaving blank space. Has your use of blank space been influenced by him? Mr. He’s use of blank space is so good.
Li: When I was studying at the Art Department in Qufu, the teacher's figure paintings were called "copying", which was copying He Youzhi's.
The Paper: When I was a kid, I copied He Youzhi's comic strips. When he was alive, I had a long conversation with him. I remember he talked about painting horses in line drawing. One line is enough to show the horse's skeleton and body, whether it is thin or fat, strong or able to run. Two or three lines can show it. One line is equivalent to tens of millions of lines.
Li: That’s right, no one can catch up with him in this respect.
The Paper: He is also a talented person. "The Great Changes in a Mountain Village" was created when he went to Hunan to experience life. He said that he did not sketch on the spot, but when he came back he could even remember clearly how to place a stool. His wife said that his brain was like a camera. This is really a talent.
Li: He changed it several times. At first it was not line drawing, then it was light and shadow. Later he felt that these things were not working, so he went back to line drawing in the end.
The Paper: He told me at the time that he later drew a lot of inspiration from Chen Laolian and "Along the River During the Qingming Festival".
Li: Yes, you see how he has changed from there to here, it’s amazing. A painter learns things and draws on them, this is what it means to borrow, a true master.
The Paper: It must have had a great impact on you. I remember Mr. He’s painting “I Come from the Folk” depicted his own growing up experience. There are many folk customs in it, including his mother and aunt visiting the graves, and various folk customs of Ningbo. It was pure line drawing, and I was very moved when I read it.
He Youzhi's "I Come from the People" Part 1
Li: His line drawing is really unsurpassed. Good things must be simple, and the characters he painted are so simple.
The Paper: Folk art retains many of the most simple, freehand and essential elements of Chinese art.
Li: That's right. The folk modeling is extremely simple and exaggerated. Why do we want to make it vivid? We keep the most typical and vivid things. For example, the Maitreya Buddha has a big head, which is exaggerated to the extreme, but at first glance, it is like the pottery and terracotta warriors of the Han Dynasty.
The Paper: When I look at paintings from the heyday of the Tang Dynasty now, I don’t find much resonance with them. Instead, I like the paintings from the early Tang Dynasty, which continued the style of the Sui Dynasty and the Southern and Northern Dynasties. The paintings of the Wei, Jin, Southern and Northern Dynasties each have their own merits. Of course, I like the Han Dynasty the most, because it is simple, vigorous, and full of innocence.
Li: That's right. The stone tiger in front of Huo Qubing's tomb is very touching. It is so vivid in its similarity and dissimilarity. Many people have preserved this kind of thing, such as some bamboo carvings and wood carvings, which are very touching.
"Endless Meaning" and Seeing Me in Paintings
The Paper: Why is this exhibition called “Endless Meaning”?
Li: I came up with the name "Endless Meaning". Actually, I asked other people to come up with some names, but I always felt that I didn't express what I wanted to express in my heart. Later, I called it "Endless Meaning" because I was influenced by a poem. In fact, in Chinese painting, I have been painting for decades, more than half a century, and I have been painting over and over again. In fact, when I was almost old, I realized a little meaning and painted a little meaning on paper. What is this meaning? This meaning may be style, taste, realm, heart, and emotion. These are the soul of painting. Without these, painting has no soul. Why is Chinese painting so lively? It is because of this "meaning". When this is found, the painter will be interesting and the painting will be interesting.
The Paper: Yes, and this requires life cultivation, experience, style and realm. The word "freehand" is said too much, just like many common colloquialisms. Sometimes you don’t know how to appreciate it, but once you do, it’s like the word "intention", there is a lot to explore.
Tea Drinking in Thatched Cottage
Li: Yes, that’s actually what we are pursuing.
The Paper: I remember when I talked about freehand painting with Han Yu many years ago, he talked about the turning point of Chinese art, that is, whether there is "I" or not. After seeing "I" in the painting, it is different. That is, the painter discovered the function of "I", the function of lyrical freehand painting, which is directly related to thoughts, the expression of emotions, and the feeling of life. In fact, Western art is also like this, such as Impressionism, which is actually the discovery of "I". Cezanne, Monet, and Van Gogh all discovered the meaning of "I" in their works.
Li: Yes, Chinese painting focuses on an "I". With an "I", the painter spends his whole life honing his brush and ink, accumulating skills, or writing, accumulating in all aspects.
The Paper: "I" is the mind, life state, emotions, etc., so Shen Congwen likes to say: "According to my thinking, you can understand 'I'; according to my thinking, you can know 'people'." "Seeing me" is not only about painting, but also about writing.
Li: “Meeting me” is also a big topic and a very long process.
The Paper: Chinese art has always been about the refinement of a line. A line represents the painter or writer's emotions, life state, and cultivation. Therefore, only people with cultivation can see it. Ordinary people cannot see it. There is a threshold here.
Li: I really can’t tell. When I first went to college, I took a freehand painting class. Teacher Chen Yupu was quite famous. He once said that this stroke contains life, cultivation, and everything. At that time, I didn’t understand how this stroke could contain so many things! After so many years of cultivation and life experience, I have worn out so many pens and torn so many papers. Then, when my hair turned white, I gradually realized that this stroke contains so many things. It is not empty. The truth is simple. In the end, I can really see so many things.
The Paper: It is different for a painter to have these qualities or not. The texture, turning and pause of the lines will affect you. I have seen that the composition of some of your paintings pays great attention to leaving blank space, such as "Starry Sky" and "Watching the Sunrise", which leave blank space very well, the so-called "knowing white as black".
Li: One of the wonderful things about Chinese painting is that it is about black and white, virtuality and reality. When Chinese people paint Chinese paintings, it is very important to handle "virtual" and "real" well. I have been particularly fond of Bada Shanren in the past ten years. His "Lanting Preface" is so good that I have copied it many times.
The Paper: Bada Shanren is truly a pinnacle of freehand painting by Chinese literati. His appearance is almost a miracle. On the one hand, due to the changes in his country and his special status as a descendant of the Ming royal family, he is similar to Shitao. However, Shitao is more worldly, while Bada is more refined. He elevates the great sorrow of his country and family to the realm of cosmic life. This is different. The same is true for Li Houzhu Li Yu.
Li: Because they have experienced it personally. Only when you have experienced it personally, the ups and downs, the openings and closings, can you understand some things deeply.
The Paper: There is a kind of thinking about life. We have always said that Chinese literati painting is not an ontological language of painting, but a language of culture and life.
Li: You have to experience it yourself. There is a qualitative difference between having it and not having it. Chinese paintings show the heart and the truth. If it is a little fake, it will be exposed.
The Paper: I remember chatting with Zhu Xinjian 20 years ago, when he was still alive. In 2006, after his first exhibition in Shanghai, I chatted with him. At the end, I asked him to express his pursuit of writing in a few words or in the most concise language. He replied, "Just four words - 'sincerity and simplicity'. I would be very satisfied if I could achieve these four words, but there may still be something missing."
Li: Zhu Xinjian's writing is very high and very genuine. Most people cannot understand him. His artistic pursuit is beyond the reach of most people. His purity is amazing. Sincerity and simplicity may be what we pursue.
- SuBsboYYVkQ05/06/2025