Over 80 years ago, the renowned scholar of literature and history, Zhang Shizhao, viewing an exhibition of Deng Sanmu (1898-1963), lamented, "Such a remarkable man exists in the world, yet the world remains oblivious to him. This seems to be a public disgrace for scholars."
Deng Sanmu, a seal carver, poet, and calligrapher who formerly used the pseudonym "Fen Weng," has had a profound influence on modern and contemporary calligraphy and seal carving. Shanghai is his hometown, yet Deng Sanmu has remained largely forgotten for decades. On August 8th, the opening ceremony and academic exchange meeting for "The Artistic World of Deng Sanmu: A Giant Blade and a Rafter Brush Dominate" took place at the Shanghai Shanghai Art Museum. Bringing together over 300 works by Deng Sanmu, including calligraphy, seal carving, documents, and manuscripts, this exhibition is the largest Deng Sanmu exhibition to date. The exhibition is not only a comprehensive review of Deng Sanmu's artistic career, but also a journey through the cultural roots of this forgotten master of modern and contemporary art, a true return home for him.
The Paper saw at the scene that in the center of the exhibition hall, echoing the numerous calligraphy and paintings and diary manuscripts, is a 1:1 restoration of Deng Sanmu's former residence at No. 62, Maoyi Li, Shanhaiguan Road, Shanghai. The simple interior includes the desk, bookcase, mottled mahogany couch, carving knife and stationery used by Mr. Deng Sanmu during his lifetime, as well as the "toilet building" hanging on the wall, making people feel as if they are approaching this Shanghai artist who is concerned about his hometown.
Deng Sanmu practiced calligraphy at his home in Beijing in the 1960s
"The Art World of Deng Sanmu: A Master of His Brushstrokes" exhibition
Deng Sanmu (1898-1963), a prominent figure in modern Chinese art history, was born in Shanghai. Originally named Juchu, he later changed his given name to Tie, with the courtesy name Dutie. In his thirties, he adopted the pseudonym "Fenweng." In his "Sixty-Year Self-Evaluation," he confessed: "At the age of thirty, I dropped my surname and courtesy name and used the name Fen. Not to impress, but simply to express my loneliness and anger." Following the victory of the Anti-Japanese War in 1945, he changed his pseudonym to "Sanmu," a reference to the "unsuitable wood" in Zhuangzi. He was once known alongside Qi Baishi as "Deng of the South and Qi of the North," and alongside Wu Changshuo, Wang Bingtie, and Qian Shoutie as one of the "Four Irons of Jiangnan." His artistic career was closely intertwined with the vicissitudes of his time. He exemplified the rebellious and innovative spirit of the Shanghai School of Art and epitomized the perseverance and breakthrough of traditional scholars amidst modern transformation. In his later years, Deng Sanmu traveled to Beijing to practice simplified Chinese calligraphy and carved seals with his left hand, his technique abrupt and unique. He later died in Beijing.
In seal carving, he initially studied the Zhejiang and Anhui schools, then took Qin and Han seals as his primary focus, drawing on the essence of ancient scripts such as bronze inscriptions, imperial edicts, and seals, developing a unique style characterized by its "raw, sharp, and powerful" quality. In calligraphy, he was early influenced by Xiao Tui'an, developing a solid foundation in small seal script. In his later years, he evolved into cursive seal script, incorporating elements of oracle bone script and bamboo and silk script, with a strong contrast of thick and thin lines, embodying the spirit of both epigraphy and freehand brushwork. His poetry and prose, expressing his true feelings, embody the styles of Li Bai, Du Fu, Su Shi, and Huang Ting, combining boldness and melancholy, revealing a deep sense of patriotism and a sense of indignation. His book, Seal Carving, remains a canonical classic in the field, encompassing both historical, theoretical, and practical aspects.
From Fen Weng's publicity to Sanmu's forbearance, it is a microcosm of the spiritual evolution of modern intellectuals. This exhibition at the Shanghai Art Museum can also be said to be a touching journey that integrates personal feelings, academic mission and cultural return.
Exhibition site
Exhibition curator Shi Junping explained that the exhibition is divided into six sections: Family Documents, Exploring Calligraphy, Cultural Heritage, Inscriptions on Epigraphy, Friendships with Teachers, and Mysterious Records of Classics. The exhibition features hundreds of exhibits, including rare family documents, original calligraphy and seal carving works, and diaries. In addition to the collections at the Deng Sanmu Art Museum in Jinshan District, the exhibition also showcases a large collection of Deng Sanmu's calligraphy, seal carving, manuscripts, and documents collected by the Shanghai School of Art Museum. Notably, the exhibition also meticulously recreates Deng Sanmu's former residence (62 Maoyili, Shanhaiguan Road, Shanghai), allowing visitors to immerse themselves in Deng Sanmu's artistic achievements and spiritual world.
After Mr. Deng Sanmu passed away, his wife Zhang Jianquan donated more than 2,000 of his posthumous works to the Heilongjiang Provincial Museum in 1983. More than ten years ago, cultural scholar Zhang Jingjun had the chance to collect more than 3,000 pieces of Deng Sanmu's relics, including calligraphy, manuscripts, seals, stationery, diaries, etc., and later spent several years compiling the "Deng Sanmu Diary" of hundreds of thousands of words. From the lines, he deeply felt the homesickness of Deng Sanmu in his later years when he engraved seals such as "Home on the West Bank of Pujiang River" and "Jiangnan People", so he made the ambition of "sending Mr. Deng home", which was also to fulfill Deng Sanmu's unfinished homesickness.
"Mr. Deng Sanmu had a difficult last year, and this is a belated exhibition. The preparation process was truly moving. For such an obscure artist, it seems a little too late. However, in terms of cultural heritage and the length of his artistic life, it is not too late." According to the exhibition's academic director, Gu Cunyan, "This exhibition is a true 'homecoming' for Mr. Sanmu, and his iron pen, indignant, and Shanghai style are clearly visible. In addition to the works collected by the Deng Sanmu Art Museum, the exhibition also features a large number of seal carvings, calligraphy and paintings, and documents collected by the Shanghai Haipai Art Museum. The richness and depth of the works, and the comprehensiveness and three-dimensionality of the documents, are enough to outline Mr. Sanmu's legendary life. It can also be said to be a painful history of intellectuals cast in the form of calligraphy and seal carving."
Exhibition site
Documentary digging: From work certificates and pocket diaries to the restoration of former residences
The first part of the exhibition is family documents, including a large number of Mr. Deng Sanmu’s old photos, certificates, diaries, novel manuscripts, notes, as well as carving knives, brushes, watches, handwritten chess pieces and pliers, wood files, etc.
Manuscripts on display
Deng Sanmu's handwriting
Inside the exhibition hall, a palm-sized diary rests quietly within a glass display case. This pocket-sized diary, written by Deng Sanmu himself, features densely woven cursive script, each character as fine as a mustard seed (approximately 2-3 mm). Its classical Chinese, devoid of punctuation, records the artist's heartbreaking account of amputation, injustice, and homesickness in his later years. In the 1950s and 1960s, he painstakingly carved a "Kui Yizu" seal with a knife tied to his left arm. He also penned poignant verses such as "Yin and Yang cannot rob my bones" and "The lowly scholar is left with only ghosts to sing in return," each line revealing the unwavering spirit of a scholar.
Echoing the diary manuscripts is a 1:1 replica of the former residence at No. 62, Maoyili, Shanhaiguan Road, Shanghai, and its study, located in the center of the exhibition hall. Many of the furniture here are original pieces owned by Deng Sanmu. The mottled mahogany couch, simple bookcase, homemade "three-purpose calendar" (a wooden structure for checking the lunar solar terms), and carving tools allude to the owner's resilience in the face of adversity in his later years: even with a crippled leg, he still cherished the changing times. The food basket and drinking utensils allude to his past, when he "gambled on drinking 50 kilograms of rice wine and, after intoxication, denounced current politics."
Deng Sanmu's study was restored, and all the furniture are his relics.
Particularly valuable is the systematic exhibition of the Deng family archives for the first time, covering family trees, letters and early works. A large number of newspapers related to Deng Sanmu from the Republic of China period are restored and displayed, revealing his artistic genes from the Shanghai teenager Deng Juchu to the "Jiangnan Jijiu".
Deng Sanmu's handwritten chess
The suitcase used by Mr. Deng Sanmu
Calligraphy, Painting, and Epigraphy: Deeply Involved in Tradition While Daring to Create Originality
Entering the calligraphy, painting, and seal carving exhibition area, Deng Sanmu's artistic spirit, deeply rooted in tradition yet daring to create his own, is clearly evident. Among them, one can admire Deng Sanmu's signature seal, "Fen Weng." The traditional Chinese character for "糞" (dung) has been disassembled and reconstructed. The upper "米" (rice) resembles a rice ear torn by a strong wind, while the lower "共" (common) has twisted strokes like tangled tree roots. The surrounding borders are broken up, almost reaching the characters themselves, tight at the top and loose at the bottom, with red left to create a contrast of density. The most intriguing aspect is the left corner of the central square of "翁" (weng) and numerous strokes, which he left open with a broken knife technique, as if a dung basket had been punctured. This seemingly "unusual" treatment actually conceals the scholar's pride.
The Giant Blade and the Rafter Brush Dominate the World: Deng Sanmu's Art World Exhibition Hall
Exhibition of the giant couplet in official script by "General Dong Fuzi"
The monumental official script couplet "General Dong Fuzi," approximately 2.4 meters tall, exudes a powerful presence. This couplet emulates the style of Yi Bingshou of the Qing Dynasty, executed with a broad brush stroke, creating a thick, vigorous, and powerful calligraphy. Also on display is "Fountain Pen Calligraphy Model," China's first comprehensive hard-pen calligraphy copybook, a collaboration between Deng Sanmu and Bai Jiao. This pioneering work integrates the aesthetics of the brush with fountain pen writing—retaining the traditional rhythmic rhythm of the strokes while adding the sharp rhythm of modern writing. As a cornerstone of hard-pen calligraphy, this copybook has profoundly influenced subsequent generations, vividly witnessing the process of innovation in calligraphy through inheritance and a crystallization of calligraphic wisdom that transcends time.
In addition, the exhibition also presents many paintings by Mr. Deng Sanmu, including landscape fans, ink bamboo, etc.
Part of Deng Sanmu's calligraphy
Deng Sanmu's seal carving
Exhibition site
Cultural Heritage Returns: Seeking Tradition in Tradition
The "Teachers and Friendship" exhibition area includes many calligraphy works by Deng Sanmu's teachers Zhao Guni and Xiao Tui. In addition, the interactions between Deng Sanmu and Zhang Shizhao, Bai Jiao, Xu Beihong, Shen Yinmo, Lu Yanshao and others can be seen in their brushwork.
Part of Bai Jiao's calligraphy
Zhao Guni's calligraphy
A letter inscribed by Qi Gong on the "Complete Works of Deng Sanmu" and a preface manuscript attracted attention. In the preface, Qi Gong recalled his admiration and indignation for Fen Weng.
Qi Gong Manuscript
The "Classics and Mysteries" section displays an 80,000-word manuscript of "Seal Carving" in tiny regular script. The fourteen principles of composition, "the density and sparseness like the seal of a poor old man, so sparse that a horse can run through it, and the lightness and heaviness like the red borders of a dung-stamped old man, are actually the spiritual code built by the artist himself in troubled times.
Various versions of Seal Carving
On behalf of the Shanghai Haipai Art Museum, Executive Director Zhang Jianhua accepted an original rubbing of Deng Sanmu's seal donated by Li Mengyuan on behalf of the curatorial team.
At the symposium, experts and scholars from the art, academic, and collecting communities, including Zhang Qifeng, Shao Qi, Zhu Xiaodong, Zhang Weiyu, Chao Yukui, Yang Yong, Guan Jiping, Wang Ke, Ma Youjin, Yu Jianliang, Guo Shuquan, Zhou Jianguo, Chen Hui, Gu Gong, Qian Yidong, Tian Hong, and Wang Dongmin, spoke. Liu Yiwen, a member of the Shanghai Academy of Literature and History and a researcher of calligraphy and painting at the Shanghai Museum, and Gu Cunyan, the exhibition's academic director, gave concluding remarks.
Well-known disciples of Deng Sanmu include Ye Yin Gu, Shan Xiaotian, Su Bai, and Tang Lianbai. Liu Yiwen is Su Bai's disciple, but he has never met Deng Sanmu. He said that his teacher Su Bai's teachings to him were mainly through correspondence. "This probably reflects the influence Su Bai received from Mr. Deng. I also learned about the characteristics of my master's art and his character from Su Bai's introduction."
"Deng Sanmu's character and inner stubbornness made him learn so many characters in seal carving, writing them down stroke by stroke. This was not a question of perseverance, but a kind of obsession and persistence," said Shao Qi, a professor at Shanghai Normal University.
"Judging from his name, Mr. Deng Sanmu has a strong personality and is different from others. But is this person really that strong? What is the relationship between his artistic personality and his life?" said art scholar Gu Gong.
This academic exchange, combining keynote speeches with free discussion, inspired attendees to share their profound understanding and unique insights into Deng Sanmu's art from diverse perspectives. Participants expressed the view that Deng Sanmu, as a prominent representative of the Shanghai School of Art, possessed an artistic style characterized by uninhibited eccentricity, strength, and eccentricity, embodying the School's core spirit of inclusiveness and innovation. He pursued tradition within tradition, providing a vivid example of the perseverance and breakthroughs of traditional art in its modern transformation. His artistic achievements and academic value deserve further exploration and inheritance.
During the exhibition, Zhang Jingjun, director of the Deng Sanmu Art Museum, and Wang Dongmin, a doctoral student in art history and postdoctoral fellow in archaeology at Zhejiang University, gave guided tours of the exhibition hall; well-known seal engraver Liu Yiwen, Zhang Qifeng, professor at the School of Art of Nanjing University of Aeronautics and Astronautics, and calligrapher Guan Jiping conducted an analysis and conversation in front of the restored Deng Sanmu's former residence in the exhibition hall.
The exhibition will run until September 14th.
- PTTyPBuENtgzXOI08/09/2025