"2021 National Artwork Collection and Donation Program of the Ministry of Culture and Tourism of China"
The Restoration of Memory:
Study of the History of Yuan Yunsheng's Work 'Memories of the Water Town'
Organizer: CAFA Art Museum
Time: 2021/04/23–2021/05/01
Location: CAFAM 4th Floor
Academic Director: Su Xinping
Art Director: Zhang Zikang
Exhibition Supervisor: Wang Chunchen, Gao Gao
Curator: Li Yaochen
Mr. Yuan Yunsheng is a star of the 20th century Chinese painting circle, and a star that shines with the freedom of art and the thirst for knowledge. An outstanding artist cultivated by CAFA, he has always been standing on the frontline of his time. His CAFA graduation work Memories of the Watertown was quite 'controversial' at that time; in the beginning of the Reform and Opening-up, his mural painting "Ode to Life" at the Beijing Airport received great public attention. As he became more acknowledged, he decided to study abroad and explore modern art. He returned to China a decade later, and took part in the reconstruction of traditional Chinese plastic arts' teaching system. He has always been the center of the spotlight, yet his art style has never remined the same. The work of his show a strong vitality, the core of which is continuous breaking and making.
Group photo of the No.3 Painting Studio's teachers and students, taken after their graduation wrap-up meeting at the Zhongshan Park (From left to right: Dong Xiwen, Xu Xingzhi, Yuan Yunsheng, Wang Lu, Yan Tiezheng, Fei Zheng)
Yuan was passionate about art, and hardly compromised even if his works were controversial sometimes. We are curious about the faith behind this persistence.
Yuan Yunsheng, Self-portrait, 1962, oil on canvas, from artist's own collection
Memories of the Watertown was Yuan's bachelor degree graduation work created in 1962. It was his first ever mural painting draft, and also the starting point of his art career. We believe it's the best example to trace the painter's artistic spirit.
Yuan Yunsheng, Memories of the Watertown (after restoration in 2020), 243x245cm, 1962, oil on canvas, donated by the artist to CAFAM in 2021
In 2020, after three years of restoration work, the worn-out work once again returned to its glory, and went into the public's sight.
Jiang Feng once commented on the work: "If it was not damaged and exhibited in the public, I'm sure that the audience would voluntarily help redeem its good name. We can see the painter's talent from this experimental work."
Yuan Yunsheng, Memories of the Watertown draft, 23x29cm, 1962, oil on canvas, 2021, donated by the artist to CAFAM
Yuan Yunsheng's Memories
I was haunted by ghosts in that spring: One was Dunhuang - I just watched the blockbuster Dunhuang exhibition in Shanghai for ten days in a row; the other was Boguyezi painted by Chen Laolian. I imitated all 48 paintings from the work around the Spring Festival. To digest the new knowledge, I came to the town of Luzhi by the outskirts of Suzhou.
It was an ancient town, a town typical of watertowns south of the Yangtze River. People's, especially women's clothes were in harmony with the environment. Everything was left with the trace of ancient culture. There were rocks pointing out from the riverside above the water to fasten boats, which not only had holes in them, but also reliefs on the surface. I sat by the riverside, with a small package of fried noodles on my side, and watched the boats passing by while painting them with a bottle of ink. It was such a pleasant time.
Yuan Yunsheng, Footage No. 36 for Memories of the Watertown, 19.1x26.4cm, 1962, pencil on paper, donated by the artist to CAFAM in 2021
I sat in the upper bunk in my dorm and let my imagination roam under the dim light. Soon a 40cm wide paper was filled with wild pen sketches. It was the sketch for my graduation work, and it was approved by my teacher Dong Xiwen instantly. The intertwined pen lines stood for my deep nostalgia for my hometown. I then used smaller papers to draw a few sketches of figures and color sketches that could only offer me a little inspiration, and those were the only preparation work for my graduation painting. I couldn't wait to paint on the big canvas. I was fortunate to book the showroom where a huge number of traditional Chinese sculpture were stored. I felt that I could paint more boldly with the company of the crouching tiger sculpture found in front of Huo Qubing's tomb.
By then, I had practiced line drawing for months, and could draw a lot of figures on a 25x10cm cotton paper, and on a paper slightly larger than that I could draw a whole town. I put aside these practices, and let the figures appear in my mind naturally - the only thing I did was to organize them.
I remember that I first painted the thinking girl in the lower right corner. I gave her hope like I wanted myself to be hopeful. I started painting from details and finished it in a month. There were no more time for me to polish it.
What was my biggest gain from creating this painting? I think it was the self-confidence developed in the two months hard work of sketching from life. I felt much more comfortable without using any models, and in the end I even put aside the sketches - and as a result I got a painting much truer to myself. I think that was perhaps the power of honesty.
Yuan Yunsheng, My Mural Dream, 1980
Yuan Yunsheng, Draft of detail No.3 for Memories of the Watertown, 25x19cm, 1962, pencil on paper, donated by the artist to CAFAM in 2021
Yuan Yunsheng, Draft of detail No. 8 for Memories of the Watertown, 26.4x19.1cm, 1962, pencil on paper, donated by the artist to CAFAM in 2021
On Nov 30, 2020, Mr. Yuan Yunsheng wrote to CAFA director Fan Di'an, and told him that he wanted to donate his work Memories of the Watertown. In the letter he wrote: "This graduation work is the representation of my college years, a symbol of Mr. Dong Xiwen's education ideas on Chinese tradition and national aesthetics, as well as an evidence of the history of teaching at CAFA. It was a precious memory for me." It is believed that donation is the best destination of a work, and Mr. Yuan's donation is also his gesture to express his gratitude to CAFA that had cultivated him. While organizing the work, we surprisingly found out that there were over 160 sketches and notes related to it. There were not only palm-sized sketches from life and gouache sketches of figure, but also notes that keep record of his detailed schedule while painting the work.
Yuan Yunsheng, Footage No. 1 for Memories of the Watertown, 26.4x19cm, 1962, gouache on paper, donated by the artist to CAFAM in 2021
Yuan Yunsheng, Footage No. 5 for Memories of the Watertown, 26.4x19.1cm, 1962, gouache on paper, donated by the artist to CAFAM in 2021
Yuan Yunsheng, Footage No. 19 for Memories of the Watertown, 26.4x19.1cm, 1962, gouache on paper, donated by the artist to CAFAM in 2021
The exhibition uses time as a clue, and is developed around the history of Memories of the Watertown. It tries to get to the work's origin and destiny through the restoration of its broken memories. Looking back at the creative process of the work, we could still be deeply moved by the painter's intuitive sense and expressive force, his ideas about world art and Chinese tradition, and his confidence in Chinese art. To restore the memory and history of this work is not only for the sake of this single work, but also the creative rules and complicated social background behind this work, and we hope the exhibition could trigger some reflections.
Yuan Yunsheng, Footage No. 95 for Memories of the Watertown, 20x12cm, 1962, ink on paper, donated by the artist to CAFAM in 2021
Yuan Yunsheng, Footage No. 107 for Memories of the Watertown, 12.1x19.9cm, 1962, ink on paper, donated by the artist to CAFAM in 2021
Yuan Yunsheng, Footage No. 42 for Memories of the Watertown, 8.5x18.8cm, 1962, ink on paper, donated by the artist to CAFAM in 2021
Yuan Yunsheng, Footage No. 32 for Memories of the Watertown, 8.5x18.8cm, 1962, ink on paper, donated by the artist to CAFAM in 2021
Yuan Yunsheng, Footage No. 124 for Memories of the Watertown, 12x19.8cm, 1962, ink on paper, donated by the artist to CAFAM in 2021
Yuan Yunsheng, Footage No. 103 for Memories of the Watertown, 12x19.7cm, 1962, ink on paper, donated by the artist to CAFAM in 2021
Yuan Yunsheng, Footage No. 125 for Memories of the Watertown, 19.7x12.1cm, 1962, ink on paper, donated by the artist to CAFAM in 2021
About the Artist
Yuan Yunsheng was born in Nantong, Jiangsu in 1937, and graduated from the Dong Xiwen Studio of the Oil Painting Department, CAFA in 1962. He once taught at Central Academy of Arts and Crafts and Mural Painting Department of CAFA. In 1979, he took part in the painting creative works at the Beijing Airport, and drew attention of the art circle with his line drawing figure paintings of Xishuangbanna and the large-scale mural painting Water Splashing Festival: Ode to Life at the Beijing Airport. He was invited to the US in 1982, and successively taught at Tufts University, the MIT, Smith College and Harvard University till 1988, during which he created a great number of ink and wash paintings and mixed material works. In 1996, he returned to China to teach at the No.4 Studio of the Oil Painting Department, CAFA, and took the lead of the research work that focused on "Replication of traditional Chinese sculpture and construction of contemporary Chinese art education". Since then, he has been searching for inspirations from traditional Chinese sculpture, mural painting, stone relief, brick relief and genres that don't belong in the "traditional painting and calligraphy system".