The large-scale retrospective solo exhibition of Mr. Lin Gang, "Great Art is Beyond Words - The Centenary Art Exhibition of Mr. Lin Gang," is currently on display in Exhibition Hall B on the third floor of the Art Museum of the Central Academy of Fine Arts. This exhibition showcases nearly 200 works by the renowned oil painter Mr. Lin Gang, completely presenting his artistic achievements. In 2024, the People's Republic of China welcomes the 75th anniversary. As the first generation of oil painters cultivated by New China and one of the first batch of outstanding professors of the Central Academy of Fine Arts, Mr. Lin Gang has always been at the forefront of the changes and development of the times. His artistic creation experience is an important sample for studying the development of modern Chinese art history.
Upon learning about the exhibition news of "Great Art is Beyond Words - The Centenary Art Exhibition of Mr. Lin Gang," Mr. Pang Jun specially wrote an article recalling Mr. Lin Gang's time studying oil painting in the Soviet Union, the transformation process of his artistic style, and his profound insights into oil painting creation. From a unique perspective, it shows the style and image of the first batch of oil painters cultivated by New China who are constantly exploring and surpassing themselves.
In this issue's push, we specially publish Mr. Pang Jun's "My Understanding of Lin Gang." Through Mr. Pang Jun's perspective, we can get to know Mr. Lin Gang who is always extremely diligent and learns like a blank sheet of paper. He is always at the forefront of the development and changes of the times and constantly creates his own painting language.
My Understanding of Lin Gang (Excerpt)
By Pang Jun
Before Lin Gang went to study at the Repin Academy of Fine Arts in St. Petersburg, he had never formally received the (academic) sketch training of the Chinese Academy of Fine Arts, nor had he painted oil paintings. Due to his painting talent, in 1951, he created and painted the New Year picture "Zhao Guilan at the Gathering of Heroes". With accurate modeling, vivid characters and perfect composition, he won the first prize for national New Year pictures, which is very astonishing. He himself is a very taciturn person, down-to-earth and always extremely diligent. At that time, he was a lecturer at the Central Academy of Fine Arts in Beijing. From 1954 to 1960, he entered the Repin Academy of Fine Arts in St. Petersburg, the Soviet Union at that time and entered the studio of Yeganson. Yeganson is an important Soviet oil painter and also a leading figure in teaching at the Repin Academy of Fine Arts. It is very difficult to enter his studio. From then on, Lin Gang learned Russian traditional sketch teaching and oil painting teaching like a blank sheet of paper and achieved excellent results. Among the students who studied art in the Soviet Union in New China, he is a painter who has learned the ontology of oil painting techniques, mainly showing the skills of oil painting colors and brushwork.
Zhao Guilan at the Gathering of Heroes - Sketch. Lin Gang. 1951. 19×27cm. Sketch on paper. Collected by the artist.
Chairman's Sketch at the Gathering of Heroes. Lin Gang. 1951. 14×10.5cm. Sketch on silk. Collected by the artist.
Sketch of a Head. Repin Academy of Fine Arts. Lin Gang. 1954. 39.6×54.5cm. Sketch on paper. Collected by the artist.
In 1956, Lin Gang and other students studying in the Soviet Union returned to China to experience life and collect materials. I accompanied them to sketch and at the same time absorb their experience. According to Lin Gang's introduction, the biggest difference between Chinese and Russian students is that Russian students have been learning art since childhood and have strong painting abilities. In two weeks of sketch practice in class, they can finish it in one week. In the second week, they all don't come to class. Only a few Chinese students are left, struggling to depict... and even "work overtime" at night to fill in the background. "Grades" are ground out in this way, and they can also get a score of 5 (the highest score). The same is true for oil painting practice. Foreign students can easily finish painting in one week. In the second week, they go out to play by themselves. While Chinese students paint from beginning to end... This makes me understand where the difference in standards lies. One is to complete works by one's own strength. The other is to painstakingly and even "refer to" the excellent results of others in a high-level environment and finish painting by making changes. Although one has learned to some extent the color-mixing formula for painting white people... After returning to China, when painting yellow-skinned Chinese people, especially farmers or Tibetans, one is still at a loss. This means that one has not learned well enough and still doesn't feel good. Oil painting colors and brushwork methods are still not good. Looking at Lin Gang's oil paintings, the brushwork is relatively relaxed and intertwined with each other by pressing... He specially mentioned that oil painting cannot be replaced by sketching methods. It must be modeled with colors, with red and green intertwined. This is his only experience. He learned to appreciate and learn the techniques of the Impressionists from his teacher. His teacher Yeganson is also like this. Due to political factors, he dare not openly advocate learning from Korovin of Russia, because he is the only Impressionist painter in Russia. But everyone admires Korovin and learns from him. Yeganson always secretly looks at his works when there is no one around. This is a secret known to everyone. Lin Gang told me that his best and most admired classmate in the Soviet Union is a classmate who specializes in imitating the French Fauvist painter Marquet. Lin Gang brought back a work of his to China. It is a cityscape in gray tones, very similar to Marquet's composition. Lin Gang repeatedly emphasized: Look, the color of the water he painted seems to be the same, but from near to far, there are very subtle differences in colors, and the space is perspective. Painting oil paintings is about painting space... I also particularly love Marquet's works. This work of a Soviet classmate was lent to me by Lin Gang for 20 years. I kept looking at it every day hanging by my bedside until it was returned to its owner in 1979. I remember there is also a very small oil painting, probably only 25 centimeters. Looking closely, only some colors are piled up, and the brushwork is very "jumpy"... But looking from a distance, the houses, streets, and walking figures are all very vivid, and the space is good. Lin Gang said very modestly that he has been learning and experiencing the oil painting methods of Westerners...
Colored Clouds. Lin Gang. 1959. 11×25.5cm. Oil on cardboard. Collected by the artist.
When Chinese people paint oil paintings, there is always an unconscious habit, which is to carefully depict and "carve out" the shapes. While in Western oil painting methods, people always first grasp the colors by feeling and slowly present the shapes with interlaced brushstrokes.
Artists cultivated in New China, including veteran cadres from the Lu Xun Academy of Arts in Yan'an: Teacher Luo Gongliu is also a person who is very sensitive to oil painting colors. He entered the Repin Academy of Fine Arts in St. Petersburg for advanced studies one year later than Lin Gang. In the Soviet Union, he copied Repin's work "Ivan the Terrible and His Son" and also copied Korovin's work: a girl sitting on the windowsill (backlit), with very good colors. He is my creative teacher and later became a good friend with a great age difference. He introduced to me a lot of his experiences with oil paintings. Neither Luo Gongliu nor Lin Gang ever talked about creative issues starting from ideology. They only talked about the artistic issues of oil painting itself. Briefly speaking, it is the importance of oil painting colors and brushwork... In particular, he mentioned that the history of Soviet oil paintings comes from France. In the era of the tsar, the nobles all spoke French and thought their own language was too rustic. They invited the French to come to Russia to establish an art academy. The professors and even the models had to be French... Later, they had their own teachers, such as Kramskoy. He specifically mentioned that Repin's colors were always not good and he couldn't paint sunlight. He went to study in France for three years. As a result, he himself said that he still couldn't paint sunlight well. Therefore, many of his creations were done indoors. In the 1950s, classmates studying in the Soviet Union, such as Ma Yunhong, Luo Gongliu, and Li Jun, all copied Korovin's works. Later, I also copied a still life by Korovin and hung it in the house, learning the method of using different colors to interlace and handle the edges to shape the forms. Ma Yunhong is also a painter who is very sensitive to colors. Classmates studying in the Soviet Union exchanged experiences with foreign classmates. What they admired were Rembrandt and Velázquez. For sketches, it was Fechin... There were photos taken from the original works printed and passed around and collected... They studied Rembrandt's transparent and translucent painting methods. Lin Gang copied Rembrandt's works. The first historical painting he painted after returning to China, "In Prison," was completely painted in a transparent method...
In Prison. Lin Gang. 1961. 160×282cm. Oil on canvas. Collected by the National Museum of China.
In the 1980s, Pang Tao first went to Paris for further studies. Later, Lin Gang and Lin Yan's whole family went to the United States. After about a year, he saw the huge changes in world art. Many modern and contemporary arts have a stronger visual appeal. They seem to be influenced by the theories of Kandinsky and Klee. They rethought their own painting styles and generated new desires and interests for exploration... It is the most difficult thing for art to deny itself. It must have a strong ideological foundation and willpower. Both Lin Gang and Pang Tao have changed. After graduating from the Central Academy of Fine Arts, Lin Yan went to study in the United States and naturally walked on the road of contemporary art... For Lin Gang's changes, many people do not understand and even feel some regret. In fact, Lin Gang has always been a person who can accept new things. Precisely because of this, when he had nothing about Western traditional art and went to Russia to study, he quickly grasped the learning method. From the very beginning, he accepted and mastered Western traditional sketching and oil painting methods, rather than arduously changing himself on the basis of "rustic" sketches and "rustic" oil paintings, with burdens and old habits that cannot be shed. What I observe about Lin Gang's exploration of expressing abstract and semi-abstract art is very different from that of the Western world. Generally, Westerners who paint abstract paintings are extremely individualistic, emotional, accidental, and even only pursue the accidental effects of using different materials, rather than completing works on the basis of their own skills and cultivation. Lin Gang still belongs to the thinking type, and even constantly arranges black, white, and gray in deep thought and explores compositional effects... He delights in painting many small sketch compositions...
Abstract sketch
In the 1990s, Lin Gang and Pang Tao stayed in Taipei for half a year. Lin Gang was almost always holed up in a small room drawing compositions every day. His greatest interest was watching Li Ao on TV talking loudly and scolding people... He felt relaxed and happy about this free and very self-centered way. Many years ago, I once invited my good friend Ma Yunhong, who settled in Canada, to return to China at the same time for a reunion. We went to the south of the Yangtze River together for me to sketch... In Beijing, I accompanied him to see Lin Gang sitting in a wheelchair. I helped him take out his works for Ma Yunhong to see: all were abstract paintings. Ma Yunhong asked, 'Why do you paint like this now?'Lin Gang replied, 'This is how I feel now.'... In fact, he just wanted to find symbols to express his thoughts and emotions, rather than depicting reality...
Contest between Blue and Black. Lin Gang. 1997. 46×40cm. Oil on canvas. Collected by the artist.
About ten years ago or so, Lin Gang and Pang Tao held a two-person exhibition at the National Art Museum of China... Since they lived in the suburbs of Beijing, I booked a room at the Overseas Chinese Hotel for them. On the opening day, Lin Gang didn't go to participate. I also stayed at the hotel. When I went to Lin Gang's room, I saw him sitting in a wheelchair, staring out the window in a daze by himself. I asked him, "Are you really not going to attend the opening ceremony?" He replied thoughtfully, "You go to the seminar! You talk about the issues of oil painting..." He said to himself, "Now there are no people who paint oil paintings in the country anymore! Probably only Zhang Wenxin and Chen Beixin..." In his opinion, many paintings painted with oil painting colors are not oil paintings and cannot be considered oil painting art. He didn't have time to continue painting his new ideas. He is already one hundred years old... I think I have been marginalized and am an outsider. I didn't speak at the seminar. I only heard everyone recalling Lin Gang's teaching and the cordial and friendly relationship with his classmates...
Centenary Glory · Famous Artists of the Central Academy of Fine Arts
Great Art is Beyond Words - The Centenary Art Exhibition of Mr. Lin Gang
Organizer: Central Academy of Fine Arts
Undertakers: Propaganda Department of the Party Committee of the Central Academy of Fine Arts
Art Museum of the Central Academy of Fine Arts
Oil Painting Department of the Central Academy of Fine Arts
Supporters: National Museum of China
Beijing Artists Association
Exhibition Dates: September 11 - October 13, 2024
Exhibition Venue: Exhibition Hall B on the third floor of the CAFA Art Museum
Editor-in-chief / He Yisha
Responsible editor / Du Yinzhu
