A Vivid Lesson in Chinese Painting

By He Sai, Bo Ning & Zhang Yiqiu

Photos by Song Dezhi & Cai Jun

Painters from Hubei Academy of Chinese Painting and international students with their impromptu painting各國留學生在湖北省國畫院合影留念

Chen Dihe, president of the academy, demonstrating for International students 國畫院院長陳迪和向留學生示范如何繪制中國畫

SFSecond Class Second Class is an extra-curricular cultural activity organized by the Special Focus Multilingual Publishing Center for international students in China.The main purpose is to integrate resources, cooperate with colleges of international education to enhance the understanding of Chinese culture through various cultural experiences, promote cultural exchanges, and help Hubei become known to the outside world.

What is Chinese painting like? What's special about Chinese painting?

On the afternoon of December 26, 2019, more than 20 students from over 10 countries attending Central China Normal University came to the Hubei Academy of Chinese Painting (HACP) with a long list of questions, looking forward to unveiling the mystery of Chinese painting.

This time, Special Focus had its “second class” activity at the art gallery on the second floor of the HACP, where the finished works of trainees who have learned Chinese painting were on display.Big scrolls of Chinese paintings glittered and shined in the brightly lit room.As painter Liu Xiaogang explained, the students moved slowly around the works and took photos with the paintings, marveling from time to time.

“Traditional Chinese painting falls into three categories according to its content: landscape painting, figure painting, and paintings of flowers and birds.If judged by the artistic genre, there is freehand brushwork and meticulous painting.” Surrounded by international students, Mr.Chen Dihe, president of the academy, delightedly introduced different styles of Chinese painting.Some works have soft lines and a unique style； some contain majestic mountains and amazing views.The varied images and styles have sparked heated discussions.“This composition is very interesting,” commented Retselisitsoe Khitsane from Lesotho.“My perspective here is like that of the gods, I can see mountains far away and a cityscape even further.”

New Spring, an impromptu painting by Mr.Chen Dihe陳迪和院長現場繪制作品《春氣圖》

SF第二課堂第二課堂是特別傳媒多語種出版中心為在華留學生組織的課外文化實踐活動。主旨是整合各方資源，聯合高校國際教育學院，通過各種文化體驗活動，增進留學生對中華文化的了解，促進文化交流和湖北對外開放。

中國畫是什么樣的？中國畫有什么講究？

12月26日下午，帶著一串神秘的問題，來自十多個國家的二十余名華中師范大學留學生來到湖北省國畫院，期待在這里一探究竟。

活動從國畫院二樓的美術館開始。這里正展出研修班學員半年學習成果，一幅幅巨幅中國畫在明亮的燈光中，格外新穎奪目。留學生們隨著畫家劉小剛的講解移步慢品，紛紛與畫作合影留念，不時發出由衷的驚嘆。

“傳統國畫按內容大致分為三種，山水畫、花鳥畫和人物畫；按藝術風格來分，分寫意畫和工筆畫?！北涣魧W生包圍著的陳迪和院長向大家介紹。畫作有的線條柔美，風格文氣；有的高山巍巍，凜然大氣。多變的風格和畫面引發了大家的熱烈討論。“這幅畫的構圖非常有趣，”來自萊索托的何山這樣評價道，“我的視角就像神仙一樣，能看到很遠的山林和更遠的城市高樓?！?/p>

大家被一幅主題為小女孩伏案學習的作品《四二班日志》吸引過去，它的畫面構思精巧而有想象力：近處的香案上煙霧繚繞；遠方層巒疊翠，崇山峻嶺在云朵間時隱時現；天上幻化出仙境，能看到端坐的菩薩和低語的仙女。小女孩低著頭，在山間專注地寫字，柔和的氛圍更添一絲靜謐。大家仔細地觀察畫中的細節，紛紛上前拍照記錄，感嘆東方藝術的魅力。

為了讓留學生們更多地了解中國畫，畫院專門安排了座談會，由陳院長向大家詳細講解中國畫特色：“中國畫主要工具有五種：筆、墨、宣紙、水、顏色，蘊含著中國傳統文化獨特的哲學思想?！标愒洪L把國畫和中國哲學結合起來，以此詮釋各種繪畫工具所深藏的哲理。

說起毛筆，“毛筆由一根筆桿和千百根獸毛組成，一硬一軟、一多一少，寓變于不變，剛柔相濟，陰陽相生。毛隨桿動，筆法千變萬化；一筆在手，描繪出大千萬象來。”陳院長邊說邊向大家展示不同筆法及效果。

提及墨，他舉著瓶子告訴大家，陽光由赤、橙、黃、綠、青、藍、紫組成，如果把這七種顏色混和起來，就是黑色。所以，中國畫的墨與水相和后，可以分為無數層級，具有無比豐富的表現力。

“一般的繪畫是用眼睛觀察某個物體，再用工具描繪。中國畫不描繪具體物體，而是將景物內化于心，融入天道與人道兩個方面的規律，再創作。天道即自然規律，人道是為人的規矩和社會規律。”

“中國畫只能用黑色的顏料嗎？”來自斯里蘭卡的安吉娜用流利的中文問道。

International students taking photos of their favorite paintings留學生拍下喜愛的國畫作品

The international students were attracted to the paintingLog of Class 2 Grade 4, in which a young girl is studying at her desk.The painting is delicate and imaginative: smoke from the incense burner on the altar table is vaguely fainting nearby； green mountains loom through the clouds far away.The sky is transformed into a fairyland where sitting bodhisattvas and whispering nymphs can be seen.The little girl lowers her head and writes intently somewhere in the mountains, which adds a sense of serenity to the soft atmosphere.The visiting students carefully observed the details in the painting, went forward for photos, and were moved by the charm of oriental art.

In the later symposium, Mr.Chen explained the characteristics of Chinese painting in details: “Five main tools are commonly used in Chinese painting, that is, brush, ink, xuan paper, water, and color.” Mr.Chen then combined traditional Chinese painting with Chinese philosophy to explain the hidden truth of the painting tools.

Speaking of the brush, “The brush is made up of a pen holder and hundreds of animal hairs.One end is hard and the other is soft.One is single and the other is plural.The hair moves with the holder, and the brushwork changes constantly.With one brush, I can paint everything.” He said while showing different brushwork and their effects.

Speaking of ink, he held up a bottle and told everyone that ink color, like sunlight, consists of red, orange, yellow, green, brown, blue, and purple—if you mix them up you will get black.Therefore, the mix of ink and water can yield countless layers with extremely rich expressiveness.

“When painting, it is quite normal to observe one object with your eyes and then paint it with some tools.However, Chinese paintings do not depict specific objects, instead, you need to internalize what you see in your heart, into the Dao of nature and the Dao of humanity, before you compose a picture.The Dao of nature means natural laws.The Dao of humanity covers the nature of humans and the laws of society.”

“國畫色彩通常點到為止，它可以有很多顏色，但畫家通常用得不多。我一般是用三種顏色，用得多的也不會超過四五種，有時候一種就夠了?！标愒洪L解釋道。

來自印度的孟妮緊接著問：“現代的中國畫與傳統的中國畫是一樣的嗎？”

國畫院專業畫家胡智勇教授介紹說：“中國畫是一脈相承的。無論哪個朝代，國畫都是主流，只不過各個朝代的畫有各個朝代的烙印。因為藝術是時代的文化，它總是在繼承和創新中反映時代?！?/p>

Students trying Chinese painting 留學生紛紛提筆嘗試繪中國畫

來自孟加拉的易卜甚至問了一個十分尖銳的問題：“中國畫這么出名，為什么現在很多人都去學西方的油畫呢？”

陳院長說：“鴉片戰爭以來的100 多年，中國經歷了一個特殊時期。西方油畫也就是在這個時期進入中國，崇尚者不少，但這并不意味著中國畫被冷落。相反，中國畫同樣備受世界藝術愛好者的喜愛，對中國畫的收藏一直是一大熱門。很多世界級的博物館都收藏有中國歷代名畫。中國文化是包容的，中國藝術也是包容的。世界藝術是個大家庭，藝術愛好者自然有自己的審美取向。喜歡油畫也好，喜歡中國畫也好，江山代有人才出，層出不窮的藝術人才必將為中國的未來創造出一個色彩繽紛的藝術大家庭來?！?/p>

一番了解后，大家對親手創作中國畫躍躍欲試。留學生們紛紛操起毛筆，模仿著陳院長的筆法在宣紙上勾畫起來，在場的中國畫家老師們也耐心指點起留學生，時不時還親自提筆示范。

白紙上的內容漸漸豐富起來，留學生們畫出了角落里的小孩、肅穆的男人側面像、枝頭停歇的小鳥、山林里升起炊煙的小屋、別具情趣的涂鴉大雜燴……體現留學生對中國畫元素的模仿，融合了他們各自的文化背景。

易卜是專業學習油畫的，他即興繪制了一枝綻放的梅花，得到了畫家們的贊賞。這也正好說明，雖然技法有所不同，藝術的底色是相通的。

學生們興奮地和畫家們交流，一撥撥在畫前合影留念，意猶未盡。許多學生表示，這是第一次進入專業殿堂進行繪畫交流和親身實踐，如果有機會，希望能更深入地學習和了解中國畫。

寫意悠遠的畫作、詳實獨到的講解、新奇有趣的嘗試給大家留下了深刻的印象。今天，中國畫以他的獨特魅力收獲來自世界各地的粉絲。

中國畫的一個重要流派——荊楚畫派，既有悠遠的荊楚文化淵源，也有深厚的歷史底蘊。以藝術作為連接東西方文化的橋梁，所有在場的留學生對于中國畫這一中國優秀傳統文化有了更深入的理解。

Mr.Chen Dihe illustrating the art of Chinese painting to the students陳迪和院長為留學生講解國畫藝術

Monika Sethuraman from India raising a question to the painters印度學生孟妮現場提問

“Do traditional Chinese paintings only adopt black color?” Asked J.A.Anjula Keshani, from Sri Lanka, in fluent Chinese.

“There is usually not much color in traditional Chinese painting.It could have many colors, but normally Chinese painters do not use that many.I usually use three colors, and no more than four or five.Sometimes one color is enough.” Mr.Chen explained.

Monika Sethuraman from India then asked, “Is modern Chinese painting the same as traditional Chinese painting?”

Professor Hu Zhiyong, a professional painter from the academy, answered: “The inner spirit of Chinese painting is the same.No matter in which dynasty, Chinese painting has been the dominating art genre, but the paintings of each dynasty have their own features.Art is the culture of the times, which always reflects the times in its inheritance and innovation.”

Ibrahim MD, from Bangladesh, even raised a quite surprising question: “Chinese painting is so famous, but why there are so many people learning Western oil painting now?”

“Over the past centuries since the Opium Wars, China has experienced a special historical period,” Chen said.“This is when Western oil painting entered China and attracted many admirers, but it does not mean that Chinese painting was ignored.On the contrary, Chinese painting is also admired by art lovers all around the world, and collections of Chinese paintings have always been a big hit in museums.Many worldclass museums have collections of famous Chinese paintings.Chinese culture is inclusive, and so is Chinese art.Global art is a big family, and art lovers naturally have their own aesthetic orientation and preference.Whether you like oil painting or Chinese painting, there are talented people from different generations and countries.This will surely create a colorful art family for the future of China.”

After the discussion, the students were all eager to try their hand at Chinese painting themselves.The international students took the brush, imitating Mr.Chen's brushwork and sketching on the xuan paper fixed on the wall.Some other Chinese painters in attendance also gave them some advice, and demonstrated proper techniques.The pieces of blank paper gradually became full and enriched by the attempts of the students.There were children, a solemn profile of a man, a few birds resting on branches, a cottage in the forest with a rising smoke, and some interesting calligraphy in their paintings.All these reflected their initial imitation of Chinese painting, with a blend of their own cultural backgrounds.

Ibrahim has majored in oil painting for years.He improvised a blooming plum blossom, which was much appreciated by the painters.It just showed that one form of art interlinks with others even with different methods.

The students were excited to talk with painters and took a group photo in front of the paintings.Many students said that this was the first time they had had the opportunity for hands-on Chinese painting practice.They hoped to learn Chinese painting more deeply another time.

They were impressed by the amazing works, detailed explanations, and interesting attempts.During this event, Chinese painting gained new fans in those international students.

Jingchu Painting School, an important school of Chinese painting, has long been associated with Hubei culture and has profound historical heritage in the region.With art as a bridge linking Eastern and Western cultures, all students present gained a deeper understanding of Chinese painting, an excellent symbol of traditional Chinese culture.

Students taking a selfie in front of the painting Log of Class 2 Grade 4留學生們在作品《四二班日志》前拍照留念