Views on my artistic life 我的艺术生活观

Views on my artistic life -Pan Yuliang[1]

[1] Pan Yuliang 潘玉良, “Wode yishu shenghuo guan” 我的艺术生活观 [Views on my artistic life]. in Dangdai funü 当代妇女, October 1936, 177-79.

我的艺术生活观 —潘玉良

The “yi” (艺) of art (yishu 艺术) contains various information which is quite interesting. In the oldest Chinese script, oracle bone script (guijiawen 龟甲文) which founded in the Ruins of Yin (yinxu 殷墟), (yi 艺) is shaped like a person holding a piece of wood while another form  looks like a person holding a seedling. And in the characters of the Zhou Dynasty,  meant planting and was written with a shape of a person inserting a piece of wood into the soil. Mencius used the character yi when he stated that one should “Plant Five Grains” (shuyi wugu 树艺五谷).  China was built on agriculture. We called all things that we can plant and benefit from their growth as yi Living without yi would mean that people must live without a wooden residence and grains, and human must have survival skills. Therefore, yi can be interpreted as “skills”. In the Officials of the Heaven (tianguan 天官) chapter of The Rites of Zhou (zhouli 周礼), the gongzheng (宫正)[1] said: “Gathering the children of the officials in the palace according to the Shi Wu (什伍)[2] establishment and teaching them knowledge (wen 文), morality (dao 道) and art (yi 艺).” The commentary on this sentence explained that art (yi 艺) refers to the Six Arts (liuyi 六艺) of rites (li 礼), music (yüe乐), archery (she 射), charioteering (yü 御), calligraphy (shu 书) and mathematics (shu 数). These six kinds of skills are all indispensable. Rites are the codes of human relations; Music is a tool of edifying sentiment; Archery and charioteering are the skills to defend oneself and the country while calligraphy and mathematics are the techniques of contacting the objective things and dealing with affairs. Therefore, the sages always teach people the Six Arts at first as the basic necessitiesto be a human. With the humanities (renwen 人文) advancing day by day and knowledge extending further and further, scholars must be divided into different categories in future generations. Therefore, the scope of art is vast. Referring to the largest book (diyi dashu 第一大书) in Qing Dynasty which was regarded as the imperial (qinding 钦定) collection of ancient and modern books in all categories, the knowledge of universe (bowu 博物) section and the category of art involved farming (nong 农), horticulture (pu 圃), fishing (yü 鱼), woodcutting (qiao 樵), herding (mu 牧), charioteering, weapons (ge 戈), hunting (lie 猎), medicine (yi 医), divination (bu 卜), astrology (xing 星), physiognomy (xiang 相), painting (hua 画), geomancy (kanyu 堪舆), selection (xuanze 选择), shushu[3], pitch-pot (touhu 投壶), gambling (boxi 博戏), shefu[4], chaizi[5], business (shanggu 商贾) and prostitution (changji 娼妓). Five of the Six Arts were all independent categories while charioteering was involved in the category of art. The Modern European art schools set up subjects such as sculpture, drawing, music, and architecture, which means the scope of each subject has narrowed but research is more sophisticated. Mulberry planting (sang 桑), weaving (zhi织), and needlework (nü gong 女红) were compulsory skills (yi 艺) for girls in China since ancient times. Nowadays, the girls’ school has cooking, sewing, embroidery, and other subjects, while girls of the old-fashioned families in the countryside practice natural chemical crafts such as brewing, smoking, red cooking (lu 卤), sugaring (mi 蜜), and fermentation, as well as side lines like horticulture and herding. In the city, girls in the families of officials learn instruments (qin 琴), chess, calligraphy, painting, playing, singing, dancing, and so on. All of which are the artistic life of women in China. For me, I grew up in the city so I do not know how to plant mulberry and weave, and I am too weak to do any chores. I made a great effort and enrolled in the Shanghai Girls’ Secondary School after marriage[6], where I studied a little on household subjects, and I was particularly interested in embroidery. Because I was usually dissatisfied when embroidering, I realized that the beauty of an embroidered work is determined by the quality of the patterns. Therefore, I started to concentrate on painting and learned under Hongye 洪野, who comes from the same county as me. After graduating from high school, I enrolled in the Shanghai Academy of Fine Arts, where I specialized in sketching (xiesheng 写生). My teacher had been in exile for decades due to political reasons, moving around without any leisure time. In 1920, I was studying at the Shanghai Academy of Fine Arts when Wu Zhihui 吴穉晖 was recruiting students in Shanghai for the Institut franco-chinois de Lyon, and after successfully being accepted, I sailed to the west with 150 classmates. At first, I studied languages in Lyon for more than a year, then transferred to the École des Beaux-Arts, specializing in oil painting and minoring in music for four years. Next, I went to the Accademia di Belle Arti di Roma (The Rome Academy of Fine Arts) to study oil painting and sculpture for another three years. After eight years of study, I returned to China in 1928 and was hired as a professor in various universities in Beijing and Shanghai. During the holidays, I travelled around the country and painted in various places of interest. I have held four solo exhibitions and participated in more than 20 group exhibitions at home and abroad. This is the outline of my artistic life. I am over forty years old now with little reputation. When I asked myself, I realized that my achievements are but a few. As I always say, there is no distinction between ancient and modern (shi wu gujin 时无古今), there is no superiority or inferiority among humans (ren wu gaoxia 人无高下). One cannot survive without art. Life is art, or art is life. I often think that in my country, most women in the countryside are able to earn their own living by mulberry planting, weaving, needlework and handicrafts while women in city excel in neither study nor skills. All they can do is gambling, singing and dancing. Not only, but also. They are not only incapable of applying the knowledge of the new age, but also unable to work in the traditional family. They have neither the ability to serve society nor the power to govern a family. Is this not pathetic? A satisfied painting drawn at home or an expressive status can always comfort me. Hiring someone to make a well-fitting outfit costs many yuan, if not dozens, but if I make it myself in spare time, it only takes one or two days and I will feel pleased. Besides, I also can take a break from thinking in the classroom. Dining out with families and friends costs many yuan, if not dozens, while home-made, clean and delicious cuisines only cost a few, and moreover, we are much closer to each other. Such household chores are interesting with art but also can be boring without art. I have studied “noble” arts and I also can do these ordinary works, which indicate that yi should be valued by everyone. I hope women in my country can understand that art is the same as the principle of life. From each according to his ability, to each according to his needs. There is no definitive statement that foreign and modern things are art while domestic and traditional things are not; or what you studied at school is art while what you learned at home is not. If we are industrious and frugal, everyone will understand art and life. As a consequence, we need not worry about cultivating our moral characters and administering the country. These are my humble opinions on my artistic life as a response to the call for papers of Dangdai Funü. I beg the reader’s indulgence for this unrefined article.

[1] Translator’s note: Gongzheng (宫正) is an official title in ancient China.

[2] Translator’s note: Shi Wu (什伍) is an army establishment in ancient China. A Shi (什) composed by ten people while a Wu (伍) composed by five.

[3] Translator’s note: The ancient Chinese used shushu (术数)  to reason that the various changes observed in nature is connected with human, policy and social changes. So shushu is used to infer the fate of individuals and even nations.

[4] Translator’s note: Shefu (射覆) is a game in ancient China. The rule is that an object (or several of its kind) is covered and one need to divine what is hidden.

[5] Translator’s note: Chaizi (拆字) is a way of divination in China by adding or removing the strokes, splitting or disrupting the structure of the character.

[6] Translator’s note: For literal meaning, “于归”  in the start text refers to “back home”, which implies marriage is the final destination for women. Therefore, the translator modified it to a more neutral word “marriage”, but in order to let the reader understand the unequal meaning of the word, hereby add a note to explain.

艺术的「艺」字，解释起来，很有意味的。在我国最古的殷墟龟甲文上，此像人持木之形，又秇像人持禾之形，周朝文，种也，从?持木插入土也。我国以农立国，凡能以一木，一禾种入土中，而使之长大，有益于人生，皆曰艺。故孟子曰：「树艺五谷」。可见人而无「艺」，不能有木而居，有禾可食矣。人类要生存，必要有生存的才能，故释艺，为才能。周礼天官正「会其什伍而教文道艺（注），『艺，』即六艺也。曰礼、乐、射、御、书、数是也。这六种学问，礼、为人伦法典，乐、为陶养个人的工具；射、御、二者为自卫保国的本领；书、数、为接物治事的技术；缺一不可。故圣人教民必先以六艺，为起码做人的基本能力，至后世，人文日进，学问广博，学者必须分门别类以求之。而艺术之范围，因而广大，参观清代，第一大书，曰钦定古今图书集成之分类，凡农、圃、鱼、樵、牧、御、戈、猎、医、卜、星、相、画、堪舆、选择、术数、投壶至博戏，射覆至拆字，商贾至娼妓，都归诸博物编内，艺术典焉。而所谓古之六艺，除御尚归艺术典内，其他礼、乐、射、书、数、五艺，皆为独立门类。近世欧洲美术学校，设雕刻，图画，音乐，建筑等科，其范围缩小，而研究则愈加精进。我国女子自古以桑、织、女红、为女子必习之艺，而今之女子学校，有烹调，缝纫，刺绣，等科目，而乡村旧式家庭，有酿造，薰、卤、蜜、酵、等天然化学工艺，以及园艺，牧畜，等副业，莫不躬自练习操作。其城市仕宦之家，有以琴棋，书，画，弹，唱，歌，舞，诸艺术，教其子女者，以上所述，皆我国女子艺术的生活。我自幼生长城市，桑麻种织之艺，是不会的，且身体多病，不能任劳，家庭井臼未能习练，于归之后，曾发奋自强，入沪上女子中学校，凡关于家政各科，稍事学习，而对于刺绣，尤感兴趣，因刺绣画本，每不合意，始知刺绣之美与不美，纯在画本之善恶，因而专心习画，就学于同乡洪野先生之门，中学毕业，投考上海美术专门学校，专攻写生。我夫子以政治影响，亡命海外，先后几十余年，江海漂流，不遑宁处。九年吴穉晖先生，在申招考留法里昂大学学生，我正在美专读书，投考录取，与同学男女百五十人，航海西渡，始在里昂学习言语年余，既转学巴黎国立美术大学，专攻油画，兼习音乐四年，复到义大利皇家画院，研究油画，雕刻，又三年，前后计八年，于民国十七年回国，即在京沪各大学，担任教授，每于假期，则遍游我国各处名胜，宝地作画。曾在国内外，举行个人作品展览会四次，参加国内外团体展览出品约二十余次，此为我平生艺术之生活的梗概。现年过四十，薄负微名，而自问所得，实属寥寥，我常说：「时无古今，人无高下，苟无艺术，则必不能生存，可以说人生为艺术，亦可说艺术为人生。」 我常思：「吾国妇女，在乡村者，多自食其力，所谓桑，织，女红，家庭工艺，皆可自给；惟城市女子，读书不成，学艺不精，徒从事于读博，歌舞之艺；新时代知识，不能应用，旧家庭工作，不会操劳；既无问世之能，又无治家之力；岂不太可怜吗？」 余在家，每作一得意之画，望一传神之像，故能令我心神安慰，欲制一袭合式的衣服，雇人缝纫，非数元，或数十元不可，而我每于课余，自出心裁，一二日即可成就，更觉快活无比。且于教室中，劳心焦思，藉以养息。家人亲故聚会时在外用餐，非十数元不办，而自家烹调，清洁可口，用费不过数元耳，而人情尤觉厚。此等家居琐事，有艺术则生活感觉兴趣，无艺术则感觉枯燥，吾人有高尚之「艺，」复能做通常操作，则更见重于人矣。忘我国同胞姐妹，认定艺术之性质，即人生之原理，各尽所能，各取所需，不一定外国新学的是艺术，我国旧有的不是艺术，不一定学校所学的是艺术，家庭固有的不是艺术，毋怠毋荒，克勤克俭，人人有艺术，人人得生活，又何患乎身之不修，国之不治。仅将艺术生活一得之愚，以应当代妇女之征文，言辞鄙俚，不足以登大雅之堂，请读者谅之。