Page 154 - 2020 November 30 Bonhams Rev. Richard Fabian Chinese Paintings and Calligraphy Hong Kong

ZHAO WANGYUN (1906-1977)
Originally named Xinguo, was a native of Sulu, Hebei Province. Zhao
specialized in landscape and figure paintings, excelling in portraying
the landscape of the Northern Shaanxi region and the laboring
masses of different ethnic groups. He was the key founder of the
Chang’an School of painting. Zhao was the editor of the Zhonghua
Book Company in Shanghai, and from 1933 to 1935 he worked as
a travelling reporter for Ta Kung Pao in Tianjin, where he published
his paintings. He travelled to Shandong, Jiangsu, Zhejiang, Henan
and Hebei provinces to make sketches of village life. His paintings
described the life of farmers who suffered in war and poverty, gaining
him the title of the “People’s Painter.” He advocated “extending one
hand towards tradition, and the other hand to life.” Zhao Wangyun’s
landscapes aimed to reflect life and express the human condition.
He taught at Xi’an Art Academy, and counted among his pupils
Huang Zhou, Fang Jizhong and Xu Shuzhi. Guo Moruo, a famous
scholar, poet, and calligrapher, wrote a couplet praising Zhao’s
accomplishment in Chinese painting history after viewing an exhibition
of Zhao’s work in the 1940s.

趙望雲（1906-1977）
原名新國，河北束鹿人。擅山水、人物，尤長於表現 北山水及各族人
民的勞動生活，為長安畫派始創畫家之一。一九二五年入北京私立京
華藝專後轉入國立藝專預科習畫，受五四運動「藝術為了大眾」、
「藝術不是單純的模仿，而是創造」等新思潮影響，開始到北京西郊
農村寫生，創作了不少反映社會下層民眾苦難生活的作品，並於一九
二七年在北京中山公園展出。一九三三至三五年間，任天津〈大公
報〉特約旅行記者，開設「趙望雲農村旅行寫生」專欄在該報連載，
廣受好評，並因此結識馮玉祥將軍，成為至交。其後〈大公報〉結集
出版《趙望雲農村寫生集》，配以馮玉祥將軍白話詩，短短時間便行
銷數萬冊。趙望雲深入山東、江蘇、浙江、河南、河北等地農村，以
畫筆紀錄飽經戰亂的農民的貧苦生活，因此獲得「平民畫家」的稱
號。抗戰開始後，趙望雲追隨馮玉祥，從南京到武漢再到重慶，擔任
中華全國美術界抗敵協會常務理事，並主編〈抗戰畫刊〉，積極進行
抗日宣傳。
四十年代起，趙望雲開始職業畫家生涯。先後於成都、重慶、西安、
銀川、蘭州等多地舉辦畫展，並出版《趙望雲西北旅行畫記》。五十
年代創建西安國畫研究會及長安美術出版社（今陝西人民美術出版
社），同時與石魯、方濟眾、何海霞等深入秦嶺、陝南、黃河禹門
口、三門峽和華山一帶，寫生不輟，期間還與石魯訪問埃及，寫生三
個月，並在開羅舉辦小型畫展。一九六一年十月，趙望雲攜西安美協
同儕石魯、何海霞、方濟眾諸人在北京中國美術館舉辦「中國畫研究
室習作展」，以濃郁的西北地域特色及清新的時代氣息得到廣泛認
可，「長安畫派」由此誕生。趙望雲主張「一手伸向傳統，一手伸向
生活」，其畫風自然質樸，筆力蒼厚，氣勢雄渾而不失清新雋永。黄
胄、方濟衆及徐庶之均為趙氏得意弟子。

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