I believe that for many people who travel to Beijing, the first thing is to go to Tian'anmen and take photos with Chairman Mao's portrait, which has become a landmark landscape in China. The heroic spirit of great people is always for future generations to look forward to! So what kind of story is behind Chairman Mao's portrait in front of Tian'anmen? How often does it change?
Since 1949, the portrait of Chairman Mao has undergone eight changes. Over the past 60 years, in Beijing, the capital of China, it has attracted the attention of countless people, and has become one of the iconic components of Tiananmen tower. Since August 1966, the portrait of Chairman Mao has been hung every day in Tiananmen city. A new portrait of Chairman Mao will be replaced before the eleventh day of each year. The portrait of Chairman Mao will always be hung in the Tiananmen Gate Tower.
After the reform and opening up, the demand for portraits of leaders decreased, and Beijing art company established the first advertising art company. The 10 young men, who were trained to draw large-scale leaders, were appointed by the company to draw large-scale outdoor advertisements. Because of the long-term efforts in hand in drawing large-scale portraits, posters as small as 4m? 3M and as large as 10m * 10m are very familiar to them, and they can finish the work in a day or two. Now, they are all middle-aged. Except for Jiang Jianqiu, Wang Lin and Shi Jingsheng, who are still in Gehua group, the former Beijing art company, other people have embarked on different life paths.
Shi Jingsheng talked about Wang Guodong, the most important leader in his growth, and used the traditional name of "master". 'master is a person who is strict or even strict with himself. He has no requirements for material and money. No one will accept gifts. Although he was a member of the National Committee of the Chinese people's Political Consultative Conference at that time, his life was very simple. When he smoked, he used his pipe to smoke dry cigarettes and hardly wore new clothes. The CPPCC gave him a set of three bedrooms, and he gave them to the chief of the administrative department of the unit, saying that they had many children. In fact, my master's family also has four children. His house is very narrow and dilapidated, with only one bed, one table and other simple furniture. '
Wang Guodong studied charcoal painting in the portrait gallery in his early years. Later, he was transferred to Beijing art company after becoming a little famous, specializing in the drawing of leaders' portraits. He is very strict with his work and students, but he likes photography, playing football and playing Jinghu in his life. "Once he fell down suddenly due to cervical spondylosis. Later, when drawing, his hands couldn't be very free. He pulled the erhu to help solve the problem of inflexible hand movement. In the 1980s, our brothers drew advertisements everywhere. Once, he drew an advertisement on the dam of Miyun Reservoir and went to see it by bike. Now master is more than 80 years old. He plays computer and draws pictures with computer. Unfortunately, I fell again recently and broke my femoral head. I have been living in Beijing sixth hospital. '
Hand drawn portrait requires' flat, light and bright '
Why don't leaders use photos instead of hand-painted ones?
Shi Jingsheng believes that in the past, only by hand painting can we show the respect for leaders. This way is also a kind of ceremony for the sacrifice of ancestors and great people in human civilization. In other ways, the meaning of portrait painting is lost.
Under the illumination of outdoor light, due to the influence of wind, sun and bad weather, large-scale oil painting will inevitably have the phenomenon of skin explosion, fading and so on, and red is the most easy to fade. How does the portrait of Mao Zedong on the upper floor of Tian'anmen City solve this problem? Shi Jingsheng revealed that this huge portrait uses pure oil paint. 'red is chrome red, and there is also a sun resistant color specially produced, which is more reliable than chemical substances. Historically, Chinese painting pigments were also made of minerals and plant ingredients, otherwise they would not be preserved for a long time. Of course, the key lies in the level of users and color matching techniques. '
In addition to the special large painting cloth, there are also secrets in the production of the substrate. 'at that time, we had a master named Lin who specialized in boiling glue for canvas. The canvas of Tiananmen leader's image is very large, so linen canvas must be mounted on the board. Generally, the linen used in portrait painting is stretched on the frame. The surface coating of canvas also needs technology, using the pig skin swim bladder glue added with dense material, and then brushing the mixed paint, only in this way can the color of oil painting be firmly grasped on the canvas, without oil absorption and falling off for a long time, which is the experience of several generations. If this kind of canvas is damaged during transportation, it will be stretched in an instant by spraying water on it. '
When it comes to the special requirements for drawing Mao Zedong's image on the upper floor of Tian'anmen City, Shi Jingsheng sums it up with "flat, light and bright". Because this picture of Mao Zedong is 6.4 meters high and 5 meters wide. If the color is not evenly adjusted and used well, because of the strong ultraviolet radiation, the red color will soon fade, and the portrait may show the background color. "The first few main painters have failed in painting, which may be a political mistake in the past. '
What is "flat, light and bright"? According to Shi Jingsheng, flat means that you can't use big strokes, pave the color evenly, or paint with too thick colors. "If you paint unevenly and with strokes, there will be dust falling on the lines of strokes. This year, it will be corroded by rain and acid substances in the air, and there will be traces after being drenched by rain. 'light is the connection between each other. Red should be used properly. This is not only the cause of the portrait itself, but also a certain political factor. Liang is to show the spirit of the leader, which implies the spiritual portrayal of the image of the leader. According to Shi Jingsheng, portrait painting is a second creation, rather than simply copying photos.
In 1978, Jinshi and shijingsheng were invited to Taiyuan to paint the portraits of Ma, en, lie, Si, Mao and Hua in Wuyi Square. After that, shijingsheng was called by Master Wang Guodong to Tiananmen Gate to learn how to draw giant leader portraits. 'that's the real skill. First I drew Lenin and then Stalin. Only when I had control over large paintings, did I dare to let go of drawing the portrait of Chairman Mao in Tiananmen Gate. '
In those days, Shi Jingsheng, Jiang Jianqiu and Liu Yang climbed up and down the easel built by high stool in the painting shed on the right side of the northwest corner end door behind Tian'anmen Gate. At one stage of painting, they ran more than 100 meters to see the effect. They even had to use eight times of Zeiss telescope to turn around and observe carefully, looking for problems and gaps in all aspects from virtual and real processing to picture color and leader's demeanor, and a large picture Come down, run hundreds of times. "Master told me that although the picture is a picture, because the picture is very large, we need to pay attention to Chairman Mao's dacryocyst, nasolabial groove, facial muscles, and the overall relationship between dark hair and hair. These are the key parts to show the image of the leader. When dealing with these details and parts, we need to adjust repeatedly. We can't focus on a part of the picture to depict. The teaching of these experiences has made me have a rapid improvement in my mastery of vivid portraits. '
In order to portray the image of leaders, we need long-term experience from the look to the background. For example, from the shoulder to the sky on both sides of the head, from the slight red below or a little yellow to the blue sky, there is a feeling of fish belly white when the rising sun rises in the East, implying that Mao Zedong rose slowly from the East like the sun. 'it's all done by mixing the colors in a big barrel. If the painting is very even and in place, the color will be very good within one year. Only when I look at photos and draw a lot everyday can I have this experience. 'Shi Jingsheng said,' I need to know what kind of red to use, but it's not as mysterious as the media said. If there's any special painting method, it's not in line with the reality. '