- Title
- Letter from Xu Beihong to Yang Jianhou
- 徐悲鸿致杨建侯信
- Date
- 1933
- Accession
- YJH-000369
Chinese transcription (traditional / standard calligraphy reading)
家展仁弟瞻啐： 昨歲脾恙來，提筆刻等，慢各長慢，及油畫照片，目击见 弟努力創作，日有進步，無任壇慰！ 將俟他日全國美展，送去震動人。 体鈎線須用濃墨，黑紫精筆，乃可畫中不見，須導以明燈。漫亦看不出積極與熱情，此類在畫前必須約同道集體討論，聽取多人意見，然後著手。 目前技能較獲好評，美滿成績，已能預祝在藝術與廣大民眾結合，先以初稿，廣吸各羣眾意見，補充改正，刻不容緩。 有此結果，也我研究所就採用此法，進步之作。 我也想創作大油畫幅，題日《毛主席在人民中》。初稿已完成，此祝 百福 悲鴻 四月二日 少予附候
English translation
To my dear younger brother Jianhou [Yang Jianhou]: Since I fell ill last year, I haven't picked up the paintbrush for a long time. I have looked at your detailed long letter, as well as the photos of your oil paintings. Seeing your hard work in creation and your daily progress brings me immense relief! I hope that in the future, when you submit these to the National Art Exhibition, they will astonish and move everyone. Regarding line drawing, you must use dense black ink and a fine purple-hair brush so that the lines naturally integrate into the painting without being overly obvious; you must guide the viewer as if with a bright light. Casual work fails to convey positivity and passion. For this kind of work, you must gather fellow artists for a collective discussion and listen to opinions from many people before you start working on it. Your current skills are receiving increasingly good reviews. I can already anticipate your brilliant results in combining art with the broad masses of people. First, take your initial drafts, broadly gather opinions from various groups, and refine/correct your work without delay. With these results, our research institute will also adopt this method to advance our work further. I am also planning to create a large oil painting titled "Chairman Mao Among the People". The initial draft is already finished. Wishing you all the best and abundant blessings, Beihong April 2nd (With additional regards from Shaoyu)