The rich man in Jay Chou's song was lonely and poor when he died.

Dali, Monet, Matisse ... In the recently attracted attention Jay Chou's new song "The Great Works", many art "Easter Eggs" were hidden. Among a group of masters of art history, a familiar and strange Chinese painter appeared, and he was Chang Yu.

As sung in the song, "the lonely branches can grow Changyu's flowers", and understanding the gorgeous and lonely art of Changyu may understand the meaning of this word.

Chang Yu (right) and friends John Frank

Far away from the college -like wealthy

In the early 1930s, Paris, the Holy Land of Art, attracted countless young people with artistic dreams. A number of Chinese young talents such as Xu Beihong, Lin Fengmian, Liu Haisu, Pang Xunxuan, Chang Shuhong, and Pan Yuliang went to Paris to work hard and study, and went to various art colleges to study.

Among Chinese students, a rich man seemed to be different: he often sits in a cafe while drinking coffee, playing tennis, pulling violin, playing photography with expensive cameras, and later married a Duke of the Duke. Daughter.

The rich man named Chang Yu.

In 1901, Chang Yu was born in Sichuan. His father was a well -known local artist. The elder brother runs the largest weaving company in Sichuan at that time. The second brother opened the first Chinese toothbrush factory in Shanghai. At the age of 16, Chang Yu went to Shanghai to go to the second brother. At that time, Shanghai Meizheng was a class student to listen to the course. He went to study in Japan the next year.

In 1921, when he came to Paris, Chang Yu was disdainful of art colleges that were rushed to international students. There are almost no teachers in the "big huts", and anyone can come to the sketch class as long as they buy a ticket.

Chang Yu painted freely in the "big hut". Sometimes he does not draw a model, but instead of painting people around. He boldly painted the elderly and young people with brushes as natural and uniform naked women. In the eyes of Europeans, these ink lines are full of the mysterious atmosphere of the East.

In 1929, Chang Yu met the famous collector in Paris, and he was also the agent of painters such as Picasso and Duchamp. Hou Xie appreciated the talent of this youth very much. It is said that the works often hanging on the walls of his home, except Matisse's, are Chang Yu. With the help of Hou Xie, Chang Yu began to emerge in the mainstream art circle in Paris, and participated in the Paris Autumn Salon and Independence Salon exhibition many times. He also met artists such as Picasso and Matisse, and Picasso even painted a portrait portrait for Chang Yu.

Chang Yu's "Red Women in Red"

From pink to black

Chang Yu in her twenties became famous. The Parisians were deeply attracted by the Oriental charm in his painting. In the "Dictionary of the Life of the Contemporary Artist from 1910 to 1930", it was not Xu Beihong or Lin Fengmian. The only Chinese name was Chang Yu.

However, in the words of Wu Guanzhong, a painter who later studied in France, Chang Yu's "elegant taste, but sensitive and willful, and did not use the timing." After living a chic life, coupled with a subtle and unwilling character, Chang Yu did not want to break through the world in the Paris art world. He disdain to cater to the style of painting and painter at the time, and always painted pot flowers and naked women in the cafe or studio alone. In the memory of Chang Yu's classmates and painter Pang Xunzheng, some painters came to buy paintings, and he often refused. He also warned Pang Xunxuan not to be fooled by these painters easily.

In 1931, Chang Yu's elder brother died, and the wealthy family who was originally Xiaoyao gradually tasted the poor taste. In the same year, his wife Marcel divorced him. After the cooperation with Hou Xie, Chang Yu fell into the bottom of the food and clothing line. Even so, Chang Yu is still the unruly "noble son".

Someone asked him to portraits, and he would ask the law to make three chapters: first, pay first; the other is not to read when painting; the third is that he will leave after painting, and he cannot mention his opinions. This attitude has made him and the mainstream art market farther away.

After the outbreak of World War II, Chang Yu completely lost economic support from his hometown. In order to make a living, he went to the restaurant to end the plate to help people draw the screen and do cement. Later, with the help of the new agent John Frank, he made illustrations for publishers, made woodcut prints, and even published a French version of "Chinese Cooking Recipes".

During the first peak period of his creative career, the flowers, animals, and women in Chang Yu's pen are always in a faint pink, such as dreamy. This period is called Changyu's "pink period". Chang Yu after life began to have a soft spot for black and brown pornography. Although his lines were still bright, he revealed a strand of gloom and sorrow. His favorite bonsai has begun to become depressed.

Chang Yu "Bottle Chrysanthemum"

The pain of a whip and a marks

In the last time of life, Chang Yu lived in a small loft in Paris, and made a living by selling a few small paintings a year. When he was the most, he was said to live only 3 francs every day.

In 1966, because the gas at home was accidentally leaked, 65 -year -old Chang Yu died in his sleep and was discovered a few days later. When he died, there was a book on his chest. "I seem to have the most ridiculous, gorgeous, and secret dream ..." Chang Yu said to his friend Xu Zhimo during his lifetime.

After Chang Yu's death, his work appeared in the auction market in Paris, and the price was only hundreds of francs. However, after the 1980s, the price of his work rose to tens of thousands of francs. After entering the 21st century, Chang Yu's paintings began to appear in large numbers, and the transaction price became higher and higher. In 2019, Chang Yu's "Five Naked Girls" began to shoot with HK $ 190 million. After several rounds of fierce bidding, it was finally sold for more than 300 million Hong Kong dollars. In recent years, his work has frequently produced "sky -high". The three major themes created by Chang Yu's life -naked women, flowers, and animals are reflected in "Five Naked Girls". Critics often compare his naked girl with Matisse. Some people think that Matisse's handling of human ratio and painting methods cannot be separated from the system of traditional Western perspective and sketching, and Changyu's lines are more general and abstract, perhaps from the freehand of its oriental ink, which is more expressive. force.

Chang Yu, who likes to paint naked women, has received the most traditional education since childhood. When he was young, his father spent Jin Jin, who invited Zhao Xi, one of the "Five Old and Seven Sages" in the late Qing Dynasty and Zhao Xi, one of the "Five Old and Seven Sages" in Sichuan as the enlightenment teacher of Chang Yu, and let Chang Yu learn painting and calligraphy. Until after going to Paris to learn Western paintings, Chang Yu was used to drawing sketching with a brush. Pang Xunxuan remembers that other classmates are used to draw charcoal pen, and only Chang Yu draws a brush with a brush quickly. He dipped in thick oil painting paint and painted them one by one in calligraphy.

Chang Yu has painted many flowers in his life, and the flowers in traditional Chinese painting themes such as chrysanthemums, orchids, plum blossoms, and lotus are all the most commonly created images. Some people once described the flower branches in Chang Yu's pen: "Just like the strokes of the Qin and Han monument in China, contain a special persistence." Wu Guanzhong once said that the line of Changyu's late period is "a painful pain of a whip and one mark."

Chang Yu's "White Horse, Dark Horse"

"Oriental Bonsai in Paris Flowers"

I don't know if his father is good at painting horses. Chang Yu loves painting horses throughout his life. From "Two Horses", "White Horse, Black Horse", "Double Horse of the High", "Double Horse" to "Husui Double Horse", the horses that have become pairs give people a dreamy feeling. These light and scattered double -horse shapes are objects from the spiritual core of Chinese classical painting. These works fully show Changyu's unique painting language. The composition is simple, the color is clear, and the charm is full of oriental charm.

Wu Guanzhong once said, "I think Chang Yu himself is a bonsai, the oriental bonsai in the Paris flower garden." His art is neither pure west nor pure oriental, but the "third category" after refining and purifying. On the surface, he seemed to be influenced by the 20th century Paris art scene, but his inner spirit was extended by oriental culture. He worked hard to realize the "bland" and "naive" aesthetic ideals in Western painting.

Friends Xi Dejin once described Chang Yu's paintings: "It's like a Sichuan people dyed a little Paris, sincerely but not decorated." When French art critics asked Chang Yu's view of his works in the interview, he was like this. Answer: "European paintings are like a rich table and all kinds of meat. My works are vegetables, fruits and salads, which can help people transform and change the taste of appreciating painting art."

Changyu "Shepherd and Buffalo"

Chang Yu wandered in a foreign country for more than forty years and returned to her hometown only once. In the early 1950s, the Chinese Culture and Art Troupe who visited Paris had asked Chang Yu to return to the United States to teach, but the answer was: "I can't get up in the morning, I get up late ..."

Chang Yu, who was alone in Paris, was lonely. In his later years, he could only "chew the hometown in memory and draw everything in childhood. Of course, many things have been sampled and deteriorated, but they may turn into a more strange image. , Bringing a more refined flavor. "

In 1966, friends listened to Chang Yu that he was creating a new work. My friend asked, what time can I see? Chang Yu said, "A few days later. I paint first, then simplify it, and then simplify it ..."

The painting is called "Lonely Elephant", and a small, dark elephant running in the picture runs lonely in the endless desert.

Chang Yu pointed at this little elephant and said to his friend with a smile, "This is me."

Liberation Daily · Shangguan News Original manuscript, reprinting without permission

Author: Chen Junji

WeChat Editor: Ta Ni

School pair: CP

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