Wang Yong

Wu Changjiang's sketches, printmaking, and watercolor art creations are typical representatives of contemporary Chinese realistic painting. His artistic creations focus on the theme of the Qinghai Tibet Plateau in western China, always adhering to realism, using sketching as the basis of modeling, and facing the true life of humans. Over the past thirty years, he has delved into life scenes in the Tibetan region more than thirty times, capturing with deep affection the soul of the Tibetan people - the spirit of the Tibetan people, and pursuing the likeness of the character's soul. He has successfully created a series of pure and heartfelt spiritual portraits of Tibetan characters, such as Park Ye, and gradually formed his own simple, honest, strong, and solid painting style. Wu Changjiang's artistic creation not only brings us profound aesthetic enjoyment, but also triggers us to deeply contemplate the contemporary value and vitality of realistic art.

Realistic Life

Wu Changjiang was born in September 1954 into a family of railway workers in Hangu, Tianjin. Although he does not have a scholarly family background, his parents have inherited from him the extremely valuable simple personality and strong perseverance of an ordinary worker. He has been fond of painting since childhood. Elementary school art teacher Jiang Zongfang once showed him picture albums by Xu Beihong and Rembrandt, and he couldn't put it down. From 1973 to 1976, he studied painting at the Affiliated Middle School of Tianjin Academy of Arts. Under the guidance of teachers such as Deng Lugao, Li Jiaxu, and Fu Yixin, he laid a foundation in sketching, sketching, watercolor, and other painting techniques. After graduation, he created printmaking. From 1976 to 1978, he served as a basic course teacher in the Department of Arts and Crafts at Tianjin University of the Arts. In August 1978, he was admitted as an undergraduate student to the Printmaking Department of Beijing Central Academy of Fine Arts. Under the education and guidance of professors such as Li Hua, Gu Yuan, Wang Qi, Wu Biduan, Pang Tao, Luo Erchun, Li Hongren, Song Yuanwen, and Tan Quanshu, he received strict and systematic training in printmaking techniques and sketching modeling. Coupled with the mutual influence of his classmates, his understanding and grasp of realism became increasingly profound.

The Central Academy of Fine Arts is the highest institution of art education in China and also the center of realistic painting in China. Xu Beihong, the founder of the Central Academy of Fine Arts and one of the founders of Chinese realistic painting, is a master advocate of realism. "Realism" originally belonged to the term of Western art, which should be translated as "realism" and later translated as "realism" (which caused various ambiguities). It generally refers to a desire to accurately and objectively reproduce things, rejecting conventional formulaic or idealistic attitudes, preferring a pursuit of truth, and often focusing on the lives of the lower class or the activities of ordinary people. The capitalization of "Realism" specifically refers to the art movement in 19th century Europe, especially represented by French painter Courbet. Its characteristic is to oppose traditional historical, mythological, and religious themes, and focus on non idealized modern life scenes. Kuiper said, "Painting is essentially a concrete art that must be applied to real things." [1] Xu Beihong's realism is different from Kuiper's realism, mainly referring to the realistic techniques based on scientific methods such as perspective, shading, and human anatomy since the European Renaissance. However, Xu Beihong also knows that the spiritual connotation of realism should be close to the masses. When we talk about realism, we call it "scientific". In fact, realism is not only scientific (pursuing truth), but also democratic (approaching the masses), which precisely conforms to the modern enlightenment spirit of democracy and science advocated during the May Fourth Movement in China. Therefore, the popularity of realism in China conforms to the needs of the times. After nearly a century of Western style art education in China, realism has been internalized as an organic component of Chinese art. It has not only been accepted by most Chinese artists, but also cultivated a social aesthetic psychological habit of the Chinese public generally appreciating realistic art. During the Yan'an era, Mao Zedong called on literary and artistic figures to deepen their lives and serve the workers, peasants, and soldiers, promoting the democratization and popularization of Chinese realistic art. After the establishment of the People's Republic of China, realism (the "socialist realism" introduced from the Soviet Union and the sinicized "revolutionary realism") became the mainstream of Chinese art. The Chinese realistic painting school, centered around the painter group of the Central Academy of Fine Arts, created a number of classic works that reflected real life and historical themes through realistic techniques. However, at that time, some works were still formulaic and conceptual, not reflecting reality but embellishing it. During the Cultural Revolution, feudalism (cultural autocracy) and superstition (personal worship) prevailed, and the so-called "revolutionary realism" became a tool for extreme leftist political propaganda. After the end of the Cultural Revolution and the early stages of reform and opening up, the "scar art" and "local realism" art styles, in response to the feudal and superstitious period of the Cultural Revolution, restored the democratic and scientific enlightenment spirit of the May Fourth period, and restored the true nature of realism. In 1978, Wu Changjiang entered the gate of the Central Academy of Fine Arts during the early stages of reform and opening up. In the cultural atmosphere of ideological liberation, he has gained a deeper and more comprehensive understanding of the painting techniques and spiritual connotations of realism. Therefore, his artistic creation has always adhered to realism: at the technical level, he insists on using sketching as the basis of form, directly learning from nature, and sketching on site; On a spiritual level, we insist on facing the true life of people, especially the true life of ordinary people.

Wu Changjiang is a loyal practitioner of Xu Beihong's emphasis on the art teaching system of sketch modeling. He loved Xu Beihong's sketches from a young age and admired Xu Beihong's personality and artistic ideas. In 2009, he was appointed as the Honorary Dean of the School of Art at Renmin University of China (formerly known as Xu Beihong School of Art), which may also be related to his admiration for Xu Beihong's art. In 1947, Xu Beihong explicitly stated in his book "Steps for Establishing New Chinese Painting" that "sketching is the foundation of all plastic arts... it must have very strict training and accumulate thousands of pieces of paper to achieve the desired effect. Twenty years ago, there were few sketchers in China who were extremely skilled in imagery and objects, and the progress of Chinese painting has been a thing of the past twenty years. Therefore, the establishment of New Chinese painting is neither an improvement nor a combination of Chinese and Western art. It is only a direct teaching of creation." [2] Various departments of the Central Academy of Fine Arts have always regarded sketching as the most important foundational course in art teaching. During his studies in the Printmaking Department of the Central Academy of Fine Arts, Wu Changjiang excelled in sketching. In September 1982, Wu Changjiang graduated and stayed on as a teacher. Later, he became a professor at the Central Academy of Fine Arts and served as the director of the Printmaking Department for 6 years, mainly engaged in teaching human body sketching. He has published more than 20 sketching textbooks and art collections, including "Selected Works of Wu Changjiang's Human Body Sketches" (1986), "Classic Library of Chinese Sketches - Wu Changjiang Sketches Collection" (1998), "Teaching Models of Famous Artists in Universities - Wu Changjiang Sketches Art" (2002), and "Wu Changjiang Sketches Collection: Journey to the Qinghai Tibet Plateau" (2004), and has been used as a model for sketching practice and copying by students in art colleges. I think it is somewhat absolute to say that "sketch is the foundation of all plastic arts", while it is absolutely true to say that sketch is the foundation of realistic plastic arts. Wu Changjiang's sketching teaching inherits Xu Beihong's "New Seven Methods", especially the viewpoint of "but taking simplicity to seek harmony; not neglecting trivialities to lose subtlety", and attaches great importance to the overall modeling concept of "reaching the vast and the subtle". In teaching theory and creative practice, he summarized the academic characteristics of "concise, heavy, agile, and generous" high-quality sketching, and concluded that the creativity of sketching is reflected in the deep expression of the spirit of the object. He also created the concept of "dynamic mainline" (the main movement line that expresses the dynamic and tension of characters) as the "life of sketching", and gave examples to illustrate that Ye Qianyu and Huang Zhou used "dynamic mainline" in their character sketching. These basic principles of sketching and modeling also run through his own artistic creations. His printmaking and watercolor paintings both emphasize drawing and are clearly based on sketching, which can be called sketching style printmaking and sketching style watercolor painting.

The reform and opening up have provided more opportunities for Chinese artists to study abroad. From 1988 to 1989, Wu Changjiang studied at the School of Fine Arts at the University of Madrid and the University of Granada in Spain. During his studies in Spain, he focused on observing and studying the oil paintings, prints, and sketches of Spanish painters such as Greco, Ribeira, Subaland, Velasquez, Goya, and Picasso. He further realized that "art has never been just a truthful record of historical events and a reflection of the historical background, but through these observations, it reflects the reality and the living conditions of ordinary people... In the 17th century, the great Spanish painters Vlasquez, Ribeira, and Goya, their most brilliant works are also the most exciting, precisely depicting the portraits of ordinary people." [3] Spanish painters, especially Vlasquez and Goya's realistic paintings, impressed him the most with the inner expressive power of insight into human nature. Picasso, a cubist painter, also had a strong ability in sketching and realistic modeling, and even created over 17000 prints throughout his life. Wu Changjiang praised the charm of Picasso's sketches and wrote a commentary on Picasso's prints titled "The Power and Passion of Picasso" (2002). In addition, Wu Changjiang has visited various European countries and Japan multiple times, visiting art museums in various countries. In his teaching, conversations, and articles, he often quotes and analyzes sketches and murals by Italian Renaissance artists da Vinci and Michelangelo, as well as oil paintings by Italian painter Caravaggio, altar paintings by Dutch painters Van Eyck brothers and Vetten, printmaking and sketching by German painters Del ü ller, Holbein, and Klewych, oil paintings and sketches by Flemish painters Rubens and Van Dyck, oil paintings and sketches by Dutch painters Vermeer and Rembrandt, and oil paintings and sketches by French painters Anger, Miller, Degas, and Mage. Sketches by Titus and others. He particularly admires the sculptures and sketches of French sculptor Rodin, and Rodin's human body sketches are an example of the "dynamic mainline" he discovered. In his academic paper "Ode to Life - Reading Rodin's Human Body Sketches" (1999), there is a very professional, detailed, and insightful analysis of his works. The design concept of "shaping the volume of space with depth" in Rodin's sculpture has deeply inspired his sketching teaching and artistic creation. The combination of smooth lines and flowing watercolors in Rodin's body sketches has also been absorbed by his watercolor paintings. Studying, observing, and studying original works of Western art abroad has confirmed and deepened Wu Changjiang's understanding of realism from a technical and spiritual level. It has been widely cited in his sketching teaching and artistic creation.

Realistic life comes from life

Wu Changjiang firmly believes that life is the source of artistic creation, and the vitality of realistic art comes from a profound understanding of real life. Only by delving into life and observing it can one generate passion for creation and obtain inspiration for art. As early as the early 1980s, Wu Changjiang had chosen his source of life, his creative base, his spiritual home, and his inspiration plateau - the Qinghai Tibet Plateau.

The attachment to the plateau

Wu Changjiang's attachment to the Qinghai Tibet Plateau is a sincere and profound emotion that has been devoted to him for a lifetime. In his article "The Call of the Plateau" (1999), he affectionately expressed his growing love for the Xizang Plateau, Tibetan culture and Tibetan compatriots: "I feel more and more strongly that I have a previous life agreement with the Tibetan Plateau in the dark. My heart is so close to them, as if I was one of them." [4]

Why does Wu Changjiang, as a Han Chinese painter living in a metropolis in mainland China, have a special fondness for the Qinghai Tibet Plateau, which is far away on the southwest border? Will there be a sense of self identification and empathy similar to fatalism, treating oneself as a member of the Tibetan ethnic group? Of course, the teachers and students of the Central Academy of Fine Arts have always been keen on presenting Xizang themes. The classic works of Wu Zuoren, Dong Xiwen, Li Huanmin, Pan Shixun, Zhan Jianjun, Zhu Naizheng and other painters, as well as the success of Chen Danqing's "Xizang Group Painting" with his classmates at that time, undoubtedly had an impact on him. But I speculate that Wu Changjiang's initial motivation for longing for the Qinghai Tibet Plateau may also come from his curiosity to explore the unknown world. Human scientific discoveries and artistic explorations are often driven by curiosity. The more distant, unfamiliar, and mysterious the unknown world, the more it can arouse people's curiosity, thirst for knowledge, and imagination. The beautiful and magical Qinghai Tibet Plateau is like a huge magnetic field, attracting the attention of many artists in mainland China. They came all the way here and found that the Qinghai Tibet Plateau was even more beautiful and magical than they had imagined.

In April 1981, Wu Changjiang and his classmates from the Printmaking Department of the Central Academy of Fine Arts went to Gannan Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture in Gansu Province to sketch, passing through places such as Ruoergai and Hongyuan. From then on, he began his journey of tens of thousands of miles, spanning more than thirty years and thirty years, to delve into the life and sketching of Tibetan areas. In the summer of 1983, he first went to Yushu Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture in Qinghai to sketch. It took him three days from Xining to Yushu, and the journey was long and very difficult. Wu Changjiang climbed the Bayan Kara Pass for the first time, with a splitting headache, but fully appreciated the vast and rugged atmosphere of the Qinghai Tibet Plateau. In his "Journey to the Qinghai Tibet Plateau" (1989), he vividly described the excitement of witnessing the wonders of the universe for the first time in the style of prose poetry: "Under the cover of black clouds, the blue and blue peaks of the Bayan Kara Mountains resemble a huge and majestic python, perching on the Qinghai Tibet Plateau. In the ancient and desolate atmosphere, we feel the magical soul and power of the universe... All of this makes people forever yearn for that silent land, the clear flowing water, and the black and blue distant mountains." [5] He yearns for the magnificent natural scenery of the Qinghai Tibet Plateau, and even more so. Tibetan compatriots who have been living and working for generations on the plateau. The cold and ever-changing climate of the Qinghai Tibet Plateau has created a strong and robust physique, as well as a resilient and bold personality among the Tibetan people; The devout faith in Tibetan Buddhism for thousands of years has cultivated the qualities of kindness and sincerity, as well as the pure and beautiful sentiments of the Tibetan people. The snow capped mountains on the Qinghai Tibet Plateau are towering, with abundant water and grass. The sky is pure and transparent, and the sunlight is particularly brilliant. This mysterious snowy plateau is also a sacred spiritual sanctuary; This barren high-altitude region is actually a natural source of spiritual nourishment. Starting from the early 1980s, for the past thirty years, Wu Changjiang has almost traveled throughout the entire Qinghai Tibet Plateau. The landscape and characters of the plateau have aroused his creative passion and inspired his artistic inspiration. He gradually adapted to the plateau environment by traveling and sketching in the Tibetan Plateau at an altitude of three to four thousand meters for a long time. Although his altitude sickness was not very strong, the strong ultraviolet radiation from the high-altitude sun burned his eyes, and he still had no regrets and did not change his original intention. In the vast painting studio of the Qinghai Tibet Plateau, he painted a large number of sketches, sketches, and watercolors, and created the "Qinghai Tibet Plateau Series" printmaking based on sketching sketches.

Wu Changjiang's "Qinghai Tibet Plateau Series" printmaking showcases the unique characteristics of different materials and techniques in lithography and copperplate. The combination of emphasis lines and rich and delicate grain aesthetics in lithography, while copperplate emphasizes the interweaving of lines and clear and dense visual effects. All of his printmaking works adopt a black, white, and gray tone sketching method, highlighting the contrasting changes in large areas of black and white tones or gray tones, creating a pure, peaceful, cool, and profound space unique to the snowy plateau - both a natural space and a spiritual space. The black Tibetan characters, horses, yaks, and other images are particularly eye-catching, and the vast background and finely crafted main subject of the painting achieve "vast" and "profound". The overall unity of "utmost refinement" is active and fulfilling in the realm of emptiness and spirituality. This artistic inspiration and painting language come from the painter's personal experience and unique discovery of high-altitude life. For example, his lithograph "Sweeping Snow" (1982) is one of the group paintings he created after graduating from the Printmaking Department of the Central Academy of Fine Arts. In the autumn of 1981, he encountered a heavy snowfall in the Eula Commune on the Gannan Plateau, which made him deeply feel the tenacious and tenacious life will of Tibetan herdsmen under harsh living conditions. It also inspired him to create "Sweeping Snow" with a large blank background, with a black tent, a Tibetan woman, a snowy path, and a silver snowy sky, forming a profound space of virtual and real coexistence. The woodblock painting "Qinghai Tibet Plateau" (1984) also incorporates the painter's surprise of suddenly seeing yaks, tents, and shepherds while trekking on the desolate grassland slopes. The gray toned grassland below, which accounts for three-quarters of the picture, forms a sharp contrast with the blank sky above. The small active figures of shepherds on the gentle slope top further highlight the tranquility, richness, emptiness, and vastness of the plateau. His printmaking mainly focuses on plateau scenery, as well as woodblock prints such as "Plateau Pasture" (1984), "The Second of the Vast Grasslands" (1987), "Qinghai Grassland" (1992), "The Peak of the Plateau" (1993), "Shower" (1993), and copperplate prints such as "Pasture in Early Spring" (1992) and "Zheduo Snow Peak" (1995). Printmaking mainly featuring characters from the plateau includes woodblock prints such as "Gawa" (1984), "Shepherd Boy" (1985), copperplate prints "Son of the Plateau" (1994), "Son of the Plateau II" (1998), and woodblock prints such as "Milk Squeezing" (1982), "Milk Squeezing II" (1987), "Tibetan Girl" (1988), "Tibetan Girl II" (1990), copperplate prints "Yushu Tibetan Girl" (1994), and "Song of the Plateau" (1995) depicting Tibetan women. The black and white, virtual and real, light and dark, and light and shadow processing in the lithograph "Gawa" are exceptionally coordinated in the visual space. The Tibetan shepherd boy, backed by black yaks, squints his eyes under the dazzling sunlight of the plateau, and his smile is as brilliant as the sunshine. The lithographs "Milk Squeezing" and "Milk Squeezing II" depict the broad back or profile of Tibetan women working beside yak herds in the vast snow, full of the atmosphere of daily life on the plateau and the simple and implicit poetry. The woodblock painting "Tibetan Woman" reminds us of the painter's description at the end of his "Journey to the Qinghai Tibet Plateau": "I can never forget the Tibetan woman standing on the grass, holding a pine branch in prayer. Her trembling hand holds an apple, and her slightly closed eyes seem to gaze at an infinite distance. She is praying for the future, hoping for prosperity, happiness, and peace!" [6]

Wu Changjiang's watercolor paintings also mostly depict the scenery and characters of the Qinghai Tibet Plateau. His watercolor paintings of plateau landscapes include Bayan Har Mountain (1990), Overlook of Gongga Snow Mountain (1993), Labrang, a famous temple of Yellow Sect (1995), Langmu Temple (1997), Meili Snow Mountain (1999), Wunongding Village under Meili Snow Mountain (1999), Songzanlin Temple in Zhongdian (1999), Huangzhanfang (2004), etc., as well as Nepalese landscapes close to Xizang in China, such as Road to Xizang (2005), Commercial Street near the Royal Palace (2005), etc. His watercolor paintings of high-altitude figures can be divided into group portraits and portraits. There are relatively few works of watercolor painting for group portraits, such as "The Classic of Debates" (1990) and "In front of the Jokhang Temple" (1990), while there are many watercolor paintings for portrait portraits (see below for details). Wu Changjiang often includes his watercolor paintings in his sketch collection, indicating that his watercolor paintings are based on sketches. His sketching style watercolor paintings often use pencils, charcoal pencils, or brushes to outline the contours, with light colors applied and occasionally accentuated colors. They have both the smooth lines and solid structure of sketching, as well as the flowing colors and transparent water meanings of watercolor. From his creation, we can see the absorption of the essence of Rodin's body sketch performance, and his watercolor emphasizes more massiness and richness.

Since July 2007, Wu Changjiang has served as the Executive Vice Chairman of the China Artists Association, with an unprecedentedly busy work schedule. He still uses his holidays to sketch in the Tibetan areas of the Qinghai Tibet Plateau. In 2009, he hosted and planned a large-scale exhibition called "Inspiration Plateau - Chinese Art Exhibition", which was exhibited at the China National Art Museum and received a warm response. On April 14, 2010, he went to Yushu Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture in Qinghai Province seven times to sketch. A 7.1 magnitude earthquake struck, and he was extremely worried and worried about the disaster area. He took the lead in organizing the Chinese Artists Association to donate 3 million yuan to the Yushu earthquake stricken area, expressing the deep affection and care of the Chinese Artists Association and his Tibetan compatriots on the Qinghai Tibet Plateau.

The resemblance of the soul

French sculptor Luo Dan said: "If an artist can only draw some lines on the surface, as photography can do, and if he records the lines on his face exactly the same, and does not relate to his character, then he does not deserve to be praised by others. The Xiao like that he deserves is the Xiao like of the soul - only this Xiao like is the only important. It is this Xiao like that that sculptors or painters should explore through the face." [7] Wu Changjiang is particularly fond of painting figures, especially other Qinghai Tibet Plateau sketches and watercolor paintings are mostly portraiture figure paintings. What he explores through portrait appearances is the resemblance of the soul. Luo Dan also said, "In art, works with 'personality' are beautiful... Personality is the external reality expressed in the internal reality, which is the soul, emotions, and thoughts expressed by a person's face, posture, and actions." [8] Wu Changjiang's figure paintings express a person's personality - the soul, emotions, and thoughts of a person through their face, posture, and actions. His sketches and watercolor portraits of the Qinghai Tibet Plateau vividly and profoundly depict the spirit of the Tibetan people - the soul of the plateau.

The spirit of the Tibetan people best represents the soul of the Qinghai Tibet Plateau. Wu Changjiang often goes to the border areas of Gansu, Qinghai, Sichuan, and Xizang to sketch. He thinks that the Kangba people in Changdu, Xizang, Ganzi, Sichuan, and the Anduo people in Yushu, Qinghai, and Aba, Sichuan are the most rich in Tibetan national character and facial features. The Kangba and Anduo people belong to the strongest nomadic ethnic groups among the Tibetan people, living in high-altitude cold areas above 4000 meters. They have a particularly resilient and bold personality, and the image of Kangba men is particularly fierce and heroic, which is very picturesque. Over the past thirty years, painters have not only become increasingly familiar with the appearance of Tibetan herdsmen, but also delve deeper into their hearts. He read a lot of books and materials about Xizang's geography, history, religion, culture, art, folk customs and other aspects, and explored the spiritual world of the Tibetan people. The heroic spirit, animism, and devout faith of Tibetan Buddhism in the Tibetan epic "The Biography of King Gesar", as well as the optimistic attitude of harmonious coexistence with nature and calmly facing the test of nature, have already permeated into the blood and soul of the Tibetan people, forming their unique way of life and spiritual appearance. This lifestyle and spiritual outlook endow Tibetans with unique physical characteristics and inner temperament, which naturally manifest from their appearance, eyes, posture, gestures, movements, and even clothing. To capture the soul of the plateau and the spirit of the Tibetan people, painters need to truly and profoundly excavate and express the pure and innocent spiritual temperament hidden in the strong and handsome appearance of Tibetan characters. Therefore, on-site sketching has become an effective means of capturing the soul of the plateau and expressing the inner truth through external reality. Nowadays, many of our painters have given up live sketching and replaced it with copying photos. Photos can be used as a reference for painters (such as Anger, Delacroix, Courbet, Degas, etc.), but they cannot replace sketching. The difference between sketching and photography is the boundary between art and technology (photography art is another matter). As Rodin said, "Artists tell the truth, and photography tells lies." [9] Sketching is more in line with human visual perception than photography (both Rodin and Gombrich have elaborated on this). Sketching is an artificial creation, just like words written with a brush or pen, leaving behind information about life and traces of personality; Photos are mechanical records, like words typed on a computer, lacking vital information and personal traits. Sketching helps with personalization, one person at a time, a thousand people at a time, and they are different from each other; Photos tend to be generalized, one-sided, uniform, and identical to each other. The form of sketching is relatively simplified, and in the process of sketching, it has already been refined and summarized, abandoning unnecessary details; The photo format is quite cumbersome and meticulous. The most fundamental point of sketching is to paint from life. Live sketching requires painters to engage in face-to-face emotional communication and spiritual dialogue with objects, in order to directly grasp their vivid lives and capture their inner souls. Wu Changjiang has always insisted on on-site sketching, so he was able to successfully create a series of pure and heartwarming spiritual portraits of Tibetan characters Park Yee. The most precious thing is that he painted thousands of Tibetan characters, but almost none of them have the same appearance. Each character has their own specific personality and appearance characteristics, rather than typified, formulaic, and conceptualized facial masks and symbols. This is clearly attributed to the painter's on-site experience in sketching, his familiarity with character life and keen observation, and his superb ability in sketching and realistic modeling. He has persisted in training realistic painting techniques based on sketching for many years. His character sketches can capture the "dynamic mainline", and his character sketches maintain a "concise, heavy, agile, and generous" overall sense and high taste. The journey to the plateau, on-site sketching, and the process of spiritual exchange with the Tibetan people are also the process of emotional sublimation and spiritual purification of the painter. While shaping the pure and heartfelt spiritual portrait of Tibetan figure Park No, the painter's spiritual realm has also correspondingly improved, gradually forming his own simple, honest, robust and solid painting style.

Most of Wu Changjiang's portrait paintings belong to portrait painting, which can be divided into sketched portrait and watercolor portrait. His early sketches of portraits, such as "Changdu Youth" (1983) and "Dege Tibetan Women" (1983), showcased the rigorous, precise, elegant, and meticulous style of realistic sketching in the academy. His later sketches of portraits are countless, and his style has changed. The lines and shapes have become more relaxed, natural, rough, and bold, making the images more lively and vivid. The transformation of this art style is synchronized with his depth of understanding of Tibetan life and his own life experience. For example, the model in the sketch portrait "The Pastor of Batang" (1995) is the artist's Tibetan friend, Da Wa, from Yushu Batang. Da Wa, who returns from herding every day, enthusiastically rides a motorcycle to take the artist to various accounting rooms to sketch. Therefore, the simple and honest image of the Pastor of Batang in the painting is exceptionally vivid. The Tibetan youth in works such as "Kangba Youth in Yushu, Qinghai" (1998), "Maqu People" (1999), "Zeku Pastor" (2000), "Jielong Pastor" (2001), "Zeku Youth" (2002), "Guoluo Pastor II" (2003), "Gande Youth III" (2003), "Xingjian" (2009), and "Huadan" (2009) are also handsome and charming, although they are of similar age, each have their own unique appearance. Tibetan women in works such as "Yixilam" (2003), "Guinan Tibetan Women" (2004), "Zhou Maocuo" (2004), and "Zhuomacuo" (2004) are also simple and beautiful, each with their own unique charm. Representative works of Wu Changjiang's watercolor portraits include "Young Gebu" (2006), "Gongqiujia" (2006), "Cairang Zhuoma" (2006), "Musician Yueduo" (2006), "Genzang Statue" (2007), "Qiangba" (2007), "Pamote" (2007), "Genzang Duojie" (2009), "Jieke" (2009), "Sangjie" (2010), "Gongbaodan" (2010), "Lamaoji" (2010), and so on. The personality traits of the character designs in "Youth Gebu", "Gongqiujia", and "Musician Yueduo" are particularly distinctive and unforgettable. These watercolor portrait figures are directly outlined with a brush, with thick black lines and rich colors, seemingly combining elements of ink painting and oil painting, but still paying attention to the characteristics of watercolor being thin but thick and transparent. Painters pay attention to using dry brush lines to depict the strong physique of men and the fur texture of Tibetan robes and boots, while using slender lines to depict the beautiful posture of women. They also pay attention to the differences between the gorgeous clothing of the Kangba people and the simple clothing of the Anduo people. On the screen, there is usually a large area of blank space, as well as the Tibetan signature of the model and the painter's seal, which may be aimed at showcasing the "Chinese style". The background of the painting "La Maoji" adds household appliances and other props, indicating signs of modernization in Tibetan life. However, the face of the Tibetan woman still retains a simple expression, and the gestures are like many characters in the painter's pen, with fingers bending inward - probably a habitual action of years of hard work. In the inevitable process of modernization and urbanization, painters strive to leave behind more things that can better express people's original state and true life.

Wu Changjiang said, "I believe that artistic creation is accomplished with life." [10] His artistic creation embodies his life experience of wandering on the Qinghai Tibet Plateau for thirty years. With a series of spiritual portraits depicting the true life of Tibetan figures, it enriches the gallery of contemporary Chinese realistic figures and also enriches the language of contemporary Chinese realistic painting. Do realistic art still have contemporary value today? Is it outdated? In my opinion, in terms of art, there is only outdated fashion and no outdated spirit. Now that we have entered the 21st century, we have a broader and more free space for artistic spirit. The spirit of primitive art, classical art, and modern art can all be absorbed by us; The spirit of realism, freehand brushwork, and abstract art can all be adopted by us. The vitality of contemporary realistic art requires dedicated artists to continue their artistic creations with their lives. Wu Changjiang's artistic creation is a typical example.

[1] Oxford Dictionary of Art and Artists, Shanghai Foreign Language Education Press, 2001, p. 434.

[2] Wang Zhen, "Research on Xu Beihong", Jiangsu Fine Arts Publishing House, 1991, p. 158.

[3] Wu Changjiang, "Serious Study of Creative Issues," Fine Arts, Vol. 7, 2009, p.6.

[4] Wu Changjiang, "Wu Changjiang Sketches Collection: Journey to the Qinghai Tibet Plateau", Shandong Fine Arts Publishing House, 2005, p. 151.

[5] Wu Changjiang, Wu Changjiang Xizang Sketches Collection, Kyoto Convenient Hall Press, 1991, page 76.

[6] Same as above.

[7] "On Rodin's Art", translated by Shen Qi, People's Fine Arts Publishing House, 1978, page 66.

[8] Same as above, pages 25-26.

[9] Same as above, page 41.

[10] Yang Ping and Dong Lijun, "Melting the Chinese Style and Shaping the National Image: The Position of Chinese Art - Interview with Wu Changjiang", Art Observation, Vol. 3, 2010, p. 10.