Book Association?

Li Shi's eyes lit up.

He had long thought about joining the Calligraphy Association, and of course, he was naturally thinking about the National Calligraphy Association.

It's not that I don't care about the official status.

In fact, after he has had a study panel for a long time, and gradually took the evolution of life as his life goal, he no longer cares so much about the vanity of his official status, and the reason why he has considered it is purely from the perspective of "preaching", thinking that having an official identity will be more convenient and add a layer of aura when preaching.

However, after learning about the ecological status of those circles through some channels, coupled with the troublesome application conditions and procedures, if he is ready to apply now, he must wait for time to apply for the national exhibition, or start writing papers and waiting for publication...... The whole process goes down, even if every level is particularly smooth, it is estimated that it will take at least two or three years to successfully join the book association in the end.

Two or three years......

That will not have a strong official network, in case any level does not go well and is stuck, it will take longer.

With his demonic calligraphy talent, he has already been successfully promoted (expert +), and his preaching has been successful and he has preached (grandmaster) before he joins the calligraphy association!

In today's society where information dissemination is pluralistic, intelligent, and money-ridden, there are many means of preaching, and he firmly believes that he can become a calligraphy master in two or three years, so he directly extinguishes that thought.

But now—

Li Shi looked at Wu Xiulin.

This amiable old lady is 78 years old this year, and before her retirement, she was the leader of the Calligraphy Association, and she also had a higher-level identity in Wenlian and an organization.

He thought to himself that if he could not affect the rhythm of his learning and creation, and successfully enter the book association, it would be good, and it would be a good thing to have an extra halo endorsement.

He pondered for a moment, then smiled and said to the old lady, "Teacher Wu, thank you." However, I am not going to write a thesis, I am going to write a monograph directly. ”

He noticed that the old lady's name for herself had changed, from the previous "Mr. Li" to "Mr. Li", and it also changed.

Writing a monograph is naturally much more difficult than a thesis, but Li Shi has this confidence.

"It's good to write a monograph, not to mention creation, with your theoretical level, you should indeed publish a monograph directly."

During these forty or fifty minutes of academic exchanges, Li Shi's level of calligraphy completely convinced her, who thought she was quite well-informed.

The old lady thought for a while and said: "Yaru told me something about you before, and when your work is written, I will help contact the publishing house, if I remember correctly, as long as it is an academic monograph published by a regular national unit, and then recommended by the academic committee of the Book Association, and recognized by the theoretical expert group organized by the Book Association, it will meet the conditions for theoretical experts to join the association." ”

Li Shi smiled and said, "Then thank you Teacher Wu first, and when my writing is finished, I will trouble you." ”

The reason why he bothered Mr. Wu again was more to consider the later things, and it could be regarded as the reason for further interaction with this calligraphy senior.

After a short contact, he also had a good impression of this innocent old lady.

The old lady immediately said: "I can't wait to see your masterpiece, this kind of summary of the evolution and development of calligraphy from the most basic and core place, across the length of history, is an absolute supplement and improvement to the basic theory of our calligraphy art." ”

He Yaru interjected: "If you say this, Mr. Li's book contribution will be very large, and when it comes out, won't it cause a sensation in the calligraphy world?" ”

Causing a stir?

Li Shi smiled and didn't speak.

The old lady shook her head lightly and said: "The contribution must be great, but whether it is a sensation or not, it is difficult to say, Mr. Li's theories are basic theories, but in fact they are very profound, and there are too few people who can dabble in them." ”

When He Yaru heard this, she immediately remembered that she had just listened to the book of heaven, and couldn't help but smile awkwardly.

After chatting for a while, Wu Yuan led Li Shi and Wu Yuan to the second floor to visit.

After they went out, the old lady first looked at the rice paper that had written "Yonghe Nine Years" five times, and suddenly laughed.

Just wanted to put this piece of paper away, the door was suddenly pushed open, Yaru's good best friend, Wu Yuan, who had not spoken much before, walked back and whispered to Wu Xiulin: "Teacher Wu, Teacher Li asked me to recycle the draft, he said that this should be kept for the future to write a book." ”

After speaking, he smiled politely at the old lady, picked up the rice paper on the desk, folded it in half a few times and put it in his bag, and then turned around and walked out.

The old lady's eyes were a little dull for a moment, and her gaze followed her movements.

After the figure disappeared at the door, he withdrew his gaze, looked at the two works on the workbench, and gradually immersed himself in the beauty of "Sijun".

Upstairs.

Li Shi opened his eyes, six special collection cabinets with constant temperature and humidity, each two meters high and one meter six wide, filled with calligraphy, paintings and ancient books.

In addition, there are two rows of constant temperature and humidity display cabinets, after He Yaru turned on the power of the light strip, she immediately saw that there were 20 calligraphy and paintings inside, she said, these 20 are her aunt's favorite 20 paintings, usually when there is nothing to do, she will often come to watch.

Li Shi admired them one by one.

The first collection is Qi Baishi's book of flowers and birds.

He looked at the works one by one, and after reading all the works, he returned to the third collection.

This is a calligraphy by Wen Zhengming, a calligrapher and painter in the Ming Dynasty, which is written in the last sentence of the first article of the "Analects" "Xueer" - Zi said: "If you don't suffer from people, you don't know yourself, and you don't know people if you suffer from them." ”

The translation of this sentence into the vernacular is: Confucius said, not afraid that others do not understand themselves, but only afraid that they do not understand others.

Li Shi carefully appreciated every word, and finally came to a conclusion that Wen Zhengming's calligraphy sketch should be inherited from Wang Xizhi's "Holy Order".

A scene suddenly appeared in his mind: an ancient man more than 500 years ago was learning the words of another ancient man more than 1,600 years ago in his study.

In the end, this scene is transformed into two heavy words - context.

"Calligraphy also plays an important role in the inheritance of Chinese culture."

He was very interested in these calligraphy and paintings, appreciating one collection after another, but Wu Yuan was not very interested, and He Yaru had seen it many times before, and the two only accompanied Li Shi on the second floor for a while, and then left first.

He continued to appreciate until noon, and when he returned to the building on the left to eat, Li Shi saw Gu Xiao, the framer.

There are also factions in the north and south of the framing, and Gu Xiao belongs to the Su faction in the southern faction.

"The weather in the south is humid, and the lacquer shaft head is generally selected, and the lacquer on the shaft head can protect the shaft head from deformation and prevent insects and ......."

Gu Xiao is a master who is not good at words, but when Li Shi asks about the name of the frame, he is also willing to explain it to the customer in detail.

After eating, several people came to the restoration room again and discussed the framing style and material selection first.

Li Shi decided to frame both works in the form of handscrolls, so that they could be hidden in his personal space in the future, and they could be easily taken out and viewed at any time.

In the afternoon, Master Gu started work, and Li Shi continued to go upstairs to see Wu Xiulin's collection.

He was very efficient, and in the evening, in addition to the rare books, he carefully appreciated all the 156 pieces of calligraphy and painting in the collection.

"One hundred and fifty-six pieces, twenty pieces in the exhibition cabinet are indeed the best of these one hundred and fifty-six pieces, and the rest can only be said to be relatively rare.

"As for the ...... of painting"

Li Shi stood in front of the display case, with some emotion.

Wu Xiuli herself is also proficient in Chinese painting, but her attainments are far inferior to her calligraphy, Li Shi has seen her works hanging in the house, with the evaluation criteria of the learning panel, not (professional-), not yet "painter". But in her collection of more than 100 pieces, only a small half of the calligraphy is actually made, and most of them are paintings, especially by modern and modern painters.

Li Shi felt that this showed that she was actually influenced by secular values, and there was no way to think that in the modern painting and calligraphy market, the economic value of the works of well-known painters is generally higher than that of calligraphers.

It's a fact.

There's nothing to shy away from, everyone is human, living in society, there will naturally be a secular side, and if I do it myself, I guess I will also focus more on more valuable paintings.

He took out his mobile phone and searched for the transaction records of modern and contemporary paintings and calligraphy at auction.

"The first place is Qi Baishi's "Twelve Screens of Landscapes", the transaction price is 931.5 million, good guys, they are almost a billion, although it is twelve, it is more than 70 million!"

"The second is actually Qi Baishi, "Pine and Cypress Gaolitu Seal Book Four Words Couplet", the transaction price is 425.5 million...... It is worthy of Qi Baishi. ”

"The third is Huang Binhong, "Huangshan Tangkou", 345 million ...... The fourth is Li Keran's "Ten Thousand Mountains Are Red", which was sold for 293 million. ”

……

"The ninth is Wu Guanzhong's "Zhou Zhuang".

"Tenth, Zhang Daqian's "Autumn Dawn", 195.5 million yuan."

After reading the information he found, Li Shi couldn't help but touch his chin.

The top 10 of the modern calligraphy and painting transaction records are all paintings, and there is not a single work with calligraphy as the main body!

The reason why I say "subject" is because those works also have calligraphy components, but after all, they are only decorative embellishments of the subject's "painting".

He wanted to find the highest record in the auction of modern and modern calligraphers, but he did not find accurate and effective information, but he saw that many people said that the most expensive should be Wu Changshuo, so he searched for Wu Changshuo's calligraphy works transaction records.

In the Beijing Poly Autumn Auction, Wu Changshuo's 1924 "Seal Book "Bao Song Room" was sold for 10.695 million yuan, 7.1 times the low estimate, which can be called a major dark horse in this market...... Seven times higher than the estimate, so the estimate is around one or two million. ”

He looked at the picture of the work again, and couldn't help but shake his head slightly.

"First of all, I have a good understanding of the market for modern and modern calligraphy works, and as for the market of contemporary calligraphers, I have known about it before...... In addition, the artistic value of the work cannot be completely equated with the market value. ”

"Do you want my work to be auctioned in the future? If it is put up for auction, what kind of price will it fetch for sale? ”

The reason why Li Shi checked these materials was naturally because of his own works.

At this moment, there was movement outside the door, and soon, Wu Xiulin and He Yaru walked in together.

The three of them chatted about the collection here for a while, but soon the old lady said the purpose of coming to him: "Mr. Li, I know that you will definitely not shoot "Sijun", but what about the "Beauty Bath"? ”

Her question reminded Li Shi of what he was still pondering just now - if his calligraphy work was auctioned, what kind of price would it be sold for.

He immediately smiled and asked, "Mr. Wu, you are an expert in calligraphy and painting collections, if my "Beauty Bath" is on the market, what kind of price do you think it can reach?" Or to put it another way, how much would you be willing to pay for my words? ”

The old lady thought seriously for a while and said:

"In the collection market, it has always been difficult to buy a favorite, and this is true for other collections, and the same is true for calligraphy and painting collections, even if it is the same work of the same calligrapher and painter, it will be auctioned at different prices when encountering different buyers."

"You are still not famous, if ordinary people encounter that "Beauty Bath", to be honest, the price should not be too high, the general recommendation publicity, hundreds of thousands of possibilities, it is very good to be able to reach millions."

"But if I meet you, even if I don't know you, just looking at the work, I will be willing to take it as much as possible within five million......"

Before she finished speaking, He Yaru on the side immediately spoke: "I'm willing to pay 10 million to buy!" If it's "Beauty Bath", more is fine! ”

The old lady glared at her niece, who she had loved the most since she was a child, and said angrily: "You are the most obsessed with this character, and you have no reason at all, and even in your eyes, even "Sijun" is not as good as "Beauty Bath". ”

Saying that, she said to Li Shi again: "But if I meet "Sijun" at the auction, then don't say 10 million, even if it is 100 million, I will do my best to win it!" In my eyes, a work like this has reached the pinnacle of traditional art, and its artistic value can no longer be measured by money. ”

100 million?

Li Shi is relatively calm, because he also thinks the same, so he agrees with the old lady's judgment of traditional works of art.

It was He Yaru who was taken aback.

"I really don't want to sell these two works, but 'Beauty Bath' is not a 'non-sale', but I won't consider it until I finish my solo exhibition in the future."

The old lady nodded, her expression calm.

He Yaru rarely showed a very disappointed look, and she asked, "Then Mr. Li, when do you plan to hold an exhibition?" ”

Li Shi thought for a while and said, "I have only saved these two works that I can get my hands on, at least six to ten." ”

Or create a "divine artifact".

Of course, he didn't say that.

The three of them came out of the building on the right and went to the residence on the left, where Li Shi and the old lady continued to talk about calligraphy in the living room.

And He Yaru came to the guest room arranged for Li Shi and Wu Yuan, and found Wu Yuan, who was handling work.

"Xiaoyuan, let me ask you something, is Mr. Li's creative efficiency in calligraphy high? How much time did he spend creating those two works? ”

Wu Yuan just finished the video conference, she thought about it and said: "It's hard to say, he is a very inspirational artist, inspiration comes, he can quickly create satisfactory works, if there is no inspiration, he may not even start writing - this is how he took pictures in the first place." ”

He Yaru sighed slightly in her heart.

Inspiration?

This kind of thing is too ethereal.

However, thinking of the "Beauty Bath", she asked again: "Do you know how he usually finds inspiration?" ”

(End of chapter)