DOCUMENTO
A cOnVersAtiOn betWeen
chinese Artists AnD MeXicAn
PAinter DAViD ALfArO siQUeirOs
feng Xiangsheng
(Renowned Mexican artist David Alfaro Siqueiros was invited to
come to China for an offi cial visit in October of this year. Last year,
on a visit to the Soviet Union, he delivered “An Open Letter to Soviet
Artists” that was later published in the US progressive publication The
Masses and the Mainstream. On October 23, Siqueiros delivered a speech
entitled “The Mexican Modern Painting Movement” to an audience of
Chinese artists in Beijing. On the 24th and 30th, Chinese artists and
Siqueiros engaged in two discussions concerning issues such as
Siqueiros’s speech, his “Open Letter to Soviet Artists,” and his views
on Chinese art. The participants of these conversations included:
Ye Qianyu, Wu Zuoren, Cao Ruohong, Shao Yu, Ni Yide, Dong Xiwen,
Wang Xun, Wang Qi, Zhang Wuzhen, Li Zongjin, Li Hua, Ye Fu, y
otros. Below is a brief summary of these two discussions for our read-
ers’ reference. The speakers have not reviewed this article, and any
misrepresentations of the discussion are solely the responsibility of
the reporter.)
OctOber 24, AfternOOn At the chinese Artists’ AssOciAtiOn
Siqueiros began by expressing his hopes that the Chinese artists would
honestly and frankly share their thoughts on his speech and open letter.
He expressed willingness to continue to discuss Mexican painting, el
92
© 2020 arTMargins and the Massachusetts institute of Technology
https://doi.org/10.1162/artm_a_00257
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Paris school, Abstraction, the Soviet style, etc., in order to supplement
the speech from the day before.
Siqueiros: “Mexican artists oppose the Paris school [the European
avant-garde]. I believe that realism (xianshi zhuyi) isn’t a stagnant style but
rather keeps progressing forward. In the past, many artists did not fully
realize the potential of realism and they didn’t develop it to its utmost.
Pero, simply, each era has its own contributions and characteristics. As the
times kept moving forward, artists came to discover the problem of repre-
senting space (Por ejemplo, in the Middle Ages, Christian art was a flat,
depthless representation). [They also came to] acquire [the skills of ] por-
spective and chiaroscuro. Más tarde, Raphael emerged, and then came the
Renacimiento. This is an even better period. I think the era of realism has
not passed. Bastante, it is more fully developed. I think the era of realism
has only just begun.”
. . .
Speaking of Chinese painting, Siqueiros said, “Right now there is a
popular belief that Chinese painting is two-dimensional, not three-
dimensional. This kind of thinking exists in Europe, but I think it is
a mistake. I went to the Palace Museum and looked at many classical
Chinese paintings. Even at that time painters were already experiment-
ing with depth and shadows. These paintings were made five hundred
years before perspective was discovered in Europe.
“In eras of decline, art does not develop. No matter how skillfully
artists try to imitate the great works of the past, when it comes to creativ-
ity they fall far short. The abstract school says, ‘We have already reached
the perfection of realism. Nothing further can be done to improve on it.’
So they changed direction. They no longer concerned themselves with
problems in objects and instead looked for subjective problems to solve.
Artists in that time thought ‘the sleeping world is more important than
the living,’ as if sleep were not also part of life. The abstract school said:
the essence of painting is color. It doesn’t need to ‘describe’ anything, como
long as the colors are well balanced, that is enough. A painting is just a
bunch of lines, it doesn’t need to be about anything. Starting in 1922,
Mexican artists began opposing this kind of thought. We said: ‘Realist
painting is still developing. It can create a richer and more complete art.’
“There’s another group [of artists] who think that ‘realism’ is just
wholesale repetition. They use art to express the decisions in their
hearts. They think that classical styles are fixed styles. [Como resultado] su
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93
works bore audiences and become meaningless. This is the reason why
I whole-heartedly criticized the Soviet style of painting.
“Soviet painters think that realism is [Gustave] Courbet and [Ilya]
Repin. Of course these two artists were very good. But if they were alive
in the 20th century, their style would have progressed further.
“It is difficult to find new forms (xingshi) [of representation]. This can’t
be expressed with words. This has to completely rely on an artist’s talent.”
. . .
[Próximo,] speaking of specific issues regarding the production of realist
painting, él [Siqueiros] emphasized the following points:
“First, when painting human figures, one should observe the sub-
ject’s expressions and color, understand [su] inner feelings, and exam-
ine his everyday gestures and movements from many perspectives. Este
is direct realism.
“Second, when painting deceased figures, you can’t directly paint
their likeness. You have to examine photographs and sculptures of them
from after they’ve passed away. Además, you have to study [su]
materials and political concerns. This is the objective method. . . .
“Third, there’s realism of the spirit [ jingsheng] (but not imitative
landscape). . . . China has many large-scale works of this kind.
Landscape paintings’ subject isn’t what you can see right in front of you.
[You have to] look from every possible angle (es decir., diffusive perspective).
Good landscape paintings surpass what we can see. Chinese painting is
very consistent with these principles.
“Fourth, realist imagination. Imagination in realism is not the
same as imagination in abstract painting. A fantasy painting without
a realist foundation is inauthentic [bu zhenshi], it’s pure madness. Pero
our fantasies are about things that could happen. Por ejemplo, cuando
Da Vinci painted a flying machine, people said that he was mad, pero
now we recognize that this was the first artist to dream up an airplane.
Esto es [what I mean by] the realist imagination. Here’s another exam-
por ejemplo. Twenty years ago, I painted an imaginary atom bomb explosion.
That was a possible reality. So why can’t I imagine urban buildings
in a landscape painting?"
OctOber 30, AfternOOn At the chinese Artists’ AssOciAtiOn
[Primero] muralist Wang Qi delivered his talk on Siqueiros: “Comrade
Siqueiros’s intention is to create a synthetic, comprehensive art that
encompasses all the characteristics of the plastic arts. This kind of art
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should include monumental social themes. It should create never-
before-seen forms of art [yishu xingshi] that have great social significance
and can encourage and invigorate the people [guwu renmin]. Por lo tanto
[él es] not satisfied with the old modes of expression [biaoxian fangfa] de
the past. [He thinks] we must pursue revolutionary innovations, oppose
academicism and formalism, promote realism, and march unceasingly
toward the future [xiangqian fazhan]. On these key points regarding the
artistic question I fundamentally agree.
“. . . With respect to synthesizing the special characteristics of
many plastic arts, I can see Comrade Siqueiros’s efforts in this area. Para
ejemplo, in his painting Fascist Process the content is rich and complex,
with many small vignettes. There are also many styles—Fauvism’s color,
Cubism’s combination of shapes, and so on—as well as the multiple-
perspectives theory that he [Siqueiros] creado. From this we can see the
artist’s efforts to make a breakthrough in style. Sin embargo, there’s another
issue: It would not be so easy for the masses to understand a work like
este. Only after much explanation from the artist or a third party would
the masses understand the content.
“Painting is unique in that it can, in a very simple and direct man-
ner, communicate directly to the audience through sight and make itself
comprendido. It cannot rely on rational explanation. It is different from
literature and theater. . . . The minimum requirement for art is that it
preserve its integrity and harmony. When the special characteristics of
Cubism or Futurism were applied to their own works, the results were
harmonious and unified (even if that unity is different from the unity
we seek in realism). But if we mechanically take the stylistic characteris-
tics from different schools of art and combine them into one painting,
then we will have destroyed each of their essences, since each painting
school’s essence stems from the style’s purpose. Besides, a painter’s cre-
ative act is fundamentally a way to comprehend the world. Como [su]
knowledge deepens, su [artistic] requirements also deepen (especially
for progressive artists). It is not possible to get to know the objective
world purely through concrete means—you can’t just put everything
indiscriminately into the painting. [You] have to choose what is impor-
tante, what gets to the quintessential meaning, what is appropriate for
the specific characteristics of that painting.”
. . .
Próximo, the painter Dong Xiwen shared his opinions:
“. . . I agree with what Comrade Siqueiros said: ‘We should discuss
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95
the question of form [xingshi]. Discussing the question of form does not
make us formalists.’
“When Soviet painters consider the form of their representation
[biaoxian xingshi], they invariably follow the methods [ fangfa] de ellos
old masters. This has its strengths—it can carry forward and promote
their traditions. But on the other hand, because their paintings fre-
quently take on the styles of the great masterpieces of the past . . . ellos
are often restricted. The emotion and style in the artworks have also
been restricted. When it comes to art, if we repeat the art of the past
again and again, people will grow tired of it. I believe that if we think of
any great master, although their original works were flawless, still if we
copy them too often, people will tire of them. Repin and [Vasily] Surikov
are like this. Certainly we can’t use past artists’ [guren] feelings in place
of our own feelings, or use past artists’ styles to limit our own. Esto es
the problem with Soviet painting. The path they are walking is not wide
suficiente. A Soviet painter might say: ‘if you look closely, you will find
many profound and wonderful things.’ But if you look at the big pic-
tura, the road they walk is not wide. I’m not commenting on whether
Soviet painting itself is good or bad, but if every other country also
paints this way, then I agree with what Comrade Siqueiros said: Esto es
[ justo] another form of ‘globalism’ [shijie zhuyi]. When it comes to paint-
En g, we can share the same themes, but the style cannot be the same.
Each race or nation [minzu] has her own distinct style [ fengge], just as
they have different faces and looks. Therefore we in China must also
develop its national traditions [minzu chuantong]."
. . .
“[On his visit to the Mexican art exhibition] without discussing themes
and content, just from looking at the style [biaoxian xingshi], one can
tell that they are pursuing something new. You can tell by looking at
them that what they are trying to portray is not simply the surface real-
idad [biaomian de zhenshi]. But looking at the works, I still felt unsatisfied.
Maybe it’s just me; maybe others also felt this way, but I couldn’t
understand it. On this point I agree with Comrade Wangqi. Comrade
Siqueiros went over the essence of each school of modernism, y yo
agree—I experienced what he described. The realism that is exemplified
by the Mexican paintings has synthesized the strengths of these paint-
ing schools and supplemented their weaknesses. After listening to these
talks, I am left with an even deeper impression from the Mexican paint-
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ing exhibition. Al mismo tiempo, I feel more strongly that some of the
obras (oil paintings) were rather pieced together. I agree with Comrade
Wangqi’s opinion—isn’t there a problem here with reconciling (tiaohe)
and unifying (tongyi)? I felt like the style of these works was overly
complicado, chaotic and messy, and not sufficiently natural [zhenshi].
The spirit of synthesizing [different artistic styles] is right. But this kind
of piecing together is too restrictive on an artist’s style [biaoxian fengge].
Artists should have their own style, their own individuality and feeling.
These works were to some extent influenced by their predecessors. Pero
more important is the attitude of these painters toward nature [ziran].
Different artists see things differently. I think that paying attention
to an object’s nature [zhenshi] and depicting it objectively—that is the
right way.”
. . .
Próximo, the artist Li Zongjin shared his views:
“The Mexican painting exhibition has made big waves in the Chinese
art world. I overheard two young students at the Central Academy of
Fine Arts debating the question of integrating form and content. El
first young person said: ‘Visiting the Mexican painting exhibition had
a powerful impact on my emotions. This impact is something that you
can’t get from looking at Soviet paintings.’ The second young person
shot back: ‘But after you felt that powerful impact, was there anything
else behind it?’ The first student gave further explanation, but the sec-
ond rebutted: ‘You are getting all of this from theoretical concepts, no
from the paintings’ surfaces directly.’ This debate made me realize
algo.
“Here’s the real question: Mexican artists work hard to explore new
pictorial structures [huamian jiegou] in order to create a powerful impact
on their audience. But their works lack the lifelike imagery that can
enrich the pictorial structure through which people can directly and
intuitively understand their meaning. Por lo tanto, further articulation is
needed. This gets us to the question that Comrade Siqueiros raised in
his ‘Open Letter to Soviet Artists.’ In my view, what Soviet painting
lacks is exactly that toward which Mexican painting strives. Soviet paint-
ing is insufficient in this respect: it has let go of the power within visual
idioma. The ‘Open Letter’ made it very clear: purposeful, technologi-
cal portrayal of human figures. But to say that because of this, Soviet
artists have a tendency toward Roman academicism, that isn’t right. Mi
understanding is this: academic painting lacks purpose; the figures that
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it portrays lack of personality and come off as affected and pretentious.
But if we agree on this and then apply that to Soviet painting, eso
would be inappropriate. To say that formalism and academism share
tendencies—that they deny nationalist traditions—this I agree with. Pero
we can’t put this on Soviet painting. I think that when it comes to paint-
ing methods [shoufa], Soviet painters are working in the tradition of
Vasily Perov and Pavel Fedotov. I think the problem that Soviet painting
now faces isn’t the one that Siqueiros’s ‘Open Letter’ raised. Bastante, I
would say [the problem is] that their road is too narrow. Because there is
only one road, and debate is rather lacking, there is not enough to stim-
ulate development.”
[Siqueiros’s Response]
. . .
“. . . Hoy, Mexican painting has already returned to the paradigm
of national art, returned to the time of Chinese, Griego, and Egyptian
antiquity, as well as of the [European] Middle Ages and the Renaissance.
Por supuesto, when paintings are made for all the people, our understand-
ing of painting has to change. From here on out, painting is for the peo-
por ejemplo [literally, ‘collective’].
“The bourgeois modes of expression can serve as the foundation
for modern present-day representation. To those of you who want to
promote Chinese painting, I want to say one last thing: You should
move in the direction of works like Yungang in order to represent your
country. Don’t tell me that works that were created by a slave society
could not be re-created today.
“In today’s socialist countries, even though we frequently talk about
the problem of artistic freedom, I don’t think that is the real problem. Si
an artist doesn’t want to make art, then don’t force him to make art. Este
isn’t a question of free or not free: the important thing is to give [artists]
the concepts to advance; give them a measure of strength, encourage
a ellos. Give this kind of communitarian spirit to the artists. Por supuesto,
today we don’t have the same kinds of materials and language of expres-
sion as Yungang. If in the future you had a new temple, it wouldn’t be
the same as [temples] in the past or in the present. Your realism has to
be even more real [xianshi] than the realism of Yungang, even more
bright and promising [guangming]. In this way, the question is more
complete. The highest form of realism is to use one’s own cultural heri-
llevar [wuzhi jichu, literally “material foundation”] as the foundation on
which to build a socialist society.
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“[In the Soviet Union] the themes were all plain to see, the human
figures and even their clothing were all clearly articulated. When work-
ers walked past they could all understand. But everyone says it isn’t good
painting. So what’s going on? Why isn’t it good? Art is a complicated
sujeto. Art speaks to human emotions. If you have two singers, y
one sings a political song, but the other has a good voice, then of course
the one with the good voice will sing better. This is a complicated ques-
ción. It’s a question of [artists and workers] mutually educating one
otro. We have a lot of work to do to make the masses understand
that our work is for them. Really this is what it comes down to: ‘simple’
and ‘clear’ has ruined Soviet art. Soviet artists have forgotten how to use
emotion to speak, to use the forms [xingxiang] of plastic arts to speak.”
. . .
“It’s wrong to confuse globalism [shijie zhuyi] and internationalism
[guoji zhuyi]. Globalism is opposed to nationalism [fan minzu zhuyi],
while internationalism is a contest [jingsai]. Every nation has its own
unique national style [minzu fengge]. But one shouldn’t overemphasize
este, or it will lead us to an ambiguous style. Por ejemplo, Romania has
some quilts that look Mexican, and Mexico has some things that look
Chino. There are some scholars who are looking into mutual influ-
ence, but they’ve forgotten that similar societies will create similar
resultados. This doesn’t contradict national character.
“The society you live in is a socialist society. If you use logic to seek
out experiences, then of course this will create new works, each one
greater than the last. Socialist countries can directly meet people’s need
for food and clothing and at the same time give them art. Art becomes
the power of representing a new society.”
Tr anslaTed by Jing Cao
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i
mi
tu
q
i
s
d
norte
a
s
t
s
i
t
r
a
mi
s
mi
norte
i
h
C
norte
mi
mi
w
t
mi
b
norte
oh
i
t
a
s
r
mi
v
norte
oh
C
|
gramo
norte
mi
F
99
