Wang Mingming (b.1952)

Original comic strip "Mom and Dad Who's Good"

Paper mirror heart

31×27 cm(36)

　　Comic strips, also known as comic strips, picture books, and action books, are an art form in which a story or event is told in a series of pictures。The content of comic strips is mostly based on classic literary stories, compiled into concise text scripts, according to which a number of coherent and vivid paintings are created. The common expression methods include line drawing, sketch, watercolor, gouache, woodcut, cartoon, etc., which is a popular art that draws on the strengths of various families and integrates the essence of various characteristics in one。

　　Comic strip is an ancient traditional art, which finally took shape after the popularity of printing in the Song Dynasty。Up to the Republic of China，As an important part of Chinese modern art, comic strips have become an important part of publishing and printing，"Journey to the West", "Water Margin" and other famous comic book versions have been published;Ye Qianyu's Mr. Wang and Zhang Leping's Sanmao Waifs were both representative works of comic books at that time，Popular for decades，People still talk about it。After the founding of the People's Republic of China, the creative team of comic strips continued to grow and emerged a large number of excellent works, which experienced two periods of prosperity and development。

　　The 1950s and early 1960s were the first phase of the comic strip boom。In 1951, "Pictorial Strip" was founded and began to compile and publish classic comic strips on a planned scale, becoming an important position for the flourishing of comic strips, and is still one of the most influential popular art journals at that time and now。In response to the government's art to serve the broad masses of workers, peasants and soldiers，In addition, drawing comic strips is more lucrative than other kinds of painting，Two factors greatly increased the enthusiasm of artists to create comic strips，Such as Wang Shuhui's "The Story of the Western Chamber", Liu Jiyou's "Nao Tian Gong", Lu Yanshao's "Gadfly" and other classic works of modern comic books were born。At that time, when entertainment life was relatively scarce, comic books, as one of the most important entertainment lifestyles for the public, satisfied people's thirst for knowledge and curiosity, deeply educated and infected generations of people。

　　After the reform and opening up，Social development in China has begun to resume in an all-round way，The comic strip also ushered in a second boom，The following points can be regarded as the epitome of the comic strip creation and publication boom at that time: 1980，Illustrated Strip has a print run of more than 1.1 million;The year 1980，The Central Academy of Fine Arts offers a major in comic books，Ten years of continuous enrollment，Cultivate a large number of professional comic book talents;The year 1982，More than 2,100 comic books were published throughout the year，A single print run of 100,000 copies;The year 1985，China Comic Book Publishing House was established，Set up a publishing house to specialize in painting，It can be seen that the demand for comic book publishing was strong at that time。In this period, the theme of comic strips was also more extensive, and comic strips adapted from domestic and foreign literature emerged endlessly, and the number of artists involved in the creation of comic strips was countless。In addition to receiving generous remuneration, being able to draw and publish a set of high-level comic strips is also an important way for artists to show their superior abilities。In addition to the older generation of artists, young painters are also actively active in the new era of comic strip creation boom, Wang Mingming is one of them。

Original comic strip "Mom and Dad Who's Good"

　　Wang Mingming is the backbone of contemporary Chinese painting, he loves painting since childhood, childhood works have been exhibited in more than 30 countries, has won the world children's painting competition special prize, showing the talent of "child prodigy"。When he was young, he received the guidance of Wu Zuoren, Jiang Zhaohe, Zhou Sicong, Lu Shen and many other famous artists, and laid a solid foundation for painting。Late 1970s，Wang Mingming went to work at the Beijing Painting Academy，The strong and pure artistic atmosphere of the academy provided him with a good creative environment，He devoted himself to painting with full passion，In addition to "Morning Music", "Du Fu" and other award-winning ink works，"Mom and Dad who is good" "Deep mountain adventure" and other comic books are also well received。

　　"Who Are You, Mom and Dad?" was created in 1978，It was published by Henan People's Publishing House in 1979，The plot is based on Zhao Wentao's novel of the same name，The story unfolds from the point of view of kindergarten child Xiaojie，It tells the story of Xiaojie's observation and understanding of his father and mother who respectively devoted themselves to the cause of national steel and education，It reflects the full vitality of socialist construction and the enrichment and happiness of the people's lives。This piece of work is composed of 36 frames, the picture characters are vivid, interesting and full of times and life。The works not only have the dense Chinese ink painting, but also the three-dimensional thick western pastels, from which we can see the development and evolution of Chinese painting, we can see the inheritance and renewal of traditional ink, which is also the painter's attention。

Meng Qingjiang (b.1937)

Illustration "Legend of the Three Gorges Local Products"

Paper mirror heart

29×21cm(7)

　　此外，Meng Qingjiang, who used to be the chief editor of Pictorial Strip, is also a representative artist who has devoted himself to the cause of comic strip creation in the new era，He graduated from the Department of traditional Chinese Painting of the Central Academy of Fine Arts，He learned from Jiang Zhaohe, Ye Qianyu, Liu Lingcang and other figure painters，Keep going deep into life to collect material，The realistic technique emphasizes the "both form and spirit" of the figures in the picture.。The Legend of the Three Gorges Native Products, created in 1985 and published by China Folk Literature and Art Publishing House, is accurate in the shape of the picture characters and calm in color, achieving the painter's pursuit of "both elegant and popular, young and old".。

　　Famous artists participated in the creation of comic strips，On the one hand, it improves the artistic level of comic books，On the one hand, it also trained the painter's painting skills，"Because it forces you to painstakingly do a lot of human drawings and sketches，It forces you to go deep into social life and sketch，It also forces you to carefully read excellent literary masterpieces of both ancient and modern times "(Cheng Shifa)，All these have brought valuable creative accumulation to the painter。The serial artists introduced classical classics, historical stories and other traditional cultural classics to the general public in the form of paintings, creating a new height in the history of Chinese comic strips and playing an important role in the history of world art。"Chinese painting skills are best shown in book illustrations and comic strips," the famous British art historian Michael Sullivan once commented。

Illustration "The Legend of the Three Gorges local products" part

　　The colorful comic strip has become a miniature of the cultural life of an era, witnessing the love and expression of several generations of literature and art。Comic strips are both literary and artistic, with rich cultural connotations, and present full of interesting social, cultural and historical stories in a small area, carrying the reading memory of an era, accompanying and nourishing the growth of generations of people。As an important part of Chinese modern art, the comic strip will be passed down as a cultural memory that cannot be ignored。