Sculptor Mr. Liu Shiming’s overseas tour this year has temporarily come to an end and the opening exhibition of Liu Shiming Sculpture Museum at the Central Academy of Fine Arts is in active preparation. Many of the previous articles have revealed Mr. Liu Shiming’s personality and art skills through the comments by experts, scholars and artists from home and abroad. During this process, “Liu Shiming” and the “Chinese approaches” he proposed have gradually been regarded as artistic phenomena to be examined and observed, and were both given literary and artistic interpretations. However, his position as an ordinary person, instead, was suspended.

A few days ago, I visited the “Souls in the Clay: Liu Shiming’s Sculpture” that was still in a state of preparation. The small clay courtyard had begun to take shape and shows a power to pull the audience back to “Liu Shiming’s world”. According to Prof. Cao Qinghui, the curator of the exhibition, the intention of building up such an authentic “clay yard” in the center of the exhibition hall was to create an “immersive” viewing experience. By standing in the hall, I couldn’t help but rethink the essential question behind the rhetorical pomp in those art comments, “What kind of person is this old man called Liu Shiming?”

This question concerns Liu Shiming’s various life choices and artistic turns, which are also the key factors leading to his present art. In fact, it is not the researchers but the people who have really come into contact with Mr. Liu in daily life who can best answer this question. Therefore, I compiled a few short chats with Liu Shiming’s son Liu Wei and Liu Shiming’s friend Mr. Yang Zhiyong, hoping their words can help us find out the real background of the times and true stories when he was still alive.

Starting from the Work in the National Museum of Chinese History (now the National Museum of China)

CAFA ART INFO: Working in the National Museum of Chinese History (now the National Museum of China) was a very important part of Mr. Liu’s art career and his life. How did he get to work in the National Museum of Chinese History (now the National Museum of China)?

Liu Wei: In the beginning, he was seconded to the Art Department of the National Museum of Chinese History (now the National Museum of China) to help create sculptures for the “Exhibition of General History of China”. During this period, he created some large relief sculptures like Upper Cave Man and the People’s Uprising and so on, as well as some portraits of historically famous astronomers and mathematicians. Many people who had learned sculpture became amateurish after their graduation when starting work. However, this old man never had amateurish hands, for he had been making sculptures so his hands were like blazing fire all the time, and no matter who gave the order or what requirements they had, his tasks were achieved quickly and well, with no conditional requirements, either. Therefore, everyone thought of him whenever there was a need. This old man did not spend much time in the “art group” before he discovered the restoration group of cultural relics in the basement of the Museum. After visiting it a few times, he gradually became interested in this and became friends with the group members there. When he retired from Baoding and planned to return to Beijing, he asked the group if they needed any help. The group was short of people with skills like him, someone who did not ask for a high salary but still worked hard with full concentration. Thus, he then went to work at the “cultural relic restoration group”.

CAFA ART INFO: I assume he was still working at the Baoding Mass Culture and Art Museum at that time, right? It is said that this was the workplace where he retired from for health problems.

Liu Wei: Yes, he was first seconded from Henan Province to Lianhuachi Park in Hebei Province to work on the reproduction of the huge clay sculpture “Rent Collection Courtyard”. After finishing the job, a leader there appreciated his talent and asked him if he would like to be transferred to Baoding. He thought that Baoding was close to Beijing, so he said yes and was transferred to Baoding Mass Culture and Art Museum to work. But he had little work to do in the Museum and was often seconded to the National Museum of Chinese History (now the National Museum of China) to help. Later, a leader there talked to him and said: it looks hard for you to work here alone, so far away from your home in Beijing. Why not suggest early retirement due to your health? In this way, you can reunite with your family and transfer your hukou (a residential registration) back to Beijing at the same time. As soon as he heard that he could go home for a family reunion earlier than he had expected, he immediately accepted this advice and handed in his early retirement proposal with the excuse of illness. 

CAFA ART INFO: Why was Mr. Liu so eager to go back to Beijing?

Liu Wei: My father had been wandering around until the age of forty when he married my mother and had a home. The warmth of the home was what he had always longed for. While our family of three was settled in Beijing at that time, he often travelled between Beijing and Baoding but only stayed for a few days at a time. Each time when it came to the day before he left home, he would become silent and sad. I think he really wanted to be home. At that time, it was stipulated that one should retire at the age of 50, which would bring a higher proportion of pension accordingly. He was 49 at the time, less than a year from the standard, but as he heard about the possibility of getting a family reunion, he immediately applied for early retirement regardless of the amount of pension. At that time, my father’s pension was about 50 to 60 yuan a month, which was a lot worse than what he got when he left the Central Academy of Fine Arts in 1961. Back then, he earned more than 90 yuan a month in salary plus manuscript fees. Then, he participated in some national programs such as the Monument to the People’s Heroes, which was of great significance to the shaping of the country’s image, so he got a higher income. After he returned from years of work in Henan province and Hebei province, his salary was reduced by half.

Yang Zhiyong: In those days, 90 yuan a month could reach the salary level of senior cadres, and 50 yuan a month was for senior workers. In those days, the government respected intellectuals and paid them a lot. The highest salary of a first-level professor was about 600 yuan, and senior engineers could also earn a lot. These people were paid more than cadres at that time. But later on, things changed.

CAFA ART INFO: Does “later on” refer to the period of the Cultural Revolution?

Liu Wei: Yes. When the difficult times came, Chairman Mao took the lead in fighting against the hardship. Everyone worked hard and started with salary cuts. Of course, these were nothing in the eyes of the old man. It didn’t matter to him how much money he had, because he had very few pursuits and requirements for material life. The only “luxury” in his life was eating meat occasionally. Because of his poor health, he never touched alcohol or tobacco.

Yang Zhiyong: People back then did not pursue material stuff like nowadays, and there was a smaller wealth gap. Mr. Liu was a rather “extreme” person. Of course, everyone wants to live a good life, but at that time, even if they earned more, the gap between the rich and the poor was not as big as it is now. In fact, the particularity of Liu was created by various factors, including his personal factors and the influence of the social environment. During the Cultural Revolution, everyone forgot about him, leaving him alone to do what he wanted to do. In the past, what people thought about all day was not how to make money, but how to make a revolution.

Liu Wei: In fact, my father was influenced by Hou Yimin when he was young and was also passionate about revolution. As an activist, he was involved with the underground Party, probably during his college years and the first couple of years after he had graduated. I talked with him about this, and I felt that the incident where his teacher Wang Linyi had been censored had impacted on him a lot. When he participated in the monument project, he also had to study regularly, doing criticism and self-criticism, and was sometimes involved in reporting on each other. He was bored of this stuff at this time. In addition, I also agree with what he said that his behavior when leaving the Central Academy of Fine Arts was nothing about pursuing Ma Jinfeng. Then why? He told me that the environment of the Academy at that time would obliterate much of himself inside him. He could not express what he wanted to say in his heart by working at the Central Academy of Fine Arts. So, he wanted to leave and change to a different environment. Now it is said that his leave was to follow Ma Jinfeng. In fact, he and Ma Jinfeng had already fixed a clear brother-sister relationship before he left CAFA and went to Henan Province, and he even called her mother “mom”.

He’s an Old Man Who Thinks and Observes All the Time

Yang Zhiyong: Mr. Liu is a person who always likes to think. He is always deep in thought when he has nothing to do. At that time, including the specific historical environment and agitation, he was always thinking by himself, and he did think much more than the average person.

Liu Wei: After thinking, he would practice what he had thought in many cases. For example, when the cult Falun Gong first started to be a trend in China, he practised it according to a booklet but claimed it was a lie after a short time of practice. Years later, the government banned it. Just as he had judged. He will try and practice whatever he is interested in. He has a knack for imaging scenes according to others’ descriptions. If he is interested in any description, he will continue to ask questions based on specific scenarios. This is just like directing a performance, through the process of questioning, he gradually depicts the venue, characters and the inner activities of the people.

Yang Zhiyong: This is one of the manifestations of his diligent thinking. In fact, there is a big difference between the people who have the habit to think and who have not. Maybe his disability also had a positive effect on his thinking, because people with physical disabilities tend to think more actively. With thinking, he made more observations. In fact, each of us is observing, but the difference lies in whether we have thoughts and understand accordingly. I conclude three stages when summarizing people’s cognition of knowledge: I knew it, I understood it, I mastered it. This process can be summarized as: first, we know one thing, then understand the law behind it through the principle of learning, and finally master it thoroughly after repeated practice.

If Mr. Liu wants to understand a thing, he will be very persistent and put himself in the shoes to try. There are some things he cannot try physically, so he repeatedly imagines himself in that environment, which is also a virtual practice in a sense. These things will gradually become his own after thinking and practising. His imagination and construction requirements make him observe things very carefully, and he can often observe many details that ordinary people will ignore. So many of his works make us feel “appropriate”. We cannot imagine how he can capture this moment, and what this moment can express and convey is so rich. For him, observation and thinking are absolutely inseparable. During the Cultural Revolution, everyone went to create a revolution, but he calmed down to think, observe and practice. Although his disability greatly restricts his actions, it has also stimulated his thinking.

CAFA ART INFO: This is also the reason why the more we watch Mr. Liu’s works, the more interesting they become.

Yang Zhiyong: Indeed. If you can get close to his mind, it will be more understandable. What he observes is often seen by many people, but cannot be grasped. Mr. Liu is a very “pure” person. He pursues all the pure emotions, whether it is love or affection, which exists in everyone. He can dig out this emotion from everyone and sublimate it, which is commendable. He later made sculptures, in his words “the Chinese way”, but in reality, there was nothing to restrain him, he could just do what he wanted. This “easy-come” is what I call “mastery”. I think he has really mastered most of the expressions in the language of sculpture through a lot of observation and practice. It is difficult to achieve “mastery” by only pursuing external form innovation because many things are repetitive actions. Only by doing it repeatedly can it be possible to realize the inner essence. If you repeat it after thinking, you will have some insights. Mr. Liu is very resistant to loneliness, so he has achieved a kind of sublimation in the process of “repetition” and formed his personal art language. His language is not the result of deliberate pursuit, but a natural development. There is no way to reach this state without hard work and reflection.

Liu Wei: Mastering technology is only one aspect, but when it rises to the creative level, it reflects comprehensive personal cultivation. At this point, technology is put in a secondary position, depending on the choice of expression. In addition, reading is something that the old man insists on over a lifetime. This is our family tradition. My grandfather was an engineer who went to study in the United States. He was highly receptive to new things and was not restricted by rules and regulations, so my father is also willing to try new things. Of course, what you accept and what you agree with is the embodiment of your personal choice and self-cultivation.

Like Sculptures, Like Works, as Style Is the Man

CAFA ART INFO: I have read Mr. Liu’s autobiography in the previous catalogue, and his writing is as good as his works. In that autobiography, in the last paragraph, he described all the details when he was guarding the kiln waiting for a piece of work to come out, which was particularly vivid, from the temperature, fire, sound in the kiln, and his own mood at each stage. I don’t have any sculpture background, but through his writing, I can deeply feel his care and expectation for his works. I think this is a realm that many professional writers cannot achieve.

Liu Wei: His articles and works are just like himself, and they all focus on “sincerity”. He often wrote whatever occurred in his mind, writing with emotions. For the kiln firing, he did not learn it professionally but figured out the details by himself through practice. There were two electric kilns at that time, the bigger one was always broken, and the smaller one was usually used. In addition to his own works, he also had to help his classmates and teachers fire their works, so he basically guarded the kiln every day. In the process of firing the kiln, he could conceive of so many feelings, which ordinary people cannot do. This is his ability. If he likes something, he will immerse himself in it.

Yang Zhiyong: The vitality of an article lies in its truth, rather than complicated theories and gorgeous rhetoric. It is enough to express your thoughts in the article. Of course, in the process of continuous writing, he is actually exercising his personal thinking, which is a complementary process.

CAFA ART INFO: Yes, the more you write, the more you think. When I read that article, I was very moved, because what I had excerpted was the analysis of his artistic creation from the techniques and life by the critics, and suddenly I read an article written by the old gentleman himself, and it felt very real.

Yang Zhiyong: Mr. Liu is not like a genius sculptor, he is just an ordinary person. Why did Mr. Liu succeed in the end? It is because he can endure loneliness and do things in a down-to-earth manner, which is very important. In fact, Mr. Liu understands both the big environment and the small events very well. Thus, he disdains participating in it, which is why he can avoid many things. So when I describe him as “pure” he is not the kind of stupidity who doesn’t know anything, but he understands everything very thoroughly, and still he doesn’t participate in or discuss it. Look at his photos, you can see his eyes are piercingly bright. They are really different. He may be physically weakened by his illness, but his eyes are really deep and full of power. The eyes are the window to show a person’s mind and spirit, and the wisdom in it cannot be hidden.

CAFA ART INFO: In addition to strengthening the body, it is said that Mr. Liu also specially trained his eyes in the dark?

Liu Wei: Yes, when he was in school, he specially trained “night eyes”. He pays great attention to the maintenance of his eyes all through his life, and he eats the eyes of all animals. The people around him know that as long as there is an animal’s eye, no one would rob him. He also insists on wearing sunglasses and not reading for a long time, and he is meticulous about protecting his eyes. Coupled with his inner strength and mental focus, when he is doing something seriously, his eyes can really “shine”, which is like a strong light emitted from the body inside.

“Souls in the Clay: Liu Shiming’s Sculpture” will open on December 13, 2019, at the Xiaoying Campus of the Central Academy of Fine Arts. More dialogues about the “Man of Liu Shiming” will be launched at that time, so stay tuned.

Interviewed, compiled and written by Emily Weimeng Zhou from CAFA ART INFO