When Gu Weijing found the reading room B16 in the inner part of the library,
Sakai Katsuko was already waiting there.
"Katsuko, I knew you would come to Dulwich, but I didn't expect that even Mrs. Sakai would come."
Gu Weijing put his schoolbag and coat on the cabinet and sat down at the study table.
"Um."
Sakai Katsuko just made a faint snort in response.
"I don't worry that I am alone in Myanmar. She stays in the hotel's long-term rental room all day and feels bored. She just happened to come over to teach the children."
She didn't look up as she spoke.
Katsuko Sakai rotated a signature pen on her fingertips and looked down at the notebook in her hand. Her short black hair fell just below her earlobes.
The double study room is praised as the holy place for love on campus and it is well-deserved.
Because he was so close, Gu Weijing could even smell the faint fragrance of fresh apricots on the other person's hair.
He sat slightly taller than Katsuko Sakai.
Therefore, as long as you turn your head slightly, you can see the attractive and slim curves between the other person's ice cream-white neck and collar.
To be fair,
Sakai Katsuko is the most feminine young lady Gu Weijing has ever seen in his life.
Mona is more like a friend, while Coco is a bit elusive. Only Katsuko Sakai seems to have the gentle temperament of an oriental girl born with her.
The innocence of not messing with the world gives Katsuko a pure temptation.
He fell into a brief silence.
Gu Weijing may not have any other thoughts. He just rarely lives in such a small private space on campus with girls of the same age.
Even Mona in the past thought that being blatantly alone with Gu Weijing at a couples dating resort with unspoken rules on campus was a bit too close to their relationship.
The two-person group work is often completed at the home of both parties, or in the shade of the playground tree.
It was his first time dealing with this situation, which made him uncomfortably nervous.
"No, this is the outline I wrote. Would you like to take a look at it?"
Sakai Katsuko didn't realize that her companion next to her was a little swayed by the "female power" she unintentionally exuded.
She handed the light blue notebook she was reading to Gu Weijing.
"I sorted out and compared the handling styles of dark-toned paints by several early Impressionist masters such as Monet, Alfred Sisley, Manet and Renoir, and the notes are what I summarized."
Sakai Katsuko took out a large, heavy-looking brown document box from under the table and pushed it in front of Gu Weijing.
"This is the paper material recommended by my father and several old professors at Tama Art Academy who are very knowledgeable about Impressionism. He suggested that if we are willing to strive for excellence, we should read all these papers. I made two copies of all the materials. This is for you. In the past few days, I have roughly read all the documents on the plane. I have briefly highlighted the important contents. "
Gu Weijing knew that Sakai Katsuko was doing these things these days.
The reason why she returned to Yangon to transfer school only a few days after the school started was because some time ago, Katsuko Sakai flew to several art galleries in Japan and France to visit the original works of several famous Impressionist masters.
Gu Weijing opened the folder,
Writing a paper is a science just by selecting literature.
As the founding school of modern art, Impressionism is a prominent study of artistic style, with a mixed bag of materials.
Not only is reading some low-value junk papers a waste of time and may lead you astray, but if you accidentally quote them, they may even stain the entire article.
Those top art publications are only of relatively high quality, and they also have some limitations.
As for those minor liberal arts journals, they may really be looking for food in the garbage.
Many art majors spend their time reading these useless contents.
Professor Sakai was extremely attentive to this paper, and even carefully selected valuable literature materials that could be quoted.
This is obviously the kind of treatment only given to a biological daughter.
The reading room became quiet, with only the rustling of pages turning.
After entering the working state of discussing the paper, Gu Weijing became a little more relaxed.
He flipped through the dense text in the notebook. He didn't say anything on his face, but he was a little shocked in his heart.
In life, you will always meet excellent and disappointing people.
They have a higher starting point than you, have a better family background than you, are more talented than you, and even work harder than you, leaving no way for others to survive.
Katsuko Sakai is a typical example.
To put it bluntly,
Gu Weijing originally thought that Uncle Sakai helped write this paper, and Sakai Katsuko put his name on it, and he just took advantage of it.
I didn’t expect Miss Katsuko to work so hard.
Gu Weijing just glanced at the document and knew that it was definitely not just a rough reading as she said.
All my papers were marked with colored markers, and every word was marked in English.
The blue notebook on the side uses very elegant and accurate language to summarize the painting styles of different artists.
"How about it?"
Sakai Katsuko asked softly.
“Excellent…”
Gu Weijing also entered a state of concentration: "But there is a little problem. I see that you mentioned that "Old Church" is similar to the painting style of Van Gogh who also likes to paint night scenes. It is constructed with long distorted lines and broken color points. The illusory night sky is filled with restless curves and restless hallucinations.”
"What's wrong?"
Sakai Katsuko tilted her head and asked.
"Van Gogh is a Post-Impressionist painter. Post-Impressionism pays more attention to the artist's subjective feelings about the painting object. Van Gogh's painting style is caused by his fatalistic tragic life and crazy spirit. But the emotional style of this painting is not similar."
"Emo style?"
Sakai Katsuko frowned slightly.
"The painting styles of the two are similar, but the emotions contained are different. Van Gogh's works are night-time madness and psychedelic. The thunderstorm in "The Old Church on a Thunderstorm" is grand and passionate."
"Shengzi, please recall your intuitive feelings about the works of these two painters. Do you really think they have the same emotions?"
Sakai Katsuko's silver teeth bit her lower lip lightly and fell into thinking.
no the same.
She is a girl who is very sensitive to the abstract concept of "beauty", and she quickly had an intuitive answer in her mind.
But why?
Sakai Katsuko clearly analyzed the paint and composition of the two paintings in detail. They are both dark night skies, and both have a brush style composed of broken long and short lines and a large number of color dots.
Similar formulas and similar brushwork should yield similar results.
But why sometimes the emotions of the two paintings are different.
She never quite understood it.
Just like Sakai Katsuko has always been very confused. When she copied the painting "Old Church", the paint formula was more precise than Gu Weijing's, and the brushwork was more detailed and restored, but in the end it was difficult to copy the thunderstorm painted by Gu Weijing. The feeling of the weather.
"Can you teach me how you appreciate this painting?"
Sakai Shengzi looked at Gu Weijing with bright black eyes, full of longing.
Only then did Gu Weijing notice that Miss Shengzi's eyes were not pure black. It should be due to mixed blood. It was like a little bit of ultramarine blue was mixed into the dark pigment. When seen up close, it looked like lavender. .
"It's hard to tell."
Gu Weijing looked away and thought deeply.
"If we talk about it in detail academically, the reason why the two painters' works look different is probably the sharpness of the paint and the combination style of the color points. The little differences add up to create macro differences. But , I actually think it’s better to use a perceptual understanding.”
"Emotional understanding."
Sakai Katsuko repeated Gu Weijing's words word for word, her tone was like a confused cat.
"I do not understand."
"Empathy is the basis of emotion. This is my understanding."
Gu Weijing said softly: "If a painter wants to reveal his own emotions in his works, the basis for being able to do this is empathy."
"Empathize with the work, empathize with the subject matter, and empathize with the world."
"Historically, Mr. Van Gogh's mental state was up and down. When he painted the famous "Starry Night", he was staying in the Saint-Rémy Mental Sanatorium for treatment. Van Gogh once left a famous saying - For the sake of art, I Risking my life; half my sanity is gone because of it."
Gu Weijing said: "It is for this reason that even the calm night sky, in Mr. Van Gogh's understanding of the spiritual world, is turbulent, rolling, turbulent and restless."
"But this "Old Church" is different. I believe that the painter Carroll will not be tortured by life like Van Gogh. The world that this painter understands is tender, and thunderstorms are also because of her common feelings. Gentleness changes with emotion, and the warm candlelight provides people with the power to dispel uneasiness..."
Gu Weijing recalled the feeling when he was painting.
Sakai Katsuko listened quietly.
While Gu Weijing was surprised by Sakai Katsuko's seriousness and hard work, Sakai Katsuko was also amazed by Gu Weijing's understanding of emotions.
This kind of perceptual knowledge full of spiritual intuition made her even feel a little ashamed of herself.
"And I have a better proof of that."
Gu Weijing took out his IPAD from his schoolbag on the cabinet, unfolded the tablet and placed it on the table.
"I found the church archives left behind by this church."
In the 19th century, the religious paper products issued by the Holy See to missionaries, whether they were Bibles or registers, were printed and produced on high-quality thickened paper mixed with plant fibers by an old paper mill in Florence, Italy. very good.
When the missionaries evacuated because of the war, all these documents were wrapped in moisture-proof oil paper and stored in sturdy iron boxes. They were well preserved and the handwriting was still clear.
But after all, they are hundreds of years old objects. In order to prevent damage caused by repeated reading, after Gu Weijing obtained these printed products from the janitor Alai, he used the scanner in the gallery to process calligraphy and painting works to create PDF electronic versions. .
He lit up the IPAD screen and called up the file.
"Church Records."
Sakai Katsuko's eyes suddenly lit up: "Is there any news about Ms. Carroll?"
"I found a total of three different clues in the files."
Gu Weijing found the page he had marked.
"The first Carol who appeared was an old lady from Yangon. After she was baptized in the church, she took the foreign Christian name of Carol."
"Local grandma."
Sakai Katsuko sniffed: "I think the probability of it being her is low."
"I think so too, and the records show that she was 59 years old when she was baptized. It shouldn't be her."
"The second Carol was the wife of a British businessman. I only found this name in the sermon list records from July 1865 to September last year. There is no more information... I personally think it is this The possibility of a woman is also low. In 1865, although the pioneers of Impressionism such as Monet, Degas and Renoir had already formed their own art style, it was still too early to spread it to Myanmar."
Gu Weijing shrugged: "What really surprised me was the third clue. I saw this description in a missionary's diary among the church archives."
As he spoke, he called up the corresponding page.
[On December 19, 1876, there was only a week left before Christmas. Father Andrew asked us to prepare wine for the sacrament. This was not easy to do. I plan to go to the colonial governor's palace to ask. I heard that there are grain-fed steaks and frozen beer shipped from the sea. They are just special supplies for high-ranking civil servants...]
Gu Weijing read——
[…As soon as I left the church gate, I met an impressive young lady. She wears a sun hat, has sculpted facial features and golden-red hair. She is really an impressive girl. A textile merchant from Plymouth who had just finished confession in church approached her and invited her to drink coffee. She did not agree because she was "observing the world." An unusual answer...]
[December 23rd...I met that girl again. I saw her holding a drawing board. Could she be an artist? A female painter is as rare as a female sailor...]
[December 26th...I pronounced the wrong words at midnight mass on Christmas Eve. Father Andrew was not angry, he was just warning me that I was a servant of God, and I thought he had discovered something.
These days, I often think of that girl with golden hair, she is so beautiful. There were times when I began to wonder if I had chosen the wrong career.
If I hadn't gone to seminary, I would have definitely tried to pursue her...]
[December 31st... I knew I shouldn't do this, but I still seemed to be driven by the devil and went to several hotels in the city. I wanted to find out about that girl. Even knowing her name would be a comfort to me.
Perhaps it was luck or punishment, but the hotel staff immediately realized who the girl I was talking about was, and he seemed to have the same problem as me.
The maître d' told me that he heard the girl's companions call her Carol and that, unfortunately, she had moved on.
"On the day after Christmas, I boarded a cruise ship returning to Europe." The foreman said sadly...]
Gu Weijing looked at Sakai Shengzi with excitement in his voice: "Shengzi, I think it is the female painter with golden red hair in the missionary's diary. Although there are no more clues, in December 1876 Yue, this in itself is a great discovery!”
"1876, 1876, this means..."
Sakai Shengzi also read the time in disbelief, and she even grabbed Gu Weijing's hand in excitement.
"She was earlier than Mary Stevenson Kessart." Sakai Katsuko and Gu Weijing looked at each other, almost speaking in unison and tacitly speaking the key to the problem.
Mary Stevenson Kessart, she was the student, lover, and confidante of the Impressionist master Degas, and is world-famous as the first female impressionist painter.
Miss Mary was born into a wealthy family in the United States. Her father was a famous stockbroker in the United States.
When she was 22 years old, her father issued an unbearable ultimatum to his daughter who was obsessed with art - "I would rather you die than become a painter."
This upper-class lady still withstood the pressure from her father and society, went to Europe alone, studied painting with Degas, and became the first famous female artist in modern society.
She also became one of the most important painters in America's short history.
Generally speaking, Miss Mary's first work in the Impressionist style was "Little Girl in a Blue Armchair" in 1876, and the work that is truly recognized by the world as a complete master of Impressionist techniques is "Lydia in the Box" in 1879. 》.
This is about three years later than the time in the missionary diary found by Gu Weijing.
Three years!
This shows that their findings may be able to update the understanding of the entire art history.
Long before the American painter Mary, there was already a female painter who mastered the Impressionist style.
This is enough to cause a stir in professional art circles. How can this not be exciting?
…
Noon time passed quickly.
The door opened, and Gu Weijing and Sakai Katsuko walked out of the double study room together.
"You really have made an amazing discovery."
Sakai Katsuko's tone still contained sighs.
"It's us." Gu Weijing said with a smile.
"Hurry up, there's class in the afternoon!"
The door to the study room in front opened suddenly, and the two disheveled wild mandarin ducks arranged their coats randomly and rushed towards the elevator.
"Continue tomorrow."
The boy said to the girl with a smile while pressing the elevator button frantically.
"You bastard."
The girl secretly spat and twisted the boy's arm hard.
Sakai Katsuko looked at the two disheveled classmates who were "studying" with a confused expression on her face.
Gu Weijing gently pulled Sakai Katsuko's sleeve and moved slightly away from the two lovers who had just finished their intense exercise.
But the boy still noticed the action here.
He turned around and saw Gu Weijing.
He didn't know Gu Weijing, he was one or two grades younger than Gu Weijing, and he was not a celebrity on campus.
However, when his eyes fell on Katsuko Sakai beside him, he was still shocked by the girl's appearance.
The boy immediately turned his head again and looked at Gu Weijing from beginning to end. When Gu Weijing was getting on the elevator, he lightly patted Gu Weijing on the shoulder while his girlfriend wasn't paying attention.
What the hell?
This picture is like seeing someone in basketball class fly up and dunk for a slam dunk. How did the look of "man, you are so awesome" from the bottom of your heart appear?
Did he make some mistake in his fucking mind?
(End of chapter)
