Without artist Kuang Han, pencil is just pencil and Hutong is just Hutong, there won’t be any “resonance” between them, which is similar to “nuclear magnetic resonance”, capable of stimulating each other to produce more energy, nor could they get along perfectly with each other like lovers. Pencil is very common, so are Hutong, but they combine with each other and become extraordinary because of Kuang Han. This is what artists are capable of. They’re able to discover the internal relations between different common things in the world and bring about novelty and wonder out of them with artistic imagination and creativity.
Hutong with gray tone have witnessed the changes of history. Siheyuan, simple and antique traditional Chinese courtyards in Hutong, have weathered the vicissitudes of times with the polar trees, Chinese scholar trees, elms, and willows, all kinds of trees planted in the courtyards. Hutong have seen joys and sorrows happening in all seasons in this 800 year-old ancient capital. Hutong have seen migrants gathering here from around the country.
Each gate pier or eave tile records a legend. Each carved lattice window or winding corridor tells an unforgettable story. Under the grapevines and pomegranate trees, there were intimate talks and gurgling between friends and families. Shrouded by the fragrance of lilacs and red peonies, lovers and couples lingered sweetly.
All such scenes of life were gone as the city’s layout changes, with the houses pulled down or the residents having moved. The artist Kuang Han is racing with time in a hurry with footsteps and a rustling pencil.
Kuang Han liked watercolor originally, but later he got inspired by the book Pencil Broadsides: A Manual of Broad Stroke Technique by Theodore Kautsky and began to use pencil broadsides to draw Hutong. The Hutong drawings by pencil are surprising. The subjects drawn by broad lines, or planes with a pencil have three shades, dark, gray, and bright under natural light, each of which symbolizes a factor with corresponding characteristics, dark for rich history, gray for simple dwellings, and bright for warm life. This is a stereoscopic and comprehensive presentation. The unique strokes are executed with a perfect pressure and rich emotions in depicting Hutong. Each stroke joins another as strictly and orderly as rubbed and gauged brickwork requires. Each line is clear and smooth. The texture of spaces built by lines and planes produces a wonderful tempo, rhythm, and stretching force. It seems that they are trying to grip the soul of this old city fat. And they indeed have seized our mind and heart firmly.
In Kuang Han’s pencil drawings, the surfaces, size, color, and texture, all factors of an object are distinctive but they could be integrated harmoniously just as all fishes could swim and breathe freely together in the same stretch of water. After viewing his work, who would question again, “Monochrome lines are not as expressive as colored lines in depicting physical objects in the world, the image of the figure is not as vivid, the impression is not as profound ?” Who would doubt again, “ A small frame representing the landscape and figures is not as significant as a monument in memorizing an old city forever?” His framing is poetic. His composition contains a view of history. His light and shade reflects dreams of life… In drawing the old city, he has found his bond with it. We have similarly, from his strokes, found our ties with this ancient city as well.
One pencil sketch of a Hutong after another, simple and lively, those grown up in Hutong become most touched looking at them. These sketches have not only treasured the memories of childhood, youth, middle age, and old age of generation after generation, but also kept graphic records of this ancient city which could be included into the annals or literary classics. They are the historic mark for Beijing and a symbol for Chinese culture.
Just as artist Kuang Han fell in love with Hutong at first sight, we are never tired of appreciating his pencil drawings. The simple strokes form remarkable sketches which are by no means simple. The rich range of shades of monochrome is as diverse as the tones of poly-chrome paintings. Dignity arises from under the humble eaves in the sketches. Elegance is born out of the dilapidated walls. The lively poetic heart of the artist beats throughout the pieces. How is it possible not to be touched by the poetry permeating through?
Kuang Han’s tool is just a pencil, but he draws as many as three thousand Hutong of this old city.
This is just a statistical figure. With regards to the Hutong cultural stories, the figure will go far beyond three thousand. In the realm of literature and art, the theme of Hutong is a huge project. It is impossible to be exhausted by an artist in a whole lifetime. But Kuang Han has made a brilliant breakthrough with his Hutong sketches, which are as significant as the Hutong culture. Their value and influence have gone far beyond the realms of painting art, even reached the areas of Chinese culture, history, architecture, folk arts, etc. This is their value. People could appreciate the drawings’ charm from different angles. Viewed from the city history alone, the sketches are valuable because the figures are expressive and the scenes of life are vivid. They are indeed the graphic version of Records of the Grand Historian, or Shiji in Chinese, by the Han dynasty official Sima Qian.
Kuang Han, pencil, and Hutong are a trio, which has played a piece of resounding music of Beijing culture.
Peng Li Editor-in-chief, Editorial Department of Beijing Daily
Member of China Television Artists Association / Member of China Writers Association
