Chapter 15: Are you willing to pursue graduate studies?
Even after being reborn, and despite having the mental age of someone in their thirties, Lin Sicheng still finds such things delightful.
Besides, they were in the same dormitory.
Don't you see, the four girls in the same dormitory formed a group of fifteen?
He looked on with a gossipy expression: "Tell me in detail!"
Xiao Yuzhu glared at him.
"In her sophomore year, she dated a guy who was an art major. He came from a well-off family and was quite handsome. But one day, we saw him walking with another girl, and that's when they broke up."
After that, He Wan didn't hang out with us much anymore. No matter who in the dorm got a boyfriend, she'd always make sarcastic remarks.
"Why?"
How would I know?
Lin Sicheng thought about it for a long time but still couldn't figure it out.
"Where did the term 'phoenix girl' come from?"
"My home is in Foping."
A national-level poverty-stricken county, a hometown of medicinal herbs?
But to say she's a Phoenix Girl... doesn't seem like it.
She dresses tastefully, is poised and elegant, and excels in her studies.
Their personalities don't match either: if they disagree, she'll spray Coke in someone's face in public. You expect her to be a "phoenix girl" (a woman from a poor background who achieves success).
"Tsk, pretty cool... You're finished now, at least until you graduate from university."
"Tch, what are you afraid of? There may be no three-legged toads, but there are plenty of three-legged men."
"That's true!"
Lin Sicheng nodded subconsciously, then felt that something was wrong.
No... miss, your surname is Huang, right?
"That's right, I have three too!"
Xiao Yuzhu poked him in the bottle, and Lin Sicheng took out his phone: "What time does Senior Sister Li get off work?"
"It's usually six o'clock, it'll be soon!"
"Send me a message!"
"good!"
After a while, Li Zhen sent a message: "Professor Shang has something to do and will be back in a bit!"
...
As dusk settled through the glass windows of the teaching and research office, Shang Yan's fingertips, which were gripping the mouse, suddenly paused, and she raised an eyebrow.
The mouse scrolled again, his pupils widened slightly, and he bit his lip.
"Li Zhen, come and see!"
Li Zhen leaned to one side and looked at the computer screen: Academic transcript for the 2006-2007 academic year for the Class of 2003, Department of Cultural Heritage Conservation.
As the cursor moves, the three tables are grouped together:
Name: Lin Sicheng.
Arts and crafts: Failed. Retake: 60.
Basic Chinese painting: Failed. Retake: 60.
Artifact drawing: Failed. Retake: 60.
Li Zhen finally understood why her tutor had that expression: she knew perfectly well that Lin Sicheng had failed every subject, including how he got his make-up exam scores.
But looking back at the drawings he made today, it's impossible that someone who failed the initial exam and barely passed the makeup exam could have produced such work.
Don't even mention 60 points, 90 points is impossible.
Li Zhen thought for a moment and said, "I heard him say last time that Professor Lin tutored him during the summer vacation."
Shang Yan scoffed, "You actually believe that?"
Art is unlike anything else; besides talent, it requires accumulation. To put it simply, it boils down to one word: practice. There's no such thing as a sudden enlightenment or rapid progress.
Considering the skill demonstrated in those three sketches, it would take more than ten summers, let alone one.
Furthermore, those three sketches and Professor Lin's painting style are completely different. They don't belong to the category of cultural relic composition at all, and have even transcended the scope of ceramic art.
Shang Yan thought for a moment, then clicked the mouse a few more times, and an oil painting appeared on the screen: an elegant woman leaning against a dining table, on which sat a blue and white porcelain teapot and teacups.
This is "The Lady," created in the mid-19th century by the famous European painter and sculptor James Yamm. The artist is well-known, and the work is even more famous, representing the "European Neoclassical" school of painting.
It is also one of the required works in the "Ceramic Arts and Crafts" course in various colleges and universities in China.
"Put aside the tone and color, just look at the composition, and compare them carefully!"
Li Zhen observed carefully, sometimes for several minutes at a time.
"Teacher, I feel that the sketching techniques, line and plane structures, spatial structure, and handling of light and shadow in Lin Sicheng's sketch are... um, somewhat similar to this painting?"
“Yes!” Shang Yan clicked the mouse again, and a second picture appeared on the screen.
It's also a porcelain teapot, but not a blue-and-white one; it's a gourd-shaped teapot popular after the late Ming Dynasty. However, it's not an oil painting, but a landscape painting on silk.
Its characteristics are very obvious: meticulous brushwork and rich colors, delicate brushstrokes, and simple and smooth lines.
Strangely, some parts seem to employ the linear perspective technique of Western oil painting, with very obvious anatomical structures and light and shadow effects. Yet, these elements blend perfectly with the overall composition and artistic conception of the painting.
What's even stranger is that the lines and planes, the contrast of light and shadow, are more similar to Lin Sicheng's paintings, and even more similar to Jammes's "Lady".
"This painting, titled 'Bogu Tu' (A Picture of Antiquities), was created by Giuseppe Castiglione, the chief court painter during the Kangxi and Qianlong periods of the Qing Dynasty and an Italian missionary. It is now treasured in the Palace Museum."
Before Giuseppe Castiglione went to China to preach, it was the nascent period of European Neoclassicism, so his painting style was in line with that of James…
Shang Yan continued clicking the mouse: "Look at this one!"
It is still a landscape painting on paper, by the same court painter Jiao Bingzhen from the Kangxi and Qianlong periods. The middle sample is "Bogu Tu" (Illustrations of Antiquities), also a porcelain pot, and also painted in meticulous brushwork and heavy colors.
However, compared to the previous painting, the overall composition is more three-dimensional, and the application of perspective and light and shadow is more realistic.
Overall, the unique "freehand" style of traditional Chinese painting is even more prevalent than in the previous painting.
The key point is that the base of the work has a large number of layers, as if it has been rendered with more than ten layers.
Subconsciously, Li Zhen thought of Lin Sicheng's three pictures: they were not exactly the same, but at least 80% similar.
It's not about form and appearance, but about concept and structure, as well as the design before composition.
"Doesn't it look more like it?"
Li Zhen nodded vigorously.
"Jiao Bingzhen was a student of Lang Shining, and as a fellow court painter, he had a deeper understanding and appreciation of traditional Chinese painting. He was also the Director of the Imperial Observatory, so he was equally familiar with mathematics and science."
Therefore, from the perspective of the fusion of Chinese and Western art, he is at a higher level than Lang Shining.
Li Zhen suddenly realized: "The artistic characteristics and style of Jiao Bingzhen are reflected in Lin Sicheng's paintings?"
"Not only that, he must have systematically studied Western oil painting techniques, including the painting style of Giuseppe Castiglione. Otherwise, it wouldn't give people a feeling of 'similarity'...and then look!"
Shang Yan first processed the image to make it transparent, then moved in a photo of a calligraphy copybook in the Banqiao style that she had found somewhere, and then stacked them on top.
Li Zhen's pupils contracted, and she leaned back slightly: Aren't these the three paintings drawn by Lin Sicheng?
This refers not only to the concept and structure, but also to the overall layout and artistic style.
"Do you understand?"
Li Zhen moved her lips slightly and nodded woodenly.
Traditional Chinese painting and arts and crafts, including Western oil painting, are compulsory courses for ceramic restoration majors. Li Zhen may not be able to paint that well, but that doesn't prevent her from understanding it:
Lin Sicheng's understanding and application of traditional Chinese painting and arts and crafts far surpassed hers. In fact, he was even able to integrate and innovate, blending it with Chinese calligraphy.
Therefore, those three sketches were designed by himself, and the claim that Professor Lin taught them was just an excuse.
Thinking back to that grade sheet I saw before, it seems utterly absurd: someone who failed a course last semester couldn't have drawn those three graphs.
No, I can't even imagine it.
In a moment of shock, Li Zhen suddenly realized: "He wants to use Han Dynasty tiles to piece together the pot, instead of remaking it?"
"Yes, otherwise there would be no need to go through the trouble of redesigning and reconstructing the design. However, there are technical difficulties: the adhesion between the tile and the clay will cause shrinkage and expansion when fired a second time. If this is not resolved, the tile will either be scrapped or deformed."
"Difficult to solve?"
"Of course, if we can solve it, we can apply for a national patent immediately. I wouldn't dare say it's a national-level patent, but it's more than enough to win a ministerial-level science and technology innovation award."
So I guess he won't refire it, but rather use chemical adhesives to piece it together. But the fact that he could even design it is already quite remarkable: with just those three sketches, applying for a design patent for the 'Lin Family Han Dynasty Earthenware Pot' would be no problem at all.”
Applying for a patent?
Provincial or ministerial-level awards?
Subconsciously, Li Zhen recalled the report card she had seen before: unqualified, unqualified, and unqualified again?
The sense of separation was too strong; she simply couldn't connect the two Lin Sichengs.
"Don't be surprised. Anyone familiar with Professor Lin knows that he has a precious grandson who absolutely refuses to study at Xida University and has been arguing with him since his freshman year..."
So I suspect Lin Sicheng deliberately did poorly on the exam. Just like those three subjects I showed you earlier: without systematic and sustained study and practice, he couldn't even copy those sketches, let alone design them.
Besides, if he were truly hopelessly stupid, would he have even scored 685 on the college entrance exam?
"That tall?" Li Zhen exclaimed in surprise. "Tall enough to get into Peking University?"
"The cutoff scores were quite high that year. He was four points short of Peking University and barely passed Tsinghua University, so you can't entirely blame him... But don't worry about that too much. Just know that he has a very strong learning ability. That's all..."
Shang Yan paused for a moment, organizing her thoughts, "Could you find an opportunity to ask him for me if he would be willing to study under me for my master's degree?"
"ah?"
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