Artists and Art Affairs

Why was Qi Baishi's inscription on a painting of crabs, "Watching you walk with my hands in my sleeves," considered "exquisite"? Why was Pu Xinyu "greatly displeased" when discussing the title "Zhang of the South and Pu of the North"?

How did Zhang Daqun respond when his youthful forgeries were exposed? Talking about artists and discussing art affairs—this is the art world of the early Republican era as seen by Zhu Shengzhai.

Zhu Pu, courtesy name Puzhi, art names Puyuan and later Shengzhai, was a passionate devotee of calligraphy and painting. Following the style of Sun Chengze's *Gengzi Xiaoxia Ji* and Gao Shiqi's *Jiangcun Xiaoxia Lu* from the Qing Dynasty, he compiled records of famous paintings and calligraphy he encountered, providing critiques, connoisseurship, and tracing their provenance, while recording dimensions, colophons, and seals. Immersed in art his entire life, he commissioned Chen Julai to carve a seal for him with the motto: "Knowing late in life that art is truly beneficial, I regret that my remaining years are few."

*Artists and Art Affairs* encompasses the author's essays on calligraphy and painting connoisseurship since the Six Dynasties, including reading notes on anecdotes of ancient and modern painters, and transcriptions of colophons. The book also recounts his interactions with cultural figures such as Qi Baishi, Yu Shaosong, Pu Xinyu, Zhang Daqian, Huang Binhong, Wu Hufan, Yu Fei'an, and Huang Yongyu and his son. It captures little-known anecdotes such as Qi Baishi's "Watching you walk with my hands in my sleeves," Zhang Daqian's "youthful trickery," and Pu Xinyu's "Group of Yin Fighting Yang Chart," sketching a vivid portrait of the cultural world in the early Republic.

Additionally, it includes reflections on books like *Gems of the Art Forest*, *Selected Fan Paintings of the Ming and Qing Dynasties*, and *Collection of Famous Chinese Paintings Through the Ages*, as well as the author's experiences and insights from visiting art exhibitions in China, Japan, and elsewhere.