The Versatile Master Artist

”Unfortunately, ’Oil Painting’ magazine is the greatest authority of our era; it is that supreme His Holiness the Pope.”

Gu Weijing followed Miss Sakai’s tone and said, spreading his hands.

There are barely a few people in the world who can refute the entire jury of ’Oil Painting’ with weight.

Larry Gagosian is willing to go all out, maybe barely enough, Cao Xuan, Yayoi Kusama could also be counted.

And as for Damien Hirst and Takashi Murakami, despite possibly making several hundred million dollars in sales, lack in artistic status, thus only counting as half.

Even if he confesses to Mr. Cao.

Could he, without even formally apprenticing, ask Elder Cao to stand up for his illustration and go against ’Oil Painting’?

Gu Weijing was nowhere near that great!

The relationship was far from that point.

”Besides from top-down, there is also bottom-up. The highest realm of painting is the deeply resonating tremor that touches people’s hearts. If Detective Cat’s work can stir a wave of societal love, facing such facts, any discourse from the critics is powerless. Even someone as celebrated as Jerome was defeated by a group of unknown young men on the banks of the Seine.”

In Miss Shengzi’s words, Jerome is hailed as a successor of the neoclassical painting school, ranking among the top ten notable figures in French art history, born into privilege, achieving fame with awards from the official Paris salons, closely connected with high-ranking government officials, and on a sure path to becoming a super bigwig in the academic school.

The French Parliament issued special commemorative stamps for him upon his passing and birth centenary.

In his illustrious and splendid life, he only had one mishap, suppressing and obstructing Impressionist painters with vigorous criticism from senior academic school commentators.

He used his personal influence to ensure that all important exhibitions, upper-class salons, and French government’s honorary evaluations excluded Impressionist painters from the main lists.

If it weren’t for the truly unreasonable excellence of the Impressionists’ painting techniques, their ”Salon des Refusés” exhibition would have caused a sensation on the streets of Paris, even under the fierce suppression and disparagement of the academic school, attracting attention from major US collectors.

Jerome almost succeeded.

Victory for the king, defeat for the bandits,

This became an indelible stain in Jerome’s life.

There are still opinions today that had he not suppressed the Impressionists, this gentleman would even have had a chance to enjoy the honor of entering the Pantheon of Paris like another Neoclassical master, Ingres.

Back then, Jerome and the Impressionists were similar to today’s depiction of ’Oil Painting’ jury and Detective Cat.

”As long as Detective Cat’s painting is exemplary enough, very, very exemplary, then this scenario can once again unfold.” Koizumi Katsuko concluded.

”Perhaps that board member Elina proposed such a suggestion at the shareholder meeting of ’Oil Painting’ magazine, holding this belief.”

Koizumi Katsuko speculated on the feelings of the big sister in the wheelchair, seen in the video.

She used this proposal to put herself and other major shareholders of ’Oil Painting’ onto the gambling table.

On one side is the honor of the Elena family, and on the other are twelve art predecessors’ authoritative aesthetics and academic reputation.

A last-ditch gamble.

Miss Ilina and Detective Cat have no way out.

These highly respected art critics have no retreat.

”What a gamble this is,” Koizumi Katsuko thought to herself.

Even that little painter from Africa would never have anticipated that his small illustration could potentially influence the future direction of the entire art industry.

Does she really have a chance to create a miracle?

...

The sky under the sunset was presenting a mixed color of lemon and flame, an orange-red hue.

After dinner,

The female bodyguard cleared away the dishes and takeout boxes.

Koizumi Katsuko stepped out of the gatehouse, silently gazed at the sunset clouds for a few seconds, then changed her mind.

The determination to improve her painting skills is not just spoken of.

Seeing such a beautiful sunset.

Miss Shengzi set up a small easel, deciding to add a practice for herself, capturing this streak of sunset cloud before returning to the hotel.

Ah Wang, having woken up, was lying contently at her feet, gnawing on a piece of veal Koizumi Katsuko specifically saved for it, ignoring Jasmine who ran over wanting to continue playing with him.

The cat is already upset!

Orphanage-raised kids don’t have the extravagant habit of feeding cats with fancy French cuisine.

Just a moment ago, Ah Wang smelled the enticing aroma coming from the small house, tried every possible way to sneak inside, but Jasmine chased it out every time.

Damn it, heartless!

I played with you all afternoon, yet you’re not even willing to give me a bite of the good stuff!

Still, this big sister with a fresh strawberry scent is lovely, following her means meat to eat.

Ah Wang nuzzled Miss Sakai’s ankle with its head, happily holding down the piece of veal with its front paw, nibbling at it.

Gu Weijing didn’t go home either, lacking the mood to appreciate this peaceful and beautiful scene, constantly flipping through his phone screen.

Today Koizumi Katsuko inadvertently brought it up.

Not realizing how daunting it is until checking online.

Only now did he discover that the online discussion about the ’Oil Painting’ shareholder meeting and Detective Cat is already quite heated in relevant fields.

Apart from the video they saw over dinner, there’s even a blogger who specifically clipped and made a video of Miss Ilina holding a sample book of ’Little Prince’.

He posted the link in Mr. Hibernian’s program reviews under the title ”Immortal Sister’s plot continuation,” on the [From one dollar to one million dollars · Painting Challenge] section.