天赋与勤奋 Talents and Diligence

陈醉

Chen Zui

对西京作品最早也是最深印象的，是他的《人民领袖》。画得很好，把毛主席的伟人风采表达出来了，把领袖奔波在人民中间的意境表达出来了。这里还要强调的是，他画得很像——形神兼备。 

My earliest and deepest impression on Xijing’s works comes from his painting “People’s Leader Chairman Mao”, as it reproduces the demeanor of the great leader, Chairman Mao, and the situation how Chairman Mao ran around among people. What I would like to emphasize is the vividness of the painting that achieves a unity of form and spirit.

我之所以如此强调画得很像，是因为现在能做到这一点的不多了。近几年看一些大型的展览，也偶有反映领袖人物的作品，但画得好的不多，有的甚至起码的形似都不够，更谈不上形神兼备了。我曾在不同的场合多次表达过这个意见:中国艺术进入了多元化的局面，这是可喜的时代进步。但就传统绘画技巧而言，中国人的写实能力降低了，这也是一个明显的事实。由于历史的原因，"写实能力"这个欧洲绘画传统技艺的精华，也曾经是共和国的美术教育中的一个重要的甚至是带有标志性的培养目标，在这方面取得了丰硕的成果，并将它融进了我们民族的艺术，成为传统中新的组成部分。写实能力的训练，是一个很艰难的过程，它需要天赋，更需要勤奋。我也多次表达过，即使是油画系毕业，也未必能画好人物画。即便能画好人物画，也未必能搞好画历史画创作。即便能搞好历史画创作，也未必能搞好重大历史题材绘画创作。这些，对于本来就不擅长西方那套写实方式的中国画创作样式来说，就更有难度了。然而，西京做的了。他那一系列的写实人物画创作——历史人物肖像以及一些主题性绘画创作都显出了他扎实的功力。尤其这幅"人民领袖"，可以说是近期描绘领袖形象的为数不多的优秀作品中的一件。而据说作者还接受了重大历史题材"西安事变"的创作任务，正在日夜兼程，足见其在这个领域的成果与影响。

The reason for my emphasis on the vividness is because few people could achieve that now. In recent years, I have visited some large exhibitions and come across many paintings to portray leaders. Few of these works do well and some even fail to achieve the similarity in form, let alone the unity of form and spirit. I have expressed on many occasions my opinion that the Chinese art has ushered in its age of diversified development, which is the good results of the progress of the age. Nevertheless, Chinese painters’ ability to paint realistically is weakened when it comes to traditional painting techniques, which is also an obvious fact. Due to historical reasons, “realistic painting ability”, the quintessence of the traditional techniques of the European painting, was a significant and even landmark training objective in the fine arts education of the republic, which has achieved great successes in this aspect, integrated into our national art and made itself a new constituent of our painting tradition. The training of the realistic painting ability is a difficult process, which needs talents and more importantly, diligence. I have also said for many times that even one graduating from an oil painting college may not do well in figure painting, even one good at figure painting may have difficulty in historic painting creation, and even one knowing how to create historic paintings well may fail to carry out painting creation themed crucial historical subject matters. This also challenges the creation mode of the Chinese painting which is not skilled in the western realistic painting mode. Nevertheless, Xijing achieves that. His series of realistic figure paintings, including portraits of historical figures and some theme paintings, reveals his solid foundation in painting. Among others, his “People’s Leader Chairman Mao” could be rated as one of the few recent excellent works to depict the images of leaders. It is said that the painter has accepted the creation task themed the significant historical event “Xi’an Incident” and now is working day and night, which demonstrates his achievements and influence in this field.

上述的创作，是属于较多的汲取了西方绘画体系的绘画样式，它讲究造型、结构、光暗等，这也是俗称的"学院派"。学院派是以油画的方式训练的，讲究素描功夫，很扎实，很"结实"，"紧紧的"。习惯了某种绘画样式，往往是很难接受和把握另一种样式的。然而，西京做到了——他既把握了"学院派"，也把握了中国传统文人画，这是他第二个难能可贵之处。他有厚实的中国传统画绘画基础，笔墨挥洒自如，线条运转娴熟。"松松的气很放松，甚至很放肆。这里也画历史人物，但与上述的迥然不同，更讲究境界、空灵、趣味了。而且，不论是有名有姓的历史人物也好，无名无姓的闺阁仕女也好，人物都己提炼成一种程式，一种表现手段，借以营造整个画面的意境。如人物的眼睛、鼻梁基本上概括成一个狭长的菱形的框框，但并不显得生硬或图案化，反倒在整个画面的"随意"用笔的烘托下，显得很生动，很传神。如他的《东坡诗意》、《看取莲花净》等，都收到了意到笔不到效果。正因为画家在上述两种艺术观念、艺术手法上都下了功夫，所以，除了上面说的有意拉开距离的绘画样式外，更多的因素和它们的应用已经是两者交融、得心应手了。由此，第三点要提到的是作者的线条运用和构图处理很有特色。画家很有传统"游丝描"的基础，细细的，很有弹性，很富有生命力。而他同时又有西画的速写功夫，线条很有扑捉形象能力、很富塑造性。在画面效果上，既有"经营位置"，也有"构图"。 «李清照》、《梨园春 韵图》都是很好的例子。而在《醉仙图》中，线条纵横态肆、天马|行空，中、西内涵都发挥到了极致。 

Xijing’s creation absorbs the painting mode in the western painting system, which stresses molding, composition, light and shadow, etc, which is commonly referred to as the “academic painting”. The academic painting adopts the training method used in the oil painting and pays special attention to the sketch foundation and the cultivation of “strong” and “compact” strokes. Usually, when one gets accustomed to one painting mode, he has difficulty in accepting and mastering another mode. However, Xijing makes it, for he masters not only the “academic painting” but also the Chinese traditional scholar painting, which serves another commendable point of his. He has a profound foundation in Chinese traditional painting, and thus, he could draw freely as he wishes and master the lines under his brush. Sometimes, the brush work is very loose and even liberal. Xijing also employs his skills in Chinese traditional painting to paint historical figures but in a very different way, for this kind of paintings pays more attention to the artistic state, intangibility and interest. Additionally, either the images of famous historical figures or of nameless maids in boudoirs have been refined to be a pattern and a manifestation, which is used to help create an artistic state for the whole painting. For example, figures’ eyes and bridges of noses have been summarized as one after another long and narrow rhombic frames. Nevertheless, such summarization looks very vivid and lifelike against the contrast of the “casual” brushwork, instead of being stiff and patterning. For instance, his “Su Dongpo Poetic Flavor” and “Pure Lotus Flowers” achieve the intended artistic states without painting them”. It is because the painter has a solid foundation in both the said artistic concepts and artistic expression means that he has achieves high proficiency in mastering more elements of the Chinese and western painting systems and their applications in addition to the combination of the two painting modes which make others hold a candle to him. The third point I would like to mention is the painter’s use of lines and handling of composition. The painter has a foundation in “You Si Miao” (referring to an infinitely fine line and such painting technique), which makes his lines fine and full of flexibility and vigor. Meanwhile, his foundation in quick sketch in the western painting system endows his lines with strong image-catching ability and plasticity. In terms of unity of a whole painting, his paintings stand out for both their “operation location” and their “composition”. His “Li Qingzhao” and “Charm of the Theatre” are two good examples. And in his “Drunken Immortal”, the free and liberal lines in a powerful and unrestrained style bring into full play the connotations of the oriental and occidental painting modes.

同样一只手，一捏，能"紧紧的";一开，能"松松的": 要写实，能“结实”要写意，能“空灵”:不论写实写意，都是那样耐人寻味。品他一幅画作，可见出他的天赋；看他无数的画作，更可见出他的勤奋。西京，不容易!

A pinch of the fingers makes the lines “compact”, while a loose of them turns the lines “loose”. The lines become “strong” in realistic painting and get “intangible” in impressionistic painting. Thus, both kinds of paintings are that meaningful and thought-provoking. Appreciation of one piece of his works makes one feel his talents, while appreciation of his numerous paintings makes one admire his diligence. Xijing’s successes are not achieved easily!

陈醉中国艺术研究院研究员博士生导师

Chen Zui, researcher and doctoral supervisor with China Art Academy