連環畫巨擘賀友直

2012年春天，連環畫大師賀友直迎來91歲高齡，而一場“率真賀友直·經典老上海”畫展在上海市與廣大觀眾見面。人們看到的這個畫展有些另類，陳列的線索不是畫，而是人，一個滿肚子故事的老人賀友直。

走進展廳，映入人們眼簾的是一尊賀老木雕像，那光亮的額頭、夸張的鼻頭、變形的老花眼鏡，一下子使人聯想起他說話、作畫的神情。木雕的一側，陳列著賀老24幅“自說自畫”圖，演繹出他所走過的繪畫歷程。

創作了中國連環畫史上里程碑式的杰作

賀友直，1922年11月出生，浙江寧波人，祖籍寧波北侖新碶西街，為我國著名連環畫家、線描大師、上海人民美術出版社編審。

他是與新中國一起成長的畫家。新中國成立那年，他28歲，買了趙樹理的小說《福貴》，自編自繪了200多幅，竟然讓一個畫商印了出來，處女作就這樣問世了。

1952年出版的《火車上的戰斗》曾在全國青年美術作品展覽中獲一等獎。

20世紀60年代初，他經過刻苦鉆研中國傳統線描技法，創作出融思想性、藝術性于一爐的代表作《山鄉巨變》，被稱為是中國連環畫史上里程碑式的杰作，并于1963年在文化部與中國美術家協會舉辦的全國第一屆連環畫評獎會上獲一等獎，從而形成了自己獨特的藝術風格，獲得了美術界的高度評價。

浙江省連環畫專業委員會副主任、常山縣八屆政協委員曾令兵，把做生意賺來的500多萬元錢全部投入到了“小人書”收藏，并辦起了“民間連環畫博物館”。在收藏的3萬冊連環畫中，曾令兵最為得意且悉心珍藏的就是賀友直創作的那套《山鄉巨變》連環畫。

著名連環畫家賀友直的代表作還有《白光》《朝陽溝》《連升三級》《十五貫》《小二黑結婚》《申江風情錄》等。《白光》獲第二屆全國連環畫繪畫一等獎；《十五貫》《朝陽溝》《皮九辣子》等均獲全國獎。他出版專著《賀友直談連環畫創作》后，《賀友直短篇連環畫選集》《賀友直畫自己》《中國連環畫名家經典—賀友直畫作》相繼在京滬等地出版。

賀友直連環畫作品享譽海內外，一些代表作曾到英、法等國展覽。畫家還應邀在新加坡南洋藝術學院、法國昂古萊姆圖像學院授課，并獲法國昂古萊姆市榮譽市民證書。他的形象和代表作品中的人物，被制成地磚鋪在法國昂古萊姆市法國國家連環畫和圖像中心的廣場上。在我國眾多有成就的畫家中，他是唯一獲得此項榮譽的。1980年中央美術學院成立連環畫年畫系時，特聘賀友直兼任教授。

他曾在法國、德國、新加坡舉辦個人畫展，作品還在英國、挪威、瑞士、韓國等地展出。

“中國美術獎”是中宣部批準設立，文化部、中國文聯、中國美協主辦，并由中國美協承辦的國家級美術最高獎。賀友直獲首屆“中國美術獎·終身成就獎”，作品被中國美術館、上海美術館、廣州美術館收藏。

連環畫這一畫種具有特別大的包容量，其功能則是通過連延不斷的畫面來“講故事”。賀友直在創作中自覺地探索規律。他摸索到：作為畫故事的畫家，必須學會“做戲”。所謂做戲，就是胸懷故事全局，挖掘人物內在的性格沖突，選取和捕捉生活中富有表現力的可視形象。

在《李雙雙》中，丈夫喜旺和雙雙鬧矛盾，離家一個多月才回來，以劈柴表示內疚想求得老婆原諒。雙雙回家看到，知道他是以此道歉，就說：“家不會開除你。”如何將這句文學語言轉化為繪畫語言，顯然不容易。這句話怎么畫？賀老想到了一串鑰匙，讓李雙雙將鑰匙交給小孩，叫小孩遞給爹，說明“你可以進家門了”。鑰匙作為一種家的象征，一種繪畫符號，很自然就形成了畫面，入情入理。這就是“通過看得見的，表現看不見的”。

賀友直的創作表明，他的“做戲”，既富有情趣，又真實可信。打開長達396幅的《山鄉巨變》，那些生活在富有濃郁地方特色的湖南山鄉的人們，在農業合作化運動中的一言一行、一舉一動，被描繪得妙趣橫生，真切自然。這一切說明，畫家從生活出發來“做戲”的創作方法是正確而高明的。

對于藝術與生活和畫技的關系，賀友直常說：“畫連環畫絕不是技術性不強、藝術性不高的事情，它的畫幅雖小，但天地很大，是要下功夫研究的。”賀友直的藝術成就在于用他那活靈活現、富有生命力的白描形式把現實生活與古老的中國傳統畫神話般地結合得盡善盡美，同時將通俗的連環畫開拓出新的天地。他的新作《小街世相》圖，還是用精當圓熟的白描手法創作。欣賞此圖，仿佛引領著我們穿越時空的隧道，返至半個多世紀以前的上海灘。當年申城那種感覺、那種氣息撲面而來，準確而生動，堪稱可與《清明上河圖》前后映照的新畫卷。

鄉情綿綿無盡期

賀友直非常思念家鄉的鄉親與兒時的生活。賀友直自幼喪母，由鄉下姑媽撫養，在寧波大碶王隘一個小學入學，后轉至新碶小學續學。當時的新碶小學設在一個關帝廟里，廟里有個斑駁脫落的戲臺，戲臺四周隱隱約約地顯現出《三國演義》的繪畫。他被那傳神的繪畫迷住了，一次次細心地描摹、比照、思索、修改，憑著這些無師自通的繪圖實踐，他的美術課成績居然在小學生中遙遙領先。

賀友直常說，家鄉的山水養育了我，家鄉的童年生活是我取之不盡的創作源泉。在滬上闖蕩了60多年后，老人思念養育他的故鄉。他在家鄉的原祖基旁新置了一處住房，經常從上海返回家鄉走走看看，與家鄉的父老鄉親相見、敘舊。2003年底，賀友直根據兒時記憶，為家鄉創作了《新碶老街風情錄》組畫，并將原作捐贈給寧波北侖博物館。《新碶老街風情錄》所表現的家鄉景物全憑賀友直對少年時代生活的回憶，老人對家鄉的感情和清晰的記憶，讓許多人驚嘆不已！

2010年春天，中國美院舉辦的“漫畫創作EMBA班—2010國家原創動漫高級研修班”上，作為浙籍名人、連環畫大師，88歲的賀老受邀前來講學。他懷著濃濃的鄉情，為來自國內高校動畫專業的教師、動畫企業創作精英講述自己的繪畫經驗與創作感悟。他說：“畫家一生要解決兩個問題：畫什么？怎么畫？”“搞藝術的人，一定要有悟性，不然就開不了竅。人的素質最基本的東西就是認真，做事認真，終歸會成功。”

他說到《清明上河圖》：“中國人有自己的藝術欣賞習慣，喜歡看故事情節。《清明上河圖》就是這樣，有看頭。一條街，一個攤，一個門，門里頭還有東西；一個窗，窗里頭還有玩意……這些應該得到尊重和繼承，它和技法是一致的東西。”

2010年10月28日，賀老將他的工作室搬回故鄉。“賀友直工作室”在寧波北侖區新碶街道西街3號成立。這個工作室的設立，正是老畫家對家鄉文化工作的支持與反哺。工作室重點是對少年兒童進行繪畫培訓。

一手持筆，一手把酒，笑對人生

生活中的賀老，達觀開朗，率性詼諧。他極富睿智的話語，常使人回味良久后忍俊不禁，撫掌稱絕。每天晚餐是他最放松的愜意時光，品著老夫人烹飪的美味菜肴，喝著紹興的加飯酒，眼睛有一搭沒一搭地瞅著電視，其實腦子已經進入他自己的思維天地，許多絕妙的創意，往往就是在這看似消受實則琢磨的悠閑中悟得。

一輩子的曲折經歷使老人擁有一份睿智和大度，足以令他笑對人生的風云變幻。他常對人自嘲道：“連環畫是‘小兒科’。”他稱自己“充其量是個連環畫家而已”。他有一幅自畫像，給自己畫了個很夸張的伸長著的耳朵，一對銳利、率真的眼睛，從眼鏡上方審視般地注視著紛紛雜雜的人世萬象，那潛臺詞仿佛是：“哈，什么都逃不過我的眼睛！”這位畫壇老人，眼睛仍然是那么清澈、銳利、純真！

今年的展覽特別還原了許多頗具生活氣息的場景，形象而立體地再現賀老的率真。有一個展區擺滿了365個黃酒瓶。瓶貼全是賀友直的畫，瓶蓋上印的小字竟是“爸爸的生命口服液”，這是賀老的女兒寫的。據了解，除了畫畫，賀老就剩喝酒這點愛好，尤其喜歡喝黃酒，一天一瓶，倘若不受限制，一餐一瓶都不是問題。女兒笑言，酒簡直是“爸爸的生命口服液”。因為如果哪天他對酒興致不那么高了，那就說明他的身體狀況可能出了點小問題。

賀老位于上海巨鹿路上的家也被1:l地“搬”來展廳。從1956年至今，他一直住在這幢新式里弄公寓中。“大門口”掛著藍印花布的簾子，只見“賀老”正隨手掀開簾子探出頭來。家中物什都是有些年歲的，老桌子、老板凳、老門、老窗、老酒、老筆墨……

連環畫本就是俗到底子里的，只有滲入生活的方方面面，才更有底氣。人們不難發現，老人對生活的要求真的不高，心思全花在創作上了。這一切都構成了一個活生生的他所獨有的世界，真實地彌漫著賀老家的溫馨，以及他那透著濃濃市井氣息的畫風。而今，鶴發童顏的賀老，依舊每日里一手持筆，一手端酒。人生就這樣尋常地過來了，事業也就這樣做出來了！

Exhibition Celebrates 91-Year-Old Picture Book Master

By Hu Shanghua

Based in Shanghai， 91-year-old He Youzhi is a legendary master of picture books in China. Both his career and achievement are unique.

First， a few words about picture book. Picture book is largely a 20th century phenomenon in China. Some historians say that the first picture book came out in 1898 in Shanghai. The genre matured and flourished from the 1950s to the 1990s. It went out of fashion toward the end of the 20th century. Picture books in the 20th-century China resemble manga books and comics of Japan and America， but there is a big difference: comic books are usually original creations in text and painting whereas picture books in China are primarily pictorial adaptations of novels， history， legends， myths， fables， folktales， films， and theater plays. Artists did not create stories. Usually an artist wrote a very brief script， one short paragraph of text for one picture. A picture book looks like a collection of a large number of illustrations. Unlike large-format picture books for children with large pictures and a few words or no words at all， the picture books are small， usually in the standard sixty-fourmo format. These picture books targeted both children and adults.

He Youzhi is an outstanding career picture book artist. Many fellow picture book masters were prominent artists. They were largely known for their fine art accomplishment. For these masters， picture book paintings were more or less like side products. Unlike most of his peers， He Youzhi started and ended his career as a picture book artist. He was the first picture-book master offered professorship at the Central Academy of Fine Arts in the 1980s when the academy set up a department for training talents for picture book and Spring Festival painting. The department was abolished when picture book as a literary phenomenon went out of fashion.

He Youzhi did not have formal art training whatsoever. He was brought up by his aunt in the rural area of Ningbo after his mother died when he was very young. The primary school where he studied was housed in a temple of Lord Guan. A theater stage inside the temple compound was decorated with illustrations of the Romance of Three Kingdoms， a classical novel created during the Ming Dynasty (1368-1644). Fascinated by these illustrations， the boy studied them and copied them repeatedly until he got all the pictures right.

The year 1937 marked a turning point in his life. That year， he graduated from primary school， the war broke out and his father became unemployed. The boy worked in a small blacksmith and then a printing house in rural Ningbo. He even worked as a teacher in a rural primary school. Disappointed in the future that the rural area could possibly offer， He Youzhi came to Shanghai. As he was able to draw， he looked for a job that had something to do with painting. After an audition， he was employed to draw trademarks. His relatives saw the young man was promising and recommended him to a few artists who did picture books for a living. He learned fast. That was how He Youzhi stepped into the field.

His first picture book was an adaptation of a short story by Zhao Shuli (1906-1970)， a leading storywriter specialized in depicting rural life who launching an influential literary movement in the 20th Chinese writing. He Youzhi visualized the story in his mind and wrote his own script. Then he spent days drawing. He did more than 200 drawings for the story. A publisher printed the picture book and it sold well. It was 1949 and He Youzhi was 28 years old.

The success of his first picture book started his career as a picture book artist. Over his 50-plus year career， He Youzhi produced more than 100 picture books. His “Huge Changes in Mountainous Town” in the early 1960s is considered as a landmark success in the history of picture books of China. In 1963， it won a first prize at the 1st National Picture Book Award Conference jointly sponsored by Ministry of Culture and China Artists Associations. It was the first major career award he garnered. In the following decades， he received numerous honors for his picture books.

His representative picture books are in the collection of China Art Museum， Shanghai Art Museum and Guangzhou Art Museum. He has held solo exhibitions in France， Germany and Singapore. His artworks have been exhibited in Britain， Norway， Swiss and Korea. He is honored with Lifelong Achievement Award jointly issued by Ministry of Culture， China Federation of Literature and Art Circles and China Artists Association.

With his accomplishment in picture books， picture book is considered an honorable art genre and He Youzhi ranks side by side with artists highly accomplished in other fields， representing a short-lived art renaissance spanning the 1950s and the early 1960s.

Now 91， He Youzhi still creates paintings and teaches. In the spring of 2010， he was invited to lecture at China Academy of Art in Hangzhou. In October 2010， he set up his studio in his hometown Ningbo.

In the spring of 2012， an exhibition was held in Shanghai in honor of the 91-year-old artist. The exhibition was a little bit unusual: it did not focus upon his works. Instead， it focused on the artist himself. In one segment of the exhibition hall were 365 wine bottles on display. He still drinks， consuming a bottle of rice wine a day.