獨(dú)步藝苑“虎”嘯山林

趙暢

自2016年6月中國工筆畫學(xué)會會長、中國美協(xié)理事、中國美協(xié)中國畫藝委會副主任馮大中第一次踏上紹興的土地后，短短兩年時(shí)間里，他已連續(xù)三次到訪上虞。

因工作關(guān)系，筆者三次拜訪馮大中。每次相見，他總是笑呵呵地說：“上虞乃大舜故里、曹娥故鄉(xiāng)、英臺之鄉(xiāng)，文化底蘊(yùn)太深厚了，不來就太對不起這塊風(fēng)水寶地了！”

作為“虎王”，畫虎定然是繞不過去的話題。原來，傳統(tǒng)畫虎，總是離不開威、兇、猛。然而在馮大中筆下，我們看到更多的是老虎溫順和諧的一面，因?yàn)樗漠嬜髦型癸@的總是老虎的柔、仁、愛。同時(shí)，馮大中也向筆者糾正一些媒體的不實(shí)報(bào)道：“其實(shí)，我既畫老虎兇猛勇武的一面，也表達(dá)其不怒自威的一面。但從比例上說，我更多表現(xiàn)它可愛的另一面，比如母子親情，比如天倫之樂，比如離情別緒。老虎與其他動物一樣，有其多面性，作為畫家應(yīng)該予以立體呈現(xiàn)。”1986年聯(lián)合國舉辦國際和平年美術(shù)攝影書法作品展覽，他獻(xiàn)上的《愛》就是運(yùn)用擬人化的手法，盡情表現(xiàn)兩只老虎纏綿溫順、和諧依偎的感人場景，而“猛獸尚且如此，況人世乎？”的題款，則無疑為畫作畫龍點(diǎn)睛。1988年，當(dāng)他的作品《早春》一舉獲得中國當(dāng)代工筆畫首屆大展金獎時(shí)，他筆下的虎便有了“天下第一虎”的美譽(yù)。

《曉風(fēng)殘?jiān)隆肥撬顬闈M意的虎畫作品之一。他突破傳統(tǒng)畫虎的俗套，從環(huán)境生態(tài)美學(xué)的角度切入，創(chuàng)造出一片未被污染的凈土——曉風(fēng)中、殘?jiān)孪拢瑓矘溥叀⑾g，一泓溪水潺潺流淌，那老虎躑躅溪邊從容暢飲，這樣的場景似乎是在緬懷昔日的“世外桃源”、平復(fù)曾經(jīng)的創(chuàng)傷，也更是在輕輕呼喚“保衛(wèi)地球家園、珍惜生態(tài)環(huán)境”的愿景。而細(xì)細(xì)觀瞻畫中之虎，深覺“有骨、有肉、有神，皮毛彪炳斑斕，連毛色的光澤感也表現(xiàn)了出來”。是的，他的工筆虎自有獨(dú)到的繪畫語言，并不以劍拔弩張的線條和恣肆的墨色取勝，而是用盡精刻微的筆法，畫得細(xì)而不膩、工而不匠。

然而又有誰知，每畫一幅工筆虎畫作品，都要耗費(fèi)馮大中四五個(gè)月甚至是更長的時(shí)間。“因?yàn)楫嫻すP虎太費(fèi)時(shí)了，從而也牽扯了自己畫其他作品的精力。其實(shí)，我原本就是畫竹子和山水畫起家的，而且一直沒有中斷過創(chuàng)作。像畫竹子，我已經(jīng)畫了四十多年，早已呈現(xiàn)自家面目。”馮大中說。

其實(shí)，細(xì)心的觀眾早就發(fā)現(xiàn)，無論是馮大中的工筆虎或?qū)懸饣⒆髌分校嬅婊蚨嗷蛏俣紩兄褡右只蛏剿呐阋r。大野蒼茫之境，長白雪月之潔，秋山沉醉之釅，春山曉霧之美，蘆花霜晨之麗，梨花春雨之景，風(fēng)竹搖曳之柔——正是這些元素熟稔的點(diǎn)綴、生動的表達(dá)，恰到好處地顯示作品的主題。

“從畫竹子可以看到，凡畫畫首先要從主觀精神上積極去畫，認(rèn)真表現(xiàn)生命的可愛。但這還不夠，還要不斷向深處對題材進(jìn)行挖掘，要表達(dá)自己內(nèi)心想表達(dá)的東西。”馮大中頗有詩文功底，常年筆耕不輟，對于詩性精神有著獨(dú)到的理解與把握，且能將詩性精神轉(zhuǎn)化為畫面生機(jī)。《新雨晴嵐》，這是一幅由澗水、巖石、茂竹組合而成的兼工帶寫的竹畫作品，三者看似毫無關(guān)聯(lián)，實(shí)則顧盼生姿、相得益彰，竹子簡而不空，主干雖未畫出畫面，但已經(jīng)延伸出去，達(dá)到了“筆斷意不斷”的高度。

為了用簡約的寫意形式來表現(xiàn)竹子之類的物象，馮大中差不多投入了一年時(shí)間來學(xué)習(xí)八大山人的創(chuàng)作手法。在他看來，作為明末清初最偉大的一位大寫意畫家，八大山人的畫比所有畫家的畫都簡練。盡管臨摹起來難度大，一筆都不能多，包括每一筆相對于全局的構(gòu)成都不能亂，但隨著時(shí)間的推移，他讀懂了，“覺得再畫竹子之類的東西在表達(dá)物象上沒有多少難度，只要掌握其形體特征就可以了。對于畫面而言，無非是點(diǎn)、線、面的構(gòu)成，再就是墨的深淺、濃淡、干濕，把這些關(guān)系捋順了、弄通了，剩下的就是如何在創(chuàng)作過程中力求文化的韻味。”

時(shí)下，馮大中很少畫虎，而是執(zhí)著于他的山水畫創(chuàng)作。他知道，在中國畫的范疇里，山水更加豐富多彩。事實(shí)上，他的成名作就是山水畫。早在1984年，他和時(shí)任遼寧省美協(xié)主席、《新富春山居圖》主筆宋雨桂合作的山水巨作《蘇醒》，就獲得了第六屆全國美展的銀獎，并被中國美術(shù)館永久收藏。

獲獎以后，馮大中并沒有卻步，而是繼續(xù)用腳步去丈量大地。寫生很苦，但他從不放棄。他已記不清自己去了多少次太行山，但每一次赴太行山的寫生都給他新的啟迪。近年來，他一直在構(gòu)思怎樣去表現(xiàn)這樣的山川。“我想再現(xiàn)的不是即景式的太行山，而是由這樣的山所生發(fā)出的一種普遍的品格，是對山的共性的塑造。”

2009年6月，馮大中帶著自己從藝近半個(gè)世紀(jì)以來的70余幅藝術(shù)精品來到上海。就在《高山景行》藝術(shù)展開幕式上，89歲高齡的畫壇泰斗陳佩秋細(xì)心地觀賞了每一幅作品，并發(fā)出由衷的贊嘆：“大中畫虎沒得說，全國第一！”而且面對馮大中的山水畫作，這位本身以山水畫聞名的海派大師也贊不絕口：“構(gòu)圖大氣，筆墨精到！”

明代著名書畫家、文學(xué)家徐渭有詩云：“莫把丹青等閑看，無聲詩里頌千秋。”最近一次離開上虞前，馮大中對筆者說：“作為文化古城、孝德之鄉(xiāng)的上虞，給我留下了太多揮之不去的記憶和回味。”他還欣喜地告訴筆者，明年是澳門回歸祖國20周年，他準(zhǔn)備畫百米荷花長卷予以慶賀，“因?yàn)樯徎ㄊ前拈T特別行政區(qū)的區(qū)花，她根深而葉茂，是圣潔、祥和、寧靜、太平的象征，我希望澳門特別行政區(qū)更加和諧安寧、繁榮昌盛！”

Feng Dazhong （born in 1949） is famed as an artist specialized in painting tigers in the traditional painting style. Some have even considered him Chinas best artist of tigers ever since he grabbed a gold medal with a painting titled at a national painting event in 1988. He first visited Shangyu， now a district of Shaoxing in eastern Zhejiang， in June 2016. Since then he has visited Shangyu two more times within the two years. I visited the master every time he was in Shangyu. He loves Shangyu largely because the district is full of cultural charms and heritage. Yu the Great， a legendary emperor who brought the great deluge under control in immemorial times， was born in Shangyu according to ancient legends. His mausoleum is in Shaoxing. Shaoxing is also home to Caoe， another legendary figure， and Zhu Yingtai， the prototype of the woman in .

Feng is dubbed as the king of tigers. Our conversation naturally turned to tigers. Most artists emphasize the majesty， ferocity， and power of the tiger. Feng chooses the opposite. His artworks emphasize the tenderness of tigers. He goes out of his way to portray the tenderness， kindness and love of tigers especially when they appear together as a family. In our talks， he tried to correct some misunderstanding of his preferences. “In fact， some of my tiger paintings show the ferocity and valor of tigers. I have portrayed the majesty without touching the violent side of the tiger. However， I prefer painting the tender part of tigers： tender love and affinity within a tiger family. Tigers resemble any other creatures in the emotional diversity. As an artist， I have every reason to highlight the diversity，” explained Feng Dazhong.

As a artist， Feng goes all out to make a painting. Usually a tiger painting takes him five months or more to complete because the style emphasizes and highlights tiniest details. Feng has some regrets for his choice of tigers as his main artistic pursuit. “I started my career also painting bamboos and landscape. I have never stopped creating bamboo paintings and landscapes. I have been painting bamboos for more than four decades and I have established a unique style，” remarked the master.

The time Feng Dazhong has invested into bamboos and landscape isnt a waste. In the background of all his tiger paintings are landscapes with bamboos. In fact， in order to perfect his skills of painting bamboos， he spent nearly a year studying the art of Ba Da Shan Ren， a pseudonym of Zhu Da （1626-c.1705）， a painter famed for an extremely impressionistic painting style， which is the right opposite to the style. He believes Zhu Da was the most concise and minimalist artist who spared no efforts to express his wild impressions in the smallest number of brushstrokes. One redundant stroke would ruin the structure. Feng copied and studied and gradually he grasped the essence of the art of Zhu Da.

Feng has not focused exclusively on tigers. In fact， he first established his fame in 1984 with a landscape created in partnership with Song Yugui， then president of Liaoning Provincial Artists Association. The painting won a silver medal at the 6th China Art Exhibition， the top national art event held every five years. The first was held in July 1949.

In order to portray mountains well， Feng Dazhong has sketched in the Taihang Mountains for years. Now he does not prefer to copy such peaks in his paintings. He wants to create images that carry common characteristics of mountains. In June 2009， he held a solo exhibition in Shanghai， featuring 70 plus landscapes he had created over a period of nearly 50 years. The landscapes won good reviews from critics and peer artists.

Feng Dazhong is now preparing to create a 100-meter-long scroll painting of lotus flowers in celebration of the 20th anniversary of the return of Macao to Chinese sovereignty in 2019， as the lotus is the city flower of Macao Special Administrative Region. “Lotus symbolizes sacredness， harmony， serenity， and peace. I wish Macao Special Administrative Region harmony， peace， and prosperity，“ explained the master.