Zao Wou-Ki’s travels. A Quest beyond Appearances
Art Director of the Zao Wou-Ki Foundation, Co-Curator of Centennial Retrospective Exhibition of Zao Wou-Ki
赵无极基金会艺术总监、赵无极百年回顾特展策展人
赵无极,《无题(有苹果的静物)》
1935-1936年,布面油画,46 × 61 cm
摄影:Antoine Mercier
Zao Wou-Ki, Untitled (Still Life with Apples)
1935-1936, oil on canvas, 46 × 61 cm.
Photo: Antoine Mercier
Here you can see one of the very first paintings he did, which is presented in the exhibition, theStill Life with Apples, dated from 1935-1936. And you can find the comparison on the opposite, with the Still Life by Paul Cézanne. For Zao Wou-Ki, Cézanne was one of the most important European masters and a very important inspiration. You can imagine how difficult it could be for a Chinese artist just to find images of that kind of work, and to try to make something upon it, to try to copy it, to be inspired by it, and to train like Cézanne did.
现在你看到的是赵无极早期画作中的其中一幅。这幅画名为《无题(有苹果的静物)》,是赵无极在1935年至1936年期间创作,在这次展览中也有展示。保罗·塞尚有一幅同名画作,两相对比可以发现,塞尚对赵无极而言是一位极为重要的欧洲绘画大师,给予了他极大的灵感。不难想象,在当时,一位中国艺术家要接触到这类西方绘画大师的作品,去感悟,去模仿,去获得启迪,乃至用同样的方法进行绘画练习,是多么困难的一件事。
His first trip results of a historical imperative: the advance of the Japanese troops forced the Hangzhou’s teachers and students to leave Hangzhou, and to flee the fighting in a long roaming of thousands of kilometers that lasted from November 1937 until the settlement in Chongqing in 1942, in southwest China. During that time, classes continued. You can see the very small painting dated 1941, which is an oil on wood. It has been created on wood because at that time Zao Wou-Ki could not find any canvas. But that also shows you that he kept on painting, even if he was not in Hangzhou but traveling to Chongqing. He once said about this painting that there is some influence by the Russian painter Marc Chagall, in the naive way of composition, the joy of the colors and freshness he wanted to put into that painting.
他的第一次游历是被历史的车轮推动的:日军侵华,杭州艺专全体师生被迫离开杭州,为逃避战火千里流徙。从1937年11月开始,赵无极过着一段颠沛流离的日子,直至1942年才在中国西南的重庆落脚。但即使在这样颠沛的时日,教学仍在继续。创作于1941年的小幅作品,是一幅绘制在木板上的油画。当时赵无极找不到任何画布,便只能在木板上作画。这说明,即使在离开杭州奔赴重庆的路上,赵无极仍在坚持创作。关于这幅画,赵无极曾说他是受到了俄罗斯画家马克·夏加尔的影响,将一种稚嫩的构图方式、明快的色彩以及清新感带入了画中。
The oil painting Paysage Hangzhou that Zao Wou-Ki did in 1946 is a landscape of Hangzhou. You can also see in this painting the deep influence of Paul Cézanne, as Zao Wou-Ki tried to imitate somehow the touch of the impressionist painters.
这幅《杭州乡村风光》是赵无极于1946年在杭州创作的油画。从中可以看出赵无极受到保罗·塞尚的影响颇深,他曾试图模仿印象派画家的风格笔触。
Zao Wou-Ki was a very impatient student and desired to break up with Chinese art of his time that he judged in a way both decadent and sterile. That is why he wanted to complete his training with European and Western art.
当时的赵无极渴求获取新知识,他认为当时的中国艺术颓废又了无生趣,他希望接受欧洲和西方的艺术教育。
On this family photograph you can see the whole Zao family. And hanging on the wall behind them, you can find the copy that Zao Wou-Ki made upon Cowper Madona by Raphael, a painting from the Italian Renaissance now in Washington. You can see that he did not only look at impressionist or modern works but also at very old masters from the Italian Renaissance. This is also certainly a deep influence of Lin Fengmian, his mentor and his teacher, who had himself a special interest for the Italian Renaissance and for the impressionists.
在这张全家福中我们可以看到赵无极的家庭状况。而在全家福上方的墙上,挂着的是赵无极的绘画临摹作品。这幅作品模仿的是意大利文艺复兴时期的画作——拉斐尔的《圣母子》,现藏于美国华盛顿。可以看出赵无极不仅借鉴了印象派和现代主义的画作,还学习了意大利文艺复兴时期的宗师之作。赵无极对文艺复兴和印象派的这种浓厚兴趣,与其师林风眠的影响密不可分。
纸本水彩, 37 × 28.5 cm
摄影:Manuel Alves
Zao Wou-Ki,Untitled, 1945, watercolor on paper,
37 × 28.5 cm. Photo: Manuel Alves
With this watercolor dated 1945, which is exhibited in the show, and with this ink dated 1948, you can see some other western influences: on the first he tried to imagine something about the Fauves period, and on the second, you can see a deep influence of portraits of women by Matisse.
这幅创作于1945年的水彩作品,在此次展览中也有展出。而从另外一幅创作于1948年的水墨画作品中可以看出一些其他西方艺术风格给赵无极带来的影响:第一张画中,他试图想象野兽派时期的一些东西;第二张画中,你可以看到马蒂斯的女性肖像对他的深刻影响。
Back in Shanghai in 1946, Zao Wou-Ki followed Lin Fengmian’s advice and announced to his father that he wanted to go to Paris for two years to keep on training. He received his father’s agreement, but had to wait one more year to have the French visa and the Chinese authorization to go to France.
1946年,赵无极回到上海。他听从了林风眠的建议,向父亲提出请求,要赴法国巴黎进行为期两年的求学深造。他征得了父亲的允准,但同时还需再等待一年才能拿到法国签证和中国当局关于赴法留学的批准。
赵无极,《无题(风景或高脚屋)》
1948年,布面油画,81.2 × 65.2 cm
图片版权保留
Zao Wou-Ki,Untitled (Landscape or House on Stilts)
1948, oil on canvas, 81.2 × 65.2 cm
Reserved rights
But even if he wanted to go to France to make something about European art, you can see that China was rooted very deeply inside his creation, even if he rejected the Chinese tradition. In these two 1948 paintings, you can see a very strong influence of Chinese landscapes, but also of Chinese rubbings and print bricks of the Han period. He even tried to put some black patterns all around the painting just to imitate the Han rubbings. And you can find the same kind of pagodas, houses, and trees. For him it was a way to try to modernize what he found was the best part of China.
虽然他一心向往法国和欧洲艺术,但在其作品中我们仍可窥探到中国传统艺术给他带来的深远影响。从他创作于1948年的作品中,我们不仅可以看到中国山水画的风姿,还可以看到中国拓片和汉代画像砖的影子。赵无极甚至尝试运用黑色图案作为边框来呈现一种类似于拓片的效果,这种效果同样也在佛塔、屋宇以及树中体现。这种中国传统艺术对赵无极的影响深刻而隐秘。对赵无极而言,他将自己理解的中国艺术之精华以一种现代的方式呈现了出来。
This is the first part of the speech Yann Hendgen delivered at the forum, 'The Way Is Infinite: Zao Wou-Ki's World of Art', on September 20, 2023. This article is based on the audio record and approved by himself.
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