中國(guó)的家文化和余春明的畫(huà)

文：劉禹

中國(guó)有著和美國(guó)一樣大的領(lǐng)土、卻居住著五十六個(gè)民族。這些民族由于各自的文化習(xí)俗各不相同，如信奉伊斯蘭教的新疆維吾爾族，和藏傳佛教的藏族以及有著自己語(yǔ)言文字的納西族、歷史悠久的苗族、侗族等等。再加上各族的地理氣候環(huán)境又差異很大，所以他們的居住建筑都各不相同。就以占各民族百分之九＋二人口的漢族來(lái)說(shuō)，其居住建筑的形式就多達(dá)數(shù)十種。全中國(guó)典型的不同形式的建筑共有三＋幾種之多。這些建筑都是不同的人文文化和生態(tài)文化的產(chǎn)物。

China, having the same land area as America, inhabits fifty-six distinctive ethnic groups. Each of these groups have their own cultures and traditions: the Uighur of Xinjiang follow Muslim disciplines, the Tibetans worship Tibetan Buddhism, the Nakhi developed their own script, and the ancient tribes of Miao and Dong have their own traditions to abide by. These ethnic groups helped develop a diversity of architectural styles. For instance, the Han people, accounting for 92% of Chinese population, have almost 100 distinctive residential building styles. There are more than thirty kinds of representative styles all over China. These architectural styles are the products of the diversity of cultures and environmental conditions.

中國(guó)是家文化的國(guó)家，美國(guó)人也很重視家庭，可是中國(guó)的家是在一塊土地上，幾百年乃至上千年延續(xù)著一個(gè)大家族。是一個(gè)村莊，大部分家族一二百年來(lái)都沒(méi)有離開(kāi)過(guò)，一直在這塊土地上繁衍后代。在中國(guó)的傳統(tǒng)社會(huì)里，一個(gè)農(nóng)民一生最大的理想， 是為子孫，而不是為他自己，建造一幢房子。房子是祖先留下的。上面有很多祖先的教導(dǎo)、規(guī)矩。記載了祖先的榮耀，有很多雕刻歷史故事的門(mén)、窗，教導(dǎo)家人做人的道理。連房子的結(jié)構(gòu)也是按照禮儀等級(jí)來(lái)建造的。傳統(tǒng)的中國(guó)人為家族而活著。中國(guó)古代人物畫(huà)得不到重視。而許多著名的古代畫(huà)家都畫(huà)他們的住房和街道。因?yàn)橹袊?guó)的房子承載著中國(guó)的傳統(tǒng)文化。

Just like Americans, Chinese culture values family above all things. But because of historical reasons, the same piece of land has nurtured generations of one family for hundreds even thousands of years. Families that never left their homeland developed into villages. In traditional societies, the lifetime dream of a peasant is to own a house, not for themselves, but for the next generation to live in. Since the families stay on the same plot of land for hundreds of years, houses are passed from generation to generation. In each house, there are sayings and family rules left by their ancestors; it contains records of all the fame and success of the family. Hand-carved doors and windows tell stories of how to live life. Even the structure of the house is designed according to the traditional hierarchy of the family members. Because Chinese people place more emphasis on family as opposed to themselves, most traditional Chinese painters paint houses and streets, which carry the essence of Chinese culture within them.

由于中國(guó)的居住建筑有著深厚的文化底蘊(yùn)和豐富多彩的造型。所以。千百年來(lái)成為許多畫(huà)家表現(xiàn)的對(duì)象。如著名的《清明上河圖》就是畫(huà)一條宋代的城市街道。中國(guó)沒(méi)有西方的人文文化的背景，他們的人物畫(huà)始終是一個(gè)弱點(diǎn)，技法上也是用花鳥(niǎo)、山水畫(huà)筆法。因此。在現(xiàn)今的中國(guó)有一批畫(huà)家以民居為對(duì)象來(lái)畫(huà)畫(huà)，由于中國(guó)江南水鄉(xiāng)較靈秀優(yōu)美。所以己故旅美畫(huà)家陳逸飛就以純寫(xiě)實(shí)的手法畫(huà)了一批江南水鄉(xiāng)的油畫(huà)。被紐約的哈默畫(huà)廊于八十年代推出。早年留學(xué)法國(guó)的中國(guó)畫(huà)家吳冠中目前以高昂的畫(huà)價(jià)稱(chēng)雄于東方藝術(shù)各拍賣(mài)行，他仍是以江南水鄉(xiāng)為對(duì)象，用中國(guó)畫(huà)的筆墨來(lái)表現(xiàn)線條和墨韻的美。在許多畫(huà)家爭(zhēng)相捕捉江南“小橋流水人家”的古典意象來(lái)抒情時(shí)，如今居住在美國(guó)北加州圣荷西的余春明，卻是深入到中國(guó)民居的各個(gè)角落和中國(guó)居住文化的深層。他的民居畫(huà)，有著吳冠中和陳逸飛共同的內(nèi)核：抒情性的懷舊。他的調(diào)子剛好在吳冠中的輕淡和陳逸飛的濃郁之間，不溫不火，不濃也不淡，是一種如同《詩(shī)經(jīng)》世代孔子所贊嘆的“哀而不傷”的境地。余春明的民居畫(huà)的深度和廣度是有別于吳冠中和陳逸飛的。吳冠中最用心的是江南的山村和水鄉(xiāng)。而陳逸飛反復(fù)畫(huà)的，只是周莊。余春明卻把視角和筆觸伸向中國(guó)所有的鄉(xiāng)間和所有的民族。他是凝重的，很少有簡(jiǎn)淡和輕快。他是深沉的，是沉浸的，很少有隔岸旁觀的間距。

Because the richness of Chinese culture has precipitated in the form of residential architects, folk houses have become a popular subject that many traditional artists try to express. Such love for folk houses has drawn the attention of many contemporary Chinese painters. Since the water village in Jiangnan (south of Yangtze River) is famous for its exquisite beauty, Chen Yifei, the famous Chinese-American painter, painted a series of water villages in Jiangnan using realistic techniques. The series was promoted by the Hammer Galleries in New York in the 80s. Wu Guanzhong, dominating in eastern auction companies with soaring prices, also expressed the beauty of water villages in Jiangnan by the use of lines and rhyme of the traditional Chinese painting. While many artists are struggling to catch Jiangnans “home by the bridge over the flowing stream” and use classical images to express their feelings, Yu Chunming has explored each and every corner of Chinese folk houses and has penetrated into the depth of the Chinese culture. Although there exists the same core in the subject of Yu Chunming, Wu Guanzhong and Chen Yifei’s paintings, Yu’s paintings have a more imposing and earthly feature that is rooted deeply in thousand-years of history. While Yu Chunming tunes his paintings in between Wu’s mildness and Chen’s richness, he did not restrain himself in the Jiangnan region like Wu Guanzhong and Chen Yifei did, but extended his painting brush to all the ethnic groups and regions of China.

余春明1955年生于中國(guó)江西。1978年考入中國(guó)美術(shù)學(xué)院，從1983年到1995年間，他幾乎每年都探訪中國(guó)各省的古老鄉(xiāng)村和城鎮(zhèn)，其間畫(huà)了3000余幅速寫(xiě)和幾百?gòu)埶视彤?huà)、漆畫(huà)。在這段時(shí)間里，他用中國(guó)畫(huà)的線條和水墨韻味及西方油畫(huà)的技巧，表現(xiàn)中國(guó)古老的居住觀念和豐富的民居造型以及他的人生體驗(yàn)。有的畫(huà)有些抽象意味。有的畫(huà)像寫(xiě)實(shí)卻不是實(shí)景，而是一種觀念的寫(xiě)照，如表現(xiàn)中國(guó)家族希望后代繁衍發(fā)達(dá)的觀念的《月之韻》就是以皖南一帶徽式民居為對(duì)像。表現(xiàn)侗族的《鼓樓的傳說(shuō)》，以鼓樓代表家族的中心來(lái)表達(dá)侗族人強(qiáng)烈的家族凝聚力。有些畫(huà)表達(dá)現(xiàn)實(shí)與傳統(tǒng)的距離、沖突。如《塵封的記憶》和《圓堡的故事》《紅巖的述說(shuō)》等，就是表現(xiàn)如今中國(guó)計(jì)劃生育與傳統(tǒng)的多子多孫觀念的矛盾。而表現(xiàn)婚姻觀念的《桃花塢》顯得＋分的和美；表達(dá)農(nóng)村冬季的《冬閑 》又異常寂靜……他的繪畫(huà)形式與內(nèi)容結(jié)合的非常之好，畫(huà)面總有一種寧?kù)o、夢(mèng)幻的感覺(jué)。

Yu Chunming was born in Jiangxi, China, 1955. In 1978, he entered the renowned China Academy of Art. From 1983 to 1995, Yu traveled all over China to visit ancient villages and cities and produced more than three thousand pieces of colored sketches and hundreds of watercolor, oil painting and lacquer painting. During that time, he used line techniques and the implicit beauty of traditional Chinese painting, combined with western oil painting styles and his own life experiences to portray the ancient way of life and the richness of folk house styles. Some of Yu’s paintings have surrealistic elements while others seem realistic but actually do not exist. They are reflective of his ideas. For example, the tradition of Chinese families wishing their descendants to continue the bloodline and reap success in the future was embedded in “Rhyme of Moon”, modeled with architectural styles from the southern Anhui area. The “Drum Tower’s Tale” uses a drum tower to show the strong family bond of the Dong people. Paintings such as “Sealed Memory”, “Tale of the Round Castle” and “Red Rock Mountain’s Tale” express the conflicts between reality and tradition, informing us that the custom of procuring many children is no longer realistic. The meaning of marriage in《桃花塢》 portrays an impression of harmony while the portrait of winter in the countryside modeled by《冬閑》 appears very subtle and quiet. His art forms fuse perfectly with the contents, evoking a dream-like feeling in each painting.

當(dāng)今的中國(guó)，高速發(fā)展的城市擴(kuò)建，使幾百年來(lái)見(jiàn)證中國(guó)歷史和民俗的古老民居在快速的消失。余春明畫(huà)民居的近二＋年，正是中國(guó)加速現(xiàn)代化的時(shí)期，古老古民居也加速消亡，許多當(dāng)年他畫(huà)過(guò)的地方，現(xiàn)在己面目全非，如紹興古城，早己沒(méi)有水鄉(xiāng)風(fēng)味。蘇州也只有一小塊區(qū)域保留了下來(lái)。在湘。黔邊界一帶侗家也不見(jiàn)了侗民歌舞。就是被保護(hù)的民居點(diǎn)，如上海的周莊。也不是以前的原貌，如這幅梯云橋的水彩畫(huà)里面的那棵樹(shù)，如今就沒(méi)有了（如圖）。北京的胡同破壞的更嚴(yán)重，連許多四合院也被拆毀，變成商廈和現(xiàn)代住宅。看看今后北京城的規(guī)劃，龐大的故宮紫禁城在新的北京市規(guī)劃圖上就像玩具一樣。原北京的胡同基本將全被拆光了，正如中國(guó)《新京報(bào)》說(shuō)余春明的畫(huà)：為這個(gè)時(shí)代留下了一份珍貴的記錄，是畫(huà)里的民居博物館。硅谷亞洲藝術(shù)中心（Silicon Valley Asian Art Center）館長(zhǎng)舒建華說(shuō)：“迄今為止，在人居關(guān)系的把握上，還沒(méi)有那位中國(guó)畫(huà)家達(dá)到余春明的深廣度。經(jīng)過(guò)20多年的執(zhí)著探索，質(zhì)樸和技巧、寫(xiě)實(shí)和寫(xiě)意，融合無(wú)間。在有著四千年農(nóng)耕文明傳統(tǒng)的鄉(xiāng)土中國(guó)、全面走向城市化和市場(chǎng)化的21世紀(jì)，連天安門(mén)附近的許多老四合院都面臨“其命維新”的時(shí)代，余春明的作品必將有著“史詩(shī)”般的價(jià)值。”

China, now thriving with high speed development of city extensions, vastly reduces the number of ancient folk houses. During Yu’s twenty years of folk house paintings, these ancient treasures disappear after witnessing hundreds of years of Chinese history. Many places where Yu Chunming had once visited no longer exist. For instance, the old town of Shaoxing had long since disappeared and Suzhou only managed to retain a small region of folk houses. The rate at which these folk houses disappear affects old traditions, where in Hunan and Guizhou, the Dong folk dance can no longer be found. Even protected folk house regions, such as Zhouzhuang, Shanghai, cannot stay unharmed. The destruction of Beijing’s alleys is considered most serious; even Siheyuan are being turned into office buildings and apartment complexes. This is why the “Beijing News” described Yu Chunming’s work as a legacy of precious records during this era. His paintings are regarded as a museum for traditional folk houses. As many of China’s traditions and ancient architectural styles die out, Yu Chunming’s work will continue to be valued as historical masterpieces.