千难万险间，东方欲晓——与《美术里的中国》一起走近“怪才”石鲁心中的枣园

这是抗战硝烟下的延安枣园。

一弯虬枝、一方窑洞、一处山坡，画中并未出现人物的身影。就此，笔已尽，意无穷。画家石鲁以强悍的笔墨、侧写的手法，道尽了新中国诞生前的春雷涌动；窑洞的窗棂，映照在即将到来的曙光里。观者与画家比肩而立，在毛主席彻夜操劳的窗外，感受天色欲晓时分中国革命的黎明。

图：石鲁作品《东方欲晓》

石鲁原名冯亚珩。1937年，18岁的冯亚珩从成都东方美术专科学校毕业回到四川老家。“卢沟桥事变”爆发后，抗日救亡的呼声传进山坳，打破了山村里这位年轻人心底的平静；而一本名为《毛泽东自传》的小册子，更是点燃了他胸中找寻真理的火焰。

1940年的延安，是吸引万千有志青年奔赴的圣地，也是代表中国革命未来的灯塔。满怀热烈之情，无数奔赴理想的年轻人汇聚于此，这其中就有瞒着家人、骑着自行车、只身穿越巴山秦岭，最终带着两脚水泡来到此地的冯亚珩。

图：青年时期的石鲁

在延安，冯亚珩第一次感受到了比家族大院更深远、更纯粹的自由。他崇拜清代画家石涛和文学家鲁迅，致力于做一个革命的、创新型艺术家。在这方全新的天地里，这位年轻人重新界定了自己的人生坐标，并改名为石鲁。

图：石鲁作品《高山仰止》（局部）

延安十年，真理的火焰淬炼出石鲁斗士般革新的笔意，而朴质雄浑的黄土高原则给予他丰富的艺术表现题材。胶与色的浑染，色墨皴擦出上工途中山顶的峥嵘；领袖伫立远眺，连绵起伏的千山万壑如革命的铜墙铁壁，不见一兵一卒，却胜过万马千军；朱砂渲染山的赤红、线条勾勒水的碧绿，强烈的色彩对比，是他赤诚的理想与激情。他还画如瀑布般奔涌而下的羊群，画夕阳下梯田秋收的诗意朦胧。极少被传统山水画青睐过的陕北，在石鲁的笔下，呈现出多样而深远的浑厚美感，澎湃着饱满而磅礴的革命激情。

图：石鲁《转战陕北》（局部）

1961年初夏，石鲁故地重游，与一群画家一起来到延安城西的枣园写生。面对毛泽东延安时期的旧居，石鲁陷入沉思。

脚下的这片土地，是他十年青春的见证，与他的人生紧密相连。在这里，毛泽东留下了《为人民服务》这一铿锵有力的演讲，写就了《对日寇的最后一战》等指引革命前途的檄文。窑洞如灯塔，在风雨如晦的黑夜照亮了中国前进的方向。

图：延安枣园

如今，窑洞依旧，窗前的枣树早已茁壮，虬枝顿挫，尽显来路曲折。暮色低垂，窑洞内的点点灯光，明灭闪耀。那夜幕重压下仍熠熠生辉的灯火，曾照亮一个个为革命理想而探索的黑夜。如今，星星之火，早已燎原。此情此景，该怎样用画笔描摹，又该如何用画意表达？

石鲁有了答案。

重墨硬笔刻画枣树，近乎直角的虬枝苍劲，如荆棘般伸向窑洞。墨色交响间，笔为刀、墨成骨。窗棂摇曳，即现欲晓烛光；浓情落纸、踏痕声声，欲晓前的东方天际瞬时直击眼帘——革命的胜利照亮九州，共和国的早晨即将来临。

这，就是他心中的枣园。

图：石鲁作品《东方欲晓》（局部）

石鲁曾说，思想是笔墨的灵魂。笔墨归于性情，可在一草一木间现其天地；家国融于生活，可在一窗一棂间洞见东方。两尺见方的纸面上，是石鲁勇于追寻真理的激情，更是千千万万革命者不屈于天地的灵魂。

Shi Lu, a 20th-century master of Chinese art who formulated the groundbreaking guidelines for the celebrated "Chang'an School of Painting," recorded a significant moment in the country's history with one of his most famous works.

"The Imminent Dawn" offers a glimpse into the window of Chairman Mao Zedong's abode, bringing viewers closer to the dawning of a new epoch brought about by the Communist Party of China.

Bereft of people, "The Imminent Dawn" is dominated by trees, mountain slopes, and cave dwellings. With his use of muscular lines and a strong palette, Shi Lu manages to convey people's hopes and expectations on the cusp of the birth of a new order.

The work was created following Shi Lu's visit to Zaoyuan Revolutionary Site in Yan'an in 1961. While making sketches with fellow painters, Shi visited the former residence of Mao Zedong there in the early summer of 1961.   

In the city that witnessed the ten best years of the painter's life, he stood in front of that very same dwelling place, admiring a mighty tree that had defiantly withstood the ravages of time, and cast his mind back as he considered how best to represent this view that had inspired him in his youth.

Feng Yaheng was Shi Lu's given name at birth. He was born in southwest China's Sichuan Province. In 1937, at the age of 18, he returned to his hometown after graduating from the Dongfang Fine Art Academy. Following the "Lugou Bridge Incident" on July 7, 1937 -- which was later recognized as the start of Japan's full-scale invasion of China – the patriotic calls to resist Japanese aggression reached the young painter in this quiet mountain village, and a pamphlet titled "Mao Zedong's Autobiography" fired up young Feng's passion to seek the truth.

Yan'an had already become a revolutionary magnet at the time, drawing tens of thousands of young people who saw it as a beacon of the country's future. After a grueling journey, Feng arrived there. This gave him his first taste of freedom and a sense of hope he had never experienced growing up in a wealthy landowning family. In this brave new world, he reoriented his life's path and adopted the name Shi Lu. The name honors two people who he admired –  Qing Dynasty landscape painter Shi Tao and Chinese author Lu Xun.

That decade in Yan'an saw Shi Lu seek out artistic truth like an intrepid warrior. There, the unadorned grandeur of the loess plateau offered him a gold mine of subject matters among which to forage. He portrayed a glorious morning on a mountaintop with a palette suffused by ink. In Shi's works, the landscapes of northern Shaanxi, which had been neglected in traditional painting, came to acquire a profound aesthetic. His imagery resonates with revolutionary passions and emotional immediacy.

With night descending on Zaoyuan, the lamp flickered in the cave dwelling. It was here that Mao Zedong composed his speech "To Serve the People" and penned his heart-stirring article "Our Battle to Crush Japanese Aggressors." The residence was once a beacon that guided China through a dark part of its history to its future glory. And it was here that Shi Lu found his inspiration for "The Imminent Dawn," as the artist recalled the flames of the lamp offering hope and direction for the pursuit of revolutionary ideals.

As Shi Lu prepared the ink and put his brush to the paper, the muscular branches of the jujube tree emerged in the foreground of the cave dwelling's window. This symphony of ink and color echoed the vigorous lamplight spilling out of the window, as the artist rendered this spectacle of an imminent dawn.

The art expresses the creator's character and his view of life. In the image resides the artist's love for his country and his conception of eastern aesthetics. The confined space of the paper contains Shi Lu's passion for seeking the truth and the conviction of thousands of other fellow revolutionaries, just as Shi Lu was quoted as saying, "Thought is the soul of artistic expression."

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