文明的血脉·时代的尺牍——《美术里的中国》讲述画家关山月心中的壮美长江

每个人的记忆里都有一条长河。巴水横天，重崖之上，炊烟幻成亘古神话；暮色含雨，润物无声，梯田泛起蒙蒙新绿；万里水路，山高月小，江峡图景蜿蜒成一曲跌宕起伏的交响。这，是文明的血脉，是时代的尺牍。《江峡图卷》伴随着中国的改革春风而生，超过十四米的长卷浓缩了绵延六千三百公里的长江图景。

在这幅山水画中，关山月笔下的长江是真实的人间烟火：高峡深谷和蒸腾雾霭中，船只与脚夫繁忙穿梭；断崖高岗与陡峭岩壁之巅，山野人家经营着崭新的生活；被杏花春雨笼罩的层叠梯田，仿若孕育着生命的奇迹。而万里长江呈现出的生命脉动，正是画家要向世人展示他所目睹的崭新时代。

图：关山月作品《江峡图卷》（局部）

1912年，关山月出生于广东阳江，早年刻苦自学绘画，后得到岭南画派主要创始人高剑父先生赏识，招其进入春睡画院成为高氏入室弟子。

长江，带给关山月的曾是惊涛拍岸的悲痛。1941年，第一次来到重庆长江边的关山月自费创办抗日画展。但开展仅三天，日本敌军的轰炸机就将画展摧毁得一无所有。这对关山月的冲击极大，他也因此认识到绘画、民族与时代之间的联系。于是，他决心执笔行走于中国大地之上。

图：关山月作品《塞外驼铃》（局部）

离开重庆后，关山月踏上漫漫征途。他在敦煌佛洞里临摹佛像与飞天，在荒原雪峰间绘制牧民与羊群，在南国海岸边绘画渔夫与海女……步履不停，笔耕不辍。记写祖国辽阔山川之余，关山月希望用画笔找到一个更好的中国。然而，长江边的哀鸿遍野久不能忘，关山月始终希冀着有朝一日可以治愈这段记忆，见证一条新生的长江。

图：画家关山月（资料图）

命运再次把关山月带回长江畔。1953年，不惑之年的他来到江城武汉工作。长江不但为武汉带来了“九省通衢”的生机，也给关山月留下了一段火热的记忆。江水的悲鸣化为跃进的涛声，关山月看到了到江边截然不同的蓬勃气象。

1978年初，长江源头得到最终确认，一系列通航水运工程在长江上开工建设。关山月应邀来到长江边写生。先溯流而上，再沿江而下，画家以史诗般壮丽的笔墨，挥洒出长江水的波澜宏阔。

图：关山月作品《江峡图卷》（局部）

投入了全身心的创作，关山月笔下的长江别具一番人情与韵味。长卷铺展，目光游走，任意框选构图，都可谓一幅佳作。前实后虚，笔触奔放，磅礴笔意，蜿蜒成一部史诗。

关山月画长江不只画其形貌，更有着深沉的情缘。正如中央美术学院教授于洋所描述的那样，《江峡图卷》表现的是一整条带着鲜明时代气息的长江，是属于一代人的长江，也是能够留在中华民族文化长河里的长江。

图：关山月作品《江峡图卷》（局部）

“行脚有心师造化，手头无处不江山。”在半个多世纪的绘画生涯中，关山月始终秉承老师高剑父所倡导的“新国画”理念，发扬岭南画派大胆兼容并蓄的精神，在继承中不断创新，创作出无数与时代紧密相连的优秀作品。《江峡图卷》跨越了地理与时空的阻隔，使画家心中的山水变成了一代人的山水，而他经历的过往也凝练成了一个时代的岁月。

In everyone's memory flows a meandering river. Carrying the heavenly water past numerous mountains, the stream merges into ancient legends. Absorbing the gentle drizzles from dawn to dusk, it brings life to the terraced farmland. 

As one of the two great waterways that nurtured early Chinese civilization, the Yangtze River has inspired numerous works of art over the millennia. Some four decades ago, as China was opening a new chapter in its modern history, the mighty stream was captured in a 14-meter-long scroll by Chinese painter Guan Shanyue. 

The scroll painting is titled "The River Gorges Landscape." Since its creation when China launched its economic reform, it has amazed viewers with its portrayal of the Yangtze River's course of 6,300 kilometers. In the scroll, Guan has made the Yangtze River a tangible yet touching presence. The vibrant life force of the stream has symbolized the vigor of the new era he was witnessing. 

Throughout time, the Yangtze River has had many artistic manifestations. Its sweeping grandeur has been depicted in ink and colors. The river, however, was a source of pain and agony decades before Guan's painting. 

In 1941, Guan visited Chongqing -- a city on the upper reaches of the Yangtze River -- for the first time to mount an exhibition supporting the war effort. During the show, Japanese warplanes devastated the city with a mass bombing. This crushing humiliation of the Chinese nation had resonated for years in Guan's memory. It also shaped his approach and methodology in artistic creation. 

After leaving Chongqing, the artist began his journey of artistic exploration. He copied the Buddhist murals in the holy sites of Dunhuang, and painted the portraits of northern herders with their flocks and southern fishermen along the coasts. His footsteps and paint-brushes never slackened. As he recorded the beauty of his motherland, Guan also sought a better China. The bombed city on the Yangtze River, however, never faded from his memory. The painter hoped that one day he would replace the traumatic view with the fresh new image of the stream. 

In 1953, the 41-year-old painter found himself again by the side of the Yangtze River. For the next five years, he worked and lived in the river city of Wuhan. With the Yangtze River echoing the prosperity on the city's banks, Guan Shanyue came to view the scenery in a new light. In his paintings of the period, he depicted the daily life of ordinary people by the river, a radical departure from the idealized concept of ancient scholar-painters. These paintings foreshadowed his later works. 

In 1978, the Yangtze River was expecting an era of new hope. The year saw the final identification of the source of the Yangtze River. And a series of water transport projects were launched along the waterway. For Guan, this was also a period of brisk artistic activity. He was invited to do sketches and find inspirations along the river. 

With his epic-worthy strokes, Guan rendered on paper the full grandeur of the Yangtze River. In the river valley between the precipices are the busy boats and porters. Up on the cliffs, villagers are looking forward to a more prosperous life. The terraced farmland nurtured by spring showers promises the hope of life. 

As the scroll unfolds, a series of shifting compositions come into view, each with its own distinctive perfection. The judicious blend of imagination and realism is enlivened and invigorated by the artist's masterly touch. 

"The painting is a perfect representation and portrayal of the splendor of the motherland and its rivers and mountains. It's fair to say that the Yangtze River as conceived by Mr. Guan Shanyue is a waterway unique to the hopeful and promising era," said Yu Yang, an art critic from Central Academy of Fine Arts. 

From the Three Gorges Dam in central China's Hubei Province, the Yangtze River travels nearly 2,000 kilometers before reaching the sea. In the mind of Guan Shanyue, however, the vast distance was compressed to transcend both space and time. With his brush, he has poured all his past and present being into the image.

推荐阅读：