内容提要
农民的世界与其精神的大地
由中国文联主办的中国农民画展在浙江美术馆隆重举办。农民画是中国民间艺术的奇葩，是中华民族灵魂的神奇展现。她既凝结着古老文明在民间代代流传的果实，又充满时代生活的浓郁气息。我们将这个展览题为“农民画时代”。与此同时，我们又策划了另外一个艺术展览，借来新中国表现农村题材、绘画农民形象的精品，约请部分优秀艺术家表现农民的新作，并题展名为“时代画农民”。两个展览都将焦距对准农民，对准这土地的主人。农民既是画作者，又是被画者；既是时代的载体，又是绘画的主体，彼此构成了一个别开生面的展览格局，一种互为交叠的心灵视野。
中国是农业大国。农民既是这片古老土地上最久远和最广大的族群，也若家园一般的历史身份。谁画好了农民，谁就拥有了最广大的观众，谁就把握了中国的灵魂。新中国艺术家所塑造的农民形象，不仅构成了中国近现代艺术的最生动的画谱，而且成为了这六十年历史上艺术表现重要流派和现象的标志。浙派人物画的代表作是方增先先生的《粒粒皆辛苦》、《说红书》；陕北绘画的代表作首推刘文西先生的《祖孙四代》；四川新时期绘画更是以罗中立的《父亲》和何多苓的《春风已经苏醒》为开端；“文革”时期的新年画创作留给我们最深印象的是亢佐田的《红太阳光辉暖万代》。每个年代的艺术高峰之上，无不闪耀农民的形象，农民的塑造即成中国绘画的人性表达的尺度。这些难忘的作品，也由此构成了中国当代历史的集体记忆，成为与共和国成长相关的文化标志。可以这么说，这些画作，不仅塑造了它们自己，而且参与创造了一个个文化的新时代。
在中国，关于农民的绘画，曾经是一个时代的命题。这样说，是指农民的生存方式曾经成为全社会都给予鼓励和支持、所有的人都受之于改造和磨练的生存方式。这使得与农村的接触，经受农活的改造，面对农民的精神洗礼，不仅成为那个时代众多画家们的生存经历，而且成为那种经历在他们的生命中完成某种自我铸造的深刻体验。也就是说，在那样一个背景下，农民这一“存在者”，深深地嵌入那个时代的“存在过程”中，嵌入了这些艺术家的自觉趋近的“存在生命”。因此，画农民成为他们某种程度上的自我写照。在绘画中，他们的艺术世界是与农民的精神世界共同萌生的。以蔡亮先生和刘文西先生的陕北农民的写生造像为例，他们都在绘画农民的同时，揭示了自己的艺术生命；他们又在自我塑造的此刻，为中国农民铸魂。
艺术创作的使命其一在于建立世界，这个世界是复数的，多样的。其二在于筑成大地，这个大地是共享的，共建的。这些丰富的关于农民的绘画，构建了农民形象的多样性的世界。它们表现了农民的不同的地域特征，展示了各个时代的农民风貌。它们还包含了艺术家自身的生命信息，揭示了那农民的世界如此这般地在艺术家的身上所完成的自身的铸造。同时，这些绘画又都相互积淀、跬积而成一个如大地一般的广袤境域。这个广袤境域将一个个生动的农民世界积纳在一起，将天地运行的气息、时代跳动的脉搏、民族悠远的根源、四季流变的烟云都积蓄在一起，组合而成一个民族、一个时代的文化高度。中国的农民题材绘画正是一片代表中国艺术高度的大地，一片中国农民灵魂孕蓄其中、并不断地得以生发的大地。
当此深刻变革的时代，农民、农村、农业再次成为中华民族发展的聚焦点。我们将这些新中国历史上有影响的关于农民的绘画收集在一起，将今日优秀艺术家的表现农民和农村题材的近作收集在一起，不仅要形成一个与农民画相对应的视野，来展现农民与艺术的相互铸造的精神联系，更是要与农民画一道构筑起一片精神的大地，一片关于中国农民之魂的大地，并以此来向伟大的农民、伟大的大地主人，致以深深敬意。（文章来源：《时代画农民－－－新中国农民题材优秀作品集》
THE FARMER AND THEIR SPIRIT WORLD
The Chinese Farmer Painting Exhibition, organized by the China Federation of Literature and Art Circle, is solemnly open in Zhejiang Art Museum. As a wonderful work of Chinese folk art, Chinese farmer painting magically shows the Chinese nation’s spirit, which not only carries on the ancient civilization, also has the sense of modern times. We named the exhibition “Farmers Paint the Age”. At the same time, we have planed another exhibition named “The Age of Farmers Painted”, in which we can find many excellent Chinese artists’ works of painting farmers. Both of these two exhibitions focus on the farmers, the owner of the land. The farmer is both the painter and the person who was painted, is both the bearer of the time and the subject of the paintings, with which composes a special exhibition structure.
China is an agriculture country. The farmer is the oldest and the majority nation in this country. If you paint the farmer well, you will own the most audience and know the spirit of China. The artists after 1949 painted the image of farmers, the most vivid image in modern China and also the symbol of the important thought in 60 years Chinese art history. The masterpiece of Zhe School Painting is “Each Grain is all Laborious” and “the Red Book” made by Fang Zengxian; the representative piece of North Shaanxi is “Four Generations” made by Liu Wenxi; the New Time Painting of Sichuan Province began with the “Father” made by Luo Zhongli and “the Spring Wind Regained Consciousness” made by He Duoling; “the Red Sun’s Glory is Warming Throughout the Ages” made by Kang Zuotian is an impressive picture during the Culture Revolution. There are always the images of farmers during different year’s art peaks. To shape the image of farmer becomes the scale to express the human nature of Chinese painting. All these memorable works compose a memory of modern Chinese history and the culture symbol related to the developing republic. It can be said that these art works not only shape themselves, also involved in creating a new time of culture.
The painting concerning on farmer was a topic of an age in China. In this age, all the society encourages and supports the life style of farmers. Everybody accepts the life style of reformation. Staying in rural area and doing the farm work which most artists experienced. Meanwhile, they also finished their self-casting during that time. The famer and their life style deeply implant the artist’s life. Therefore, painting farmer becomes to paint their self-portrait in some extent. In the paintings, their art world is as same as the famer’s spirit world. Take the example of "Sketch of North Shaanxi Farmer" made by Cai Liang and Liu Wenxi, when they painted the farmer, they revealed their own life of art. They painted themselves and Chinese farmers as well.
One mission of art creation is to found a world. The world is plural and complex. Another one is to build the land. The land is build together and common shared. These abundant painting about farmers compose a diversity world of farmer images, which express different place and different times’ features of farmers. They also contain some information of the artist’s life to reveal the combination of the farmer and the artists. The farmer paintings compose a grand state which combines the nature, the time, the root of nations and the seasons; finally there comes a nation and a time. Chinese farmer painting just represents the height of Chinese art and a growing land which bears the farmer’s spirit.
When there is profound change in this age, the farmer, the rural area and agriculture once again become the focus of Chinese nation’s development. We collect all these farmer paintings and excellent artists’ works about farmers in the history of new China to show a spirit contacts among the artists, the farmers and the art. All these farmer paintings will construct a land of spirit, a land of Chinese farmer’s spirit. We hold the exhibition to express our deep respect to the great farmers, the great owner of the land.
|
