酒酣方悟 旧时美食—贺友直“走街穿巷忆旧事”艺术展随笔

●余夕雯



酒酣方悟 旧时美食—贺友直“走街穿巷忆旧事”艺术展随笔

●余夕雯

“走街穿巷忆旧事—贺友直艺术展”Memories of Old Shanghai: a poster for He Youzhi Art Exhibition

2016年2月28日，浙江美术馆“走街穿巷忆旧事—贺友直艺术展”落下了帷幕。

93岁的浙籍画家贺友直，老家在宁波北仑新碶西街。最初为谋生而画，不料却成了“大家”，成为中国当代连环画巨擘。60多年绘画生涯，连环画、风俗画让贺友直名满天下。他的作品《山乡巨变》，被称为中国连环画史上的里程碑式的杰作。

这位上海人民美术出版社老编审若是没有特别安排，基本上会这样度过自己的一天：7点半起床，吃早饭，然后开始画他的老上海风俗画。中午，喝半斤黄酒之后，睡个舒服的午觉，到下午3点醒来，泡茶、回信、写文章，或者散步去邮局寄信。晚上，照样是黄酒半斤，慢悠悠喝上两个钟头。要是正好想到哪个画里的情节，便用筷子蘸上酒，在桌子上比划几下。他说：“耳朵听不清了，但手还没抖，我就还能画。”

贺友直戏称为“一室四厅”的30平方米蜗居，集客厅、餐厅、卧室、工作室于一室，自1955年搬入，就再也没有挪过地方。尽管政府提出为画家改善居住条件，但被老人婉言谢绝。许多朋友都曾为他张罗新房子，但他不想搬。在他眼里，弄堂里面人情味浓。

蜗居里，他用独创的“贺式线描”画出了《山乡巨变》《朝阳沟》《白光》《十五贯》《连升三级》等一系列连环画名作。

一支笔、万条线，贺友直用他笔下那些手掌大小的连环画，开创了中国连环画的新时代，影响了几代人。

早在1948年，贺友直与姐夫的堂房阿妹结婚，从此“相濡以沫”60年。“我讨的这个老婆好，生得也比我好，是我福气。屋里厢的事，养儿育女，都是她的，我可以专心搞创作。”

这创作，一搞就搞了大半辈子。

2015年，贺友直花了3个月时间，把一些记忆中的老上海故事都画了下来，这个系列到现在还在画。眼下这54件珍贵手稿正在杭州南山路浙江美术馆里展出，画展就叫“走街穿巷忆旧事”。

在这些作品中，绝大部分都关乎吃。马和记的牛肉面、罗春阁茶楼里的生煎包、马泳斋的白切鸡……贺友直说自己生性嘴刁，吃东西食量不大但挑剔，并且讨厌重复。

旧时上海茶楼大都附有点心摊，其中多数卖生煎包，也有蟹壳黄。罗春阁茶楼就开在浙江路上，坐东朝西，稍北是牛庄路，离更新舞台（后更名为中国大戏院）很近。

在贺友直眼里，罗春阁的生煎包在旧上海那是顶级的，质量水准永保不变，而今有些名小吃味道已经消失了。贺友直还在当学徒工的时候常路过罗春阁的生煎摊，“只要闻到香味就会停下脚步看师徒操作，我不知它的原料如何，但看了对火候的掌控，那时的炉子是烧煤的，鼓风用的是手拉风箱，徒弟是看师父的神色、锅里冒的气，来掌握拉动风箱的力度及速度的，所以出锅生煎包的底肚是黄脆的，哪像如今使用的是煤气或电炉，只为图快自始至终调控在猛火档，以致煎出的馒头底肚焦而硬，像我这档老人入口硬，咽哽喉咙。看到这种东西只会倒胃口。”于是便有了《罗春阁生煎》美食图。

排骨年糕原先是老先生最中意的一道美食，但对现在的排骨年糕做法，老人家并不买账，“排骨是油炸的，这个还马马虎虎，可是年糕也用油炸，表面结层皮口感极坏。端上来只好对之摇头了。”

这就自然让他想起以往的排骨年糕了。旧时，最出名的“小常州排骨年糕”，摊位设在今天上海四川中路汉口路福州路之间，20路无轨电车在此调头。坐东朝西，这一排没有高楼，是在一处斜坡上面，架几片芦席，下面安放锅灶，平房里放几张板桌。设备简陋但排骨和年糕的做法很讲究。它的排骨及年糕不用油炸，是用调理好的老卤汆焐，所以排骨嫩年糕糯而入味，成为一块响当当的小吃品牌。《小常州排骨年糕》美食画的来由便缘于此。

生活中的贺老，达观开朗，率性诙谐。如今每天晚餐是他最放松的惬意时光，品着老夫人烹烧的美味菜肴，喝着绍兴老酒，眼睛有一搭没一搭地瞅着电视，脑子已经进入他自己的思维天地，许多绝妙的画意，往往就是在酒酣时悟得。

走街穿巷画旧景 Old Shanghai Stories

《满庭芳臭豆腐》画得真是生动真切。满庭芳（坊）在今天上海福建中路广东路这一带，这个臭豆腐摊很气派，贺友直能回忆到的细节都在画里。贺友直说：“我有几年时间路过此地，总是见他一如既往地油炸臭豆腐，热忱周到地服务顾客，就此而已。”

老先生埋怨，如今的臭豆腐可是一点也不臭了，只能回忆旧时的味道。

在新美术出版社工作两年后，出版社迁到了上海铜仁路，附近有一爿糟坊，每到傍晚，必摆出一熟食摊，卖猪头肉、牛肉、牛肚，据说摊主是曾轰动上海滩的社会新闻男主角陆根荣。陆根荣从被富家小姐迷恋的社会新闻热议主角，到后来摆熟食摊，其心情如何外人不得而知。贺友直说，画这幅《陆根荣摆熟食摊》的用意是：“人生在世忽起忽落并无定数，关键是要把握好走的每一步。若步步踏实、方向把正，虽不求成为大家巨富，但做的是问心无愧的平淡事，心里总是充实和满足的。”

“走街穿巷忆旧事”展览的画作以小见大，气象万千。旧时的上海老城厢，“街衢弄巷，纵横交错”、“五方杂处，士民杂居”，老先生将这一切尽收笔底，把百年上海市井、世态百相描摹得淋漓尽致、入木三分，特别是用独特的“贺家语言”，一图一文，幽默又犀利的笔锋针砭时弊，令人深思、寻味。

贺友直连环画作品享誉海内外，一些代表作曾到英、法等国展览。画家还应邀在新加坡南洋艺术学院、法国昂古莱姆图像学院授课，并获法国昂古莱姆市荣誉市民证书。在我国众多有成就的画家中，他是唯一获得此项荣誉的。1980年中央美术学院成立连环画系时，特聘贺友直兼任教授。这位老先生还是首届“中国美术奖·终身成就奖”获得者。

继2013年6月浙江美术馆成功举办“谈情·说爱—贺友直艺术展”之后，2014年4月，贺友直将2013年创作的《走街穿巷忆旧事》原作、创作草图、文字稿，以及创作视频、出版物、衍生品实物等文献资料，捐赠给浙江美术馆。此前《走街穿巷忆旧事》原作从未与观众见面，在丙申新春来临之际，浙江美术馆特别策划了“走街穿巷忆旧事—贺友直艺术展”，意在让观众跟随贺老有趣的画作一起感受百年大都市变迁过程中的种种滋味。

He Youzhi: ‘Tipsy’ Art Genre Painting Artist

By Yu Xiwen

Born in Beilun, Ningbo, He Youzhi started painting not for fame but to make a living. The 93-year-old artist ranks among the greatest comic book and genre painting artists of contemporary China, with his Great Changes in the Mountain Villages widely recognized as a milestone in the history of Chinese pictorials which flourished in the second half of the 20th century in China. His masterpieces are classics.

He is a living legend. Though he is in his retirement age, he still works following a daily routine that once bred his best works.

The daily routines of this heavyweight art editor with the Shanghai People’s FineArts Publishing House normally start with breakfast at 7:30. He spends the rest of the morning working on Shanghai-style genre paintings. After getting a little tipsy with lunch and a relaxed nap around noon, it is be his tea and writing time. Sometimes he takes an afternoon walk to the postal office. At dinner time, he spends two hours enjoying rice wine and creative ideas coming into his head from nowhere. “My hearing is failing, but my hands are fine and I can handle the brush with ease.”

He Youzhi moved into the 30-square-meter condo in an alley in Shanghai in 1955, and has never thought about moving again. It is in this tiny, old-fashioned place that the artist opened a new era in the country’s comic book art history.

He Youzhi married the cousin of his brother-in-law in 1948. “I always feel lucky to have such a capable and good-looking wife. She takes care of the family so well that I don’t have to worry about anything.”

In 2015, He Youzhi spent about three months working on a series called “Old Shanghai Stories”. Fifty-four originals of the project are now displayed at the Zhejiang Art Museum in Hangzhou. The Hangzhou exhibition is also the debut of the series in China. Most of the creations depict the specialties at time-honored restaurants in Shanghai.

“I am very picky when it comes to what to eat, and I’d get bored if I have to make do with the same things again and again.” A noodle restaurant called ‘Ma He Ji’, located near the crossing of Xinle Road and Fumin Road in downtown Shanghai, is one of the artist’s favorite breakfast places. Interestingly, he does not go there for the noodles, but is a huge fan of the restaurant’s beef recipe.

Luo Chun Ge Teahouse, located on Zhejiang Road in Shanghai, is the artist’s favorite place for pan-fried pork buns. “The pork buns there is THE best you can find in Shanghai. The secret is all about temperature control using an old-fashioned air bellow that gives the buns an amazingly crisp quality and fragrance.”

走街穿巷忆旧事—陆根荣摆熟食摊Old Shanghai Stories: Lu Genrong’s Deli

One of his favorite Shanghai delicacies is Pork Ribs with Rice Cake. His favorite Pork Rib with Rice Cake place that once sat in a backstreet near Hankou Road and Fuzhou Road is gone. Without even a workable cooking platform, the place enjoyed a loyal following among Shanghai’s gourmets for its mouth-watering pork ribs and extremely glutinous and soft rice cake.

Drinking rice wine is one of the artist’s favorite pastimes. He’d go to Ma Yong Zhai Deli to get some wine snacks and small dishes for his weekend drinking spree. A must-have is the deli’s jellyfish-flavored sliced cold chicken.

The inspiration of many of the man’s masterpieces comes from dinnertime - the artist’s ‘happy hour’ of the day. He’d drink to his heart’s content and enjoy the superb cooking skills of his wife with the TV on, and have a good time in his own world where flashes of good ideas take shape and imagination runs wild.

Old Shanghai Stories: Ma Yong Zai Deli (left), Pork Ribs with Rice Cake (middle), Luo Chun Ge Pan-Fried Pork Buns (right)

The comic book creations of He Youzhi enjoy a fine reputation at home and abroad, and have been featured in exhibitions in the UK and France. He has also lectured at the Nanyang Academy of Fine Arts in Singapore and École Européenne Supérieure de l’Image Angouleme Poitiers in France, and is the only Chinese artist to have been granted the honorary citizenship by the Angouleme city government. He Youzhi is also the first one in China’s artist community to receive the ‘Lifetime Achievement Award’, granted by the China Fine Arts Prize.