一生铸就工笔魂

孙群豪

美国时间2015年12月24日平安夜，徐启雄先生在美国南加州橙县家中因病离世，搁下了他心爱的画笔，“平安”地走了。

徐先生曾任慈溪画院名誉院长，因工作关系，我与他接触的机会也多。20多年前的徐先生，已是满头银发，很容易让人记得。他衣着朴素，气质儒雅，看上去很“工笔”，话语不多且语速不快、音调不高，一字一句有板有眼严密得很，这是给我的深刻印象。

“我们需要这样一种画家”

徐先生1960年毕业于中央美术学院中国画系，分配在人民日报社工作，主要从事创作。他崇仰艺术源于生活的信条，坚持采风，走出了一条被称为“美人画”或叫“抒情画”的道路，邓拓同志称誉他“将传统工笔画带出死胡同”。可徐先生竟因此遭人不解而离开主流画坛，返回老家浙江温州。

30年前，华君武先生撰文《美人画》，在《人民日报》介绍徐启雄，说：“数十年他默默地在家乡工作，背着画夹在生活里行走着，默默地在观察人和生活中的美，他不追逐名利，几十年不断地实践。我们需要这样一种画家。”之后，徐先生受人广泛注意，黄苗子先生称赞徐启雄“赋予工笔画的传统以新的生命”，程十发先生夸奖徐启雄“是我国民族不可多得的画家”。

有人曾经断言：“工笔画的消亡是历史发展的必然。”新中国成立以来，工笔画确实一度气息奄奄，然而，当今它终于走出危境，迎来新的复兴，全国工笔画大展已经举办九届，徐先生作为“开拓者”“奠基人”功不可没。

徐先生的不凡成就和对弘扬民族艺术的突出贡献已被美术界所承认。作为重要的代表性画家，他的事迹和作品已收录在多种中国当代美术史和画论及年鉴、词典之中。

情系慈溪的名誉院长

1984年，浙江画院成立，徐先生受任专职画师，从温州移家杭州。此前，身在北京、时时关心故乡浙江的叶浅予先生曾去信劝导徐启雄：启雄高足，不要再局限温州小山头了。杀出来吧，到杭州去吧，不然，西湖将之逊色！

徐先生在杭州时，常到各地走走看看。1993年春，徐先生与王伯敏先生等省民盟部分同仁来慈溪考察，发生有一个小故事。期间，时任市长胡永先恳切而热情地邀请徐先生：“徐老师，你做我们慈溪政协三北书画院名誉院长吧！”此事之前没有跟徐先生提起过，徐先生不知如何是好，只得笑呵呵地说：“我是温州人，不是慈溪人，做慈溪书画院的名誉院长行吗？这种情况还是第一次碰到。”众人却不再由徐先生分说，鼓起一片热烈的掌声，徐先生便也就答应下来。慈溪政协三北书画院后来改名为慈溪画院，徐先生继续担任名誉院长。

徐先生每年与慈溪有交往，常来参加慈溪举办的大型书画活动。有一年恰逢三北书画院建新大楼，徐先生得知消息，立即表示要献爱心、捐赠精品力作以助一臂之力。他拿出一张心爱的作品卖掉，将所得10万元人民币全部捐给了画院。想想20多年前的10万元，与现在的币值完全是不同概念，真让人感慨。

“你们需要随便挑吧”

1998年春，三北书画院编辑了一本《慈溪书画作品集》，我与慈溪市政协领导唐廷文、画院副院长王泽焕等前去杭州拜访徐先生，希望得到他的支持和指点。我们带着样稿请徐先生提意见，并请他也提供作品为画册添彩，徐先生满口答应。他把自己精心创作的工笔人物画悉数拿出来让我们挑选，说：“你们需要随便挑吧。”我们选了一幅与慈溪紧密有关的作品《夏至》——慈溪杨梅，天下果品第一；慈溪民间说“夏至杨梅挂篮头”；那是美女采摘杨梅图。

有年冬天，我受人邀约写采访记，专程去杭州拜访徐先生。叩开画室的门，他正在创作。采访中，他深入谈到自己的创作理念，并告诉我，之前刚刚完成了一张画《中国公主杜兰朵》，是近期正在实践的新的美女系列作品之一。临别时，他送我一本董培伦撰著的《工笔魂——现代美人画奠基人徐启雄传》和不少刚拍摄的工笔美女人物画照片，供我写文章之用。回来之后，我写了《承传统之美 抒现代之情——访徐启雄先生》刊发在《中国书画报》《美术报》等报刊上。徐先生认为，艺术创作首先要有民族性、地域性，其次是艺术思想与艺术技巧必须紧跟时代，笔墨当随时代，但最重要的是在继承传统精华的基础上创新，符合审美规律。我披露了徐先生的观点，引起学界很大的反响。

促成县级市办全国展

作为2002年全国第五届工笔画展览评委会执行主席，徐先生促成了该展览在慈溪举行。县级市举行全国性展览极为少见，展览由中国美术家协会、中国工笔画学会、解放军艺术学院、慈溪市人民政府联合主办。

徐先生之所以促成这件盛事，其原因之一是，慈溪是中国现代工笔画大师陈之佛先生的家乡，陈先生当年知名一时，且对美术教育颇多贡献，而后竟也归于平淡。为办好展览，徐先生多次往返慈溪，实地察看场馆及有关会务事项、落实经费等。他与慈溪组织方面负责人徐尔元等人多次商量展事，事无巨细一一过问；又与中国工笔画学会秘书长、解放军艺术学院王天胜教授等遴选邀请评委。

展览收到全国各地来稿之多超出了预料，作品质量也代表了当时全国工笔画的最高水准，后评出金、银、铜、优秀和入选等奖500多个，是历届工笔画展览中规模最大、水平最高的一次，较全面地展示了当代工笔画的创作风貌。

展览之后，人民美术出版社出版了《全国第五届工笔画展览作品集》。徐先生任该书荣誉主编之一，个人提供了作品《春韵》，在全国画坛产生了极大的影响，好评如潮。

我自始至终参加、见证了全国第五届工笔画展览举办的全过程。

“伍仟万元也别卖”

1992年，文化部在香港举办当代中国绘画精品大展，徐先生的《山长绿，水长流》以超过百万元港币的最高标价而成为该次画展“精品中的精品”。徐先生的画风自然、纯朴、高雅，自成一格，在海内外有“徐家样”之美称。

21世纪初冯骥才先生回慈溪老家探亲时，我曾陪他去慈溪天元古玩城，谈到书画艺术、书画创作和书画市场。之后，我在《美术报》上发了篇冯骥才访谈录，被收录到冯先生的《思想对话》一书之中。我记得那篇访谈录也提及慈溪“老乡”徐先生的工笔画，冯先生说，徐先生的人物工笔画厉害；我们在全国政协开会时经常碰面，我对他说，你那张《雨后雨花开》“伍仟万元也别卖，那是一张难得的精品哦！”endprint

此前，我就听说吴冠中先生在深圳美术节上看到这幅作品时禁不住叫好：“徐启雄的画，张张皆心血凝成，今后都是无价之宝。”

我起初看到《雨后雨花开》是在一本大型画册上，画面是五位少女在南京雨花台捡雨花石的场景，后来我在徐先生家里看到原作，淡雅之中有一种震撼力，确实令人难忘。前些时候，我遇到《文化交流》编辑，他说《雨后雨花开》“专供本刊使用”载于2014年第8期封面，“优秀的作品永远不会失去读者”。徐先生当可慰藉。

（本文图片由作者提供）

Xu Qixiong：

Master in Gongbi Style

By Sun Qunhao

Xu Qixiong （1934-2015）， a Chinese painting master， passed away at his home in Orange County， California on the night of December 24， 2015. Xu is remembered as an artist who helped start the renaissance of the style in the 1980s. ， a traditional painting style， emphasizes elaborate brushwork and spares no efforts to feature details and colors. I first met him through work more than 20 years ago. He was a man easily remembered： he was silvered haired at the age of 60. Never dressed in a fancy style， he looked elegant like the style he pursued all his life. He was articulate and logical， speaking in a thoughtful way.

After graduation from the Central Academy of Fine Arts in 1960 as a major of traditional Chinese painting， he worked for Peoples Daily in Beijing for years. He dedicated to painting beautiful women in the style. His artworks were at first considered alternative to say the best. Later， he was denounced for his undisguised dedication to portraying beauty in his art. In 1965， he was forced to leave Beijing and went back to Wenzhou， his hometown in southern Zhejiang Province.

It was not until the 1980s that he made a spectacular comeback. Prominent artists such as Hua Junwu， Cheng Shifa and Huang Miaozi praised Xus unique contribution to the style and considered him an outstanding artist who injected new elements into the tradition. Xus art and contribution to the style is widely recognized in art books， yearbooks and dictionaries.

Xu is a phenomenon in the history of Chinese art. A critic once concluded that the style was doomed to vanish as history moved ahead. And it was true that the struggled and was relegated onto the verge of extinction after 1949. However， the style is flourishing thanks to the renaissance Xu helped launch in the 1980s. A national exhibition for the artists now takes place at a regular interval and has occurred nine times since the comeback of the style.

A turning point in Xus life and art came about in 1984 when he became a member of the newly founded Zhejiang Institute of Traditional Painting based in Hangzhou. He had just moved to Hangzhou from Wenzhou for a new start of his career after his tutor Ye Qianyu urged him to come back to the bigger world.endprint

He served as honorary president of Cixi Sanbei Institute of Traditional Painting for years. He came upon the appointment by accident. During his stay in Hangzhou， Xu traveled across Zhejiang a lot. With some artist friends， he came to Cixi， a city in eastern Zhejiang， in the spring of 1993. At a meeting with local amateur artists， he was invited to act as honorary president of the institute. But Xu wasnt sure if it was appropriate for a Wenzhou native to be a honorary president of an art institute in Cixi. The host insisted and he accepted the honor in heartwarming applause.

The master contributed a great deal to the institute. He visited the city frequently. In the 1990s he sold a painting of his for 100，000 and donated the cash to the institute when the institute was planning to have an office building constructed. One hundred thousand was a huge fortune back then.

The greatest contribution Xu made was in 2002 when the fifth national exhibition for artists took place in Cixi， a county-level city. It is quite rare for a county-level city to host a top national art event. Xu was the executive chair of the jurors for the exhibition. He picked Cixi for a reason： Chen Zhifo （1896-1962）， a Cixi native， was a prominent artist and art educator that， in Xus opinion， should not be forgotten. Prior to the exhibition， Xu visited Cixi many times and engaged himself in preparations. The exhibition was a huge success. After the exhibition， a collection of the best works of the exhibition was published by the Peoples Fine Arts Publishing House.

is a representative artwork of Xu Qixiong. Feng Jicai， a writer of national renown and crusader for urban preservation based in Tianjin， mentioned the masterpiece in an interview with me. Feng said he advised Xu not to sell the masterpiece even if someone had offered 50 million. I learned that Wu Guanzhong， a prominent Chinese artist， was overjoyed with the masterpiece and said it was priceless. The August 2014 issue of Cultural Dialogue used this masterpiece for its cover.endprint