独步艺苑“虎”啸山林

赵畅

自2016年6月中国工笔画学会会长、中国美协理事、中国美协中国画艺委会副主任冯大中第一次踏上绍兴的土地后，短短两年时间里，他已连续三次到访上虞。

因工作关系，笔者三次拜访冯大中。每次相见，他总是笑呵呵地说：“上虞乃大舜故里、曹娥故乡、英台之乡，文化底蕴太深厚了，不来就太对不起这块风水宝地了！”

作为“虎王”，画虎定然是绕不过去的话题。原来，传统画虎，总是离不开威、凶、猛。然而在冯大中笔下，我们看到更多的是老虎温顺和谐的一面，因为他的画作中凸显的总是老虎的柔、仁、爱。同时，冯大中也向笔者纠正一些媒体的不实报道：“其实，我既画老虎凶猛勇武的一面，也表达其不怒自威的一面。但从比例上说，我更多表现它可爱的另一面，比如母子亲情，比如天伦之乐，比如离情别绪。老虎与其他动物一样，有其多面性，作为画家应该予以立体呈现。”1986年联合国举办国际和平年美术摄影书法作品展览，他献上的《爱》就是运用拟人化的手法，尽情表现两只老虎缠绵温顺、和谐依偎的感人场景，而“猛獸尚且如此，况人世乎？”的题款，则无疑为画作画龙点睛。1988年，当他的作品《早春》一举获得中国当代工笔画首届大展金奖时，他笔下的虎便有了“天下第一虎”的美誉。

《晓风残月》是他最为满意的虎画作品之一。他突破传统画虎的俗套，从环境生态美学的角度切入，创造出一片未被污染的净土——晓风中、残月下，丛树边、溪石间，一泓溪水潺潺流淌，那老虎踯躅溪边从容畅饮，这样的场景似乎是在缅怀昔日的“世外桃源”、平复曾经的创伤，也更是在轻轻呼唤“保卫地球家园、珍惜生态环境”的愿景。而细细观瞻画中之虎，深觉“有骨、有肉、有神，皮毛彪炳斑斓，连毛色的光泽感也表现了出来”。是的，他的工笔虎自有独到的绘画语言，并不以剑拔弩张的线条和恣肆的墨色取胜，而是用尽精刻微的笔法，画得细而不腻、工而不匠。

然而又有谁知，每画一幅工笔虎画作品，都要耗费冯大中四五个月甚至是更长的时间。“因为画工笔虎太费时了，从而也牵扯了自己画其他作品的精力。其实，我原本就是画竹子和山水画起家的，而且一直没有中断过创作。像画竹子，我已经画了四十多年，早已呈现自家面目。”冯大中说。

其实，细心的观众早就发现，无论是冯大中的工笔虎或写意虎作品中，画面或多或少都会有竹子抑或山水的陪衬。大野苍茫之境，长白雪月之洁，秋山沉醉之酽，春山晓雾之美，芦花霜晨之丽，梨花春雨之景，风竹摇曳之柔——正是这些元素熟稔的点缀、生动的表达，恰到好处地显示作品的主题。

“从画竹子可以看到，凡画画首先要从主观精神上积极去画，认真表现生命的可爱。但这还不够，还要不断向深处对题材进行挖掘，要表达自己内心想表达的东西。”冯大中颇有诗文功底，常年笔耕不辍，对于诗性精神有着独到的理解与把握，且能将诗性精神转化为画面生机。《新雨晴岚》，这是一幅由涧水、岩石、茂竹组合而成的兼工带写的竹画作品，三者看似毫无关联，实则顾盼生姿、相得益彰，竹子简而不空，主干虽未画出画面，但已经延伸出去，达到了“笔断意不断”的高度。

为了用简约的写意形式来表现竹子之类的物象，冯大中差不多投入了一年时间来学习八大山人的创作手法。在他看来，作为明末清初最伟大的一位大写意画家，八大山人的画比所有画家的画都简练。尽管临摹起来难度大，一笔都不能多，包括每一笔相对于全局的构成都不能乱，但随着时间的推移，他读懂了，“觉得再画竹子之类的东西在表达物象上没有多少难度，只要掌握其形体特征就可以了。对于画面而言，无非是点、线、面的构成，再就是墨的深浅、浓淡、干湿，把这些关系捋顺了、弄通了，剩下的就是如何在创作过程中力求文化的韵味。”

时下，冯大中很少画虎，而是执着于他的山水画创作。他知道，在中国画的范畴里，山水更加丰富多彩。事实上，他的成名作就是山水画。早在1984年，他和时任辽宁省美协主席、《新富春山居图》主笔宋雨桂合作的山水巨作《苏醒》，就获得了第六届全国美展的银奖，并被中国美术馆永久收藏。

获奖以后，冯大中并没有却步，而是继续用脚步去丈量大地。写生很苦，但他从不放弃。他已记不清自己去了多少次太行山，但每一次赴太行山的写生都给他新的启迪。近年来，他一直在构思怎样去表现这样的山川。“我想再现的不是即景式的太行山，而是由这样的山所生发出的一种普遍的品格，是对山的共性的塑造。”

2009年6月，冯大中带着自己从艺近半个世纪以来的70余幅艺术精品来到上海。就在《高山景行》艺术展开幕式上，89岁高龄的画坛泰斗陈佩秋细心地观赏了每一幅作品，并发出由衷的赞叹：“大中画虎没得说，全国第一！”而且面对冯大中的山水画作，这位本身以山水画闻名的海派大师也赞不绝口：“构图大气，笔墨精到！”

明代著名书画家、文学家徐渭有诗云：“莫把丹青等闲看，无声诗里颂千秋。”最近一次离开上虞前，冯大中对笔者说：“作为文化古城、孝德之乡的上虞，给我留下了太多挥之不去的记忆和回味。”他还欣喜地告诉笔者，明年是澳门回归祖国20周年，他准备画百米荷花长卷予以庆贺，“因为莲花是澳门特别行政区的区花，她根深而叶茂，是圣洁、祥和、宁静、太平的象征，我希望澳门特别行政区更加和谐安宁、繁荣昌盛！”

Feng Dazhong （born in 1949） is famed as an artist specialized in painting tigers in the traditional painting style. Some have even considered him Chinas best artist of tigers ever since he grabbed a gold medal with a painting titled at a national painting event in 1988. He first visited Shangyu， now a district of Shaoxing in eastern Zhejiang， in June 2016. Since then he has visited Shangyu two more times within the two years. I visited the master every time he was in Shangyu. He loves Shangyu largely because the district is full of cultural charms and heritage. Yu the Great， a legendary emperor who brought the great deluge under control in immemorial times， was born in Shangyu according to ancient legends. His mausoleum is in Shaoxing. Shaoxing is also home to Caoe， another legendary figure， and Zhu Yingtai， the prototype of the woman in .

Feng is dubbed as the king of tigers. Our conversation naturally turned to tigers. Most artists emphasize the majesty， ferocity， and power of the tiger. Feng chooses the opposite. His artworks emphasize the tenderness of tigers. He goes out of his way to portray the tenderness， kindness and love of tigers especially when they appear together as a family. In our talks， he tried to correct some misunderstanding of his preferences. “In fact， some of my tiger paintings show the ferocity and valor of tigers. I have portrayed the majesty without touching the violent side of the tiger. However， I prefer painting the tender part of tigers： tender love and affinity within a tiger family. Tigers resemble any other creatures in the emotional diversity. As an artist， I have every reason to highlight the diversity，” explained Feng Dazhong.

As a artist， Feng goes all out to make a painting. Usually a tiger painting takes him five months or more to complete because the style emphasizes and highlights tiniest details. Feng has some regrets for his choice of tigers as his main artistic pursuit. “I started my career also painting bamboos and landscape. I have never stopped creating bamboo paintings and landscapes. I have been painting bamboos for more than four decades and I have established a unique style，” remarked the master.

The time Feng Dazhong has invested into bamboos and landscape isnt a waste. In the background of all his tiger paintings are landscapes with bamboos. In fact， in order to perfect his skills of painting bamboos， he spent nearly a year studying the art of Ba Da Shan Ren， a pseudonym of Zhu Da （1626-c.1705）， a painter famed for an extremely impressionistic painting style， which is the right opposite to the style. He believes Zhu Da was the most concise and minimalist artist who spared no efforts to express his wild impressions in the smallest number of brushstrokes. One redundant stroke would ruin the structure. Feng copied and studied and gradually he grasped the essence of the art of Zhu Da.

Feng has not focused exclusively on tigers. In fact， he first established his fame in 1984 with a landscape created in partnership with Song Yugui， then president of Liaoning Provincial Artists Association. The painting won a silver medal at the 6th China Art Exhibition， the top national art event held every five years. The first was held in July 1949.

In order to portray mountains well， Feng Dazhong has sketched in the Taihang Mountains for years. Now he does not prefer to copy such peaks in his paintings. He wants to create images that carry common characteristics of mountains. In June 2009， he held a solo exhibition in Shanghai， featuring 70 plus landscapes he had created over a period of nearly 50 years. The landscapes won good reviews from critics and peer artists.

Feng Dazhong is now preparing to create a 100-meter-long scroll painting of lotus flowers in celebration of the 20th anniversary of the return of Macao to Chinese sovereignty in 2019， as the lotus is the city flower of Macao Special Administrative Region. “Lotus symbolizes sacredness， harmony， serenity， and peace. I wish Macao Special Administrative Region harmony， peace， and prosperity，“ explained the master.