Saturday, July 28, 2012

清明上河圖


My father-in-law left me some antiques & I found a scroll of painting "清院本清明上河圖". I started exploring the subject & found the painting very fascinating. Then I found the five episodes of the presentation by 蔣勳 on the YouTube. This presentation is informative & easy to comprehend. The viewers can easily get into the topic & appreciate the painting with the action between history & art, painting & life etc. I have to admit that the art is one of the weakest link in our education. It is like music, we groped around the subject most of the time. It can best be described as 事倍功半. While I was in junior high, fortunately, I got hold on a book by 史惟亮, "音樂的創作與欣賞" & read some music magazines edited by 吳心柳 (his real name is 張繼高). With the help of some radio stations & records bought along 中華路, I became very fond of the classical music. It has become part of my life since then. It is amazing that a little booklet or some radio program created by someone can change your life. In the past decades, we had Andre Rieu & Sarah Brightman who popularizes the romantic music. It is a repackage of music to make it very attractive to the public & relate to our life more. In the realm of science, we had Carl Sagan who influenced the public with his famous TV series, "Cosmos".

I am glad now we have 蔣勳 who tries to elevate Chinese painting in a higher pedestal that we can all appreciate its value & meaning. The following is the link of the five episodes of "清明上河圖". With his presentation & YouTube, we don't have to go to Beijing to see the original painting & still be able to get a lot of details. I had visited Shanghai Expo & barely got a glimpse of the "動畫清明上河圖". It is nice to go to stadium to watch football, but it is much more satisfying & fulfilling to watch DVD for the replay & slow motion of the ball game while we have a cup of coffee in hand & enjoying the whole thing in our living room. When you watch these five episodes, pay attention to his comments on the history of Song Dynasty & 宋徽宗. We may not agree with his opinion but his view points are surely revealing & refreshing. Art is like music, without the background knowledge of history, society & artist's life, the art becomes lifeless & boring. Here are the links:





1 comment:

Mark Lin said...

蔣勳在台灣有美學大師之稱. 他著作甚多,不乏佳作. 但是否夠得上大師級乃見人見智. 昔日美學大師乃朱光潛也. 惜滯留大陸,在文革時受迫害,思想受扭曲,乃抑鬱不得志,影响力大不如前. 蔣勳的講解是採宋張擇端原作'清明上河圖'(現存北京故宮). 我手上之畫(仿本)是由清宮畫院的五位畫家——陳枚,孫祜,金昆,戴洪,程志道 在乾隆元年,公元1736年)協作畫成,俗稱'清院本清明上河圖'. 原本存台北故宮博物院. 此畫彩色鲜明,畫工精細,彩用透視技巧,也加少許西洋建築樣式. 蔣勳在講解中提到清院本比較匠氣,缺乏藝術及想像力. 我大体同意他的看法. 張擇端的原作在技巧上也許沒那麼細膩,但在創作及藝術上有更高的造詣和價值.