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:
