趙秀明
無論是色彩還是形狀,大自然都像鍵盤包含所有音樂的音符一樣,蘊(yùn)涵有所有繪畫的成分。藝術(shù)家的天職就是從這些成分中精心選擇,然后將它們巧妙地結(jié)合起來,構(gòu)成一幅美麗的圖畫。這就如同音樂家用音符從無序的聲音中創(chuàng)作出動聽而和諧的樂曲一般。如果說畫家可以依照大自然本來的樣子去創(chuàng)作,那么演奏家也就可以坐在鋼琴上了……
巍巍顛峰,皚皚白雪,因其清晰可見而不見尊嚴(yán),而攀登者卻因能夠看見山頂上的成功者而會于心。對于大多數(shù)人,單單是為了要看見而要遠(yuǎn)眺的愿望只是需要得到滿足而已,因此,僅僅以能一睹細(xì)節(jié)為快。
每當(dāng)傍晚,那富有詩意的迷霧便如面紗一般籠罩著溪邊,陳舊的房屋消失在朦朧的天空,高高的煙囪猶似一座座鐘樓,幢幢庫房恍如夜間的宮殿,整座城市懸在空中,宛若仙境展現(xiàn)在我們眼前。此時(shí)此刻,路上的行人匆匆趕路回家,無論是勞動者還是飽讀經(jīng)書者,智慧者還是尋求樂趣者,只因?yàn)樗麄冊僖部床灰娛裁?,也就不能有所理解。而這時(shí)已經(jīng)開始歌唱的大自然便把自己微妙的歌唱給藝術(shù)家,他既是她的兒子也是她的主人。說是她的兒子是因?yàn)閻鬯?,說是她的主人是因?yàn)槔斫馑?/p>
只有面對他時(shí),她才展現(xiàn)出她的全部奧妙,只有面對他時(shí),她的內(nèi)涵才逐漸變得如此清晰。他觀察著她如花的美麗,但不是用為植物學(xué)家采集實(shí)物的放大鏡,而是用一種光,一種人們用來在她所選擇的燦爛的色調(diào)和微妙的色彩中可以看見即將誕生的畫面是多么和諧的光。
他并不像那些門外漢那樣,不加思索地描摹每一片草葉,而是在那亭亭玉立的莖干上,在那細(xì)長彎曲的葉子里,發(fā)現(xiàn)了尊嚴(yán)與優(yōu)雅、力量與甜美,而后誕生出高雅的藝術(shù)。
在淡淡的蝴蝶那香淡黃色并帶有鮮艷橘黃斑點(diǎn)的翅膀里,他看見了金碧輝煌的大廳以及里面聳立著的金黃石柱,而且明白了高高繪于墻上的精巧圖畫,須用輕柔的雄黃色調(diào)描摹出來,并以更淡的底色將其繪制下來。在所有這些嬌巧可愛的元素中,他都能得到如何進(jìn)行創(chuàng)作的啟示,這樣,大自然也就成了隨時(shí)供他汲取的資源,并總是為他服務(wù)而從不拒絕。然后通過他的大腦,就如同通過最后一道蒸餾器一樣,使來自諸神并由諸神托付給他去實(shí)現(xiàn)的思想之精髓得到凈化。
由于受到諸神的青睞去完成他們的作品,他創(chuàng)作了被稱之為杰作的絕妙佳作,其完美程度超出了諸神在大自然里所創(chuàng)造的一切。他們站在一旁,驚嘆不已,并發(fā)現(xiàn)米洛斯島上的維納斯像比他們自己的夏娃還要美麗的多。
Nature and Art
Nature contains the elements, in colour and form, of all pictures, as the keyboard contains the notes of all music. But the artist is born to pick, and choose, and group with science, these elements, that the result may be beautiful -- as the musician gathers his notes, and forms his chords, until he brings forth from chaos glorious harmony.To say to the painter, that Nature is to be taken as she is, is to say to the player, that he may sit on the piano. . .
The dignity of the snow-capped mountain is lost in distinctness, but the joy of the tourist is to recognize the traveller on the top. The desire to see, for the sake of seeing, is, with the mass, alone the one to be gratified, hence the delight in detail.
And when the evening mist clothes the riverside with poetry, as with a veil, and the poor buildings lose themselves in the dim sky, and the tall chimneys become campanili, and the warehouses are palaces in the night, and the whole city hangs in the heavens, and fairy-land is before us -- then the wayfarer hastens home; the working man and the cultured one, the wise man and the one of pleasure, cease to understand, as they have ceased to see, and Nature, who, for once, has sung in tune, sings her exquisite song to the artist alone, her son and her master - her son in that he loves her, her master in that he knows her.
To him her secrets are unfolded, to him her lessons have become gradually clear. He looks at her flower, not with the enlarging lens, that he may gather facts for the botanist, but with the light of the one who sees in her choice selection of brilliant tones and delicate tints, suggestions of future harmonies.
He does not confine himself to purposeless copying, without thought, each blade of grass, as commended by the inconsequent, but, in the long curve of the narrow leaf, corrected by the straight tall stem, he learns how grace is wedded to dignity, how strength enhances sweetness, that elegance shall be the result.
In the citron wing of the pale butterfly, with its dainty spots of orange, he sees before him the stately halls of fair gold, with their slender saffron pillars, and is taught how the delicate drawing high upon the walls shall be traced in tender tones of .orpiment, and repeated by the base in notes of graver hue.In all that is dainty and lovable he finds hints for his own combinations, and thus is Nature ever his resource and always at his service, and to him is naught refused.Through his brain, as through the last alembic, is distilled the refined essence of that thought which began with the Gods, and which they left him to carry out.
Set apart by them to complete their works, he produces that wondrous thing called the masterpiece, which surpasses in perfection all that they have contrived in what is called Nature; and the Gods stand by and marvel, and perceive how far away more beautiful is the Venus of Melos than was their own Eve.