黎明先生是我国当代著名的中国画家，以花鸟、山水、人物兼长而蜚声海内外，是岭南画派创始人高剑父的学生。在当代岭南画派传人赵少昂、黎雄才、关山月、杨善深四大名家相继谢世之后，黎明是唯一一位活跃在香港和大陆两地画坛上的高氏门下的嫡传弟子。因此，对黎明先生的艺术，不论是他的山水、花卉、翎毛、走兽、人物，还是工笔、写意、半工半写以及泼墨、泼彩等多方面成就和艺术特色加以条分缕析，予以全面的、深入的、分类的研究和总结，是具有划时代意义的。他的意义不仅在於让我们以他的艺术作为个案，进一步透析岭南画派的风骨意蕴，还在於在新的历史条件下赋予岭南画派以更为广阔的发展契机。

　　黎明先生於1940年正式拜高剑父为师学画，到1951年高剑父的仙逝，整整11年，他亲密地与高剑父缔结了一种亦师亦父的非常关系，深得高剑父的真传。六十八年心无旁骛，丹青不辍，黎明以其自然清新、严谨扎实的造型语言和浓郁的抒情意味与强烈鲜活的色彩，高举岭南画派大纛，创造性地开拓自己的艺术天地，既有高师的精魂，更有他自己千锤百炼的心得。“黎式山水”老辣苍翠，韶秀幽深;“黎式花鸟”墨彩流溢，艳丽典雅。这里有继承，也有创新，这里有真诚，更有胆略，他那胎息於中华大地的心智和被岁月磨砺的画笔，始终贯注著不可遏止的创造激情。对黎明来说，关键不是去保持什么画派风格特色的问题，更重要的是如何宏扬光大恩师高剑父的岭南画派的精神，如何以敏锐的感觉和富於表现力的语言，赋予自己的艺术境界以强烈的时代感。

　　就花鸟画而言，黎明是一位全面发展的花鸟画家，不仅表现的题材十分宽泛，敢於涉猎前人未曾涉足的领域，而且表现手法极为丰富。无论是工笔细写还是工写相间，抑或是写意画作，黎明都以新意驾驭，重视笔墨情趣、彩墨共辉，强调意境的营构。多年来，他全面继承和发展了岭南画派的风格，提倡师法自然，重视写生，在精研两宋院体花鸟画的基础上，吸纳宋元明清诸家之神髓，发扬岭南画派善於渲染之所长，大胆借鉴西方的光影、色彩的现代表现手法，熔中西古今之精华於一炉，使画面墨色丰富，变化多端，生机勃勃。在他的作品面前，可以真切地感受到他作画之际“情驰神纵，超逸优游”的状态，寓工於写，意从工出，埋伏了雄强之骨和清远之韵。他一往情深地驱遣著自己的画笔，潜心於生活之中，游目骋怀，广撷博取那些最能令人产生感性生动的审美意象。他笔下的春枝、秋叶、夏荷、冬梅、山花、野卉、芦草、紫藤落笔生韵，著手成春;他纸上的麻雀、燕子、鸳鸯、鸿雁、玉兔、鹌鹑、双鹭、野鸭、火鸡、仙鹤千姿百态，栩栩如生;他挥写的苍松、翠柏劲健挺拔，郁郁葱葱;他烘染的游鱼、雄鹰活灵活现，生动传神，给人以无穷的回味。“出新意於法度之中，寄妙理於豪放之外”，苏东坡这句哲理名言，应是黎明花鸟画的绝妙写照。

　　在花鸟画中，黎明又以善画孔雀而闻名遐迩。这是他最鍾爱的题材，是他花功夫最多的题材，也是最能体现他风格与内心世界的题材。作为“鸟中之冠”的孔雀，以其美丽的造型和富贵的象徵历来受到人们的青睐，也是历代画家喜爱表现的题材。古代有边鸾，近代有刘奎龄，都是画孔雀的高手。在当代中国画坛，画孔雀者也不乏其人，有工笔画法也有意笔写之，但要表现得像黎明笔下“翠彩生动，金羽辉灼”精妙之极的孔雀，尚不多见。黎明的创作高度，在於“环境”与“孔雀”的生活化，传递的不是文人的忧患意识与自我遣兴，而是完全出於对自然的热爱和对美的颂扬。比如那阳光和空气中散发著馨香的桐花枝上的孔雀，那趁著风势骋翅於金花间的孔雀，那花团锦簇中顾盼传情的孔雀，那群立於紫荆花开之中与百鸟和鸣的孔雀，表现的都是明朗、高贵、昂扬的孔雀之姿，给人以充满阳光的、拥抱生活的现实精神。

　　他的作品造型准确，生动逼真，但又绝非是自然的照搬和再现，而是通过自然，反复观察，认真揣摩，捕捉“物之微妙”，研究“物之理”，描写“物之神”。黎明凭藉敏锐的感受和丰富的艺术想像力，运用纯熟的写实技法描绘要表现的对象，将他的意念和意趣倾注在作品之中。通过对孔雀的观察和写生，他掌握了孔雀的习性和飞、栖、食、行的生活特徵。同时对孔雀的解剖、羽片的构成、羽毛结构间的起伏及形色变化也作过细致地研究和了解。正是由於他有扎实的生活基础和丰富的知识，所以对孔雀的瞬间神态、动势，都能心手相应自如地表现。从许多精品来看，黎明笔下的孔雀不以表面的真似和熟练的技法为目的，而是将宋代院体花鸟画的注重再现客观、注重对象形神的刻画发展为注重表现客观、注重作者心性的抒写，形成“以工写意”的绘画特色。“意”是工笔花鸟画的灵魂，即借助花鸟这一形式来表达自己的个性情感，既要“与物传神，尽其妙”，又要通过绘画站在更高层次上，追求新的意境、新的情趣。

　　纵观中国工笔画坛，多数工笔花鸟画家迷醉於精细不苟的工整刻画，热衷於搞面面俱到的繁琐哲学，一味地因袭古人，循守旧法，以为工笔花鸟画在形象上越具体、越细致、越真实越好，完全忽视了作者本人“意”的表现，使作品缺乏情趣与生命力。黎明的孔雀早已走出传统意义的形神规范，他在孔雀的美丽中注入了他的功力与创造、内涵与想像，并赋予其崭新的时代精神，把孔雀看成是中华民族美好的象徵，画出了炎黄子孙神圣的尊严和高贵的气质。他画《霓裳歌舞庆回归》，表达对祖国统一大业的祝福;他画《紫荆花开，百鸟和鸣》，抒写他对太平盛世的赞颂;他画孔雀的《花团簇锦》，描绘他心中的追求和向往，他画《桐花俪影》的亲密无间，他画《帝苑珍禽》的雍容华贵，他画《白孔雀》的高洁，他画《绿孔雀》的妩媚，他画《好运北京》的欣欣向荣，表达他对2008年奥运会在北京举行的真情祝贺。

　　“工而有意”是黎明工笔花鸟画的本质特徵，在他众多的孔雀作品中表现得尤为突出。他把孔雀的灵性、自然神态以及各异的习性特徵，连同孔雀在大千世界里的天真意趣都充分地刻画出来，由对作品追求传神进一步为传意，而这一步的达成靠的是画家的人品学养、才情思想，也是画家情感的表现。古代工笔花鸟画取象单纯精粹的特点被继承下来，但比之古人，黎明更强调了花鸟与其生存空间的密切联系，花与鸟开始在大自然中融出融入，开始与山水共生共荣，开始作为人类生存环境不可缺少的生态展现出无尽的生机，成为与现代人的感情生活和审美体现更密切的对象。

　　古代兴盛期的花鸟画家，虽曾认识到花鸟画“移神遐思”的“寓兴”功能，接触到创造意境的问题，但在实际创作中，却往往沿袭传统惯性，走向了类型化与象徵化。黎明的工笔画则以“工而尚意”的明确认识，以现代人的眼光和心灵在感受生活与自然中直接捕捉“画外意”与“意外妙”，既保持了新鲜强烈的“览物所得”，又以所养所崇升华了境界，因而创造了異彩纷呈又洋溢著内在美的动人意境。他的作品充满了一种祥和恬静、圆润兴旺的氛围，孔雀在丽日和风中自由行走栖息，幽静雅致，清新悦目，他把华贵、典雅、高洁、美丽、生命与希望带进他的孔雀图中，他把对美好生活的祈望与赞颂都融化在他的作品中，使孔雀带上人格与人品的神采，一一展现在我们面前。它们不只是纸上图画，更是画家心中的理想。

　　在绘画技法上，黎明很重视笔墨本体的品质和意趣，行笔转折、顿挫劲健有力，尤其是对线的运用，走势沉著，颇具书法内功，遒劲而优美，富有节奏和韵律的变化。黎明的用色，更趋於西画。他的画明显地是在保持传统设色古雅清淡的格调上，大胆地发挥西画色彩的鲜明与响亮，再用浓淡不同的笔痕墨迹加以勾染，甚至把水彩的画法引进他的花鸟世界，使他的作品焕发一种永远的鲜活与和谐。显然，画家用笔、用墨的轻重、软硬、乾湿、浓淡、层次以及用色的色相、色调、色性，都是出於对物象神形的塑造和艺术效果来加以考虑。例如对孔雀羽片、尾屏五色金翠线纹的刻画是那样的逼真，是那样的富於质感、量感。这样的效果，都是在晕染、皴擦、烘托技法的基础上加上勾勒填色而成，同时把羽毛的光洁柔软与硬挺、薄厚、疏密、明暗起伏，以及表皮下的肌肉与骨胳关系都恰到好处地、十分出色地表现出来。尤其对白粉的使用，使他的花鸟画别具风致，常常因白粉与色墨的比衬交融，造成明丽清快的情调与粉光融融的意味。

　　在构图和布局上，黎明不再是传统的对角式、三角式、十字式等等，而更多地采取一种视角可以自由转换的图式，讲究奇特、别致、新颖的不同凡响，至於疏密变化、浓淡对比、宾主呼应、虚实关係，无一不是贴切、周密地予以处理。在他的孔雀作品中，背景常用树石花木来衬托，採取半工半写的手法，有些稍复杂具体，有些则寥寥数笔，看似漫不经心，却把主体衬托得更加突出，更加真实可信，画面的空间感和气氛也更加浓郁。细读作品的背景，不论是苍松翠柏还是芦草桐花，也不论是繁花似锦还是老树横丫，画家都匠心独运地考虑到它们间的穿插配合、整体和局部的变化，使主体与背景之间达到一种自然和谐的统一协调。仅管只是一枝一草、一花一叶，画家也不潦草从事，而是反复推敲写就。

　　一言以蔽之，黎明的孔雀作品在於一个“情”字，“一花一叶总是情”。他始终以一颗充满爱意的心，把热爱自然、热爱生命的理想，寄情於笔端。意是寄情，境由心造，情景交融构成他作品的高韬境界。画家在生活中只有对景物有了强烈的感情，才会鼓起想像的羽翼，只有胸有情思，注情入景，笔下才有韵致，才会创作出令人感动的作品。在这一前提下，黎明笔下的孔雀，都不是简单的生活再现，也不是自然现象的罗列，而是用具体的、感情的形象来表达画家对客观事物的看法，并通过想像甚至联想，体现为一种诗情画意和独特的观照方式。这种方式与其精神人格相合，与心灵境界默契，摆脱了通常花鸟画的浅薄，透出一种感情的抒发和文化精神意味，而其中处理手法、图式意趣表现出的自然精神与人的精神交相辉映，形成了黎明艺术境界、精神境界的独到之处。“於天地之外，别构一番灵奇”，黎明的作品因此具有打动读者引发思绪的生命力，从而在情牵梦绕中萌生诗意，更耐咀嚼品味。

　　2008年5月15日於北京王府公寓

　　原载《当代实力派画家艺术研究——黎明彩墨孔雀》2008

　　贾德江•著名艺术评论家，主编

Antique Aroma with Innovation

——Coloured Peacock, ink works by Lai Ming, maestro of Lingnan painting

　　Mr. Lai Ming is a renowned painter of contemporary Chinese painting who earns his reputation both at home and overseas with his skills in depicting flowers and birds, landscapes and human figures in his works. He came under the personal tutelage of Lingnan master Gao Jianfu. After the four masters of contemporary Lingnan painting, Zhao Shao-an, Li Xiong-cai, Guan Shan-yue, Yang Shan-sum, passed away, Lai is now the only Gao’s pupil who is active in both Hong Kong and mainland’s art circle. It is thus epochal to have comprehensive, in-depth and classified study on Mr. Lai’s art and achievement, whether his paintings, brushworks, sketches or splash-ink paintings. The meaning of such study is not only to further analyse the style of Lingnan painting with Lai’s art as the case, but also to provide Lingnan School with more opportunities for development.

　　Mr. Lai formally came under tutelage of Gao Jianfu in 1940. He received Gao’s guidance for a total of 11 years until Gao passed away in 1951. With his very intimate relationship with Gao, Lai has grasped the essence of his teacher’s painting style. Lai has been devoted to painting and has created his own artistic world, adhering to the spirit of Gao and Lingnan School but not limiting himself to realism. His painting is fresh, solid, with the blending of both expressive and vivid style. His landscape paintings are harmonious and verdant, whilst his flower and bird paintings are colourful, splendid and elegant. He continues the legacy of his predecessors; meanwhile, he has his own innovation which is sincere and bold. He has always maintained his passion for creation throughout the years. The key is not to preserve the style and characteristics of the School, but more importantly, to elaborate the Lingnan spirit, and create a strong modern feature for his own artistic world with acute sense and expressive language.

　　As for flower and bird paintings, Lai is an all-round painter who draws for a broad range of topics. Lai’s techniques of expression are extremely rich, and he has the courage to dabble in new areas. Whether for his brushworks or freehand-style paintings, Lai still masters them with innovation. He values the use of ink and colour to create a delightful scene. He also emphasises the creation of mood and taste. Over the years, he inherits and develops comprehensively the style of Lingnan School, advocates a natural style of painting and values sketching. Based on his in-depth study of the Song flower and bird paintings, Lai absorbed the crème de la crème of the various schools in the Song, Yuan, Ming and Qing Dynasties. He demonstrates the strengths of Lingnan paintings, blending together Eastern and Western techniques to enrich the painting with ink colours and vitality. His works can fully express his carefree and leisurely condition when painting. His works, combined both brushwork and sketch, lie the vigorous style and pure and clear aroma. With his enthusiasm for painting, Lai captures the most touching and vivid images in his life and puts them on his works.His paintings of branches in spring, leaves in autumn, lotus in summer, plum in winter,flowers on the mountain, wild flowers, reeds, and wisterias are rich in mood and aroma,whilst his sparrows, swallows, mandarin ducks, wild geese, rabbits, quails, egrets, wild ducks, turkeys, red-crowned cranes are lively and vivid. His green pines and cypresses are tall, strong and straight. The fish and eagles in his works are true-to-life that creates a lingering aftertaste.

　　Lai Ming is well-known for his painting of peacocks. Peacock is Lai’s favourite that he has put lots of efforts on it. It also best reflects Lai’s style and his spirit. As named the “king of birds”, peacock has been attracting people with its beautiful image and its emblem of wealth. It is also a popular topic among painters in different generations. In the contemporary art circle in China, there are a number of good painters of peacocks,but we find nobody’s peacocks are as exquisite and delicate as Lai’s. His peacocks are so ingenious and rarely seen. The high level of Lai’s creation depends on the fact that the “environment” and “peacocks” are common in daily life. What showing in Lai’s works is not the misery or mood of literati, but his own passion for nature and his commendation on beauty. Paintings with peacocks that spread their wings between golden flowers, or look around in blooming shrubs all reflect the cheerful and noble image of peacocks that offers people with the spirit of realism.

　　The patterns of Lai’s works are accurate and lifelike, but not a mere copy from nature.Lai captures the subtle features of the objects through repeated observation of nature and careful study. With his acute sense and rich imagination, he makes use of his mature techniques to depict the objects and infuses his concepts and feelings into his works. By detailed observation and sketching of peacocks, Lai has grasped the nature and features of peacocks, and at the same time, he studied and understood the structure of a peacock’s body and feathers. Owing to his solid foundation and profound knowledge, he is able to depict naturally and smoothly the appearance, movement and spirit of peacocks. From the many masterpieces of Lai, we find that it is not his aim to show the superficial resemblance of peacocks and his mature painting skills. Instead, he aims to change the style of flower and bird paintings in the Song dynasty,which emphasises objectivity and the image and spirit of objects, into the feature of“expression of feeling by brushwork”, which emphasises objectivity and the description of the author’s feeling. “Feeling” is the soul of brushworks depicting flowers and birds.It means that the painter expresses his own feeling by the form of flowers and birds and pursues new imagery and mood through painting.

　　In China’s painting circle, a majority of flower and bird painters indulged themselves in meticulous and neat portrait, and are passionate about complex philosophy. They simply follow the predecessors’ practice to pursue concrete, detailed and authentic images. As they totally ignore the expression of “feeling”, their works are in lack of mood and vitality. Lai’s peacocks are not limited by traditional rules about image and spirit. Lai infuses his skills, innovation, connotation and imagination into his peacocks’ elegance, and offers them the brand new spirit of times. He sees peacocks as the emblem of goodness of the Chinese nationality and reflects the solemnity and nobility of the Chinese ancestry. When Lai drew “Song and Dance for Return to China”, he expressed his blessing to his motherland; when he drew “Redbud Blossom and Birdsong”, he extolled the times of peace and prosperity; when he drew the peacock painting “Bushes of flowers”, he described his pursuit and aspiration; whilst the intimacy of “Chinese parasol Flowers and Beauties”, the elegance of “Precious Birds in the Royal Garden”, the virtuousness of “White Peacock”, the charm of“Green Peacock”, and the prosperity of “Good Luck Beijing” expressed his sincere congratulations to the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games.

　　“Fine brushwork with feelings” is the feature of Lai’s paintings of flowers and birds and is obviously seen in his numerous peacock paintings. Lai reveals the spirituality, nature, innocence and other characteristics of peacocks to the full. From the pursuit of vividness to the expression of feelings, it depends on the painter’s personality, disposition, talent and thinking, whilst it is also a reflection of the painter’s sentiment. Lai Ming has inherited the fingerprint of ancient flower and bird paintings that feature simple and refined portrait. However, compared to the predecessors, Lai emphasizes more on the close relationship between flowers and birds and their living place. In Lai’s works, flowers and birds start to immerse into nature, existing in harmony with mountains and water, and show endless vitality as they have become an indispensable element in human’s living environment, yet a more intimate companion for modern people.

　　Ancient painters of flowers and birds during the flourishing period were used to following the tradition in art creation, even though they understood the function of“implying delight” in paintings and were aware of the creation of atmosphere. As for Lai Ming, he directly captures the connotation of the scene whilst experiencing life and nature with modern people’s vision and mind, which has resulted in a colourful and beautiful aroma in his works. His works are filled with a harmonious and thriving atmosphere, with peacocks walking around beneath warm sunshine. It is tranquil, elegant, refreshing and pleasant. Lai brings nobility, elegance, virtuousness, beauty, vitality and hope into his peacock paintings. He immerses all his expectation and praise for a wonderful life into his works, giving peacocks personality and spirit. They are not only pictures, but the dream in the painter’s mind.

　　When it comes to painting techniques, Lai Ming values the quality and taste of the ink itself. His strokes are vigorous, bold but elegant, rich in rhythmic changes. Lai’s choice of colours reflects the style of Western painting. Based on the traditional way of colour adoption that is classical, delicate and light, Lai makes his bold choice to use sharp and bright colours common in Western painting, and uses both deep and light ink strokes to enrich the composition. He even introduces the techniques of watercolour paintings in his flower and bird’s world, contributing to the everlasting vividness and harmony in his works. Obviously, the way a painter uses his paint brush, ink and colours are out of the consideration of image representation and artistic effects. For instance, Lai’s depiction of peacock feathers and tails is so true to life. Such an excellent artistic effect is created by colour filling based on techniques like dyeing, rubbing, contrasting. Meanwhile, Lai also shows the shine and softness of peacock’s feathers, muscle and bone texture appropriately. His use of white powder strengthens the aroma of his painting as the mixture of white powder and coloured ink contributes to a clear, pleasant and powdery tone.

　　For composition, Lai Ming no longer sticks to traditional forms such as catercornered form, triangular form or cross form etc. He instead adopts more frequently a form which allows the angle of view to be switched freely. Lai Ming strives to paint meticulously in order to create special, delicate and fresh effects. In his peacock paintings, he often uses trees, stones, flowers and wood as the background. Sometimes the background is complex and concrete, whilst sometimes it is simple. It seems to be put in a casual way but it succeeds in showing up the subject, enriching the space and atmosphere of the composition. When we scan the background of his works, whether it contains green pines, reeds, flowers or old trees, we can find that the painter has arranged everything carefully to ensure conformity and harmony. He has not neglected even the subtle details in the painting and has acted with deliberation.

　　To sum up, Lai’s peacock works emphasise the word “love”. From the very beginning, Lai puts all his passion for nature and life in his paint brush. The combination of love and landscape promotes his works to the peak. A painter will not be imaginative only if he has strong feelings towards landscape and objects in his life; whilst touching works will be created only when a painter’s heart is filled with love. As a result, Lai’s peacock is not simply a copy of life, nor a display of nature, but a concrete and emotional expression of the painter’s views. Through imagination or even association, it embodies a poetic and unique form of reflection. Such form gets rid of the shallowness commonly seen in flower and bird paintings and reveals the expression of feelings and cultural meaning when combined with human’s spirit and soul. In addition, the spirit of nature and human shown by painting techniques and forms has established the unique features of Lai Ming’s art. That is why Lai’s works are so inspiring, poetic and interesting.

　　Jia Dejiang•15 May 2008 in Royal Apartment, Beijing.

　　This article briefly explores the innovative style of Lai Ming’s court paintings of the Song dynasty. It

　　is hoped that Mr. Lai will open up a broader and brighter world for his painting art

作者：贾德江