记得1986年的冬天，我刚调到上海中国画院，那一天，院长们正在审阅一位大学研究生的作品，作品独特的风格，给我留下了深刻的印象。

　　那位画家就是马小娟。

　　几年以后，马小娟成为上海中国画院的兼职画师、专职画家、画院教研室的主任，成为我的同事，成为当今中国画创作领域的中坚力量。

　　小娟的画很美，就像她的容貌，小娟的画里透出一种优雅，如同玄武湖畔的春雨氤氲安宁，如同西子湖的水清澈透明，使人不由得想起白居易的诗句“能不忆江南”的那份浓浓的乡情，乡情中透出淡淡的忧伤和成功者的坚毅。小娟的作品像一面多棱镜，总是恰如其分地折射出她心中的世界——每一面都很美丽。

　　艺术家不单单要掌握绘画创作复杂艰巨的技术，更重要的是把那必要掌握的本领化为表达自己心灵的手段。这是一种非常不容易做到的事，尤其在今天如此繁花似锦的绘画世界里，不使自己眼花缭乱而失去创作的本质，就得靠着对艺术执著的追求，小娟做到了。不管是小巷中的打着雨伞满怀期盼的少妇，松花江畔一跃捐躯的抗日女英雄，还是那群唱得幸福落满坡的苗家妇女。无论是国色天香中火一般的红色，还是秋雨绵绵的乡间小路，都是小娟从心里流淌的那份真情，打动着读者的心。也许是出身于一个军人家庭的缘故，她内心里有一种坚韧和执著，正是凭着这份对艺术的执著，使她的作品在大展上给人以深刻的印象，屡次获得国家级大奖。

　　小娟是画院的教研室主任，她和她的同事担当着培养青年画家的重任。也许是在大学里任教过的缘故，她对她的学生有着一种特有的感情。是师生情，更有着女性特有的母爱，使我非常感动。学生的成绩，小娟把它看成自己的骄傲，她会拿出家中的香槟在学生汇报活动中为大家庆功，在当今充满表达自我价值的大环境下，显得如此的珍贵。她有一种责任，她真挚地感恩这个时代给予她的厚爱，她把这种感动倾注在教学中，也正是这种精神，支撑着她对艺术不断地向前探寻。她知道学习是互相的，新的文化知识来自对传统继承和西方艺术新思潮的信息综合，来自对青年艺术家敏捷思维的思考，和他们对社会认知的关注。小娟重视与青年艺术家交流的平台，她知道在与青年画家的交流中，常常可以得到令人惊喜的收获和启发。

　　小娟热爱生活，不管在自己的创作还是在教学中，她充满着一种看似平静的激情。艺术家毕生追求对真、善、美的表达。有的人总想像贝多芬和勃拉姆斯，用艺术语言承载历史和社会的使命。而小娟却犹如莫扎特和肖邦那样，恣意地让美丽画面从指间尽情流淌，就像缪斯女神将美丽带给人间。小娟也把自己心中的美丽带给她的朋友和读者。小娟投入地描绘着她的女性世界，用笔墨色彩叙述着自己的故事，感悟着岁月留给她的印迹。她把她的情深深地融入在自己的作品中。正是她那份忘我曾深深地打动过一位日本的朋友，使这位日本朋友为之落泪。这就是艺术的真谛，用心的作品必定会感动他们的读者，难道还有什么能比得上对她作品认同的这份真情更珍贵么!

　　小娟用一种平和面对着成功的喜悦，平静的言行举止中袒露着对生命的认识和对人性的理解，这是一个艺术家心灵的成熟和升华。

　　尼采说过：“(美术)通过颂扬现象的永恒来克服个体的苦难，在这里美战胜了生命固有的苦恼。”小娟遵循着艺术创作规律的本质让解读她作品的人们得到一份快乐和快乐后静静的思考。她淡泊不张扬，却在为她自己钟爱的艺术发展的探索中自觉地担当着一份责任。她的作品，就像一首首悠扬的歌，呈现出她心中向往的灿烂世界。

　　这应该是艺术家的胸怀和追求，也正是小娟事业上取得成功的奥秘。

　　Everything is Beautiful

　　Shi Dawei

　　When I was just transferred to Shanghai Chinese Paintings Academy in winter of 1986, I saw that one day presidents of the academy were checking graduation works painted by a graduate student, which with a unique style gave me the deep impression at that time.

　　Those works were painted by Ms. Ma Xiaojuan.

　　Several years later, Ma Xiaojuan came to Shanghai Chinese Paintings Academy to be a professional painter and also to be my colleague; as the head of the Teaching and Research Department, she became the backbone of the Academy.

　　Paintings made by Xiaojuan are as very beautiful as she is; they appear a calm just like the peace in rain during spring by Xuanwu Lake in Nanjing, and like the limpid water of Xihu Lake in Hangzhou; they make us think of the verse by Bai Juyi, a famous poet of Tang dynasty: “Make sure you’ll think of south of the Yangtze River”, which expressed the faint grief in one’s heart and the inflexible will of a success. Paintings made by Xiaojuan look like a triangular prism: properly reflecting her beautiful inner world.

　　An artist must not only learn the complicated skill in painting but also make the skill into the means of expressing one’s mind. It is very hard for a painter to keep the nature of painting in this dazzled world. Xiaojuan, however, does it well by persevering in the pursuit of art. Readers are deeply moved by all paintings made by Xiaojuan with genuine feelings, including pictures of the young lady in lane with an umbrella, a heroine during the War of Resistance against Japan, and a group of women singers of the Miao nationality, as well as the color of red or the country path in the autumn rain. She has an indomitable spirit, maybe, because of coming from an army family; it is only with this spirit she can make her paintings leave deep impression on people and to be awarded many times on national exhibitions.

　　Xiaojuan is the head of the Teaching and Research Department of the Academy, and, together with her colleagues, is in charge of cultivating young painters. She has a kindly feeling toward her students, for she was once a teacher in the university. I am deeply moved by this feeling between teachers and students, just like the maternal love for her children. Xiaojuan will contribute her own champagne to celebrate her students’ achievements. She always works hard with a sense of responsibility in order to reciprocate the favor the times has shown to her. Xiaojuan believes that she and her students should learn from each other and that new knowledge comes from the comprehensive information of both Chinese and Western thoughts, as well as comes from the agile mind of young artists who always pay close attention to the society. Xiaojuan likes to have the frank exchanges of views with young artists; she knows she will get the surprising results through these exchanges.

　　Xiaojuan loves life, being full of passion in her heart but appearing peacefully. She does her best to attain the realm of the true, the good and the beautiful. Someone always want to use the language of art, as Beethoven and Brahms did, to bear the responsibilities of history and society; but Xiaojuan, as Mozart and Chopin did, makes the beautiful works be full of enthusiasm and brings with the beautiful in her mind to people, to her friends and to her readers as goddess Muse does. Xiaojuan depicts her female world concentratively, tells us her story, comes to realize her life, and puts her feeling into her paintings wholeheartedly. It is just with this feeling that she once made a Japanese friend burst into tears. It is the true meaning of art. Works with one’s true feelings must strike their readers. This true feeling is very precious, isn’t it?

　　Xiaojuan is always in a calm frame of mind when she faces her successes, appearing maturation and distillation of an artist’s mind.

　　Nietzsche said: “(Art) will vanquish the individual misery by extolling the permanent of phenomenon, that means, the beautiful will triumph over one’s worries in his (her) life.” Xiaojuan follows the rules of art, and makes us happy and have a careful consideration after reading her works. She is indifference to fame but consciously takes a responsibility to the development of art. Every painting made by Xiaojuan, just like a melodious song, shows us a bright world in her heart.

　　This is an artist’s breadth of vision and also the recipe for her success.

作者：施大畏