女青年半身像（素描） 徐明华

　　镜前（油画） 徐明华

　　螃蟹（油画） 徐明华

　　 【艺海撷英】

　　徐明华先生的名字并不广为人知。但是，只要了解他艺术的人，尤其是美术界的有识人士，一提到他都十分钦佩。不为人知，原因在于他不求人知，倾心于创作与教学，少言而不擅应酬。他极少举办个人画展，作品出版物也相对较少。令人钦佩，原因在于他对艺术创作的真诚，对伟大自然的真情，对教育事业的真爱，以及他在艺术上的真功夫与始终如一的追寻、探索所形成的鲜明风格和画中所呈现的高雅格调。

　　徐明华先生是中国第一代留苏艺术家中得“真传”者之一。他融艺术于生活，将阳光下、空气中形成的氛围气象和客观物象纳入画面，锤炼成形式，以纯粹而丰富的油画语言进行表达。那些颤动的光色中既折射出俄罗斯巡回画派艺术大师的神韵，也透露出法国印象主义迷离的意境，更深刻展现出他对深爱的故土的钟情。在他朴实而充满光华的作品深处，铺陈的是现实主义底色。他尊重自然，研究自然，写生，写真，写境界，写出他理想中的色彩世界，写出一生的甘苦与追求。

　　从留苏时期的人体素描、人物肖像可见徐明华先生早年扎实的造型功底和表现能力。这既得益于苏联学院科学的训练方式，也显示出其艺术天赋。当然，与他青少年时期生活的家乡——陶都宜兴的艺术环境也有关系。这座充满灵性的江南水乡，不仅有着历代制壶大师的遗珍，也诞生了徐悲鸿、吴大羽、吴冠中等艺术巨匠，是一方美的沃土。这美的情结始终让徐明华先生初心不忘，晚来依然一少年。他背着画具，流连于故乡的竹海与粉墙黛瓦的民居小巷。五年前，我因邀请他举办画展而专程到宜兴，终于在一个偏僻小村的石拱桥上找到他，八十多岁老翁稀少花白的头发在春风中飘忽，躬身对景写生，桃李无声，流水潺潺……远看，他融入了大自然的图画中。当我谈及关于办展的事，他淡然微笑：“待再画些画，以后再说吧。”

　　我理解他，一向对自己要求高。早年就显示出非凡才华的徐明华先生于1950年以专业第一名的成绩考入南京大学艺术系。入学后，其素描、色彩受业于留法归国的黄显之、秦宣夫教授，美术史受业于傅抱石教授。1952年全国高校院系调整，成立南京师范学院，他转入南京师范学院美术系学习，1953年毕业并留校任教。1955年至1960年他被选派赴苏联留学，在塞洛夫、维那格拉道夫、维夏尔金等名师亲授下，进一步夯实了基本功，并常在国立特列恰科夫美术博物馆和普希金博物馆观赏名作。他深悟“意象”不仅仅是中国画里才有的，西方绘画里也有。他从提香的作品中更坚定了艺术中的“写实”是经过艺术家提炼的，甚至是理想化的。他将这种理想化与中国艺术中的“写意”相比较，对写实有了新的理解。这为他后来油画创作中富有感染力的表现风格奠定了思想与审美基础。同时，他对伦勃朗和委拉斯贵兹在生命与个性的表现方面所展示出的非凡创造力钦佩无比。当年还是青年留学生的徐明华先生，在列宾、苏里科夫的故乡俄罗斯，已对历史上诸多油画名家进行比较研究，且入木三分地展开剖析。这对他全面认识油画，获得本质性的价值判断，激发和丰富自己的创作，提升绘画的品格是极为重要的。所以，他于留学期间创作的《女大学生》《镜前》及20世纪80年代后所作静物画《螃蟹》和风景画《三月》皆凸显了艺术本体的力量。从留学阶段到20世纪80年代的艺术境界，是徐明华先生超越内容的限制，自觉构建新的形式语言，而臻心灵与艺术表现相融的标志。如果说，他早期留学的作品显露出其天才性，那么20世纪80年代后的作品则更厚重，是其人生阅历及修养的体现。

　　徐明华先生始终保持以不同的方法表现不同的景物，这样就不会出现为了风格的统一而忽视对事物特点的观察。在他看来，此谓“尊重自然，尊重对象”。然而，这种尊重不等同于如实描绘，要在为对象所动的基础上加以表现。这种主客观相融的表现往往使作品洒上诗性的光辉，在现实的感动中遁入审美的愉悦。

　　徐明华先生正是在这种状态中反复寻找，反复琢磨，常常由于不满意而在已完成的画上重新调整，在重复中实现自我超越。对油画语言的锤炼缘于他对油画历史的尊重，他认为要掌握好油画语言，就必须认真学习油画传统的精华。一个艺术家只要在艺术宝库里增加一点新鲜的东西，就会成为他的创造。这也许就是他默默无声劳作的原因所在。

　　今天，90岁的徐明华先生终于觉得可以举办个展了。作为党培养的人民艺术家，他要用一生的努力向人民汇报。他在2021年与2022年交接的时刻，来到中国美术馆，将自己的代表作捐赠给国家。

　　 徐明华先生正是在以艺立人、以艺培根的人生之旅中，大写了一个“真”字。

　　 （作者：吴为山，系中国美术家协会副主席、中国美术馆馆长）

Bust of young woman (sketch) Xu Minghua in front of the mirror (oil painting) Xu Minghua crab (oil painting) Xu Minghua [art sea extracts English] Mr. Xu Minghua's name is not widely known. However, as long as people who know his art, especially knowledgeable people in the art field, admire him very much. The reason why he is unknown is that he does not seek to be known, is devoted to creation and teaching, and is not good at socializing without speaking. He rarely held solo exhibitions and relatively few publications. The reason for his admiration lies in his sincerity in artistic creation, his true feelings for the great nature, his true love for education, as well as his distinctive style and elegant style in the painting formed by his true Kung Fu and consistent pursuit and exploration in art. Mr. Xu Minghua is one of the first generation of Chinese artists to study in the Soviet Union. He integrated art into life, incorporated the atmosphere, meteorology and objective images formed in the sun and air into the picture, hammered them into form, and expressed them in pure and rich oil painting language. Those trembling lights not only reflect the charm of the art masters of the Russian touring school, but also reveal the blurred artistic conception of French Impressionism, and more deeply show his love for his beloved hometown. In the depth of his simple and brilliant works, what he displays is the background of realism. He wrote about the ideal of life, the pursuit of nature, and his pursuit of nature. From the human body sketches and portraits during his stay in the Soviet Union, we can see Mr. Xu Minghua's solid modeling skills and expressive ability in his early years. This not only benefited from the scientific training method of the Soviet Academy, but also showed its artistic talent. Of course, it also has something to do with the artistic environment of Taodu Yixing, his hometown where he lived as a teenager. This spiritual water town in the south of the Yangtze River not only has the legacy of past generations of pot making masters, but also gave birth to art giants such as Xu Beihong, Wu Dayu and Wu Guanzhong. It is a fertile land of beauty. This beautiful complex has always kept Mr. Xu Minghua's mind in mind, and he is still a teenager when he comes late. With his paintings on his back, he lingered in the bamboo sea and the residential alleys with pink walls and Daiwa in his hometown. Five years ago, I invited him to hold a painting exhibition and made a special trip to Yixing. Finally, I found him on the stone arch bridge in a remote village. The 80 year old man's sparse gray hair fluttered in the spring wind, bent over the scenery and painted from life. The peach and plum were silent, and the water gurgled... From a distance, he integrated into the natural picture. When I talked about the exhibition, he smiled calmly: "draw more pictures later." I understand him. He's always demanding of himself. Mr. Xu Minghua, who showed his extraordinary talent in his early years, was admitted to the Art Department of Nanjing University with the first place in his major in 1950. After entering school, his sketch and color were studied by professors Huang Xianzhi and Qin Xuanfu who returned from France, and the history of art was studied by Professor Fu Baoshi. In 1952, colleges and departments of colleges and universities across the country were adjusted and Nanjing Normal University was established. He transferred to the Art Department of Nanjing Normal University to study. He graduated in 1953 and stayed in school to teach. From 1955 to 1960, he was selected to study in the Soviet Union. Under the personal instruction of famous teachers such as selov, vinagradov and visharkin, he further consolidated his basic skills, and often watched famous works in the national trechakov Art Museum and Pushkin Museum. He deeply realized that "image" is not only in Chinese painting, but also in Western painting. From Titian's works, he confirmed that the "realism" in art was refined by artists, even idealized. He compared this idealization with "freehand brushwork" in Chinese art and had a new understanding of realism. This laid the ideological and aesthetic foundation for the infectious expression style in his later oil painting creation. At the same time, he admired Rembrandt and Velasquez for their extraordinary creativity in the performance of life and personality. Mr. Xu Minghua, who was a young student abroad at that time, has conducted comparative research on many famous oil painters in history in Russia, the hometown of Lebin and sulikov, and carried out thorough analysis. This is very important for him to fully understand oil painting, obtain essential value judgment, stimulate and enrich his creation and improve the character of painting. Therefore, the female college student, in front of the mirror, the still life painting crab and the landscape painting March created by him during his study abroad all highlight the power of artistic noumenon. The artistic realm from the stage of studying abroad to the 1980s is a sign that Mr. Xu Minghua transcends the limitations of content, consciously constructs a new formal language, and achieves the integration of soul and artistic expression. If his early works of studying abroad show his genius, his works after the 1980s are more thick, which is the embodiment of his life experience and cultivation. Mr. Xu Minghua always expresses different scenery in different ways, so that he will not ignore the observation of the characteristics of things for the sake of style unity. In his opinion, this means "respecting nature and objects". However, this respect is not equivalent to truthful description, which should be expressed on the basis of being moved by the object. This combination of subjective and objective performance often makes the works sprinkle poetic brilliance and escape into aesthetic pleasure in the touch of reality. It is in this state that Mr. Xu Minghua repeatedly looks for and ponders, and often readjusts the completed paintings due to dissatisfaction, so as to achieve self transcendence in repetition. The tempering of oil painting language stems from his respect for oil painting history. He believes that to master oil painting language, we must seriously study the essence of oil painting tradition. As long as an artist adds something new to the art treasure house, it will become his creation. This may be the reason why he worked silently. Today, Mr. Xu Minghua, 90, finally felt that he could hold a solo exhibition. As a people's artist trained by the party, he should report to the people with his whole life. At the moment of the transition between 2021 and 2022, he came to the China Art Museum and donated his representative works to the country. Mr. Xu Minghua capitalized the word "truth" in his life journey of building people with art and bacon with art. (author: Wu Weishan, vice chairman of China Artists Association and curator of China Art Museum)