耐心面对现代画
Patiently face modern art

什么是现代画？这是一个很难解答的问题，因为绘画上用颜色和图像来完成，我们不能只靠文字去了解。最好的文字只能帮助转变你的思想，给予你一些知识上的教条，指出一些你所看得见的东西。如果是这样，我相信无论如何你是不会喜欢现代画。你必须要用自己的眼睛和思想去注意这些美术品，但这不是一件容易的事，因为多数的人都不愿将精神花在这上面，而把这些工夫去寻求更富裕和奢侈的生活。

现代画是什么呢？你翻开画册看看那些小幅翻印的代表作，然后贮纳在脑海中，第一步的印象也许觉得风起云涌，变化多端，这是实在的事实。这些龙飞凤舞变化无穷的现代艺术，也许是反映错综复杂的现代生活，使我们精神上和情绪上深入乱纷纷的世界。不过，牠可以任由我们在广阔的范围中去选择，你不要太快去选取此中一种对艺术过速的要求是肤浅的，很容易误入歧途的，好像一首动人的曲子，你只听过两次，哼上几遍，便不能再持续下去。最主要的你要忠实你自己，不要假装喜欢你所不喜欢的东西，也不要把你说不懂的东西假装成非常的懂，我们不能使所有的人都喜爱同样的东西，正好像有些人没有欣赏音乐的兴趣，有些人没有鉴赏美术的能力——与其说他们没有，不如说他们胆子太小，耐心不够，用的工夫不深。

但是，每一个人对图画稍有注意，每星期都可以看到成百幅，甚至成千幅的画，其中有非常好——报纸上的相片，杂志上的插图，卡通，漫画，公共汽车上和地下铁道的广告画——这些画是要吸引你去买这些东西，或告诉你明天将会忘记的某一件事，或是给予你片刻的愉快。画册里的画却不同了。初阶段时，一定很难全部明白牠们，因此愈看愈以为纷乱。这些画册中的画，并不是用来吸引你去买什么东西，或告诉你昨天有什么新闻，牠们只可以帮助你去了解我们现代的世界。

我们虽然看过成千上万张的画，画过许多的习作，可是从来没有把绘画当作一种艺术来研究。绘画就像一种言语，需要长时期的学习和深度的研究。有些图画书浅明的，像某种语文的A.B.C.读本，有些是艰深带着长篇字句和复杂哲学概念学的文学名著。还有一些像散文
一般或含有诗意的杰作。不过，绘画就好象一种语言，这种语言是各国所共通的，不分种族和地域。为了绘画是一种视觉上的世界语文，因此在这洞窟思想仍旧存在的世界上，有它特别的存在价值。

伟大的现代画家们是时代的开路先锋，正像科学家，发明家和探险家一样，卡里略、哥伦布，曾受到当时的奚落和嘲笑，我们试读七十年近代画家的生活史，就像Whistle或Van Gogh，你可以不喜欢他们，但不能不去明白他们的艺术，你要以一种牺牲的冒险的精神去研究，在这方面要有所收获，在那方面必须忍受一些损失。

我们要以日常生活为题材，这是对的。绘画艺术另一种较大的价值——以牠们的诗意，可以有一种力量带领我们走出单调的生活常轨：虚荣心与自卑感、喜怒哀乐、悲苦窃寞、美丽的风景，野兽的残暴和人类的和善，厨房中的地板或房子里的墙壁，战争、民主主义或专制政治的特征，工业制度的效果，潜在意识的思想输出，宗教的遗风，个人的约束和自由。

一个画家也像我们一样是喜欢和平的人，他和我们一样不能马上解决这些问题。但是通过他的艺术，能够帮助我们了解和明白社会的一切，因为画家大约都是社会敏感的触角。除了这些比较实际的问题之外，艺术还有它更重要的作用，艺术的作品上一种征象。它是人类在内心搜索真理、进步、和真善美显著的一种外露的象征！

What is modern art? This is a difficult question to answer because painting is done with colors and images, and we cannot rely solely on words to understand it. The best words can only help transform your thinking, give you some knowledge-based rules, and point out things you can see. If that's the case, I believe you won't like modern art no matter what. You have to use your own eyes and thoughts to pay attention to these works of art, but this is not an easy task because most people are unwilling to spend their energy on it and instead seek a more affluent and luxurious life.

So what is modern art? Flip through an art book and look at those small reprints of representative works, then store them in your mind. The first impression may seem tumultuous and varied, which is a fact. These ever-changing modern artworks may reflect the complex and chaotic modern life, immersing us in a world of mental and emotional turmoil. However, they allow us to choose from a vast range. Don't rush to choose one type of art; hasty demands for art are superficial and easily lead astray, like a catchy tune you've only heard a couple of times and can't continue to enjoy. Most importantly, be true to yourself. Don't pretend to like something you don't, and don't pretend to understand something you don't. We can't make everyone like the same things, just as some people lack an interest in music and some lack the ability to appreciate art—rather than saying they lack it, it's more accurate to say they lack the courage, patience, and depth of effort.

However, everyone pays some attention to pictures. Every week, you can see hundreds, even thousands of them—some very good ones—photos in newspapers, illustrations in magazines, cartoons, comics, advertisements on buses and subways—these pictures are meant to attract you to buy something, inform you of something you'll forget tomorrow, or give you a moment of pleasure. Pictures in art books are different. At the beginning, it's very difficult to understand all of them, so the more you look, the more chaotic they seem. The pictures in these art books are not meant to attract you to buy something or tell you about yesterday's news; they only help you understand our modern world.

Although we have seen thousands of paintings and done many exercises, we have never regarded painting as an art to be studied. Painting is like a language, requiring long-term learning and in-depth research. Some art books are simple, like a certain language's A.B.C. primer, some are complex with long sentences and philosophical concepts like literary masterpieces. And there are also some like prose or poetic masterpieces. However, painting is like a language that is universally understood across countries, regardless of race or region. Because painting is a visual lingua franca, it has special value in this world where cave thinking still exists.

Great modern painters are pioneers of their time, just like scientists, inventors, and explorers. Like Galileo and Columbus, they were once ridiculed and mocked. When you study the life stories of modern painters from the past seventy years, such as Whistler or Van Gogh, you may not like them, but you cannot ignore their art. You must approach it with a spirit of sacrifice and adventure, expecting gains in some areas and enduring losses in others.

Using everyday life as subject matter is right. Painting has another greater value—to use its poetry to lead us out of the monotony of daily life: vanity and self-doubt, joy and sorrow, beauty and brutality, the effects of industrialization, the output of the subconscious mind, the remnants of religion, personal constraints and freedoms.

A painter, like us, is a lover of peace, and like us, cannot immediately solve these problems. But through his art, he can help us understand and comprehend everything about society, as painters are often sensitive antennae of society. In addition to these more practical issues, art also has its more important role—a symbol on the canvas. It is a visible symbol of humanity's search for truth, progress, and the significant manifestations of truth, goodness, and beauty!