趙力
作為20世紀中國美術史上的重要藝術家，顏文樑較早地進入到了美術史研究者的視野。從目前的研究基礎而言，其文獻圖像資料相對比較分散，至今未見類似全集性的出版物，這不能不説是現實中的某種缺憾。
民國時期顏文樑的文獻資料，散見於當時的報刊與雜誌，相對較為集中的則見於蘇州美術專科學校的校刊《滄浪美》和《藝浪》。《滄浪美》，創刊于1928年，由黃覺寺任主編，每期約10余頁，共出版3期，畫集1卷，由蘇州文新印刷公司承印。1934年《滄浪美》改刊名為《藝浪》，16開本，鉛字精印，並用銅版精印加上三色版彩印，仍由黃覺寺主編，印刷製版由本校工場承擔。抗戰期間《藝浪》停刊，至1947年復刊，行銷全國，以圖文並茂、精美印刷獲得好評。縱觀《滄浪美》、《藝浪》，顏文樑在寫稿數量和作品刊發上都佔到了最重要的位置，因此這兩本校刊也就成為了研究民國時期顏文樑的藝術思想和藝術創作的重要文獻資料。
20世紀50年代的顏文樑，不僅以其飽滿的創作熱情為我們提供了更加豐富的視覺資料，也通過出版的方式為後世的研究提供了可靠的文獻依據。1957年上海人民美術出版社出版顏文樑所著《美術透視學》一書，藝術家結合自己的創作經驗，系統介紹了美術創作中的透視學原理，並將透視學視為有效分析和掌握錯綜複雜物象的基礎，充分反映了顏文樑對科學與理性之藝術原則的強調。1959年上海人民美術出版社出版的《顏文樑畫集》，彩色印刷，雖然沒有囊括更多的藝術家作品，但是濃縮了顏文樑在50年代之前的重要代表作品，無疑是藝術家重要的圖像出版資料之一。此外同年由浙江人民美術出版社出版的《顏元摹任伯年畫稿》，為顏文樑為其父所編，是研究顏文樑的家庭藝術背景以及早期藝術淵源的重要參考。
新時期之後的顏文樑，在1978年由上海人民美術出版社出版所著的《色彩瑣談》，該書針對色彩學的原理，進行了系統而細緻地論述，對改革開放初期美術界的撥亂反正和關於“形式美”的討論具有了重要意義。80年代以後顏文樑曾多次出版個人畫集，如1985年上海美術出版社出版的《顏文樑畫集》，收入了藝術家各個時期的重要作品，尤其是50年代以後創作的作品；此外像《顏文樑粉畫集》、《顏文樑水彩畫集》等的出版，也使得研究者可以借此看到了一個更為全面的藝術家的創作面貌。1982年由林文霞整理、北京學林出版社出版的《顏文樑•現代藝術家，畫論、作品、生平》，無疑是有關顏文樑的迄今為止最全面、最系統的文獻總匯，該書于1996年精裝再版。全書分“序”、“畫論”、“生平”、“作品”等4個部分，如自序所言，“本書並非一嚴密的理論著作，僅係我長期藝術活動中一些情況與個人點滴經驗”，“其中有些資料，係從我原有舊文摘錄或改寫，部分則根據我最近講述記錄整理而成”，因此其文字既彌補了可能的歷史缺環，又具有總結概括的特徵，是對顏文樑藝術人生和思想變遷進行深入研究的重要資源。除了顏文樑的舊文摘錄和口述記錄之外，全書附彩圖12件，黑白圖片103件，為80年代最全面的一次作品著錄；莫樸、盧鴻基的序文，在回憶中融入眷眷情愫；錢伯城撰寫的“顏文樑先生年表”，仍為迄今最為詳盡的藝術家年表，具有很好的資料價值，唯可惜戛然于1982年而並非完整；而黃覺寺的“顏文樑和蘇州美專”，文雖簡短，但從藝術家與蘇州美專的關係入手，確立了顏文樑在中國美術教育史的地位與作用，開啟了觀察的新孔徑，豐富了研究的方法與角度。
20世紀的90年代，有關顏文樑的研究漸為豐富。其中大量由顏文樑的同事、學生在其過世之後陸續發表的紀念性、回憶性文章，為研究者提供了更廣泛、更全面的歷史資料，對於進一步勾勒和還原藝術家的生平、活動、創作、從教、交遊等歷史情境具有很大的幫助。90年代末關於20世紀中國油畫的研究逐漸為人重視，其中如李超關於上海油畫史的研究、劉新關於20世紀上半葉中國油畫史的研究，都涉及到了顏文樑的藝術創作、藝術觀念和美術教育諸方面的成就，並進一步確立了其在20世紀中國美術史上的歷史地位。關於顏文樑的個案性研究，則以尚輝的《顏文樑研究》為代表，該書于1993年由江蘇美術出版社出版。《顏文樑研究》，全面而系統地研究了顏文樑的生平、藝術創作和藝術思想，在風格分期、美術教育、創作影響等方面進行了深入闡述，該書還附有272件顏文樑的水彩與油畫作品，超越了80年代的資料基礎，同時作者通過爬梳原始資料和口述史方法所獲得的文獻證據，也極大地豐富了研究者對顏文樑的認識。
進入21世紀，有關的畫集出版是以2002年上海畫報出版社的《顏文樑油畫集》為代表，基本涵蓋了“佛羅倫薩”、“羅馬遺跡”、“普陀山門”、“玉帶橋”、“豫園”、“北海雨景”等代表性的油畫作品；此外，2006年蘇州美術館成立80週年之際，推出的“顏文樑畫展”以及相關的活動，在資料整理方面為研究者提供了更多的線索和角度；2009年由中國現代美術出版社刊發的《滄浪掇英——蘇州美專八十六週年紀念專輯》，則以顏文樑為中心，將資料整理和研究的範圍，拓展至整個蘇州美專發展演變的歷史背景和文化線索。
21世紀以來，一些回憶性的文章依舊豐富而發展有關顏文樑的研究資料，其中以顏文樑學生尤玉琪，2008年發表于《南京藝術學院學報》的“我愛吾師——緬懷顏老夫子”為代表。
在顏文樑的藝術創作方面，2006年西北師範大學的牛二春和南京師範大學的沈建華分別以“顏文樑油畫藝術研究”、“顏文樑繪畫藝術研究”為題完成了各自的碩士論文。其中沈建華的“顏文樑繪畫藝術研究”，以顏文樑不同時期的繪畫作品為線索，將其繪畫風格分為兩大階段，即再現寫實和表現寫意階段，並從新文化運動、民族風格及其他因素(繪畫市場、社會政治、自身性格等)的影響方面闡釋了顏文樑風格形成和轉變的原因，總結了顏文樑在藝術上所取得的成就及其在引進西方油畫和油畫中國化等方面所做出的貢獻。2009年顧丞峰的“顏文樑藝術創作分期及相關問題研究”發表于《南京藝術學院學報》，作者在綜合各家關於顏文樑創作階段分期的基礎上發表自己的觀點，探討了顏文樑作品與印象派的關係、與中國藝術傳統的關聯，以及關於顏文樑作品是習作還是創作的判定標準，同時對顏文樑在中國現代美術歷史上的定位提出了自己的看法。2009年美國芝加哥大學藝術史研究所的蘇文惠在德州奧斯汀舉辦的亞洲研究協會西南會議上，發表了題為“旅行過去，體驗現代：顏文樑作品中的羅馬古跡再現”一文，作者以1930年顏文樑在羅馬旅行中以羅馬廢墟為題創作的3張油畫作品為切入角度，運用視覺分析和圖像學的方法，揭示了畫家融合中外藝術傳統的創作觀念，同時認為要成功解讀顏文樑作品的意義，則必須從跨文化的宏觀角度加以觀察，反映出了年輕一代學者的思考和拓展。
有關顏文樑歷史地位的研究，包括2004年姚蘇發表于《蘇州大學學報》的“顏文樑與寫實主義”，將顏文樑視為中國近現代寫實主義繪畫的先驅者之一，並認為藝術家在藝術創作上的寫實主義取向、對藝術“真實”的追求和對繪畫“科學”觀的認識，以及其引進西方美術教育模式、傳播西方寫實繪畫藝術的理論和技巧、創辦蘇州美術專科學校等歷史功績，對於寫實主義繪畫在近現代中國的發展起到了不可替代的作用；2006年李劍南在《美術界》發表的“從顏文樑到當代蘇南油畫的發展談起”，則是通過對顏文樑的藝術研究，思考當代蘇南油畫的創作現狀，思考中國油畫的現狀和未來之路。
有關顏文樑美術教育貢獻方面的研究，包括2004年陸宇澄、劉丹在《蘇州大學學報》發表的“顏文樑與蘇州美專”，通過對資料的爬梳研究，指出顏文梁與蘇州美專對我國近現代美術教育的推動意義。2004年趙思有在《蘇州大學學報》發表的“劉海粟、徐悲鴻、顏文樑美術教育思想與作品的比較研究”，通過對劉海粟、徐悲鴻、顏文樑三位美術教育家的教育思想和藝術創作的比較研究，分析了共性與個性，並強調他們的教育思想對當代美術教學改革和創作發展具有借鑒和參考的價值。2008年南京藝術學院碩士研究生李潔璇，以“工場教育制度的引入和顏文樑實用美術教育思想”為題，從不同側面詳細論述了蘇州美專實用美術科的教學和實習情況，體現出顏文樑實用美術教育思想在當時社會條件下的創新性和現實意義，對當代實用美術教育的啟迪，並進一步確立了顏文樑作為新式美術教育先驅者的地位，以及不同於別人的美術教育貢獻。
此外，2008年唐濤在《中國收藏》雜誌上發表的“陳澄波VS顏文樑”，則體現出更為綜合的研究方法。該文以顏文樑作品的藝術市場研究為新的角度，通過與台灣老一輩藝術家的行情對比，最終反映出國內相關學術研究的薄弱現狀，以及目前國內市場在推廣上的“價值缺位”與“能力不足”。
Yan Wenliang in Art History Studies
Zhao Li
As an important artist of the Chinese fine arts history in the 20th century, Yan Wenliang entered the fine arts history researchers’ sight at a very early stage. Concerned with the current research foundation, the literature documents and images are scattered and a complete works of publication has never been found till now, which can be seen as a kind of regret in the real world.
During the period of the Republic of China, Yan Wenliang ’s literature works were partially found in the newspapers and magazines and some more centralized works appeared in the school journals ‘Cang Lang Mei’ and ‘Yi Lang’ of Suzhou Art School. ‘Cang Lang Mei’, initiated in 1928 and with Huang Juesi as the chief editor, had been published 3 terms of more than 10 pages each term and one painting album, which were printed by Suzhou Wenxin printing firm. Renamed as ‘Yi Lang’ in 1934, the journal, in 16 folio and type font, was trichromaticaly printed with coated paper. It was chiefly edited by Huang Juesi and was printed in graphic arts by the school workshop. The journal ‘Yi Lang’ which was suspended during the Anti-Japanese War and resumed in 1947 become popular around the country and was appreciated for its combination of articles and pictures as well as the exquisite printing. As Yan Wenliang played an important role in the respect of article writing amount and the works publishing, the two school journals ‘Cang Lang Mei’ and ‘Yi Lang’ became the key literary documents in studying Yan Wenliang ’s artistic idea and creation during the Republic of China.
In the 1950s, Yan Wenliang not only created more of rich visual documents with his full creative passion but also provided his successors with reliable literary works by the way of publication. In 1957, Shanghai People’s art publishing house published the book ‘Fine Arts Perspective’ written by Yan Wenliang in which the artist gave a systemic introduction of the perspective principle in the fine arts creation combined with his own creative experience. He interpreted the perspective as the basis for analyzing effectively and acquiring complicated objects, which fully reflected his emphasis on the fine arts principles in science and rationality. Color printed, the publication ‘Yan Wenliang Collection of Painting’ published by Shanghai People’s fine arts publishing house in 1959 was, no doubt, one of the significant image publications of the artist, which concentrated some important works of Yan Wenliang at the time before the 1950s though without more artists’ works. In addition, ‘Yan Yuanpan Ren Bonian Sketches’ published by Zhejiang People’s fine arts publishing house in the same year and edited by Yan Wenliang’s father was seen as the key reference for studying Yan Wenliang’s family background in fine arts and the early fine arts origin.
During the period after the New Time, Yan Wenliang wrote ‘Se Cai Suo Tan’ which was published by Shanghai People’s Fine Arts Publishing House in 1978. The book, containing a systemic and detailed discussion in chromatic principles, played a significant role in setting things right of the fine arts field at the early stage of the reform and opening up policy as well as the discussion in ‘formal beauty’. After the 1980s, Yan Wenliang published many personal painting albums such as ‘Yan Wenliang Collection of Paining’ published by Shanghai Fine Arts Publishing House in 1985 which collected the artists’ important works at different times and the works after the 1950s in particular. Besides, with the publishing of ‘Yan Wenliang’s Gouache Collection’ and ‘Yan Wenliang’s Watercolor Painting Collection’, researchers could see a more comprehensive picture for the artist’s creation. ‘Yan Wenliang•Modern Artist, Painting Theory, Works and Biography’ edited by Lin Wenxia and published by Beijing Xuelin Publishing House in 1982 has been the most comprehensive and systemic literary collection related to Yan Wenliang till now. Bound and revised in 1996, the book consisted of 4 sections including Preface, Paining Theory, Biography, and Works and as what the preface says: ‘Instead of being a tight theoretic work, the book tells some stories and personal experience in my long time artistic activities’ and ‘some of the information stems and is revised from my original articles while others are managed with my recent oral records’. Therefore, the words of the book which make up the possible historical flaws and processes feature of summary are the significant resource for conducting profound studies in Yan Wenliang’ s artistic life and his idea changes. The book, except for Yan Wenliang’ s old literary works and oral records, included 12 color pictures and 103 black and white pictures, known as the most comprehensive works collection in the 1980s; in the prefaces by MO Pu and Lu Hongji finded the emotion and yeans in the memory; ‘Sir Yan Wenling’s Chronology’ written by Qian Bocheng was the most detailed artist’s chronology now and had a documentary value but was uncompleted due to the suspension in 1982; In the respect of links between the artist and Suzhou Art Collage,‘Yan Wenliang and Suzhou Art College’ written by Huang Juesi, with its simple and short articles, established the position and role of Yan Wenliang in education on Chinese fine arts history, which opened a new way for observation and enriched the methods and angles in research.
In the 1990s, with more studies on Yan Wenliang among which are memorial articles published by his students after he passed away provided researchers with more extensive and comprehensive historical documents. The studies were very useful in further describing and recovering some historic scenes of the artist’s life, activities, works, teaching and communication. At the end of 1990s, the researches on the 20th century’s Chinese oil-painting history were all related with Yan Wenliang’s achievement in his artistic creations, artistic ideas and fine arts education and further proved his historical position in the 20th century’s Chinese fine arts history. As far as Yan Wenling’s individual case studies concerned, ‘Research on Yan Wenliang’written by Shang Hui is a reprehensive which was published in 1993 by Jiangsu fine arts publishing house. The book conducts an overall and systemic research on Yan Wenliang’s life, artistic creation and ideas, discussing in depth the various styles, education on fine arts, creation influence and so on. There were also 272 pieces of watercolor paintings and oil paintings by Yan Wenliang in the book, which surpassed the documents in the 1980s. Meanwhile, the literature evidence gained by the writer through sorting out original documents and the method in oral history greatly enriched researchers’ understanding in Yan Wenliang.
With the entry of 21st century, the relevant painting collection publications were represented by ‘Yan Wenliang Oil Painting Collection’ published by Shanghai pictorial publishing house in 2002, which basically covered some representative oil painting works such as ‘Florence‘, ‘Rome Relic‘, ‘Mount Putuo Gate‘, ‘Jade Belt Bridge ‘, ‘Yu Garden‘ and ‘Raining Scene of North Sea‘, etc. Moreover, ‘Yan Wenliang Art Exhibition’ and its related activities at the 80th anniversary of Suzhou Art Gallery establishment in 2006 offered researchers more clues and angles in the respect of processing of data. In 2009, China Modern Art Publishing House published ‘Cang Lang Duo Ying—Memorial Album for the 86th anniversary of Suzhou Art College’ which extended the range of document editing and research to the historical background and cultural clues of the whole Suzhou Art College’s development.
As regards with Yan Wenliang’s artistic creation, Niu Erchun from Northwest Normal University and Shen Jianhua at Nanjing Nomal University completed their master thesis with ‘Research on Yan Wenliang’ s Oil Painting Arts ‘ and ‘Research on Yan Wenliang’s Art Painting’ respectively in 2006. With Yan Wenliang’s painting works at different times as the clues, ‘Research on Yan Wenliang’s Art Painting’ written by Shen Jianhua divided his drawing style into two periods, representation of reality and freehand expression. The work explained the reasons of Yan Wenliang’s style formation and changes under the influences of New Culture Movement, Chinese national styles and other factors (painting market, social politics, personalities and so on) and summarized the achievement he gained in fine arts and contribution he made in the aspects of introducing and sinicizing western oil painting, etc. In 2009, ‘Research on Yan Wenliang’s Artistic Creation Periods and relevant issues’ in ‘Nanjing Artistic College Journal’ was written by Gu Chengfeng who stated his own opinions based on Yan Wenliang creation periods and explored the relations between his works and impressionism as well as the Chinese arts tradition. He also outlined a standard for identifying exercise works from creation in Yan Wenliang’s works while proposed his own ideas in the position of Yan Wenliang in the Chinese modern fine arts history. Su Wenhui who worked at the research institute for fine arts history at Chicago University in 2009 published the article with the title ‘Traveling in the past, Experiencing the modern time: The representation of Rome historical site in Yan Wenliang’s works’ at the southwest meeting for the Asian Research Association held in Austin , Texas . With the three oil paintings of Rome ruins theme created by Yan Wenliang during the trip in Rome in 1930 as the article’s approach, the writer applied the methods of visual analyses and iconography to reveal the painter’s creative idea of combining the Chinese and foreign artistic traditions. In order to successfully understand the meanings of Yan Wenliang’s works, the writer also thought that it was necessary to observe from a trans-cultural and macroscopic sight, which reflected the thought and idea expansion of the younger generation.
The studies on the historical position of Yan Wenliang, including ‘Yan Wenliang and Realism’ in ‘Suzhou University Journal’ issued by Yao Su in 2004, regarded Yan Wenliang as one of the pioneers in the Chinese realism painting at modern times. The writer also believed that Yan played an irreplaceable role in his realism approach in artistic creation, pursuit of ‘real’ arts and acknowledge of ‘scientific’ painting, applying the western artistic education pattern, promoting the theories and skills of western realistic art painting, some historical achievement such as establishing Suzhou Arts School and the development of realistic painting in China at modern times. In 2006, Li Jiannan published his ‘Talks from Yan Wenliang to the Development of Modern Sunan Oil Painting’ in ‘Artistic Circle’, which reflected on the current creation situation of Sunan oil painting as well as the current states and future development of the Chinese oil painting through Yan Wenliang’s artistic research.
In the aspect of studies on Yan Wenliang’s artistic education contribution which includes ‘Yan Wenliang and Suzhou Art College’ issued by Lu Yucheng and Liu Dan in ‘Suzhou University Jounral’ in 2004 appointed out, by the way of sorting out documents, the promoting significance of Yan Wenliang and Suzhou Art College for the Chinese artistic education at modern times. The article ‘Comparative Study of Liu Haili, Xu Beihong and Yan Wenliang’s artistic education ideas and works’ published by Zhao Si in 2004 in ‘Suzhou University Journal’ analyzed the commonness and individuality through the comparative study on the three artistic educators, Liu Haili, Xu Beihong and Yan Wenliang’s education ideas and artistic creation and emphasized the reference values of their educational ideas in the modern artistic teaching reform and creation development. In 2008, a graduate student Li Jiexuan from Nanjing Art College wrote the article ‘the Introduction of Factory Education System and Yan Wenlialng’s Ideas on Practical Arts Education’ through which the writer, in different sides, gave a detailed discussion in the teaching and practice situations of practical arts at Suzhou Art College. The article presented the innovation, realistic meanings as well as the enlightenment for the practical artistic eduction of Yan Wenlikang’s ideas on practical artistic education in the social conditions at the time and further established the Yan Wenliang as the forerunner in the new artistic education and his unique contribution in artistic education.
Besides, ‘Chen Chengbo VS Yan Wenliang’ issued by Tang Tao in ‘China Collection’ in 2008 displayed a more comprehensive research method. The article took the studies on Yan Wenliang’s works at the art market as a new point of view and finally reflected the weak situation of related academic researches in China and the vacancy in value and inadequacy of ability in the promotion of the current domestic market after compared with the older generation of Taiwan artists.