长安自古多人杰。苗墨是在有深厚文化传统的长安艺术氛围中成长起来的杰出艺术家。他自幼爱好绘画，在接受了较为系统的美术教育之后，于1962年进入陕西美术家协会国画研究室学员班进修三年，受到他的老师——长安画派奠基人之一的赵望云先生的亲切教导，并得到石鲁、何海霞、方济众诸位先生的指点，使他对中国画的传统精神、技巧和创造原理有了进一步的认识。长安画派提倡“一手伸向生活，一手伸向传统”的艺术主张，对苗墨的艺术道路有很大影响。他坚持到生活中观察、体验和写生，从大自然中汲取滋养，他更细心体会传统中国画的精神和钻研笔墨技巧。他对中国画的写意性有深刻的理解，他认为中国画要正确解决“形”与“意”、“情”的关系，“形”的表现是为了传达“意”和“情”，而不是为形似而塑造形。在一幅山水画的题字中，他写道：“中国画抽象的是“意”和“情”，而不是概念的形。”这意味着苗墨深谙传统水墨原理：传统水墨追求意象美，具有抽象性，但不同于西方的抽象主义。他在写意水墨的意象美上苦心经营，首先在山水画和人物画创作上取得良好成绩。他的山水画构思奇崛，意境深远，画得随意、潇洒而有内在气质，写出了西北高原空旷、雄浑之大美。因健康原因，苗墨遵医嘱少外出山水写生，转而致力于花鸟画的探索和研究，几十年来埋头探索与创作，取得丰硕成果。苗墨的山水和花鸟画作品先后参加西北五省美展、全国美展、国际水墨画展、中国当代花鸟画邀请展，多次赴海外展出，受到画界和观众的好评。

　　质朴、浑厚、大气是苗墨花鸟画的显著特色。他的作品不仅尺幅大，而且有大的气度和力量。受西北地区民族、民间艺术熏陶和感染，他深刻领会和感受到古代艺术雄浑的气魄和质朴的精神，他试图把这种精神融在以笔墨情趣见长的文人画传统之中。此外，他从山水画走向花鸟画创作，山水画的构图、气势也对他的花鸟画创新起了推动作用。在他花鸟作品中大开大合的布局，开阔的空间层次，对情、景、境的追求，都与他在山水画领域的造诣有关。他的有些花鸟画如1987年创作的《崖畔秋色》和2001年创作的《晚睛》等作品，山水在构图中占有相当大的比重，可以说是花鸟与山水的完美结合。其实，山水与花鸟的创作原理是一致的，艺术技巧也有是相通的。在山水画领域颇有造诣的苗墨之所以能得心应手地在花鸟画中别开生面，就是很自然的了。

　　笔墨语言的丰富和洗练是苗墨花鸟画的另一特色。他很重视作品的构图和布局美，关注画面的统一与变化。不论山水或花鸟，他精心营造主次分明的画面，既突出主体，给人鲜明的印象，又注意多样的变化，以求语言的丰富。如在《初春》中，用点和面塑造的三棵粗实的树干突显画面，颇有气势，而用笔线细致书写的枝芽和跃动在其中的小鸟，给画面增添了无限生机与情趣。总之，他善于把曲折有致、刚柔并济的线条与富有微妙浓淡差异的墨色块面，做有机的结合;他爱用遒劲有力的长线统率画面，用灵动的点擦皴染加以辅助。他用大笔大墨一气呵成地布置大局，他又善于小心地收拾。他的画远看有“势”，近看有“质”。在墨的运用上，他讲究用水的“度”，以达到浓淡枯涩交响的效果。他的画以水墨为主，有时根据表现题材的需要，敷以较浓的色彩。有的作品淡彩与墨色和谐地融为一体，有的浓彩与墨色相互辉映或对比，造成各有特色的视觉效果。

　　水墨画最讲究格调。所谓格调，即作品的文化意味和个性品格的结合。文化意味具有某种普遍性，即反映这个时代知识精英的普遍思考和理想追求;而个性品格则反映出作者个人精神素质和修养等因素。只有站在一定时代高度、关注现实和关注生活的艺术家，才可能在作品中体现具有时代特征的美学理想。苗墨前半生历经坎坷，在政治上遭受不公平待遇，他只能在艺术中默默耕耘。改革开放的时代大潮使他重新焕发出青春活力，给予他发挥艺术才智的良机。1985年苗墨进入陕西国画院，成为一名专业画家。饱尝生活五味的他，在水墨艺术中更重视对精神的表现，而不满足于表面美的追求。苗墨的作品是深沉的，有美学的厚重感，它们经得起人们的咀嚼与品味。他画得最多的是那些蓬勃生长的紫藤，那些朴实无华的棕梠、荷花，那些飽满结实的石榴，还有那些大众喜爱的桃、南瓜、葫芦和各种野果。他说：“我最爱的是果实而不是花，爱那些有顽强生命力的植物”。他借花鸟写人，写他的理想，写他对自然、对生命力的一片热情。他在一幅画中的题字“石榴不语心有数，捧出一腔红宝珠”，是他艺术理想和人生理想的真实写照。

　　水墨最见作者心情、心境和涵养，中国画论历来反对笔墨格调的甜俗、浮滑和霸气。从苗墨作品的表现语言可以看出，他是性格内向、坚强而感情丰富的人，他有深厚的传统文化修养，在艺术上他有一种“咬定青山不放松”的精神，他沉着、稳健而富有深情地驰骋在水墨天地里，探讨和解决诸多课题，力求使自己的水墨语言单纯、简练而整体。潘天寿先生在读《书概》时有眉批：“‘高韵深情，坚质浩气，缺一不可以为书。’画亦然。”苗墨的中国画是兼有深情和浩气的，格调是清新、高雅和纯正的。正因为如此，苗墨富有个性面貌的水墨艺术越来越受到画界和广大观众的认可与高度评价。人们为他淡泊名利的献身艺术和谦逊的人品而感动，也为他硕果累累的艺术创造而赞叹。

　　我们相信，诚实、勤奋和有创新精神的苗墨，今后必将继续为大众奉献更多更新的佳作。

　　2006年8月于北京中央美术学院

　　Passion and Greatness: Miao Mo’s Traditional Chinese Painting

　　Miao Mo is an accomplished painter nurtured in the time-honored artistic tradition of Xi’an, an ancient capital which witnessed heydays of the Chinese civilization. He showed strong interest in painting in his childhood and received academic training in fine arts in his teen years. In 1962, he pursued further training in the advanced course offered by the studio of traditional Chinese painting under the Artists Association of Shaanxi Province. In this three-year training program, Miao made remarkable progress in painting skills and deepened his understanding of the traditions and principles of Chinese painting, thanks to the mentorship of master Zhao Wangyun, founder of Chang’an School of Painting, as well as the guidance of other prestigious artists like Shi Lu, He Haixia and Fang Jizhong.

　　The artistic philosophy of Chang’an School, that is, “drawing inspirations from both realities and traditions”, has had significant impact on Miao’s painting career. On one hand, Miao spared no efforts to sketch diverse subjects of realities and nourish himself in the diversity of the nature. On the other hand, he worked hard to understand the essential spirit of traditional Chinese painting and improve his painting skills.

　　Based on his own understanding of the abstract nature of traditional Chinese painting, Miao believes that an accomplished painter of Chinese painting should properly handle the relationship between the form on one hand and the idea and the feeling on the other. The form is created in order to express ideas and feelings; painters shouldn’t design the form for its own sake. In the inscription for one of his painting works, Miao wrote, “The abstractness of traditional Chinese painting lies in ideas and feelings it expresses, not in physical forms it presents.” In fact, traditional Chinese ink painting pursues the abstract beauty of imagery, which makes it fundamentally different from Western abstractism.

　　In his pursuit of the beauty of imagery, Miao made initial accomplishments in landscape painting and portrait. His landscape paintings feature unique layouts, profound ideas and freehand and unstrained brushworks, demonstrating the vastness and grandeur of the plateau of northwest China. Due to health problems, Miao has seldom done sketching in the field in recent years and shifted his focus onto bird and flower painting. His works have been exhibited in many significant exhibitions at home and broad, receiving extensive acclaims from both the academic circle and general republic.

　　Miao’s bird and flower paintings feature plainness, vigorousness and grandeur. Inspired by distinctive ethnic and folk arts of northwest China, Miao dedicated himself to integrating the vigor and simplicity of ancient Chinese art with the tradition of elite painting as represented by refined strokes. In addition, Miao’s accomplishments in landscape painting have contributed to his creation of bird and flower painting. The freedom in layout, the unstrained interpretation of space, and the pursuit of the unity among the scene, the feeling and the imagery in his bird and flower painting creations, all show the influence of his landscape painting. For example, in “Autumn Scenery of the Mountain Cliff” (1987) and “The Clear Evening” (2001), Miao gave much space to the landscape, perfectly integrating the scenery with birds and flowers.

　　Diversity and simplicity in strokes is another distinctive feature of Miao’s bird and flower painting. He focuses on the beauty of layout and unity and diversity of scenes. While giving prominence to major subjects, Miao pays much attention to diversity of details. For instance, in “The Early Springtime”, the three robust trunks placed in the central appear vigorous while branches and buds as well as flying birds depicted in refined strokes add to vitality and tastes. Miao is versed in combining vigorous and soft lines with ink blocks in subtle shades, and vigorous long strokes with refined dotting and wrinkling. In the use of ink, he makes a perfect control of water to show shades and textures of depicted subjects.

　　Chinese ink painting places much value on taste which refers to cultural implications of the work and personalities of the painter. While cultural implications reflect general ideas and pursuits of elites of a time, personalities reflect the painter’s personal artistic and spiritual accomplishments. Only those artists who focus on realities and ordinary life can demonstrate aesthetic ideals of the time in his creations. In his first half of lifetime, Miao suffered political persecution. He hadn’t had opportunities to demonstrate his artistic talents and creativity until the late 1970s when China embarked on the road to modernization and market economy. In 1985, Miao joined Shaanxi Institute of Traditional Chinese Painting and became a professional painter. Having tasted all sweets and bitters of life, Miao put more emphasis on the spiritual dimension in his ink painting creations, instead of the pursuit of the beauty of forms. His paintings demonstrate aesthetic profundity and thus stand the test of time. What appears most in his paintings are lush wisteria, palm, lotus, pomegranate, peach, pumpkin, gourd and various types of wild fruits. He said, “I like fruits more than flowers. I like all plants with strong vitality.” In his bird and flower paintings, he demonstrates his ideals and his passions for the nature and life.

　　Miao’s ink paintings show his introvert but unyielding disposition, his rich feelings and his solid foundation in traditional culture. Passionately and steadfastly, Miao has dedicated himself to traditional painting, trying to presenting simplistic, pure and integrated ink brushworks. His creations have been widely recognized and well acclaimed by the professional circle and ordinary patrons alike and his devotion to art, humble disposition and outstanding creations have made himself a respected figure in Chinese painting arena.

　　By Shao Dazhen