HenryRosemont, Jr. 布朗大学教授，宗教研究访问学者，马里兰州圣玛丽学院人文学院George B. 和Willma Reeves杰出教授和复旦大学的高级顾问教授。
主要代表作有：《〈论语〉解析》、《论语：哲学诠释》、《〈孝经〉：中国传统家庭价值观典籍》
前言:
当童心斋画廊的俞建文先生第一次来找我时，我并没有答应。他正在筹备柴教授的画集，想让我写篇文章，这让我犹豫不决。原因是，虽然我也曾研习中国古代哲学多年，却全然不是什么中国画的专家，充其量不过是一名欣赏者而已。由此我觉得，对于柴教授的画作我毫无发言权。
有感于俞先生的恳切，我同意先看一下画作的照片，不料很快我就被作品所显示出的多元化和活力所吸引了，打动我的还有画家使用各种艺术工具时表现出的多才多艺。最终我同意就画集中所见的几幅作品写一篇短评。
当我更加仔细地观看柴教授的画作，尤其是几个流派——社会现实主义、肖像画、龙虎画，以及“心象画”的代表作时，我有一种感觉：越看我心中越清楚，柴祖舜教授的作品需要更为成熟完善的西方艺术分析评论，这不是我这个水平能够给予的。有鉴于此，我请我的女儿康妮·罗斯蒙与我一起为画集撰稿。小女对中国画所知甚多——她是约翰·霍普金斯大学人文系中文专业的文学硕士。上世纪80年代初，我在复旦大学任教时她也在那里学习过两年。多年来我们父女俩时常就中国的艺术大师展开讨论，从她的分析和鉴赏中我获益良多。
很快，她也被柴教授的画作吸引，同意和我一起撰写评论。
由此，读者所见的文章出自我们两人之手，我从哲学的角度——无论是中国还是西方哲学——为画作作总体论述；而康妮则从艺术的角度，对柴教授的作品全集提供实质性的评论。
柴祖舜艺术赏析
罗思文（Henry Rosemont, Jr.）
近几十年来，西方对于中国哲学的研究已经得以拓展和加深，美国许多大学的哲学系已经开始认真对待中国哲学课就是明证。对于中国哲学的兴趣，主要原因不仅是中国经济实力的提升——这一点往往是学术先行——而是因为很多比较哲学家越来越清晰地认识到，中国古代哲学文献的早期翻译采取的其实是特定的西方哲学术语，这无疑意味着中国古代的大家无法发出自己的声音。更糟的是，这导致使他们显得不如其西方同僚那么成熟。
但是，一旦我们放弃（徒劳无获地）寻找中国思想家如何思考本质和存在（静止）——两个自柏拉图以来一直贯穿西方哲学历史的根本概念——我们就可以开始理解中国古代先贤对于转型和生成（变化）的看法。对于变化的理解是中国古代诸子百家学说的核心所在，从中我们可以懂得和欣赏中国画，一点也不比欣赏中国哲学来得少，只要我们开始理解哲学家们都如何讨论人类应该怎样最好地生活：不是像西方那样寻找和思考永恒的真理，而是过一种只适应“变化”这一中国观念中唯一恒量的生活。孔子也好，庄子也好，他们的目标都是与无为的理念和谐相处，学会随时随地“顺势而为”。
宣纸墨彩瑞雪
这个基本的例子说明了西方对于中国哲学的研究是如何发展成熟起来的。西方曾经把无为翻译成“不活跃”或者“无所作为”。用这两种译法来回答人应该怎么活法这个问题，只要不是中国人，都会觉得有些古怪。于是现在这个词被解释为“不费力的作为”，这样我们就可以发现，无为其实是一个过程，它纵贯人的一生，因为变化永不停止。人类一直处于变化中，其变化并不比自然少，同时还伴随着各种事件的发生。由此，如何对待永恒的变化至关重要，正如宋代著名理学家程颢所言：“圣人之常，以其情顺万事而无情。”
您也许会问：这些和柴祖舜的画作又有什么关系呢？首先，如果我们把他的作品放到其整个创作生涯的背景下审视，很容易就会发现，画家能够踏入一个剧烈变化和转型的世界，却从不迷失方向，也不会为短暂的现象纠缠。整整一个甲子，画家都通过作品的内容和形式体现出这些变化，这一点在他当下的心象画中达到顶点。在我看来，心象画表现出了一种成熟的自律的自发性。这种表达当然是矛盾的，但仔细观看他的画作，特别是心象画，就会发现这是一个技巧高超的艺术家。他潜藏了自我，利用绘画工具（包括自己的手指）作为自身在色彩和形状中的延伸。这些颜色和形状乍看下几近随意，但细看却自有一种凝聚力，形成有机的整体，富有美感。从中透露出的是自律的自发性，正是凭借这种特质，柴祖舜驾驭了心象画。
有一点必须申明，我所说的自律的自发性，并不是指柴祖舜本人，而是指他的画作，纯粹是就事论事。对于柴教授本人，我只是通过短短的自传认识的，只有那么多。不过话说回来，在我看来，他不应被简单视为传统的中国画家或西方画家，也不是两者的取长补短；而是应被视作两者兼备，不是其中之一，因为他的自律使得他不单掌握了绘画大师的几种技法，还学会了超越自我中心的视角，得以在画作中臻于“随心所欲而不逾矩”。努力变得“随心所欲而不逾矩”，正是两千多年来所有中国传统知识分子的共性。
从这个角度出发，我宁愿将柴教授视作一名传统的中国画家。他所画的虎和龙也是非常传统的（也许有一点除外，那就是画中的虎作为天朝的象征，总是露出尖牙利齿。或许这是为了表现中国“站起来”后的威严？）。他的社会现实主义作品，同样大多十分传统。值得称赞的是，柴教授对待普通人物（工农兵）的肖像画，与对待名人（爱因斯坦、孙中山、宋庆龄、毕加索等）肖像画一样认真，倾注了同等的热情和精力。
另一方面，显而易见，柴教授对于西方艺术形式、技法和工具也非常精通。这样的例子不多，主要在他的油画作品，特别是几幅裸体画中，得以清晰体现。这让我想起了法国知名汉学家弗朗索瓦·于连，他在《不可能的裸体：中国艺术和西方审美》一书中论述到：
无论中国画还是中国雕塑，都没有裸体。这一现象归根结底不是出于理教，而是出于理念。换言之，中国从来没有系统地设想、梳理、提出过任何有关本质的理论。基于这种中国式幻想，不对各路神仙所演变的肉身追根问底也就不难理解了。
基于于连的这种论述，柴祖舜的一些画作毫无疑问是一反常态的，它们打破了传统中式理念，变得彻头彻尾的西方化。但是我必须承认，我觉得裸体画是柴祖舜画作中最不具备说服力的。
第一眼看去，有几幅画作给我中西交融的感觉，也许理应这样称呼它们，但对我个人而言，“交融”更多出自于西方介质（颜料和画布），而不是来自中国元素（纸墨）。
泥金纸墨彩高瞻远瞩
总体来说，我看到自律的自发性最多的，还是在心象画作品中。这里的无为非常明显。这就是为什么我建议，作为一个画家，柴祖舜最好被描述为“两者皆是”或者“兼备”。反映在他心象画作品中的抽象表现主义，显而易见是西方的。这既是指灵感（他时常提到波洛克的画作），也是指技法和材质。但是，最能将柴教授的画作与其他抽象表现主义作品——无论是中国的还是我所见到的西方的——明显区分开来的，仍然是圣人或君子般的理想主义传统艺术家所信奉和遵从的无为及顺其自然。据我全部所知，圣人般的无为而治，才是独一无二的中国特色。柴祖舜没有超越常人视角（没有人能够做到），却能够以不止一个视角观察感知，由此他的心象画具备了活力和生动的自发性，有呼之欲出之势。正如他对自己所作的评论，这些画作代表着创作所处年代的秉性，它们并非静止不动，也不仅仅是时代快照，而是生动描绘了中国以及世界所经历过的诸多重大变革，以及时值21世纪开端正在经历的一系列重大变革。
CHAI ZUSHUN: AN APPRECIATION &
PRELIMINARY RESPONSE TO HIS WORK
Connie Rosemont
&
Henry Rosemont, Jr.
Prolegomena (HR)
When Mr. Yu Jianwen of the Tongxinzhai Galleryfirst approached me to write an article for the catalog of Professor Chai Zushun’spaintings he was preparing, I hesitated, because while I have long studiedearly Chinese philosophy, I am not at all a scholar of Chinese painting. I aman appreciator of it at best, and thus believed I could have nothing of anysignificance to say about Professor Chai’s work.
But at his urging I agreedto look at the photos being put together for the catalog, and fairly quicklybecame intrigued by both the variety and vibrancy of Chai Zushun’s paintingsand the versatility of his use of the artist’s tools, and agreed to write ashort appreciation of the several visions I saw reflected in his work.
I began looking moreclosely at his paintings in the several genres in which he concentrated:socialist realism, portraiture, tigers and dragons, and “mental imagery.” Themore I did so, the more convinced I became that Professor Chai’s work deserveda more sophisticated Western analysis and evaluation than I was capable ofgiving it, so I asked my daughter Connie Rosemont to participate with me inwriting for the catalog. She is highly knowledgeable about Chinese painting –she holds an M.A. in Chinese from the Humanities Department of the JohnsHopkins University and studied at Fudan University for two years while I wasteaching there in the early 1980s – andI have learned much from her analyses and assessments of the Chinese masters wehave discussed together over the years.
泥金纸墨彩记忆
She, too, quickly becameintrigued by Professor Chai’s work, and agreed to join me in writing about it.
Readers now have theresults of our efforts before them. I will proffer some general remarks on thepaintings from the perspective of philosophy – both Chinese and Western – andthen Connie will present a more substantive account of Professor Chai’s ouevrein its artistic context.
THE ART OF CHAI ZUSHUN: ANAPPRECIATION
Henry Rosemont, Jr.
Western scholarship onChinese philosophy has been broadening and deepening for several decades now andis beginning to be taken seriously in many of the philosophy departments in theUnited States. The major reason for this interest is not simply China’s rise toeconomic power – much of the scholarship preceded it – but because it becameincreasingly apparent to many comparative philosophers that earlier translatorsand interpreters of the classical Chinese texts were employing a specificvocabulary of Western philosophical terms when translating the Chinese, whichof course meant that the early masters were not able to speak in their ownvoices, and worse, made them appear not very sophisticated as philosopherscompared to their Western brethren.
But as soon as we stoplooking (in vain) for how Chinese thinkers thought about essences, andabout being (stasis) -- two fundamental concepts throughout thehistory of Western philosophy since Plato – we can begin to appreciate what they were saying about transformationand about becoming (change). These latter concepts were central toall of the “Hundred Schools” of classical Chinese philosophy, and we willunderstand and appreciate Chinese painting no less than philosophy only as wecome to understand how the philosophers all debated how human beings shouldbest live: not, as in the West, seeking and contemplating knowledge of eternalverities, but rather living a life that accommodated the only constant inChinese thought – change. For Confucius as well as for Zhuangzi the goal was tolive in accord with the principles of wu wei actions; learning to “Gowith the flow” at all times.
This is a primary example of how the study of Chinese philosophyhas grown more sophisticated in the West. Wu wei used to be translatedas “inaction” or “non-action,” both of which sound odd to a non-Chinese inanswer to the question of how one should lead one’s life. Now, however, thephrase is rendered more as “effortless action,” and we can come to see that itis a life-long endeavor, because change never ceases; human beings are alwayschanging no less than nature, along with the course of events. As the notedSong Neo-Confucian philosopher Cheng Hao said, “For the junzi, nothingis better than being impersonal and impartial, and responding to events as theycome.”
泥金纸墨彩心象
What has all this to dowith the paintings of Chai Zushun, you may ask? In the first place, if we viewhis work over the course of his career, we easily see that he has been able tostep into a world of great change and transformations while never losing asense of direction, nor getting entangled in momentary phenomena. He hasreflected those changes in both the content and the form(s) of his work overthe course of six decades, culminating in his current “mental imagery” (xinxiang) paintings, which to me exhibit a sophisticated disciplinedspontaneity. This expression is an oxymoron of course, but close viewing ofhis xin xiang works especially show a highly skilled craftsmansubmerging his ego, employing his painting instruments as extensions of himself– including his own fingers – in patterns of colors and shapes which almostseem random at first, but form a coherent, integrated and aestheticallypleasing whole when studied. And whatsuch study reveals as well is the disciplined spontaneity with which ChaiZushun has learned to paint them.
I must be clear on this point. I am not attributinga disciplined spontaneity to Chai Zushun himself so much as I see it reflectedin his painting; about the man himself I know only what he includes in hisbrief autobiography. But I do not see him as merely either a Chinesetraditional painter, or a Western one, nor yet a fusion of the two. Rather than“either/or” I believe he should be viewed as “both/and,” because his disciplineinvolved not simply mastering the several techniques of master painters, butalso learning to transcend an egocentric perspective that would permit him tobecome “impersonal and impartial” in his painting, as Cheng Hao had suggested thejunzi must strive to achieve. This striving characterized alltraditional Chinese intellectuals for two thousand years.
In this way I seeProfessor Chai as a traditional Chinese painter. I believe his tigers and dragons are also verytraditional (except, perhaps for the tigers as symbols of the Middle Kingdomcurling their lips and baring their fangs almost all the time; perhaps a symbolof defiance after “China has stood up?”) The socialist realism works are alsosignificantly traditional for the most part, and it is to Professor Chai’scredit that he has done portraits of workers, peasants and soldiers with asmuch respect as he accorded the celebrities he also portrayed (Einstein, SunYat Sen, Song Qingling, Picasso, etc.).
On the other hand,Professor Chai became quite proficient in Western art forms, techniques andtools as well. This is clearly, albeit unusually, shown not only in his work inoils, but specifically also in his several paintings of nudes. Here I amreminded of the well-known French sinologist Francois Jullien, whose book TheImpossible Nude: Chinese Art and Western Aesthetics included the followingstatement:
That nudeswere neither painted nor sculpted in China can ultimately beattributed to ‘theoretical’ reasons; namely, that China never conceived,singledout and put forward a cohesive plane of essences, and that the Chineseimagination therefore found no gratification in the embodiments of essences that the mythological figures represent to us.
In Jullien’s sense, then,Chai Zushun has definitely painted across the Chinese grain in some of hiswork: Western through and through. And I must confess it was the nudes I foundleast compelling of his works.
泥金纸墨彩心象
At first glance several ofhis paintings struck me as fusion, and perhaps they should be called such, butfor myself the “fusion” is more due to his western medium (oils and canvas)rather than the Chinese (ink on paper).
Overall, however, it is inthe “mental imagery” work that I most see Chai Zushun’s disciplinedspontaneity, his wu wei effortless action evidenced; which is why Isuggest he is perhaps best describedas “both/and” as a painter. His abstractexpressionism reflected in the xin xiang works is obviously Western inboth inspiration (he regularly refers to Jackson Pollack’s work), and intechnique and materials. But it is the junzi ideal of the wu wei andziran traditional artist that most distinguished Professor Chai’s paintingsfrom other abstract expressionist work either in China or in the West I haveseen, and it is just that junzi display of effortless action that is, tothe best of my knowledge, uniquely Chinese. He has not risen above perspective(no one can), but is able to see more than one perspective in what he observesand senses, and consequently his imagery has a vibrant and vivid spontaneitythat seems to want to escape the confines of the canvas. And as he sayshimself, they bespeak the temper of the times at which they were painted, yetare not static, not simply a snapshot in time, but illustrative of the many andvaried major changes China – and the world – were undergoing at the times theywere painted, and are undergoing in these opening decades of the 21stCentury.
