周昉《水月观音像》与中唐美术之“绘画终结”问题

Zhou Fang’s Portrait of the Water-Moon Avalokitesvara and the Issue of the“End of Painting”in Middle Tang Art

中唐画家周昉绘《水月观音像》,由于真迹失传,加之文献描述简略,学界虽然多有关注,但大多止于论及五代、宋以来依据“周家样”粉本所作同类题材作品,至于更为关键的原作真迹,却迟迟未有深入研究。通过调整研究进路,笔者将参考对象从热门的五代敦煌水月观音画像,转移至晚唐巴蜀水月观音塑像,由于后者跟母本更具亲缘性,故而更具参考价值。以此为基础,可尝试推演原作风采。更重要的是,将其归置于中唐美术之“绘画终结”的问题情景中考察,原作还体现了外来宗教信仰的在地化、母权政治影响力的延宕,以及对园林山水的观赏体悟。此三者交融汇通,共同催生出凝定着浓厚的民族审美心理的艺术形象。并且,从更长的时间尺度来看,这标志着佛画入华以来所开启的本土化进程,进入到一个新的阶段。中原画家历经“摹写”“美饰”后,最终能够解构“重组”,在本土文化的语境中生成新的经典范式。

Due to the disappearance of the original work,coupled with the sketchy description in the literature,the statue of Water-Moon Avalokitesvara painted by Zhou Fang in the Middle Tang Dynasty has attracted much attention in academic circles,but most studies stop at the works of the same kind of subjects based on the powdered ectypes of the“Zhou’s paradigm”from the Five Dynasties and the Song Dynasty onwards,while the more crucial original has not yet been studied in depth.By adjusting the research path,the reference object Water-Moon moved from the popular Dunhuang Water-Moon Avalokitesvara portrait of the Five Dynasties to the Bashu Water-Moon Avalokitesvara statue of the late Tang Dynasty.The latter is of more reference value since it is more related to the original work.On this basis,we can try to deduce the mien of the original work.More importantly,when placed in the context of the question“end of painting”in the Middle Tang art,the original work also reflects the localization of foreign religious beliefs,the extension of matriarchal political influence,and the appreciation of garden landscape.These three elements are intertwined,and together they give rise to an artistic image strongly anchored in the national aesthetic psychology.In addition,from a longer time scale,it marks a new stage in the localization of Buddhist painting since its introduction into China.After going through the process of“copying”and“decorating”,the painters of the Central Plains were finally able to“reorganize”their figure,generating new classical paradigms in the context of local culture.