《愚公移山》:中国寓言的国际性意义

The Foolish Man Moving Mountain:International Significance of a Chinese Fable

徐悲鸿于1940年在印度创作的作品《愚公移山》是其最重要也是最具争议性的作品之一。对苏利文等西方艺术史学家来说,《愚公移山》的中西美术混合风格没有美学品位,但对中国学者来说,这幅画具有重大历史意义,画中的团结抗日精神正是当时所需要的。我们可以看到过去研究多偏重于这件作品对中国政治、历史、社会、艺术文化的意义,相比之下,关于作品的国际性意义却很少探讨。回到当时的历史语境,泰戈尔其实在徐悲鸿创作这件作品时扮演非常重要的角色。他邀请徐悲鸿到印度国际大学并非只是因为徐悲鸿是知名的中国画家,而且还因为徐悲鸿的艺术在泰戈尔欲提倡的国际主义、亚洲主义与中印文化交流中扮演着重要角色。

The Foolish Man Moving Mountain created in 1940 is one of the most important and controversial works by Xu Beihong.According to the western art historians such as Sullivan,the painting shows no aesthetic tastes after mixing the Chinese and western art styles.But for the Chinese scholars,this work is of historical significance because the spirit of unity is what China needed the most then.Existing studies mostly focus on the political,historical,social and artistic significance of the work.Few discussions are made to explore its international impact.Looking back at the history,Tagore played a key role in this work.He invited Xu to Visva—Bharati University because Xu is a reputed Chinese painter and Xus works are crucial to the internationalism and Asianism advocated by Tagore and to the Chinese-Indian cultural communications.