(翁忻旸摄)

        雨后，阳光刺破云层，近处的吴山，城隍阁巍然矗立；远处，西湖烟波浩渺，群峰错落。

        这是著名版画家陆放先生创作的表现杭州新西湖十景之一的作品《吴山天风》，也是他45年来的第50幅西湖系列水印版画作品。

        六十余年生活在西子湖边，这片山水在陆放的画中凝结成了灵魂的一部分。《断桥残雪》《苏堤春晓》《雷峰夕照》《花港春色》《三潭印月》《西湖金秋》《雪》……一笔一刀，一刀一笔，木版水印特有的温润，让那些湖、桥、山、水都显得生机勃勃。无论是春日、金秋，还是雨中、雪后，画中有诗，意趣盎然。因此，陆放也赢得了“西湖陆”的美誉。

        中国版画家协会曾授予他版画界最高荣誉——“鲁迅版画奖”。多年来，陆放的作品被中国美术馆、浙江省博物馆、山东省博物馆、上海图书馆、美国巴尔的摩博物馆和大都会博物馆、英国大英博物馆、法国巴黎国家造型艺术中心、日本神奈川镰仓美术馆等收藏。

捕捉西湖动人之处

        1932年出生于江苏昆山的陆放，10岁时父母去世，由长兄带大。1955年，在部队画了6年的陆放，考入中央美术学院华东分院（中国美术学院的前身）刚刚创立的版画系。1960年，经过专业训练，他留校任教。

        1973年，陆放创作了水印木刻版画《苏堤春晓》。画面上，那春意盎然的苏堤，那激情奔跑的青年，似乎让人闻到春天的味道和青春的气息。

        这幅作品经过近一年的酝酿、构思，是他成功运用水印木刻技法创作西湖题材系列版画的开始，后来被英国大英博物馆收藏。此后几十年，他创作了一系列镌刻西湖之美的水印木刻版画：《西湖之晨》的宁静，《西泠入梦》的隽远，《春色淡抹》的秀美，《西泠初雪》的飘逸，《西湖雪景》的空灵……

        他说：“因为我生活在西湖边，我比外地的艺术家更了解西湖，更能表现它的本质。”

        陆放的作品，逐渐为海内外关注并受到好评。1979年，《苏堤春晓》被国家选送参加世界第十三届版画展。上世纪80年代开始，他的作品先后到美国、日本、法国、加拿大等国家展出。上世纪90年代，他还两次应邀到日本举办个展，作品深受日本民众喜爱，80余件作品被一“抢”而空。

(图由陆放提供)

        几十年来，陆放心无旁骛，将创作精力集中在西湖题材上。他说：“艺术创作，要真诚，不要浮躁。”他的每一件作品，都不是仓促完成的。

        比如他去年创作的《吴山天风》，磨砺了18年才诞生。2000年，杭州吴山城隍阁重修，陆放开始酝酿这件作品。为了寻找创作灵感，68岁的他戴上安全帽，在监理工程师的陪同下，攀上脚手架，观察吴山脚下的城、山、湖。实地体验后，又经过反复的构思、构图、刻版，到2002年，这件作品只剩下最后一道程序“水印”时，陆放将作品封存，因为“对色彩，还没有把握”，直到2018年春找到了感觉，才继续创作。

        陆放说自己脑子里还有很多西湖题材的稿子，“要慢慢地做，快了做不好”。从2006年出版《陆放画册》迄今，陆放的西湖作品也就增加了20来幅。

        访谈中，陆放恰好翻到另一幅被英国大英博物馆收藏的《雾中悠游》。他回忆说，多年来，他一直在寻找创作雾西湖的感觉。1992年秋冬，西湖持续了几天的大雾天，他沿着西湖跑了三次，心中有数了，才开始创作，“没有这三次跑，做不出来”。

        “就是要细细地体验西湖，捕捉最打动人的印象。”陆放打了个比喻，“创作主题的选定，就好像要拿热茶壶一样，你要‘抓’到茶壶的把柄，没抓到它的柄，就拿不起来。”

        现在，陆放仍每周几次去西湖边，一走是就个把小时。80岁以前，杭州一下雪，他肯定会绕西湖一周，去看雪景。

水印木刻里有中国韵味

        陆放认为，艺术家要有自己的风格，“每个人都有自己的个性、爱好、情感和文化修养，要根据这些特质，慢慢地形成自己的格调。风格就是这样形成的。”

        陆放今天为世人所知的风格，也是几十年艺途中逐步形成的。早年，他创作油印木刻，在其笔下，有表现万里长城雄关英姿的《天下第一关》，有刻画黄河天险悬崖绝壁的《黄河龙窝金秋》，也有展示千里大漠的《大漠风尘日色昏》。

        上世纪70年代开始，陆放开始探索用水印木刻来表现西湖。他借鉴了始于17世纪南京十竹斋画坊的木版水印技法，在保留木刻版画的刀味与木味的基础上，大胆采用色彩变化来丰富画面；同时，通过套色宣纸水印中的“水晕”技法，使传统木刻水印在表现“西湖”这个母题上达到了内容与形式的高度和谐。

        陆放说，掌握传统的水印技法，并不容易——宣纸要打湿、喷湿，就像豆腐皮一样，很软，弄不好，就破了。而且一个色，要反复印好多次。比如印黑色，要反复印8次。“你刷色的时候，看看很黑了，一干，颜色就淡了，是灰的。你印时间多了，纸容易破。因此，印的技法很重要。油印的版画，你刻好了，谁都可以印，机器压一压就好了。水印的版画，就得自己干”。

        “中国版画应该有中国韵味。”陆放指出，东西方版画各有特点，西方版画是金属和油为主导，中国水印木刻是木头和水为主导。“现在，有的人搞艺术只看西方，只要现代艺术。西方版画的特点，当然可以拿过来用，但我们自己的传统还是要抓牢。发扬光大中国版画的中国韵味，还是寄希望于年轻一代。”

（本文图片由翁忻旸摄）

Artist Prints Charms of West Lake

Printmaking artist Lu Fang (born in 1932) is best known for the woodprints he has made about the scenic West Lake in Hangzhou. His prints about the legendary lake are so amazing that he is even nicknamed “West Lake Lu”. However, Lu is never a prolific artist when it comes to the lake he dreams of and depicts so romantically and poetically in wondrous colors and lines. He has made about 50 prints about the lake during his six-decade sojourn on the lake.

Over years, he has exhibited his works at home and abroad and his artworks are in the collections of many museums such as the National Art Museum of China, Zhejiang Art Museum, Shandong Museum, Shanghai Library, Baltimore Museum of Art, Museum of Modern Art, British Museum in New York, Centre national des arts plastiques in Paris, and the Museum of Modern Art in Kamakura.

His first woodprint portrayal of the West Lake, was created in 1973, 13 years after he graduated from Hangzhou-based Zhejiang Academy of Fine Arts and began to teach at his alma mater, the predecessor of the present-day China Academy of Art. “I live by the West Lake. I understand it better than artists who don’t live in the city. I depict the essence of the lake better,” explains the artist about his successful lake prints.

In the late 1970s Lu Fang began to make his name at home and abroad. In 1979,  by Lu Fang was presented at the 13th World Woodprint Art Exhibition. In the 1980s his works were exhibited in America, Japan, France and Canada. In the 1990s he held two solo exhibitions in Japan and sold out all the exhibits. His career climaxed in 1996 when he won Lu Xun Woodprint Prize, the top honor for this artistic genre in China.

Lu works at his own tempo. He never hurries. “Art requires honesty and hard work. Haste makes waste,” he states. This is a belief he holds dear in his heart.

In 2000, a restoration project was launched to bring back the City God Pavilion on the Wu Hill by the West Lake. Lu began to think of creating a woodprint about the scenic landmark. Accompanied by a restoration project supervisor, he climbed up the scaffolding and got into the pavilion to take a look over the lake. Then he began to create a woodcut. In 2002, he finished the carving and stopped just before he was to make it into a print, for he wasn’t sure about the colors he was to use. He shelved the woodcut until 2018 when he finally figured out what to do.

A woodprint Lu created in 1992, was inspired by a huge fog which lasted several days on the West Lake. Lu Fang actually strolled around the lake shrouded in fog for three consecutive days before he figured out how to recreate the impression. “Without the three-day experience, I wouldn’t have been able to create the print,” says the artist. “I need to experience all the details of the West Lake before I catch the most moving impression. Choosing a perspective is like the most appropriate way to hold a hot teakettle. You need to hold the handle of the teakettle to make it function best.”

Lu says he has many other ideas about the West Lake, but he will take time to translate these ideas into artworks. He emphasizes again that haste makes waste. In 2006 he published a collection of his woodprints, including the West Lake series. Since then, he has added about 20 to the series.

（Photo/Weng Xinyang）

What makes Lu Fang’s West lake series special is more than the poetic beauty of the lake. Lu Fang makes use of a woodblock printing technique originally used at a woodblock printing studio in Nanjing in the 17th century. He has improved the technique by retaining the original touches achieved through the carving tools and the wood and by adding colors to the print. He creates a special ink-wash effect in colors on rice paper, which is widely used for painting landscape in the traditional Chinese style.

Woodblock printing is not easy on rice paper. Once damp, the paper does not hold the moisture very well. The printing process must be handled with extreme care or the paper can be damaged irrevocably. Different colors need repetitive printing. To print a perfect black, the paper needs to be printed and reprinted eight times altogether. Lu Fang has experimented and perfected and mastered his techniques. He says, “Western artists prefer metal and pigments in printmaking whereas in China artists prefer wood and water. Some prints can be reproduced on a machine at fast speed. Woodblock printing must be made manually one by one. A woodblock printmaker must rely on his hands.”

Lu emphasizes a Chinese characteristic in his woodprints. Some young artists look up to the west as a model and they want everything modern in their artworks. “We can and should absorb the western advantages, but we have no reason to discard our tradition. I look forward to a young generation of artists for carrying on Chinese characteristics in printmaking,” says the artist.