汤万清先生有丰富的人生经历，他1932年出生于湖南省醴陵市，自幼喜爱绘画，中学时开始学习西画，曾拜潘树棠先生为师。后来做过民间工艺美术研究，在剪纸艺术上做出过突出成绩，多次有过其他职业的选择，但他始终怀着一腔热情，坚持着对中国画的痴迷和热爱， 他虚心地临摹古代名作、虔诚地向名师求教和向大自然学习，广泛地与海外交流，不断探索和追求，终于在山水画领域取得杰出成就，建立起独特的个人面貌，更在古稀之年大器晚成，迸发出旺盛的创作激情，作品呈现出精湛的技巧和不平的气度。

　　汤万清早期的山水很工整，1977年创作的四幅《桂林山水》是这一时期的代表作,近景的石阶、树叶、寺庙,中景的民居、凉亭、大桥，远景的宝塔、帆船和起伏的山峦，以及水面的波纹…… 一笔一笔，细细密密，平平实实，细致得像民间刺绣。这种用写意技法画工笔的方法，虽然缺少了写意画的笔墨意趣，但是颇有装饰性，在当时是很受欢迎的一种绘画形式。

　　《桂林山水》严谨、工整的画风，反映出他严肃的创作态度和坚实的绘画功底，说明他具有雄厚的艺术潜力。谦虚、好学的他，在取得初步成绩之后，继续拜师求索，以求新的突破。

　　1978年，汤万清参加李可染先生的山水画学习班，这段学习经历对他尔后的艺术道路有重要意义。他说，可染先生要求大家作画态度必须十分认真，要像“无鞍乘野马，赤手捉毒蛇”那样对待创作;学习传统要“以最大的功力打进去，以最大的勇气打出来”：在创新上，提倡“可贵者胆，所要者魂”。可染先生并赠汤万清条幅“峰高无坦途”加以勉励。

　　汤万清80年代创作的许多山水画，如《柳岸蝉鸣》、《千里暮云平》、《汉江远眺》等，具有不同于早期作品的鲜明的特点：创作以写生为基础，有浓郁的生活气息;笔墨语言更为丰富、精妙，点擦皴染之间颇有传统艺术的情趣;画风开始走向自由、潇洒，显得轻松、活泼。也许正是画风走向轻松、活泼这一点，预示了他下一阶段艺术面貌的变化。

　　90年代，汤万清的山水画转变成和原先迥异的抽象风格：狂放不羁，潇洒纵情。这时，他从赵无极的艺术中获得启发，并拜访了这位他敬慕己久的抽象派大家，向他请教。在汤万清的《山水抽象系列》中，确实有一些赵无极的影子。他摆脱了形的束缚，驰骋于意象与抽象之间的境界之中。他大胆地运用色彩，大块面的赭石、朱砂、曙红交融的暖色，夹杂着一些土黄和枯墨，一片宇宙洪荒的意境。他之所以如此敢于在艺术创作中放弃原有的模式，颠覆自己，另辟蹊径，固然得益于李可染先生的言传身教，另一方面也与他敢于冒险、勇于求新的性格有关。当然，更重要的原因是他在对传统艺术的不断钻研中，对中国文论中的“意象说”，对道家“大象无形”的理论，有了更深刻的体会。他似乎在赵无极的绘画中，体悟到这种理论的现代实践成果，从而产生新的创作激情。至于说到他个人性格与他艺术上不断追求之间的关系，我以为他有是一位对外界事物变化有敏捷反应、并有艺术包容精神的人。同时，还由于他多才多艺，对运用各种绘画语言的表达方式既有一种令人称羡的自信，并有可贵的自我质疑精神。

　　在汤万清的抽象山水受到广泛好评时，他并没有就此停步，而在90年代上半期又一次进行了艺术风格的蜕变，以完全不同于抽象山水的装饰性田园小景画，让大家刮目相看。而这次蜕变的直接动因，来自于他在岭南旅游中所获得的启发：南国郁郁葱葱、丛林叠翠的花草树木，让他大开眼界。那些纯粹、鲜亮的色彩，给了他强烈的视觉印象。他敏锐地发现了大自然中另一种与他内心恬淡、安闲感情相呼应的景象，激发起他创作的灵感。他用胸中积蓄己久的诗意化的装饰性语言，加以表达，创作出具有东方情趣的田园小品，清新、淳朴，生动、活泼，如夏日的阵阵清风，沁人心扉。这些田园小景画大多采用方构图，墨线稚拙而厚重，以浓墨为主，勾线设色，色彩单纯而强烈，有大俗大雅的气度。

　　轮回，其实时时存在，一天是一个轮回，一生也是一个轮回。汤万清从工整装饰性绘画开始，经历了肆意的抽象，狂放的写意，现在似乎又回到起点一一带有装饰趣味的田园画。但是，此装饰己非彼装饰，这是一种自觉的回到初始状态的复归，是历尽探索之路后的返璞归真。我们能从中读到他对自然的那种饱满的热情，能感受到作品中传递出的那种纯粹的意蕴。

　　当人们揣测这种风格的绘画将是汤万清艺术创作的“归宿”时，他在2009-2011年间推出的新作给出了完全相反的回答：那远不是他艺术探索的终点。近几年里，他在原有创造成果的基础上，尝试把他运用过的各种图式和技巧融合成新的绘画语言，其中包括水墨的苍润与墨色交融的和谐关系、绘画的抽象意味与斑斓色彩、剪纸造型语言的强烈，以及绘画的装饰趣味，等等。这时，他更重视心灵在艺术创造中的作用。传统中国画历来强调师造化、师古人，而解决造化、古人与创作关系时的中介，则是画家的心灵世界。自然界万物的美感，古人的艺术成就，都要靠创作者的心灵与体悟、去吸收。因此，对艺术家来说，师心非常重要。数十年来，汤万清在师自然、师古人和师心中，花费了他大量心血。进入古稀之年后，他更突出些领悟到师心的作用。他把“心境画集”作为最近出版的一本作品集的标题，就充分说明这一点。

　　汤万清2009—2010年的新作淋漓尽致地发挥了水墨的意象特性，不求形似，而通过笔墨关系求象外之意、弦外之音，在笔到意到和笔不到意到之间，表现艺术语言的节奏与韵律，表现神韵，表达自己的思想、感情和某些美学的思考。这一幅幅充满真情的意象山水画，有的以赞颂大自然的力和美取胜，有的以揭示自然界的神奇与多变引人关注，有的则带有禅意和其他隐喻的因素……而贯穿其中的则是艺术家丰富的精神世界. 颇有意思的是，汤万清的新作有强烈的抽象性，但始终没有走到绝对的抽象，这恐怕是由于他对传统中国美学理论和绘画实践有了更深刻的体悟吧!当然，由于他有广阔的国际艺术视野，有鲜明的个性，他笔下的意象绘画，又有他个人独特的面貌和新的时代气息。

　　汤万清年近八旬时，能创造出有如此磅礴气势、意蕴深远、情趣兼备的作品，不仅是因为他有丰富的生活经历和艺术经验的储备，还在于他有不同凡响的勤奋和探索精神，更在于他有过人的艺术悟性。

　　汤万清正以老骥伏枥、志在千里的精神，在艺术领域内奋力前进相信他不断会有新的奉献。

　　邵大箴(中国美术家协会理论艺委会主任、中央美术学院教授)

　　Chairman of the Art Theory Committee of the Chinese

　　Artists Association and Professor of the Central Academy of Fine Arts

　　Tang Wanqing has a wealth of life experiences. Born in Liling City of Hunan Province in 1932, he loved drawing when he was very young. As a middle school student, he began to learn Western oil painting under the tutelage of Mr. Pan Shutang. Later he was engaged in the research on the folk arts and crafts and made remarkable achievements in the art of Chinese paper-cutting. Although having been involved in a variety of work, he has always maintained a love for Traditional Chinese Painting. He has never stopped his hard work and constant exploration in this regard, modestly copying ancient Chinese paintings, devoutly learning from the great masters and nature, and extensively communicating with overseas counterparts. All of this hard work paid off and finally, Tang Wanqing has won outstanding achievements in the field of Traditional Chinese Painting and established his own unique painting style. Now in his seventies, Tang, still with his strong creative impulse, constantly presents the world new works which not only show his consummate painting skills, but also reveal a kind of extraordinary spirit.

　　Tang’s landscape paintings from an earlier time show neat and orderly features. The four-piece Guilin Scenery created in 1977 is his representative work from this period. With the stone steps, leaves and temples in the foreground, the residential houses, pavilion and big bridge in the middle, and the pagoda, sailing boat, rolling mountains and ripples on the water in the distance, the whole painting has thin and thick strokes arranged in a neat and orderly way, making it just like wonderful embroidery. Creating a realistic painting in an impressionistic way will inevitably lose the characteristics of impressionistic paintings. But, such a painting method, so rich in ornament, was very popular at the time.

　　The rigorous and neat style of Guilin Scenery reflects Tang’s serious attitude towards creation and excellent basic painting skills. At the same time, it also shows that Tang is a painter with great artistic potential. After making initial progress, Tang Wanqing wanted to improve his painting skills further so as to make new breakthroughs.

　　In 1978, he joined the landscape painting course taught by Li Keran, a renowned artist specializing in Traditional Chinese Painting in modern China. The learning experiences here greatly influenced his later artistic career. Tang recalled that, “Mr. Keran told us that we must be very serious about painting. When creating a new work, we should be as brave as those who dare to ride on a wild unsaddled horse and dare to catch a poisonous snake with bare hands; and when studying traditional Chinese culture, we should do our utmost to go into it and then come out of it with great courage.” And in reference to innovation, Mr. Keran holds that it is of great importance to give the painting new life and soul in such a way.” Mr. Li Keran once presented Tang Wanqing a scroll that reads, “Feng Gao Wu Tan Tu” (literally meaning it “Is Not Easy to Reach the Highest Peak”) as encouragement for Tang Wanqing.

　　Many of Tang’s landscape paintings created in the 1980s, including Liu An Chan Ming (literally meaning “Cicada singing in the willow by the River”), Qian Li Mu Yun Ping (literary meaning “Clouds in the Dusk”) and Han Jiang Yuan Tiao (literally meaning Looking far into the distance by the Hanjiang River), display characteristics obviously different from his paintings in earlier times. The artistic creation is based on painting from life, thus featuring a strong taste of life; the language of brush and ink, which has become much richer, more exquisite and more delicate than ever, manifests the unique charm of traditional Chinese art; and the painting style tends to be free and lively, which may be a sign of changes to come in his painting style in the next stage.

　　In the 1990s, Tang’s landscape paintings abandoned the original realistic style and turned to the abstract manner–natural and unstrained. Greatly inspired by the paintings of Zhao Wuji, Tang Wanqing decided to pay a visit to the great master in the field of the abstract art whom he had long admired and ask for his advice. In Tang’s Abstract Landscape Series, we can really feel something resembling the painting style unique to Mr. Zhao Wuji. Being free from the constraints of the form, Tang Wanqing indulged himself in a world between image and abstraction. He was very bold in the use of color. Large areas of warm colors such as ocher, vermilion and eosin dotted with a little yellowish brown and black combine to present an artistic conception of the primitive universe. The reason why Tang Wanqing dared to give up his original creation method, reinvent himself and do something different, was not only because of his teachings of Li Keran, but also because of his own character. He is a person who has never been afraid to break new ground. Moreover, through disciplined effort in studying traditional Chinese art, Tang gained a deeper understanding of the “imagist”, a view prevailing in the circle of Chinese literature and art, and “the truly grand scene has no specific shape” greatly advocated by Taoism. He seemed to understand these theories through the paintings of Zhao Wuji and was inspired with a strong new passion for artistic creation. As for the relations between his personality and his ceaseless pursuit of art, in my eyes, Tang Wanqing is very sensitive and open-minded to artistic creation. Being a versatile artist, he is very confident in freely using various drawing languages to express his thoughts. This is an enviable ability that not all the people can acquire. More importantly, he has a valuable spirit of self-criticism.

　　Just when Tang Wanqing’s abstract paintings for landscapes were well received, he didn’t stop to rest on his laurels. In the first half of the 1990s, he accomplished another wonderful transformation in artistic style and presented a series of small decorative paintings of idyllic views. This series was so impressive that even when looking back now, I can still remember the stir it caused then. The direct impetus behind this transformation should be attributed to the inspiration he obtained during his trip to the Lingnan area of China. The southern area of the country is a green world full of various colorful flowers. The pure and bright colors made a strong visual impact upon him and he realized that there was another kind of natural scene that works in concert with his peaceful inner world. His creative inspiration was thus stimulated. Using the poetic and decorative languages which had been reserved for so long, he succeeded in creating a set of small idyllic paintings with a strong oriental touch. They are fresh, plain, vivid and lively, just like the cool breeze on a summer day. Most of these paintings are square in constructional drawing with simple and thick strokes, with pure but strong color. The whole picture very much reveals a popular but refined taste.

　　Actually there is samsara occurring at all times. It can be as short as one day. It can also be as long as a person’s whole life. Tang Wanqing started from decorative paintings in a realistic manner to paintings with unstrained and impressionistic features. Now it seems that he has returned to his starting point – the idyllic paintings with a bit decorative taste. In fact, his paintings now are substantially different from those at an earlier time. This return is a kind of conscious comeback to recover his original simplicity after making various explorations. In his paintings, we can feel his great enthusiasm for nature, as well as something pure and simple.

　　Just when people were reckoning that the idyllic-style painting would be the end-result of his artistic exploration, Tang Wanqing had new works published between 2009 and 2011 so as to tell the world that his artistic exploration has not yet come to an end. In recent years, on the basis of established achievements, he has been trying to invent a new drawing language by rearranging various drawing methods and skills he had used, such as the harmony between dark full-bodied ink and the pigments, the abstract painting and the art of brightly-colored paper-cutting, as well as the decorativeness of paintings. Now, he pays more attention to the role that the mind plays in artistic creation. Our traditional Chinese painting has always stressed the importance of learning from nature and the ancients. The inner world of the painter serves as a bridge connecting nature and the ancient world with artistic creation. The beauty of all things in nature and the artistic achievements of our predecessors need to be understood and absorbed through the heart of the painter. Therefore, for an artist, it is very important to create with your own heart. Thanks to decades of painstaking efforts in this regard, Tang Wanqing developed a better understanding as such in his seventies. All these lead to his latest publication titled “Xin Jing Hua Ji” (literally meaning “A Collection of Paintings Which Mirrors his Inner World”).

　　Tang’s paintings finished between 2009 and 2010 give full play to the characteristics of Chinese ink paintings. Namely, not to seek similarity in appearance, but in pursuit of meaning beyond the images by way of applying ink and strokes in order to showcase the tune and spirit of the artistic language as well as to express the ideas, feelings and aesthetic understanding of the painter.. Among this series of impressionistic-style landscape paintings, some highlight the mighty force and beauty of Mother Nature; some show the magical and ever-changing nature; and some are tinged with Buddhist hues and spoken with metaphors. All of them are well connected together by the rich inner world of the artist. More interestingly, the new paintings of Tang are of strong abstractness which, however, is not absolute. This should be because he has gained a deeper understanding of traditional Chinese aesthetic theory and the practice of painting. Of course, due to his broad vision of international art and distinctive personality, his impressionistic-styled paintings are inevitably bestowed with the qualities unique to Tang himself, and the new flavor of the times.

　　In his late seventies, Tang Wanqing can create majestic, profound and refined paintings -- not only because of his rich experiences in life and art but also due to his exceptional hard work and exploration. In addition, as an artist, he has extraordinary artistic perception.

　　In a spirit of “An Old Steed in the Stable Still Aspires to Gallop a Thousand Li”, Tang Wanqing is working even harder to advance in the field of art. I believe he will make even more new progress in the near future!