山水画名家汤万清先生将近年的竟兴之作汇编成册，题笺“心镜画集”。封面上开宗明义四句话，“八十变法，随感成象，笔墨精神，自家画镜。”读来令人心胸为之一振，万清兄谦谨一生，不善张扬，更不作惊人之语，今日所言，颇感自扈。然而稍加思忖，这十六个字却也准确反映了老画家当下的心态。画镜本于心源，心境促成法变。充实、丰硕，超迈本身就构成艺术的意蕴，是时代为老画家振起的一种精神境界。作为老友、知己、我深深地祝贺。八旬画家有如此巨册付梓，是一种福分。

　　披览画册，昂扬大气扑面而来，确实变了!所有新作都是水墨大写，横涂纵抹，妙趣天成。是雨后晴岚、是山涧飞瀑、是天桥响雪，是出谷泉声，是春浑花繁、是秋肃寒林，是晓雾初开，是秧田春社，是云山相恋，是夏荫啼莺，是横斜疏影，是黑夜惊雷，是湖滩闪电，是稻香千里，是老屯丰酿。或者是破晓、是静穆、是不朽、是混沌、是净界、是流萤、是佛光、是高秋、是恍惚、是禅颂、是空灵、是铁壁、是耸峙、是危岩、是天界。亦真亦幻，有虚有实，一切在具象和抽象的认知中产生，在审美主体和客体的交融中存在。形神百态都是画家用笔、用墨、用色、用水在宣纸上操作所留下的痕迹。干、湿、浓、淡，抑、扬、顿、挫，平、圆、留、重、变，都是腕底功夫，一切效果有赖长期积累与临池发挥。故尔黄宾虹先生论艺有“以一生作一画”之说，白石先生有“漏曳造化秘，夺取鬼神功”的楹联。万清兄毕生为艺，从报刊设计、刻花剪纸、仿古创汇、写生创作，寻师学艺，专擅水墨，旅展东瀛，定居岭南。寒来暑往，每一步都付出艰辛才有所建树，已成画格本属清峻秀美一路。而今突变而成雄健畅达、豪迈浩荡、浪漫飞扬、奔腾开合，交融混响，磅礴气势，无容置疑，是羽化飞升，是自家境界。可称“顿悟”，颇俱禅意。

　　中国画坛，盛倡大器晚成，衰年变法。是“渐悟”还是“顿悟”难以明辩。白石山翁蜕去八大之冷峭遗风，还原“红花墨叶”热烈厚重、稚拙天真，雅俗共赏，誉满京华。大千张爰海航欧美，法演中西，倾盆泼彩，险夷互彰，华裔众生刮目相看。著述达一百三十余部的理论家黄宾虹，画到八十岁才办了个人画展，始以画名。因画风奇特、“黑满歪怪”，观者瞠目，论家结舌。然而，不出半个世纪，情势大变，今日中国，画家、藏家，若不懂黄宾虹，恐难免被人白眼嗤笑。因此逼得不少的人不懂装懂，真是此一时彼一时。

　　艺术的创作者和欣赏者本来就是相辅相成的两个方面。所以常说有什么样的观众就会产生什么样的艺术。齐白石遇不上陈衡恪就不会有六十变法。张大千不浪迹欧美就谈不上泼彩画法。黄宾虹不与金石彝器学家为伍，也创不出浑厚华滋，苍拙古奥一派。依此类推，汤万清如果遇不上改革开放，就没有八十变法。国政开放则有思想解放，思想解放则有创作自由。三十年间时潮滚滚，各领风骚。文思在古今，中外、雅俗、新旧博亦中驰骋，自有敏悟，自有取舍、自有皈依，自有创意。先生晚年以随感作画，反射出一种自在的笔墨精神。孙过庭书谱所谓“右军之书，末年多妙，当缘思虑通审，志气和平，不激不厉，风规自远”。以此境界度万清艺术，我以为是洽合的。浅尝即语，是为序。

2011-6-5日于问耕庐

At Wen Geng Lu on June 5, 2011

陈立言(著名画家、原湖北省美术院院长)

Chen Liyan

　　Renowned painter,and former Director of the Art Institute of Hubei Province

　　Tang Wanqing, a famous landscape painter, has had his paintings in recent years collected together and published with the title of “Xin Jing Hua Ji” (literally meaning “A Collection of Paintings Which Mirrors his Inner World). On the cover of the book are printed the words “I changed the painting style in my later seventies. With the brush and ink, I just paint what I feel and think.” This really surprised me. Brother Wanqing is a modest and low-key man who never makes shocking remarks. But the words on the cover of his new book seem to sound a little arrogant. After pondering on this for a while, I find that these words provide an accurate reflection of the current mindset of this reputable painter. The artistic creation is based on one’s inner world. The changes in the inner world will lead to the changes in his artistic creation. Richness and superego constitute the implication of the art. It is the times that give the artist such a spiritual realm. As his old friend as well as a confidant, I sincerely congratulate him. For a nearly 80-year-old painter, having such a great book published is really a blessing.

　　Reading the book, I can immediately feel a kind of high spirit. It’s really different now! All the new paintings are created with Chinese ink and are characterized by an impressionistic style. No matter the mountain scenes after a rain, waterfalls hanging from the cliffs, thunder roaring over a natural bridge, a gurgling stream running out of the valley, flowers in spring, trees in autumn, mist in the morning, rice transplanting in spring, peaks enveloped by clouds, birds singing in the big trees on summer days, thoughtfully composed branches and shadows, a stormy night, lightening over the water, a stretch of rice field, or a remote village; no matter the solemn and quiet, the immortal, the chaos state, the pure land, or the fire flies, the Buddhist light, the sunny autumn, falling into a trance, chanting Buddhist sutras, emptiness, steep cliffs, dangerous rocks or Heaven. All, seemingly between real and unreal, are created by an understanding of the concrete and the abstract, and the integration of an aesthetic subject and object. All are the traces the painter left on the rice paper with brush, ink, pigments and water. All these prove the artist’s basic painting skills. All depends on long-term accumulation as well as on-site performance. So, when talking about art, Mr. Huang Binhong once said that one would spend his whole life in creating a painting. Mr. Qi Baishi also wrote a couplet which showed the reflection of the mysterious fortune and achievement of extraordinary magnificence. Brother Wanqing has been closely linked with art in his lifetime. From being engaged in the layout of a journal, paper-cutting, artistic creation in the style of the ancients, to painting from life, to looking for a teacher help him improve his painting skills, becoming a painter specializing in ink painting, exhibiting his works in Japan and till now settling down in the southern area of China, every progress was made through the painstaking efforts. Tang has already established his elaborate and delicate painting style. But now he has broken new ground, recomposing the painting method and transforming it into one characterized by boldness, romanticism, majesty and lack of constraint. Undoubtedly, this change represents self-transcendence for him. He made it, which may be a reflection of the sudden enlightenment attained in a Buddhist manner.

　　In the painting world of China, there are many late bloomers. It is hard to say that their success is a result of gradual enlightenment or sudden enlightenment. In his eighties, Qi Baishi left behind the influence of Zhu Da, a famous painter of the Ming Dynasty and established his own style – “red flowers with black leaves”. The new na?ve and 'back to nature style suited both refined and popular tastes, which helped to gain great fame for him in Beijing, the capital city of the country. Zhang Daqian, a talented artist from both Chinese and Western studies, created the splash-pigment painting in his later years, enjoying great fame in and outside this country. Huang Binhong, an artistic theoretician who has written 130-plus books, didn’t hold an exhibition of his paintings until he was 80 years old. In spite of his astonishing and unique painting style, in China today, if the painter and the collector know nothing of Huang Binhong, most probably they will be laughed at. Therefore, many of them have to pretend to know. Times have changed!

　　The artistic creator and appreciator represent the two sides which complement each other. So people often say that as is the audience, so is the art. If Qi Baishi hadn’t met with Chen Hengke, he wouldn’t have achieved the transformation in his art at the age of 60. If Zhang Daqian hadn’t studied in Europe and America, he wouldn’t have been able to create splash-pigment painting. If Huang Binhong hadn’t had friends who were experts in the inscriptions on ancient bronzes and stone tablets, he wouldn’t have been able to invent his own style, either. Also, if Tang Wanqing didn’t happen to live in the era of reform and opening up, he wouldn’t have been able to attain his transformation in his late 70s. This country decided to open to the rest of the world, a move which leads to ideological emancipation. Thanks to the emancipated thoughts, the people enjoy the freedom of literary and artistic creation. In the past 30 years, great progresses have been made by various sides. Mr. Tang Wanqing can freely express his feelings and thoughts by making artistic creation in his later years. This reflects a kind of natural and unconstrained spirit of the ink painting. Sun Guoting, a famous theoretician in calligraphy in the Tang Dynasty, once said in his Essays on Calligraphy that Wang Xizhi’s handwriting reached the highest level after he stepped into old age -- because his long-term exploration, research and study helped Wang Xizhi to finally obtain the freedom of artistic creation. Actually this also represents a true picture of the artistic life of Tang Wanqing. Absolutely! Hopefully this simple foreword can lead to a deep and thorough understanding of the book.