走向現代——英國美術三百年 來自英國西北部的公共藝術收藏

【廣州】

時間：2013年4月30日 - 6月14日

地點：廣東省美術館

活動簡介

這批世界著名油畫作品是一筆由英國藝術家創造的非凡財富，藏于曼徹斯特及鄰近城市的博物館與美術館之中。由于工業革命的巨大影響，此地區的藝術發展呈現出一派繁榮景象，這使得富有的制造商與商人們能夠資助支持英國藝術家的創作，同時他們也能大量收藏優秀世界著名油畫作品。

許多藝術家都將自己的作品遺贈給了大曼徹斯特郡下各個城鎮的公共美術館。同時，英格蘭西北部的博物館和美術館也購入了歷史名作和當代畫作，增加了自身館藏量。此次《走向現代——英國美術三百年》將展示這批豐富的藝術文化遺產，這不僅來自于英格蘭西北部人民的精心收藏與資助，同時也是各個機構自發收藏的成果。此次展覽還將頌揚當地人民的開放思想、自由精神以及他們堅定的信念，堅信藝術具有普世意義，能夠造福于全人類。

雖然不同的美術館和博物館收藏的展品都具有各自的獨特屬性、各有優劣，但通過對大曼徹斯特公共藏品中所有類型的繪畫風格和特點的梳理，此次展覽將對18世紀中期到今日的英國繪畫發展情況進行全方位綜合性考察。展覽既會展示先鋒派畫作，又會展示傳統繪畫作品；既囊括了主流藝術畫作，又囊括了反叛傳統的藝術作品。展覽也將網羅不同的繪畫流派，從傳統的歷史和宗教主題，到肖像畫和風景畫(這是英國藝術中最為熟悉的兩大類型)， 再到捕捉普通英國人日常生活片段的“藝術白話文”。

此次展覽同樣會展示創作于21世紀的畫作，與200多年前的作品一同呈現于觀眾面前，從陳列的布局也能發現出不同時期作品的異同之處。本次展覽講述的藝術進化史并未有任何順暢可測的模式可循，也很少優先歐洲的創作。此次展覽將展現英國藝術的獨特性與光怪陸離之風，以及復雜精致與高超非凡的固有技巧。英國藝術的復雜性與奇特性將使這場展覽具有極為豐富的可觀賞性，為觀眾帶來最激動人心的體驗。

在英國，由于未建立起藝術教育的規范學術體系，畫家們能夠享受無可比擬的自由度來抒發心中獨特的創造性思想，無需擔憂主流的品味或是對藝術實用性的質問。

英國歷史上致力于改革傳統藝術創作方式的藝術家往往立于反傳統藝術觀或個體獨特性的視角–如威廉?布雷克（William Blake）的畫作，拉斐爾前派畫家早期的實驗性作品，或是斯坦利?斯賓塞（Stanley Spencer）具有前瞻性的油畫作品–雖然改革可能帶來令人費解、難以闡釋的藝術發展類型，這一變革仍然是獨一無二的表現力。這樣看來，繪畫給人們生活帶來的震撼堪比知識界、文化界及政治界的影響。而在這一變化階段，英國也逐漸成為現代國家，這并非是通過徹頭徹尾的革命鑄就的，而是通過充滿激情、具有非凡特質的個體，他們自身屬于反傳統宗教或政治觀的一代， 帶領全國人民向前推進偉大變革。

這一景象在曼徹斯特尤為可見，19世紀這里便建起了具有進步性的經濟學院，同時也逐步形成了與倫敦保守派霸權完全不同的政治風格。

本次展覽將充分展現各個時代英國藝術家豐富的創造力與想象力，同時展示出英國人民的開放思想與自我認知度。

Toward Modernity: Three Centuries of British Art

Guangzhou: 30 April – 14 June 2013

Venue: Guangdong Arts Museum

Introduction

We have the Industrial Revolution in the late eighteenth century to thank for this magnificent collection of art works. During those times of great prosperity, a great many artists lived the North West of England and glorious collections were formed in the greater Manchester region by the wealthy.

About the exhibition

This exhibition offers a fascinating parallel to the wider intellectual, cultural and political life of the nation. This was a period during which Britain emerged as a modern nation, not by outright revolution, but by the impassioned lead of remarkable individuals, often themselves non-conformists in the religious or political sense.

In Manchester, a new and progressive school of economists was established in the nineteenth century and a political alternative to the London-based conservative hegemony was fostered.

This exhibition draws on this rich legacy of art in the North West and celebrates the open-mindedness of the collectors and their belief that art should be enjoyed by all. While the contributing galleries and museums have different specialisations, by drawing on the entire spectrum of styles, the exhibition presents a comprehensive survey of the development of British painting from the mid-eighteenth century to the present day.

It includes mainstream as well avant-garde art, twenty-first century works as well as two-century old works, paintings as well as drawings, historical and religious subjects as well as portraiture and landscapes (two staples of British art), along with works depicting everyday life in a kind of artistic vernacular. It celebrates the individuality and eccentricity of British art as well as its sophistication and extraordinary levels of intrinsic skill.

British art

In Britain, because no specific academic system of artistic education has been established, painters have been at liberty to express their own particular creative bents without concern about the wider expectation of artistic taste.

Individuals who have sought to reform the practice of art in this country have usually done so from a position of artistic non-conformism or personal idiosyncrasy – for example of the drawings of William Blake, or the early experimental works of the Pre-Raphaelites, or the uniquely visionary canvases of Stanley Spencer. While the consequence may be an overall artistic development that is confusing and complicated to explain, it is nevertheless fabulously characterful and distinctive.

（來源：英國使館文化教育處，編輯 Helen）