最近数十年西方渐渐认识到所有现代中国画并感到惊讶。令人吃惊的不单是东方艺术家在国际美术技巧上的表现，而且在中国文化大革命结束后，他们虽狂风似的以各种新姿态出现而不失其传统技术：例如现代中国古典画家汪大文就是。汪女士是一位佼佼者，她自幼师承传统，又在上海中国画院接受新技巧，后并委任为该院的专业画师。

　　汪女士早期以画人物画为主，她深信佛教，并在她的笔墨里可以表达出有色彩的僧侣人物和神圣的景象。中国画首先是由人物开始而慢慢发展到山水、花、鸟，汪女士的画的表达也由物质的发展到精神上的无私共有的自然现象。在最近数年她渐增热爱于花卉画，而间偶也有画些构图优雅的人物画，从而摘要地可以看到她故乡的艺术中心主题。

　　西方观者必须以东方角度去看汪女士的荷花和紫藤，从而很想全部了解她怎样从她的笔、墨中去表达和反映她自己怎样冲破传统。汪女士的花、鸟、鱼表面上是不分西东的，但从笔法里是地地道道的出自东方手笔。她的艺术反映出她眼光锐利，不单只是创新而且拥有极度的同感。

　　汪女士画的花、鸟画特式在于色调的变幻和用笔的洒脱刚劲，一部分她的画，事实上，全是水墨，多以粗黑笔和飞白于画面上。这实是受到传统色彩和构图的影响，但并没有失去其个人及其特性于当时。她多用不透明颜色来画大斑点和刚劲的笔法来构图以使荷花注入生命。所以装饰性的宫廷学院画是属于传统中国的象征，但她提醒我们有很多传统中国画的形式是非常非常之简单而共通于现代欧洲的形式主义。她的画作效果是随意着色而仍带着湿，这显示她是自发性的同时赋予中国历史上的方式和20世纪西方的感性。

　　鲜美的混色——暗淡的粉红、蓝色和偶用金色，加上强烈对比的粗而有力、势如破竹的黑线，而成优美的图画，就好像日本水墨画一样。在处理构图抽象的树枝与树根，汪女士以多方面来印证她的作品、主题的设计同时启示出超越于民族的和时空的界限。她弯曲缠绕的紫藤树枝、花卉于附在硬朗的线条上以彩色斑点为背景，创造出书法式的图案而联想起美国抽象表现者Franz Kline但仍保留其本来身份以引证。

　　在过去数年，汪女士的作品渐增成熟于写意、自然，其形态明显的被指为印象主义，但最重要的是东方与西方之间是有显著的分别。在西方是视觉于科学上的理论而不是哲学、格调;而传统的中国艺术，汪女士的主题是以心或意而不是用眼看。她的作品绝不缺乏西方的准则，而是多于成功的自然主义。

　　她曾在上海、北京、香港，甚至早在上世纪70年代末期于日本有不少个展览，因而在亚洲区广泛被认识。自从进入西方世界后，她的名气更甚，她的作品曾展出在费城、德州、纽约;同时讲学及示范于纽约市立大学、达拉斯大学、达拉斯中国画苑及Southern Methodis大学，早于上世纪80年代初期在纽约生活艺术中心和华美协进社仍至今。1985年在新加坡的西泠画廊曾出版过一本《十二观音》画辑。

　　她的作品绝不是商业味，她也曾有数个小个展于纽约，但最显著的成功是在拍卖行。从1980年开始她的名字被确认在大拍卖公司里：如在纽约和香港二地均有的佳士得和苏富比;加州新闻曾描写她早期在美国的事业“一颗新星于拍卖所”。从人物到花卉，在她的作品和讯息里更进一步的精神化，这是汪女士自己供献在画作里的。

　　以她现时创新的力量，汪女士不因现在的成就和自己已是名家而停止勘探。她的近作反映出新的理解和笔法，用的是大泼墨，渗入西方的色彩和线条来引入主题但并不失去东方基本的风格，她总结两传统而完成一个优美的个体，而这个可总体为环宇之声。

　　作者为美国艺术评论家

　　The body of contemporary Chinese art which has become known in the West in recent decades has produced many surprises.Eastern painters have astonished the world with their technical virtuosity in many international techniques;but perhaps no less surprising has been the persistence of certain native traditions in art through all the frenzy of experimentation that came with the end of the Cultural Revolution.The artist whose work grows clearly from a historic tradition is rare in any period of transition.Such an artist is the contemporary Chinese classicist Wang Dawen.

　　The career of Mrs.Wang has been a remarkable one.Given a private education in classical art，she also studied modern technique at the Chinese Art Academy in Shanghai，and was honoured with an appointment as Artist-in-Residence there.The artist's early reputation was based on religious figure studies，A deeply dedicated Buddhist，she expressed her convictions in sensitive watercolors of monks and holy scenes，a central theme in Chinese art for over a thousand years.But just as the emphasis of Chinese art was to shift from the human figure to landscapes，birds，and flowers，Mrs.Wang's work has progressed from the material to the spiritual in its expression of selfless communion with nature.In recent years her work has been devoted increasingly to flora，with an occasional human figure included more as an element of composition than as a central thematic motif，and has thus recapitulated the history of her country's art.

　　It is necessary for the Western viewers to see the lotus and wisteria in Mrs.Wang's captivating ink and wash paintings through the eye and mind of the East to understand what the artist is trying to express and how it reflects a way of thought that grows out of its own distinct traditions.Mrs.Wang's flowers，birds and fish are of no uniquely Chinese genera or species，and there is nothing exotic to the European or American viewers in her subjects.Yet there can be no question of the Eastern visual tradition which informs them.Since turning to nature for its theme，Chinese art has traditionally approached its subject not merely to replicate its outward form but to capture some immaterial quality of its inner essence，and indeed to enter into that essence.Mrs.Wang's art reflects a similar refinement of aesthetic，and is thus an act not only of creation but of profound sympathetic communion.

　　It is characteristic of Mrs.Wang's flowers and birds and fish to display a wide range of chromatic diversity.While some reflect a wide palette，others are virtually monochrome，with bold strokes of black and significant untouched areas of pure white.In this she follows a classic tradition of restrained colour and dramatic composition，but not without bringing to it something both personal and distinctively contemporary.By using large patches of opaque colour and sharply outlined forms，she brings to life the lotus，the traditional Chinese symbol of enlightenment and virtue，with all the decorative style of the Imperial painting academies;but in its minimal simplicity of form she reminds us of how much traditional Chinese art has in common with modern European formalism.And by allowing her colours to flow freely while still wet，she achieves that spontaneity of effort which characterizes both a historic Chinese manner and a 20th century Western sensibility.

　　The delicate interpenetration of colours-pale pinks and blues with occasional highlights in gold-contrast dramatically with powerful lines of black in graceful sweeping forms like Japanese sumi-e.In the abstract compositional values of these branches and roots，Mrs.Wang provides further evidence of the universality of her work，revealing a sense of design which transcends both national and chronological boundaries.Her sinuously twisted branches of wisteria，the flowers no more than a mottled background subordinated to the stark lines，create a calligraphic pattern that recalls the abstract expressionist work of Franz Kline but retain an explicit identity with their natural reference.

　　In the work of the past few years，Mrs.Wang has grown increasingly free，loose and spontaneous.The style that is most easy to assign to her is impressionism，but it is important to recall the difference between the Eastern and the Western understanding of this term.In Europe，the school was based on a scientific theory of optics，its defense based not on philosophy or aesthetics but on science.In the tradition of Chinese art，Mrs.Wang approaches her subjects through the heart or the spirit rather than through the eye.Her work lacks nothing of Western accuracy，but it is a great deal more than a triumph of naturalism.

　　Mrs.Wang has earned wide recognition in Asia with exhibitions in Shanghai，Beijing and Hong Kong as well as in Tokyo

　　extending back to the late 1970s.Since entering the Western art world，her reputation has grown extensively.Her work has been shown in Philadelphia，Pennsylvania，Dallas，Texas and New York City，where since the early 1980s she has been on the art faculties of the China Institute and Louis Abrons Arts for Living Center.She has also lectured and demonstrated her work at the City University of New York，the University of Texas，Southern Methodist University and the Association of Oriental Art in Dallas.In 1985 a portfolio of twelve of her Buddhist paintings was published by Xi Leng Art Gallery in Singapore.

　　Never interested in commercialising her work，Mrs.Wang has had small private showings in New York，but her most noteworthy successes have been in auction galleries.Since 1980 she has been a recongnised name in such international houses as Christie's and Sotheby's both in New York and in Hong Kong.A California newspaper described her，early in her career in the United States，as “a new star of the auction place”.Wang Dawen is a remarkable figure in the contemporary art scene，one of the few who can successfully straddle past and present，East and West.Driven by a sense of personal mission，she spent a year in meditation before creating the series of Buddhist paintings from which her Singapore portfolio was chosen，and in turning from an explicitly religious subject matter to flowers she has further spiritualised both her work and her message.Painting is more than a craft to Mrs.Wang;it is a personal consecration.

　　Now at the height of her creative powers，Mrs.Wang has resisted the temptation to remain static with what she has mastered and exploit a technique which has proved successful.Instead she continues to grow and explore.Her recent work reflects new dimensions of perception and an increased assurance of brushwork.Using the unforgiving medium of ink and wash on paper，she boldly employs Western colour and line when they serve she aesthetic and thematic purposes，but without compromising a fundamentally Eastern aesthetic.In balancing the two traditions，she achieves an elegant unity which speaks with a universal voice to all.

　　The author is American Art Critic