92歲高齡的高式熊先生是上海市文聯(lián)榮譽委員。這位著名書法家的“紅葵花館”書齋，象征著高家兩代在滬甬兩地乃至全國書法藝術(shù)界的功績。高振霄、高式熊父子喜愛紅葵，家里還世代種植紅葵花。

高振霄（1877-1956），字云麓，寧波府鄞縣人，為清末翰林。1904年，他參加中國歷史上最后一次科舉考試，得中二甲第四十七名進(jìn)士，入翰林院，官編修，時人常稱呼“高太史”。清朝末年，時代變革，社會鼎新，末代進(jìn)士命運各異。當(dāng)時高振霄拒絕袁世凱、段祺瑞直至汪精衛(wèi)的利誘拉攏，先后在漢口、上海等地以賣字、授課為生；1930年定居上海福煦路四明村，與從寧波老家過來的次子高式熊相依為命，以教書鬻書自給。高式熊先生回憶孩童時代，對父親在滬上蘇州河邊謀生記憶猶新，當(dāng)時上海的鐵行進(jìn)貨出貨全在河邊，碼頭上擠滿運貨的船只。那里有一個十分有名的可熾鐵行，1930年鐵行陳老板聘請翰林高振霄做家庭教師。10歲的高式熊跟著父親，住在鐵行樓上。高振霄上午教陳家四個兒子，下午教高式熊寫字、讀書，星期六父子倆才回家。

高式熊先生7歲啟蒙，習(xí)史書詩經(jīng)。早年瞞著父親，喜歡刻印。有一天，他刻的印為名家趙叔孺所見，大為贊許，并告訴高振霄。此后他多刻印譜，書藝大進(jìn)。新中國成立之前，父子雙雙鬻書、刻章，以此換錢，勉強(qiáng)維持一家人生計。盡管生活拮據(jù)，高太史對家鄉(xiāng)寧波鄞縣總是一往情深，留有珍貴墨寶。在寧波家鄉(xiāng)，或廟宇里、或古橋邊、或有些年代的墓地中，從所掛的牌匾、楹聯(lián)、碑刻中，常能看到高振霄的書法，化名有頑頭陀、洞天真逸、學(xué)庵、四明一個古稀翁、耋年勵學(xué)等，盡管署名各異，而那古樸峭拔、俊雅挺秀且蘊含著書卷氣息的書法手跡，為人所熟知，寧波阿育王寺舍利殿前的兩塊碑刻更是令人嘆為觀止。上海解放后，上海市市長陳毅聘任高振霄為上海市第一代文史館研究員，后來他又當(dāng)選為政協(xié)委員，有了正式工作和固定收入，生活得以極大改善。

高式熊幼承家學(xué)，尤精書藝，又得名家趙叔孺、王福庵、張魯庵指點，青年時期已加入西泠印社。27歲時完成《西泠印社同人印傳》印譜四冊，銀鉤鐵劃，自成風(fēng)規(guī)，身列名家后，曾為西泠印社名譽副社長。高式熊還是著名的印泥制作大師，曾受教于西泠印社早期社員、著名書法家、篆刻家、收藏家和魯庵印泥創(chuàng)始人張魯庵先生，得張先生真?zhèn)?。張魯?962年臨終前，將“魯庵印泥49號秘方”托付給高式熊，叮囑其務(wù)必將魯庵印泥的制作工藝傳承下去，“魯庵印泥49號秘方”成為魯庵印泥唯一傳世的“血脈”。齊白石曾長期使用高式熊的印泥，它能保證50年不走色。經(jīng)過高式熊先生多年奔走呼吁，魯庵印泥終于被列入“上海市非物質(zhì)文化遺產(chǎn)名錄”，并申報國家級非物質(zhì)文化遺產(chǎn)。

同其父高振霄一樣，高式熊愛國愛鄉(xiāng)之情躍然紙上。2010年他把先父高振霄的墨寶和遺物捐贈給“寧波幫博物館”。晚年他積極參加寧波茶文化活動，先后為寧波茶文化促進(jìn)會篆刻《茶經(jīng)印譜》《寧波茶文化郵冊》《寧波名勝古跡印譜》《三字經(jīng)》《道德經(jīng)》等，受到家鄉(xiāng)父老的崇敬與愛戴。尤其是名著《茶經(jīng)》融入藝術(shù)篆刻的方寸之間，可謂典籍與雅藝珠聯(lián)璧合。《茶經(jīng)印譜》不僅是寧波茶文化史上亮麗一頁，更為中國印學(xué)增添了新的篇章。高式熊對自己的作品也十分欣慰，并專刻一方印章，以志此事：“甲申冬十二月，應(yīng)寧波茶文化促進(jìn)會之邀，篆刻《茶經(jīng)印譜》，前后歷時一月余，成印四十五方，款文近三千。是為記。高式熊?！?/p>

高式熊宅上，紅葵花館書齋和紅葵花相映。開放的紅葵花，狀如“牽?！?，朵似名茶“扶桑”，花大色艷，芳姿麗質(zhì)，清香四溢。紅葵花每株開花數(shù)十朵，每朵五瓣，呈大紅色，而枝干亭亭玉立，風(fēng)姿綽約。名花意味著高振霄、高式熊父子對家鄉(xiāng)情深意切，也象征著家鄉(xiāng)人民對老人的美好祝愿。

Seal Artist’s Life Stamped with Passion for Hometown

By Chen Weiquan

The 92-year-old Gao Shixiong is a native of Ningbo， a port city of eastern Zhejiang. Living in Shanghai， he is also an honorary member of Shanghai League of Literary and Art Circles. The seal artist owes his honorary membership with the league of artists to his early life in Shanghai. Seal art is traditional. In ancient China， artists created paintings and most of them did not sign their paintings directly. They wrote inscriptions and stamped seals on their paintings. That was probably how the seal engraving art matured as a separate art. To be a seal artist， one must master calligraphy and must be able to write in all major script styles.

His father Gao Zhenxiao (1877-1956) was a metropolitan graduate， one of the last batch who were honored graduates of the 1，000-old imperial examination. The examination stopped in 1904， seven years before the dynasty fell apart in 1911. Gao Zhenxiao joined the Imperial Hanlin Academy and worked as a historian. The 1911 revolution ended his career as a historian， but he refused to work for Yuan Shikai and Duan Qirui， both being warlords who ruled China briefly in the 1910s. He made a living by teaching and selling calligraphic works. In 1930， he settled down in Shanghai. Gao Shixiong came from Ningbo to live with his father.

Gao Shixiong remembers how he followed his father to a businessman’s house where his father taught the four sons of the businessman in the morning and taught him in the afternoon. The father and the son stayed with the family for weekdays and returned their own home on weekends.

The junior learned how to carve seals by himself and kept his passion in the dark from his father. His aptitude for seal arts was first noticed by a friend of his father. His father did not know about the junior’s talent until a friend told him. From then on， the son was able to learn from his father. Both were able to make a living in Shanghai. Gao Zhenxiao wrote many inscriptions used on plaques， couplets， steles， and temples across Ningbo. Though he used quite a few pseudonyms for his inscriptions， his style is highly recognizable and appreciated. His best-known calligraphic contributions are inscriptions seen on the two steles standing in front of Sarira Hall at Asoka Temple in Ningbo.

Gao Shixiong was great at calligraphy when he was young. He studied under the tutelage of Zhao Shuru， Wang Fu’an and Zhang Lu’an， all prominent calligraphers and seal artists. After joining the Xiling Society of Seal Arts， the 27-year-old young seal artist created seals for all the fellow members of the society and published them in a collection. As a prominent seal artist and calligrapher， he served as an honorary president of the society.

Zhang Lu’an， before he passed away in 1962， passed a secret formula of ink-paste making on to Gao Shixiong. In traditional painting， ink paste is a key component of a painting. The artist stamps his seal in red upon the painting， a finishing touch to the artwork. The seal impression becomes integral part of the painting. Where it is on the painting， how the carved characters create an harmony with the brushstrokes of a painting， and how the seal print maintains its fresh red look for the next fifty years depends to varying degrees upon how good the ink paste is. Qi Baishi (1864-1957)， one of the greatest traditional painters of the 20th century China， used the ink paste made by Gao. In 2008， the ink paste was inscribed as China’s intangible cultural heritage.

In common with his father， Gao Shixiong loves his hometown Ningbo. In 2010， he donated his father’s calligraphic works and objects to Ningbo People’s Museum. Though living in Shanghai， Gao Shixiong has contributed a great number of seal works and calligraphic artworks to his hometown. At the commission of Ningbo Association for Promoting Tea Culture， he carved the whole text of Book of Tea in 45 seals in 2004.

Also in common with his father， Gao Shixiong loves red sunflowers. In the back garden of his house in Shanghai are dozens of red sunflowers. His studio is named after the floral plant.