●余夕雯

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酒酣方悟 舊時(shí)美食—賀友直“走街穿巷憶舊事”藝術(shù)展隨筆

●余夕雯

“走街穿巷憶舊事—賀友直藝術(shù)展”Memories of Old Shanghai: a poster for He Youzhi Art Exhibition

2016年2月28日，浙江美術(shù)館“走街穿巷憶舊事—賀友直藝術(shù)展”落下了帷幕。

93歲的浙籍畫家賀友直，老家在寧波北侖新碶西街。最初為謀生而畫，不料卻成了“大家”，成為中國當(dāng)代連環(huán)畫巨擘。60多年繪畫生涯，連環(huán)畫、風(fēng)俗畫讓賀友直名滿天下。他的作品《山鄉(xiāng)巨變》，被稱為中國連環(huán)畫史上的里程碑式的杰作。

這位上海人民美術(shù)出版社老編審若是沒有特別安排，基本上會(huì)這樣度過自己的一天：7點(diǎn)半起床，吃早飯，然后開始畫他的老上海風(fēng)俗畫。中午，喝半斤黃酒之后，睡個(gè)舒服的午覺，到下午3點(diǎn)醒來，泡茶、回信、寫文章，或者散步去郵局寄信。晚上，照樣是黃酒半斤，慢悠悠喝上兩個(gè)鐘頭。要是正好想到哪個(gè)畫里的情節(jié)，便用筷子蘸上酒，在桌子上比劃幾下。他說：“耳朵聽不清了，但手還沒抖，我就還能畫?！?/p>

賀友直戲稱為“一室四廳”的30平方米蝸居，集客廳、餐廳、臥室、工作室于一室，自1955年搬入，就再也沒有挪過地方。盡管政府提出為畫家改善居住條件，但被老人婉言謝絕。許多朋友都曾為他張羅新房子，但他不想搬。在他眼里，弄堂里面人情味濃。

蝸居里，他用獨(dú)創(chuàng)的“賀式線描”畫出了《山鄉(xiāng)巨變》《朝陽溝》《白光》《十五貫》《連升三級(jí)》等一系列連環(huán)畫名作。

一支筆、萬條線，賀友直用他筆下那些手掌大小的連環(huán)畫，開創(chuàng)了中國連環(huán)畫的新時(shí)代，影響了幾代人。

早在1948年，賀友直與姐夫的堂房阿妹結(jié)婚，從此“相濡以沫”60年。“我討的這個(gè)老婆好，生得也比我好，是我福氣。屋里廂的事，養(yǎng)兒育女，都是她的，我可以專心搞創(chuàng)作?！?/p>

這創(chuàng)作，一搞就搞了大半輩子。

2015年，賀友直花了3個(gè)月時(shí)間，把一些記憶中的老上海故事都畫了下來，這個(gè)系列到現(xiàn)在還在畫。眼下這54件珍貴手稿正在杭州南山路浙江美術(shù)館里展出，畫展就叫“走街穿巷憶舊事”。

在這些作品中，絕大部分都關(guān)乎吃。馬和記的牛肉面、羅春閣茶樓里的生煎包、馬泳齋的白切雞……賀友直說自己生性嘴刁，吃東西食量不大但挑剔，并且討厭重復(fù)。

舊時(shí)上海茶樓大都附有點(diǎn)心攤，其中多數(shù)賣生煎包，也有蟹殼黃。羅春閣茶樓就開在浙江路上，坐東朝西，稍北是牛莊路，離更新舞臺(tái)（后更名為中國大戲院）很近。

在賀友直眼里，羅春閣的生煎包在舊上海那是頂級(jí)的，質(zhì)量水準(zhǔn)永保不變，而今有些名小吃味道已經(jīng)消失了。賀友直還在當(dāng)學(xué)徒工的時(shí)候常路過羅春閣的生煎攤，“只要聞到香味就會(huì)停下腳步看師徒操作，我不知它的原料如何，但看了對(duì)火候的掌控，那時(shí)的爐子是燒煤的，鼓風(fēng)用的是手拉風(fēng)箱，徒弟是看師父的神色、鍋里冒的氣，來掌握拉動(dòng)風(fēng)箱的力度及速度的，所以出鍋生煎包的底肚是黃脆的，哪像如今使用的是煤氣或電爐，只為圖快自始至終調(diào)控在猛火檔，以致煎出的饅頭底肚焦而硬，像我這檔老人入口硬，咽哽喉嚨?？吹竭@種東西只會(huì)倒胃口?！庇谑潜阌辛恕读_春閣生煎》美食圖。

排骨年糕原先是老先生最中意的一道美食，但對(duì)現(xiàn)在的排骨年糕做法，老人家并不買賬，“排骨是油炸的，這個(gè)還馬馬虎虎，可是年糕也用油炸，表面結(jié)層皮口感極壞。端上來只好對(duì)之搖頭了。”

這就自然讓他想起以往的排骨年糕了。舊時(shí)，最出名的“小常州排骨年糕”，攤位設(shè)在今天上海四川中路漢口路福州路之間，20路無軌電車在此調(diào)頭。坐東朝西，這一排沒有高樓，是在一處斜坡上面，架幾片蘆席，下面安放鍋灶，平房里放幾張板桌。設(shè)備簡(jiǎn)陋但排骨和年糕的做法很講究。它的排骨及年糕不用油炸，是用調(diào)理好的老鹵汆焐，所以排骨嫩年糕糯而入味，成為一塊響當(dāng)當(dāng)?shù)男〕云放??！缎〕Ｖ菖殴悄旮狻访朗钞嫷膩碛杀憔売诖恕?/p>

生活中的賀老，達(dá)觀開朗，率性詼諧。如今每天晚餐是他最放松的愜意時(shí)光，品著老夫人烹燒的美味菜肴，喝著紹興老酒，眼睛有一搭沒一搭地瞅著電視，腦子已經(jīng)進(jìn)入他自己的思維天地，許多絕妙的畫意，往往就是在酒酣時(shí)悟得。

走街穿巷畫舊景 Old Shanghai Stories

《滿庭芳臭豆腐》畫得真是生動(dòng)真切。滿庭芳（坊）在今天上海福建中路廣東路這一帶，這個(gè)臭豆腐攤很氣派，賀友直能回憶到的細(xì)節(jié)都在畫里。賀友直說：“我有幾年時(shí)間路過此地，總是見他一如既往地油炸臭豆腐，熱忱周到地服務(wù)顧客，就此而已?！?/p>

老先生埋怨，如今的臭豆腐可是一點(diǎn)也不臭了，只能回憶舊時(shí)的味道。

在新美術(shù)出版社工作兩年后，出版社遷到了上海銅仁路，附近有一爿糟坊，每到傍晚，必?cái)[出一熟食攤，賣豬頭肉、牛肉、牛肚，據(jù)說攤主是曾轟動(dòng)上海灘的社會(huì)新聞男主角陸根榮。陸根榮從被富家小姐迷戀的社會(huì)新聞熱議主角，到后來擺熟食攤，其心情如何外人不得而知。賀友直說，畫這幅《陸根榮擺熟食攤》的用意是：“人生在世忽起忽落并無定數(shù)，關(guān)鍵是要把握好走的每一步。若步步踏實(shí)、方向把正，雖不求成為大家巨富，但做的是問心無愧的平淡事，心里總是充實(shí)和滿足的?！?/p>

“走街穿巷憶舊事”展覽的畫作以小見大，氣象萬千。舊時(shí)的上海老城廂，“街衢弄巷，縱橫交錯(cuò)”、“五方雜處，士民雜居”，老先生將這一切盡收筆底，把百年上海市井、世態(tài)百相描摹得淋漓盡致、入木三分，特別是用獨(dú)特的“賀家語言”，一圖一文，幽默又犀利的筆鋒針砭時(shí)弊，令人深思、尋味。

賀友直連環(huán)畫作品享譽(yù)海內(nèi)外，一些代表作曾到英、法等國展覽。畫家還應(yīng)邀在新加坡南洋藝術(shù)學(xué)院、法國昂古萊姆圖像學(xué)院授課，并獲法國昂古萊姆市榮譽(yù)市民證書。在我國眾多有成就的畫家中，他是唯一獲得此項(xiàng)榮譽(yù)的。1980年中央美術(shù)學(xué)院成立連環(huán)畫系時(shí)，特聘賀友直兼任教授。這位老先生還是首屆“中國美術(shù)獎(jiǎng)·終身成就獎(jiǎng)”獲得者。

繼2013年6月浙江美術(shù)館成功舉辦“談情·說愛—賀友直藝術(shù)展”之后，2014年4月，賀友直將2013年創(chuàng)作的《走街穿巷憶舊事》原作、創(chuàng)作草圖、文字稿，以及創(chuàng)作視頻、出版物、衍生品實(shí)物等文獻(xiàn)資料，捐贈(zèng)給浙江美術(shù)館。此前《走街穿巷憶舊事》原作從未與觀眾見面，在丙申新春來臨之際，浙江美術(shù)館特別策劃了“走街穿巷憶舊事—賀友直藝術(shù)展”，意在讓觀眾跟隨賀老有趣的畫作一起感受百年大都市變遷過程中的種種滋味。

He Youzhi: ‘Tipsy’ Art Genre Painting Artist

By Yu Xiwen

Born in Beilun, Ningbo, He Youzhi started painting not for fame but to make a living. The 93-year-old artist ranks among the greatest comic book and genre painting artists of contemporary China, with his Great Changes in the Mountain Villages widely recognized as a milestone in the history of Chinese pictorials which flourished in the second half of the 20th century in China. His masterpieces are classics.

He is a living legend. Though he is in his retirement age, he still works following a daily routine that once bred his best works.

The daily routines of this heavyweight art editor with the Shanghai People’s FineArts Publishing House normally start with breakfast at 7:30. He spends the rest of the morning working on Shanghai-style genre paintings. After getting a little tipsy with lunch and a relaxed nap around noon, it is be his tea and writing time. Sometimes he takes an afternoon walk to the postal office. At dinner time, he spends two hours enjoying rice wine and creative ideas coming into his head from nowhere. “My hearing is failing, but my hands are fine and I can handle the brush with ease.”

He Youzhi moved into the 30-square-meter condo in an alley in Shanghai in 1955, and has never thought about moving again. It is in this tiny, old-fashioned place that the artist opened a new era in the country’s comic book art history.

He Youzhi married the cousin of his brother-in-law in 1948. “I always feel lucky to have such a capable and good-looking wife. She takes care of the family so well that I don’t have to worry about anything.”

In 2015, He Youzhi spent about three months working on a series called “Old Shanghai Stories”. Fifty-four originals of the project are now displayed at the Zhejiang Art Museum in Hangzhou. The Hangzhou exhibition is also the debut of the series in China. Most of the creations depict the specialties at time-honored restaurants in Shanghai.

“I am very picky when it comes to what to eat, and I’d get bored if I have to make do with the same things again and again.” A noodle restaurant called ‘Ma He Ji’, located near the crossing of Xinle Road and Fumin Road in downtown Shanghai, is one of the artist’s favorite breakfast places. Interestingly, he does not go there for the noodles, but is a huge fan of the restaurant’s beef recipe.

Luo Chun Ge Teahouse, located on Zhejiang Road in Shanghai, is the artist’s favorite place for pan-fried pork buns. “The pork buns there is THE best you can find in Shanghai. The secret is all about temperature control using an old-fashioned air bellow that gives the buns an amazingly crisp quality and fragrance.”

走街穿巷憶舊事—陸根榮擺熟食攤Old Shanghai Stories: Lu Genrong’s Deli

One of his favorite Shanghai delicacies is Pork Ribs with Rice Cake. His favorite Pork Rib with Rice Cake place that once sat in a backstreet near Hankou Road and Fuzhou Road is gone. Without even a workable cooking platform, the place enjoyed a loyal following among Shanghai’s gourmets for its mouth-watering pork ribs and extremely glutinous and soft rice cake.

Drinking rice wine is one of the artist’s favorite pastimes. He’d go to Ma Yong Zhai Deli to get some wine snacks and small dishes for his weekend drinking spree. A must-have is the deli’s jellyfish-flavored sliced cold chicken.

The inspiration of many of the man’s masterpieces comes from dinnertime - the artist’s ‘happy hour’ of the day. He’d drink to his heart’s content and enjoy the superb cooking skills of his wife with the TV on, and have a good time in his own world where flashes of good ideas take shape and imagination runs wild.

Old Shanghai Stories: Ma Yong Zai Deli (left), Pork Ribs with Rice Cake (middle), Luo Chun Ge Pan-Fried Pork Buns (right)

The comic book creations of He Youzhi enjoy a fine reputation at home and abroad, and have been featured in exhibitions in the UK and France. He has also lectured at the Nanyang Academy of Fine Arts in Singapore and école Européenne Supérieure de l’Image Angouleme Poitiers in France, and is the only Chinese artist to have been granted the honorary citizenship by the Angouleme city government. He Youzhi is also the first one in China’s artist community to receive the ‘Lifetime Achievement Award’, granted by the China Fine Arts Prize.