戳破 Picasso 的牛皮

 Picasso 曾說「My mother said to me, “If you are a soldier, you will become a general. If you are a monk, you will become the Pope.” Instead, I was a painter, and became Picasso.」看似自誇無所不能.

Picasso 在美術史的地位無庸置疑, 沒有從軍不知是否有大將之才, 沒出家不知有無資格當教宗, 他曾嘗試作詩, 我讀了不甚了了, 很少人評論所以不清楚好壞, 今年 9月19日《Artnet》網站有一篇文章《Was Picasso’s Poetry Any Good?》, 提到一件事有點意思.

1935 年 Picasso 開始寫詩, 發表前先請好友 (曾畫過她的肖像) Gertrude Stein 評論, Stein 後來回憶她當時舉了 Picasso 自己對另一好友詩人 Jean Cocteau 越行作畫的評語做比喻「you can’t stand looking at Jean Cocteau’s drawings, it does something to you, they are more offensive than drawings that are just bad drawings now that’s the way with your poetry it is more offensive than just bad poetry I do not know why but it just is.」

雖然只是一個人的意見, 不過好友因本人要求做的評語應該是肺腑之言, 加上 Stein 是受尊重的作家, 上面那段話不可等閒視之, 如果 Picasso 的詩真像她說的那麼糟, 豈不是戳破了他無所不能的牛皮?

著名電影導演 Quentin Tarantino 的藝術觀

 我曾提過 1972 年電影《精武門》在台灣上映時給我最深刻印象的是結尾, 陳真（李小龍飾）面臨眾多日本軍警勇敢的衝向敵群, 最後一景停格於他飛身踢腿, 我覺得這一招 (指導演不是演員) 真好讓我驚豔, 後來看到 1969 年的美國電影《Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid》, 才得知那樣的快速動作突然定格的結尾是這部電影首創而成經典, 原來《精武門》可能是學樣, 不過這與本文無關.

9月16日大名星 Robert Redford 去世, 當天 youtube 有一段導演 Quentin Tarantino 談論 Redford 電影的錄影, 回憶小時候和母親一起看《Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid》後的對話.

What happened?

I remembered asking. They died, my mom informed me.

They died, I yelled.

Yes, Quinton. They died, my mother assured me.

Well, how do you know? I shrewdly asked.

Because when it froze, that was what that was meant to imply, she patiently replied.

Again, I asked. How do you know? I just know, was her unsatisfying answer.

Why didnt they show it? I asked almost indignant, then clearly losing her patience, she said, "Because they didnt want to."

Then I grumbled under my breath. "They should have shown it."

And despite how iconic that image has become, I still agree with me. "They should have shown it."

兩位主角英勇戰死當然可以拍得精彩動人, 不過隱晦的結尾暗喻他們傳奇長存反而令人回味無窮, 因此電影界奉為經典, Tarantino 卻斬釘截鐵的說「... despite how iconic that image has become ... they should have shown it」電影是藝術, 藝術欣賞見仁見智, 我的感想是以小見大可知他的電影風格獨特其來有自.

「英雄見慣亦常人」典故

 從網路得知 19 世紀美國作家 Ralph Waldo Emerson 有句名言「every hero becomes a bore at last」, 這不就是中文「英雄見慣亦常人」嗎? 我雖聽過這句話卻不知典故, 一時興起就查一查.

google 的結果幾乎都只解說「英雄見慣亦常人」的意思而不談出處, 意外的在清朝書法家啟功的一帖書法裡得到線索.

啟功寫得是:

優孟得時皆貴客

英雄見慣亦常人

隨園所記名句也

所謂不過爾耳

我推想「隨園」是清朝詩人袁枚編輯的《隨園詩話》, 那本書共十六卷我在卷十二裡找到:

方子雲之「優孟得時皆貴客，英雄見慣亦常人」

優孟是春秋時代的一個名藝人, 方子雲是清朝詩人, 網路上甚少他的資訊無法繼續追查. 袁枚不是路人, 從他的引用文字可推斷方子雲是「英雄見慣亦常人」的創始人, 至於為何有此感觸則不得而知.

一幅說禪的油畫

 1929年比利時畫家 René Magritte 有一幅油畫名為《La Trahison des images》(The Treachery of Images), 一個菸斗下書「Ceci nest pas une pipe」 (This is not a pipe).

因為太多人不懂他的意思, 他解說「could you stuff my pipe? No, its just a representation, is it not? So if I had written on my picture "This is a pipe", Id have been lying!」沒有史料可連結 Magritte 和禪學, 不過這幅畫點出禪宗的精髓: 象徵 (語言, 形象 ...) 不等於實相.