British artist LS Lowry's paintings of industrial, working-class Britain brought him popular fame in the UK. Yet his works have never been the subject of a solo exhibition abroad - until now.
英国画家LS 劳里的画作描述了工业时代下的、工人阶级的英国，因此在英国名声大噪。然而，他的画作从来没有单独在国外展览，但如今不是了。
LS Lowry, with his depictions of everyday northern life, is one of Britain's best loved painters. Popular he may be, but since his death in 1976, there have been accusations that the British art establishment has turned its back on him, finding his subject matter too working class.
LS 劳里的画作描述了北方民众的日常生活，他因此成为英国最受追捧的画家之一。尽管他为人喜爱，但在1976年去世后，就有传言称英国画界把他抛在脑后，称他的作品的“工人阶级”味道过了头。
There's been public pressure for major galleries to do more to celebrate him and last year the Tate Britain put on a Lowry show. But remarkably, for such an icon of modern British art, no solo exhibition of his work has ever been held outside the UK. Until now. A collection of Lowry paintings is being shown at an exhibition in Nanjing in eastern China.
大型美术馆若想庆祝他的作品，是要顶着公众的压力的，泰特博物馆去年办了一场劳里的美术展。但值得注意的是，即使对于这样一个现代英国艺术的标志性人物，他的个人展出也仅限于英国国内。但如今不是了。在中国东部的城市南京，劳里的组画正在展览进行时。
Lowry's canvases depict a side of British life that's now gone. The one above, Mill Scene, from 1965, is reminiscent of many of his paintings, with its smoke stacks and hurrying crowds of workers.
劳里的画作里所描述的那些英国人的生活景象已经远去。上边的一张图是米尔辛1965年的作品，让人想起了他许多的旧作，里边画着林立的烟囱和疾行的工人们。
Lowry's subject matter may now be Britain's past but it is, of course, very much a part of China's present day. This is a photograph of one of Beijing's train stations ahead of Chinese New Year when millions of migrant workers flock away from their factory production lines and head home.
如今看来，劳里的主题描述的是英国的过去，然而，当然了，很大程度上是中国的现在。这张图展示的是北京站以及成百万的外来务工人员在农历春节返乡的景象，他们从工厂的生产线里解放了，返乡了。
The exhibition came about following the chance meeting of Xiao Lang, a Chinese art consultant, and Andrew Kalman.
中国美术顾问的小浪和安德鲁卡曼偶遇使得画展得以成行。
Kalman's father, Andras, was a private gallery owner in Manchester and a close personal friend of Lowry. He agitated for British art institutions to promote Lowry's work overseas, but no solo exhibition was ever held outside the UK in either his or the painter's lifetime.
卡曼的父亲安德拉斯是曼彻斯特的一家私人美术馆馆主，和劳里的私交甚好。他呼吁英国美术界向海外推广劳里的画作，但是在安德拉斯或是劳里的有生之年，劳里的个人画作始终未在英国以外的地方展出。
The curators hope Lowry's paintings will resonate with Chinese audiences because they will see echoes of their own economic development and the problems it causes.
美术馆长们希望劳里的画作可以让中国的观赏者产生共鸣，因为他们可以在这些画里看到自家的经济发展及其带来的问题。
Detail from Bargoed, 1964
巴格德港口写实，1964年作
Xiao Lang points to notorious pea-souper smogs of Lowry's day and the swathes of grey and white in Lowry's paintings.
小浪提到了劳里时代的恶名远播的滚滚黄雾，还有劳里画作里一条条灰和白的色带。
"First of all the white sky," she says. "We have air pollution issues in China so the sky colour will definitely resonate with Chinese audiences."
小浪说：“首先是灰蒙蒙的天，因为在中国我们有空气污染的问题，所以天空的颜色绝对会让中国的观众产生共鸣。”
Detail from Salford Street Scene, 1959
索尔福德市街景写实，1959
Lowry was not a political painter and this is not socialist art. He was, after all, for most of his working life, a rent collector.
劳里不是一个有政治倾向的画家，这些画作也与社会主义无关。毕竟，他的一生中，大多出时间都用来收房租。
But there is great affection for his subject matter and his very painting of it suggests a deep respect for the working communities that he was surrounded by.
然而，他的题材仍受到广泛的喜爱，他的最好的画作传达出对身边的工人群体的浓浓的敬意。
Rising Street, undatedThe people Lowry painted, like so many Chinese migrants today, were doing hard work for little pay.
劳里画笔下的人们就像是许多如今的中国外来务工者，做着苦工，挣着小钱。
Detail from Salford Street Scene, 1959
索尔福德街景写实，1959
Detail from Rising Street, undated
莱辛大街写实，日期不详
Cai Su Yun, a street cleaner in Nanjing stands in front of her favourite picture in the exhibition - Rising Street. She likes the dogs. "It's nice that he painted working people," she tells me. "Do you feel a connection?" I ask. "Everywhere, we're all the same," she says.
蔡素云，南京的一名道路清洁工，站在他最喜欢的展画——莱辛大街前。她喜欢狗，“他画了工作的人们，画的真好。”她对我说。“你感觉到自己和画的关联吗？”我问，“关联到处都在，我们简直是一模一样。”她说。
Some see in Lowry's decades of work, not a depiction of industrial strength, but a bleak portrayal of long industrial decline. Alongside the parallels with the present, Chinese audiences may well find hints and warnings about the future.
劳里的几十年间的画作，在一些人看来，描述的并不是工业盛世，而是黯淡而长期的工业萧条。今日与昨日相比，中国的观众也许很容易找到未来的迹象和启示。
Wasteground, 1940
荒地，1940
The exhibition at Nanjing University of the Arts runs until the 16 December 2014.
南京大学的这次画展的展出截止日期到2014年12月16日。
评论
打印
