第120课 “要用脑子,先生”
"Pray, Mr. Opie, may I ask you what you mix your colors with?" said a brisk dilettante student to the great painter.
“求求你了,欧派先生,我能问一下你想上什么色彩吗?”那位活泼的半吊子学生对大画家说。
"With brains, sir," was the gruff reply -- and the right one.
“要用脑子,先生。”得到的是如此生硬的回答。显然,这是正确的回答。
It did not give much of information; it did not expound the principles and rules of the art;
这句话里并没有包括太多的信息,也没有对艺术原理和原则做出详细解释。
but, if the inquirer had the commodity referred to, it would awaken him; it would set him agoing, athinking, and a-painting to good purpose.
如果询问者指的是商品的话,就会令他警醒;就会令他的大脑飞速运转,琢磨画画有很好的用途。
If he had not the wherewithal, as was likely enough, the less he had to do with colors and their mixture the better.
如果他没有为绘画而需要的钱,最有可能的情形是,他对色彩考虑的越少,效果反而更好。
Many other artists, when asked such a question,
许多其他艺术家,当问到同样的问题时,
would have either set about detailing the mechanical composition of such and such colors, in such and such proportions, rubbed up so and so;
要么会详细解释色彩的动力学合成原理,构成比例,一遍一遍地温故知新;
or perhaps they would (and so much the better, but not the best) have shown him how they laid them on;
要么他们也许(越多越好,但不是最好)会向提问者演示如何进行色彩配比。
but even this would leave him at the critical point.
但是即便这样,他们还是忘记了重点。
Opie preferred going to the quick and the heart of the matter: "With brains, sir."
欧派喜欢直接切中要害。“要用脑子,先生。”
Sir Joshua Reynolds was taken by a friend to see a picture.
约书亚·雷诺兹爵士受一位朋友之邀观赏一幅画。
He was anxious to admire it, and he looked it over with a keen and careful but favorable eye.
他欣赏之情溢于言表,用热切而称许的目光仔细打量。
"Capital composition; correct drawing; the color, tone, chiaroscuro excellent;
“构图堪称完美,画法精湛。用色、色调和明暗对比都完美无瑕。
but... but... it wants-hang it, it wants—that!" snapping his fingers; and, wanting "that," though it had everything else, it was worth nothing.
可是...可是...要挂起来,挂起来看才好!”说着,他猛地张开手指;他想表达的是“挂起来才好,”可是显然还有别的意思。
Again, Etty was appointed teacher of the students of the Royal Academy, having been preceded by a clever, talkative, scientific expounder of aesthetics,
艾蒂再次被任命为皇家学院的教师,他是一位聪明、能言善谈的美学阐释者,
who delighted to tell the young men how everything was done, how to copy this, and how to express that.
他乐于告诫年轻人如何做事情,如何复制完美,如何描述美的事物。
A student came up to the new master, "How should I do this, sir?"
一位学生走到这位新老师面前。“我该怎么做呢,先生?”
"Suppose you try."
“你要尝试啊。”
Another, "What does this mean, Mr. Etty?"
另一个学生问道:“这是什么意思,艾蒂先生?”
"Suppose you look."
“你自己看啊。”
"But I have looked."
“可是我已经看了啊。”
"Suppose you look again."
“再看一遍。”
And they did try, and they did look, and looked again; and they saw and achieved what they never could have done had the how or the what been told them, or done for them;
他们都尝试了,他们都看了,看了又看。他们发现自己绝对不可能按老师告诉他们的来做。
in the one case, sight and action were immediate, exact, intense, and secure; in the other, mediate, feeble, and lost as soon as gained.
一方面,看到的东西和行为是直接、准确、紧张和确定的;另一方面,一旦获得就成了间接、无力和容易失去的印象。