中国文人作画自古讲究抒写心意，所谓“瞻外形以得神理”，无非为了表达“胸中块垒”，让内心的感受畅抒于笔端。那末，客体形象在这些文人看来，乃是一种中介物，它被画家选入，须参载画家之“意”，而“意”则存于心，心之意乃缘物而起，于是在抒写之不足，往往欲于诗，故文人画素来与诗有不解之缘。只有两者相通，才能使画之意境深远，寓画决心于象外，使艺术具有“畅神”、“寓意”、“自娱”和“摄情”的功能。这方面在有素养的中国画家中是可以俯拾即有的。
油画，自被引入中国本土后，能否具备上述民族特质，曾被一些油画家下过研究功夫，其中在实践上较突出的，应首推艺术大师林风眠。令人惋惜的是，正当他创作的旺年，却被国内左的政治文化所摧折。此后他蛰居海外，闭门谢客。不过据知情人谈及，他曾有四个得意弟子，无论从艺术思想，还是人生品位上都让林先生感到满意，笔者所要介绍的，即是今已年届72高龄的江苏画家苏天赐。
苏天赐是我国当代油画大师中一位沈寂的天才，何以说他“沈寂”？据他的沉重说：苏老师一向甘于寂寞，不尚在艺术界抛头露面，大半辈子仅以惊人的勤奋，探索着中国油画的单纯而富含诗意的特殊风格。几十年来，从他接受林风眠的艺术思想影响起，没有被各种一时风光的艺术潮流所蛊惑，潜心地研究中国古代艺术的精髓：钻研摩崖石刻，勾临周秦铜器纹饰，收集民间年画，摹写宋元山水，尤其对明清以来的写意山水与人物花卉，心驰神往，孜孜揣摩，并从壁画中颖悟其象征的寓意。长此以往，经年累月，苏天赐的个人油画风格渐变得更富华夏意趣，诗情满溢，油画色彩雅而不俗，颇含抒情性。他善于运用传统的线条笔触，人物略加变形，形象修长而恬淡，所绘少女，脉脉多情，略带一丝愁绪，展现出一种典型的东方女性的情愫，抒写的山水风景，视线开阔，疏朗淡泊，别有一股东方人情怀，让人感到亲切，令人怀旧。在苏天赐大量展出和发表的作品中，你几乎找不到一点激励的帅气，它们都显得那么平实，简朴，油色浓而不艳，读来使人心境旷达而不郁闷，当年林风眠与赵无极参观他的油画作品后，给了他一个恰当不过的英语词：Delicate（纤细而精美的感觉）。
       苏天赐在油画创作生涯中所摸索的路子是始终一贯的，他从不因为求名达，而趋炎附势去追求不属于自己天分的风格。从他于1948年为林风眠的爱女蒂娜所画报一幅肖像起，直至现今所绘的那幅独具匠心的《漓江》（1992年），可以见出他那矢志不渝的抒情性油画风格。这些作品在都体现了一种有感而发，是在饱经感受时产生的内心冲动下所绘成的笔端结晶。这们老画家在近期的作品上，更显得用笔凝练了，一种传统的表达方式通过洗练的运一与点色来抒发艺术家深藏于内以后诗的意趣。赏析他的画，令人寻味，容易产生民族与乡土的感情共鸣。这和当今某些矫揉造作的中国新油画的色块制作方式，形成多么强烈的对照！林风眠非常珍爱苏天赐为他女儿所绘的那幅肖像，一起保存到1978年离开大陆时，才把画还给苏天赐珍藏，而他自己的大量作品未能在“文革”中得以保存。
       苏天赐是广东阳江人，自小敏感于瑰丽的大自然变幻，他曾在自己的回忆录中谈及他童年和少年时代对于一草一木的深情厚意，并如何激励他热爱上绘画艺术，从而决定了他以后的事业的，为了寻求大自然的美，数十年来，他的足迹遍布大江南北，彩笔记录下不知多多少少使他激动的景物，所以，在他的油画中，风景画一直占据着很大的比例。苏天赐可以称之为一位抒情的风景画家，一名诵唱锦绣江南山水的歌手。他那娴熟的油画细笔调。把江南山光水色描绘得比大自然更美，更富有诗意。正因为此，他必有全身心地投入于自然的怀抱，寂寞耕耘，这在老一辈有成就的油画中是不多的。近些年来，苏天赐企望探索出一种更富个性的形式结构，他必须探求更多善于传达传统情感的油画语汇，以期获得新的艺术神韵，这就更需要付出精力，默默无闻地深入祖国的山山水水之中。
        苏天赐的不求闻达，并不是不关心祖国的飞速发展的经济面貌，而是在国这门外来艺术样式上寻求东西方表达方式的融合，这一点他几乎与当年林风眠所思考的相同，但由于时代不同，林风眠当年所看到的祖国坎坷，而现在苏天赐所遇见的是在信息社会中不断碰撞着的东西方艺术的交流。如何走民族油画的路，这是一个全新的课题，用他自己的话来判断，即应当在“内外两面都和世界的时代思潮合流中，并未梏亡中国的民族性”。苏天赐冷静地看到了这点，他对于某些艺术家忽视民族情感不屑一顾。为此，他曾感慨地说过：“我出生得太迟了。每个时代都有每个时代自己的追求。现在欧洲的艺术家们想创造一个上帝还没有创造过的世界，他们是无可非议的。但是，我们要追求什么呢？这需要用理解去感受，而不是用情感去理解。我是属于上一代的，只能做以前的艺术家所做的事；选美上帝所创造的大自然。我从小爱看树发芽、草发绿，感到大自然的一切都充满了生命力，它使我忘掉了一切人间的烦恼。现在，我更是越来越感到未被破坏的大自然的可爱了，离开了大自然，无论怎样现代，世界都是可怜的。”这一席话，也最好地说明了苏天赐对于艺术真挚追求。
                 


                             Sensuous Painting with Poetic Touches
                              ——On Su Tianci＇s Oil Paintings
                                     Zhu Boxiong
Traditionally,Chinese literary artists pay more attention to the expression of inner feelingsin their paintings.When in-spired by something in the outer world, they will express their innermost feelings in pictrial language. The object they choose to draw is regarded as a medium capable of conveying their thoughts and feelings . Apart from painting, poem also serves as the same medium .That is why Chiese literary painting is always related to poem .Ohly with a poem or a poetic flavor can a painting be of profound artistic comception. In China artists accomplished both in painting and in poetry are not a few.
Whether the art of oil painting which origivated in the which origivated in the West can be imbued with the above-mentioned Chinese peculiarity has been a question explored by many veteran artists among whom was Lin Eengmian who achieved notable success. It is a great pity that lin＇s art was suppressed by the left poeiticiyed culture at home and he himself was forced to live abroad. It is said that Lin Fengmian had four favorite pupils whose artistic thoughts and moral character satisfied him ,one of whom is Su Tianci , the artist of Jiangsu aged 72.
Su Tianci is a solitary oil painter of genius caliber . Why＂socitaty＂?According to his pupil , Su is always willing to be aloof from the vanity fair , seldom making an appearance in art circles . During the past several decades he has been enganed in studying and exploring painstakingly the simple , poetic style of Chinese oil painting . Since his early years when he eas influenced by the various artistic trends of the time ,but concentrated on the studies of the ancient art of China , examining the carvings on cliffs , copying the patterns of the Zhou and Oin bronzes,collecting folk pictures, imitating the Song and Yuan landscapes , learning the symbolic meanings of the Han figures and flower paintings done in frddhand brushwork. Throuth this long practice , he has developed a style of his own , a style with distinct Chinese national flavor characterized by poetic charm , elegance and lyricism . Heis a master hand at traditional line drawing . His figures , a bit transfigured , look slender and simple . The girls in his paintings are always full of tender affection accompanied with a tinge of sadness , revealing a typical Ortental feminine＇s temperament . His landscapes with broad view and sparse settings have an Oriental charm that bring forth a feeling of intimacy and nostalgia . The numerous works he has shown or published are all plain and simple deroid of any fempetuousness and they can＇t fail to make the audience feel relaxed and carefree . After viewing Su＇s works Lin Fengmian and Zhao Wuji once discribee than as being ＂delicate＂,a comment most suitable to his art .
In his career as an artist , Su has followed a consistent route , never persuing any other styles beyond his talent and power to fish for compliments . His works done in the past dozens of years , from the portrait of Lin fengmian＇s favorite daughter Dina (1948) to the elegent landscape ＂The Lijiang River＂(1992) , reveal his style of lyricism to which he has been devoting himself . These works all reflect his allection for beauty in nature . The artist＇s poetic conception shown in his recent works was expressed by applying lines and dots in a traditional succinct and compact way . His paintings have a lasting appeal with national and local flavor , contrasting sharply with the fashionable oils unnaturally executed with color masses . Lin Fengmian loved his daughter＇s portrait so much that he didn＇t return it so Su Tianci until 1978 then he left China , whereas a host of his own paintings failed to survive the ＂cultural revolution＂.
Su Tianci is a native of Yangjiang , Guangdong Province . Since childhood he has been sensitive to the changeable scenes in nature . He recalled in his reminiscences how he as a child had been attracted by the beauty of plants and thus become keen about pictorial art . As an artist , he has traveled through the whole country to seek for the beauty of nature and record with his painting brush the views that have inspired him . As a large percentafe of his works are essentials landscapes he deserves to be called a lyric landscapist . The sceneries of Jiang Nan that reeion south of thd Changjiang River appearing on his canvus done with superb skill ofter look more attractive and poetic than life itself does . In recent years Su has tried to develop a more formal construction characterized with individraeity so as to invent more new techniques of expression in oil which can bring fresh artistic charms .
Su Tianci does not seek fame and fortune , but he does concern himself with the economic development of the country . In the art of oil painting he has been trying to integrate Western techniques with Chinese ones like Lin Fengmian used to do . But what Lin Fengmian saw in those days was merely a disaster-ridden China while what Su Tianci sees today is an informative society with extensive international cultural exchanges . How to develop a Chinese type of oil painting in this new wored of weemalonal excomple and interchampel is a new task for Chinese oil painters to fulfil . with a sober mind Su Tianci insists that Chinese nationality should not be submerged by the trends of the time . He despises those artists who lack national consciousness . He oncesighed with deep feeling and said :＂I was born too late . Each period has its own social tendency . Now European artists want to create a world which God hasn＇t created . Of course , their attempt is beyond reproach . But ,as Chinese artists what shall we pursue ? I belong to the older generation . I cando nothing but what my predecessors loved to do ,namely , praising nature created by God . As a child , I love tosee trees in bud ,grasses greening up , and felt everything in nature full of vitality ,which made me carefree . Now I have cherished an even deeper love for the unspoiled part of nature how modern and seaartbic it gets , would be a poor one . ＂This passage is the best illustration of his earnest pursuit of art .