High Life

44 品 纵观1960年代，风华正茂的赵无极创作了多幅构图深邃、情感浓烈的大型 油彩布本，但不算多产时期。时至1960年代后期，为照顾长期受精神病困扰的 第二任妻子陈美琴，他更完全停止外游，却无法阻止爱妻于1972年服药自尽。 同一时期，赵无极的父亲赵汉生亦在文化大革命期间自裁。细阅其完成于1960 至1970年代的画作时，不难想象赵无极当时的情感状态、个人挣扎和内心苦 楚。一次又一次地熬过难关，也许是他个人乃至艺术生命旺盛顽强的体现。 于1977年与法国籍艺术策展人弗朗索瓦丝·马凯共偕连理后，赵无极屡获 国际大奖及殊荣。时至1983年，他的画作首次在中国国家博物馆展出，是为他 多年来首次回归中国，甚有时移世易、沧海桑田之感。暮年时的赵无极仍然不断 绘画，直至其生命的蜡烛熄灭，其中不少是献给亲朋好友的作品。患上阿尔茨海 默病后，赵无极不再在艺术工作坊里夜以继日地创作大型油画，而是在户外风景 宜人之处就地取景创作水彩画。他于2013年4月9日仙游，即前英国首相撒切尔 夫人逝世后一天，安葬在巴黎三大公墓之一的蒙帕纳斯公墓，距离其初到巴黎时 居住的绿磨坊街仅一步之遥。周而复始，万象一代大师却不会再生。研究赵无极 的作品等于了解当代中法艺术交流，而每一个展出赵无极作品的画展，均是文化 交流百科全书中的一个章节。 Zao was in his prime, creating a number of profoundly structured and intensely emotional paintings, but not at full capacity. By the late 1960s, he had stopped travelling altogether to take care of his beloved wife Chan May-Kan, who lapsed in and out of severe mental illness, finally taking her own life in 1972. Around the same period, his father did the same during the Cultural Revolution. In appreciating Zao’s masterpieces from the 1960s to the 1970s, one could not help but muse on his emotional state, personal struggles and inner sufferings. The years following Zao’s marriage to curator Françoise Marquet in 1977 saw him achieve the most prestigious of international prizes and recognition. His works were exhibited for the first time in China in 1983, hence completing his journey from east to west and back to east. He would continue to paint until the very end, with a number of creations dedicated to family and friends. Diagnosed with Alzheimer’s, in his later life Zao switched from large-format oil on canvas in his studio to watercolor on paper al fresco. He passed away on 9 April 2013, a day after Margaret Thatcher, and was buried at Montparnasse Cemetery, a stone’s throw away from his first address in Paris. Life has come full circle. Studying Zao’s life and works is reading Franco-Chinese art through the decades and every exhibition is a chapter of the encyclopedia.