Listen to this article作品原文
邓柯 《剪彩》
1996年底，我收到画家黄永玉先生从香港寄来他个人画展的请柬。极朴素，一张白卡纸既不烫金、也不压膜，正面是手写体的“黄永玉画展”，什么头衔也没有挂，反面有几句很真诚的话：
“七十四岁是漫漫长路。
我在香港开第一次画展时才二十三岁，到今天第九次时，您看，七十四了。
请来参加画展的酒会。
仍然是不剪彩、不演讲。黄永玉敬上。”
那时改革开放的力度还没有现在这么大，咱一个平头百姓，到香港去参观画展？！找谁批？进哪个屋？出哪个门？等折腾清楚，黄花菜也凉了，我即向黄先生发一份贺电，也只能做到这一点了。
今年5月，我又收到黄先生画展的请柬，5月22日在中国美术馆开幕，这就方便了，画展前二天我们全家到他在北京通州的新居“万荷堂”参加酒会，黄先生告诉我：“后天的画展，要安排一个剪彩。”在我的印象中他的画展很少有这种活动，这次怎么……可能看出我疑惑的目光，先生说：“请的是花匠李师傅，多少年了都找不到他，托很多朋友去打听，说他的单位撤销了、家又拆迁、不知道搬到哪儿去了。这些年我也搬了家，而且在北京的时间又不多，一直到最近才找到，他是我几十年来真正没有丝毫功利观念的患难朋友，他应该来剪这个彩。”
提起这位李师傅，我印象很深，在“文革”年代，每次出差北京，我总带一些在家里偷偷画的习作请黄先生指导，然后看他作画，听他讲很多富有哲理的笑话、故事。常能见到一位中年人，穿一身劳动布的工作服、军跑鞋，很憨厚的样子。
在那间没有窗户的小耳房“罐儿斋”，尤其那个不正常年代里，先生家里的藏书抄光了，绘画毁了、唱片砸了。真是家徒四壁。但是黄先生全家人的亲情和他的智慧、达观让这个“罐儿斋”充满了真正的温馨和力量，再加上李师傅几盆娇艳的鲜花，更是平添了浓郁的深沉和精神的富有。
那时期黄先生画了不少以李师傅送来的盆花为素材的花卉图，表达了画家在逆境中对生活的热爱，也流动着育花人的坦荡情怀。
5月22日，我全家去中国美术馆参观黄先生的画展。
正十时，当主持人宣布画展开幕，请李师傅剪彩，他还是那个样子，穿了件干净的茄克衫，用那双修剪了一辈子娇艳鲜花的手，认真地剪开了红绸带，黄永玉先生在边上笑眯眯地看着这位几十年不讲功利、不张扬、不图回报的患难朋友。
一位是艺术家，他用睿智和双手创造了绚丽的艺术精品，让我们的心灵得到净化和震撼。
一位是园艺家，用智慧和双手培育了无数娇艳的鲜花，装扮了我们的生活，陶冶了美好的情感。
观众们随着两位手携着手的老人，进人展览大厅，呈现在面前是一片灿烂辉煌。
作品译文
The Ribbon-cutting Ceremony
Towards the end of 1996, I received a letter from Mr. Huang Yongyu in Hong Kong, who invited me to his solo art show there. The invitation was simple – just a plain card, without gilt lettering or transparent plastic surface. On the obverse side was “Huang Yongyu’s Art Exhibition” in handwritten style, with no social or academic title to his name. On the reverse side were a few remarks made in all sincerity:
For seventy-four years I have traveled a long way.
When I had my first art show in Hong Kong, I was twenty-three. And now when the ninth is on, you see, I am seventy-four.
Please join us for the cocktail party for the exhibition.
As usual,there will be no ribbon-cutting, nor speech-making.
Yours respectfully,
Huang Yongyu
At that time, China’s reform and opening-up policy was not yet fully implemented. As an ordinary citizen, how could I get permission to go to Hong Kong merely for an exhibition?! Who should I approach for approval? Where should I go to put in the application? By the time I had managed to get through the tedious procedures, the exhibition would have long been over. I immediately sent Mr. Huang a telegram of congratulations, and that was the best I could do in answer to his invitation.
In May this year I received from Mr. Huang another invitation to his art show due on May 22nd at China National Museum of Fine Arts in Beijing. This time it would be easy. Two days prior to the exhibition, my whole family went for the cocktail party held in the Ten-thousand-Lotus Mansion – Mr. Huang’ s new residence in Tongzhou District. Mr. Huang told me, “There will be a ribbon-cutting ceremony for the exhibition the day after tomorrow.” As far as I could remember, he seldom had such rituals for his art shows, but how come this time… Probably noticing my puzzled look, Mr. Huang explained, “I’ve invited Mr. Li, the veteran gardener, to cut the ribbon. I had been out of touch with him for years. I asked several friends to enquire about him, but they only learned that his workplace had been closed down, and his house was no longer there as a result of a new construction project. They failed to locate where he had moved. Meanwhile I myself also moved, and each time I come to Beijing, I seldom stay long. That’s why I didn’t find him until recently. Over the decades he has been my real tested friend, who doesn’t have the slightest notion of seeking personal gains. So he is the right person to cut the ribbon.”
As for this gardener, I have a very deep impression. During the years of the “Cultural Revolution,” whenever I went to Beijing on business, I would visit Mr. Huang and show him what I had privately painted at home and ask for his advice, and then I would watch him paint and listen to his jokes and stories full of philosophical morals. It was in Mr. Huang’s home that I often met with this gardener, a middle-aged man in denim overalls and army rubber shoes, who looked simple and honest.
During the period of the Cultural Revolution when things were not on the right track, Mr. Huang and his family had to live in a small windowless room attached to one side of a house, which he nicknamed Pot Studio. As his collection of books had been confiscated, his paintings destroyed and his gramophone records smashed, his home was almost left with nothing but bare walls. However, owing to the close kinship among the family members, as well as Mr. Huang’s wisdom and philosophical attitude towards life, his Pot Studio was imbued with warmth and vitality. What is more, some tenderly pretty flowering plants grown by Mr. Li added a strong profundity and spiritual richness.
In those days, Mr. Huang did a lot of flower paintings modeling on the potted plants that the gardener had brought him. Those works of art not only demonstrate the artist’ s love for life in the face of adversity, but also embody the gardener’s compassion and broad-mindedness.
On May 22nd I went with my family to China National Museum of Fine Arts for Mr. Huang’ s exhibition.
At 10 o’clock, the master of ceremonies announced the Grand Opening, and invited Mr. Li to cut the ribbon. Dressed in a clean jacket, the gardener appeared in his usual manner. Solemnly and carefully he cut the red silk-ribbon apart with the hands that had trimmed countless tender plants throughout his life. Standing by with a smile on his face, Mr. Huang gazed at his true friend, who for so many years had not sought personal gains, not boasted about himself, nor expected anything in return.
Over here was an artist who, with his intelligence and his hands, had created a lot of gorgeous works, which have helped purify our souls and stimulate our minds.
Over there was a horticulturist who, with his wisdom and his hands, had raised a lot of beautiful flowering plants, which have helped decorate our life and cultivate our finest feelings.
When the ceremony was over, with the two old men leading the way shoulder to shoulder, we visitors entered the exhibition hall, and what struck the eye was a riot of resplendent brilliance.
