2022年经济学人 菲利普·古斯顿引发争议的艺术（1）

搜索

复制

Culture

文化

Back Story -- Art of controversy¹

幕后故事——引发争议的艺术

A struggle over Philip Guston's paintings and artistic² freedom ends in triumph

围绕菲利普·古斯顿的画作和艺术自由的斗争以胜利告终

"Probably the only thing one can really learn", Philip Guston eventually concluded, "is the capacity to be able to change."

“或许一个人真正能学到的只有一件事，那就是能够改变的能力。”菲利普·古斯顿最终总结道。

The modern artist's fate, he said, was "constant change".

这位现代艺术家的命运，用他自己的话来说，是“持续不断的变化”。

As a painter he embraced that fate -- and in posterity³ his work has proved both an index of change and a challenge to it.

作为一名画家，他接受了这种命运——在后人看来，他的作品既是变化的索引，也是对变化的挑战。

A new show in Boston charts his restless genius; it is also the canvas for a struggle over art's freedom and obligations, and the contested balance between them.

波士顿的一场新展览展示了他不安分的天赋；也呈现了关于艺术的自由与责任，以及两者之间相互争夺的平衡。

Twice Guston, who died in 1980, made a reputation and gave it up -- first as a figurative artist and muralist in the 1930s and 1940s, next by plunging⁴ into abstraction with his friend Jackson Pollock and other mid-century American pioneers.

古斯顿于1980年去世，他曾两度成名又放弃——第一次是作为20世纪30年代和40年代的具象艺术家和壁画艺术家，第二次是与他的朋友杰克逊·波洛克以及其他20世纪中叶的美国先驱者一起投身抽象艺术。

Boldly he returned to figuration in the late 1960s, dwelling⁵ on banal⁶ yet somehow uncanny objects: light bulbs, bricks, boots.

20世纪60年代末，他大胆地回归到具象艺术，专注于画平凡却不知何故显得离奇的物品上：灯泡、砖块、靴子。

He painted heads, distorted or half-submerged.

他画异形的或半浸在水中的人头。

And he made a series of paintings of triangular⁷ hooded⁸ figures that recall the Ku Klux Klan.

他也画过一些三角形兜帽形象，让人联想到三K党。

When first exhibited in 1970, these caused an art-world scandal -- not because of the imagery, or Guston's right to use it, but over the brashly cartoonish technique.

这些画作于1970年首次展出时在艺术界引发了一场风波——不是因为图像，也不是因为古斯顿使用它的权利，而是因为无礼的卡通画手法。

A retrospective staged in 2003-04 passed without uproar⁹.

2003-04年举办的一场回顾展没有引起骚动。

But in 2020, in the ferment¹⁰ after the murder of George Floyd, the organisers of the then-upcoming new show quailed¹¹ at Guston's motifs¹² and themes.

但在2020年，在乔治·弗洛伊德被谋杀后的动荡中，当时即将举办的新展览的组织者对古斯顿的画作内容和主题感到畏缩。

The director of the National Gallery of Art in Washington, where it was due to open first, said he had "appropriated images of black trauma¹³".

华盛顿国家美术馆的馆长称，他“盗用了黑人创伤的意象”，作品原定于该美术馆首展。

The problem, implicitly¹⁴, was both what Guston painted and who he was.

隐含的问题既关于古斯顿画的是什么，也关于他是谁。

Well, who was he?

那么，他是谁？

The son of Jewish refugees from Odessa, he changed his name from Goldstein to evade¹⁵ anti-Semitism.

他的父母是来自敖德萨的犹太难民，为了躲避反犹太主义，他改掉了自己原来的名字戈尔茨坦。

The Klan was active in the Los Angeles of his youth and his early work also evoked¹⁶ its crimes, alongside other fascistic atrocities¹⁷.

他年轻的时候，三K党在洛杉矶很活跃，他的早期作品也描绘了三K党的罪行，以及其他法西斯暴行。

He turned away from abstraction in part out of an enduring sense of political duty.

他不再画抽象，部分是出于一种长久的政治责任感。

"What kind of man am I", he felt in the 1960s, "sitting at home, reading magazines, going into a fury about everything -- and then going into my studio to adjust a red to a blue."

“我是一个什么样的人”，他在20世纪60年代的时候觉悟到，“坐在家里，看着杂志，对一切都感到愤怒——然后走进我的画室，把红色调成蓝色。”

1 controversy   

n.争论，辩论，争吵

参考例句：

• That is a fact beyond controversy.那是一个无可争论的事实。
• We ran the risk of becoming the butt of every controversy.我们要冒使自己在所有的纷争中都成为众矢之的的风险。

2 artistic   

adj.艺术(家)的，美术(家)的；善于艺术创作的

参考例句：

• The picture on this screen is a good artistic work.这屏风上的画是件很好的艺术品。
• These artistic handicrafts are very popular with foreign friends.外国朋友很喜欢这些美术工艺品。

3 posterity   

n.后裔，子孙，后代

参考例句：

• Few of his works will go down to posterity.他的作品没有几件会流传到后世。
• The names of those who died are recorded for posterity on a tablet at the back of the church.死者姓名都刻在教堂后面的一块石匾上以便后人铭记。

4 plunging   

adj.跳进的，突进的v.颠簸( plunge的现在分词 )；暴跌；骤降；突降

参考例句：

• War broke out again, plunging the people into misery and suffering. 战祸复发，生灵涂炭。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》
• He is plunging into an abyss of despair. 他陷入了绝望的深渊。 来自《简明英汉词典》

5 dwelling   

n.住宅，住所，寓所

参考例句：

• Those two men are dwelling with us.那两个人跟我们住在一起。
• He occupies a three-story dwelling place on the Park Street.他在派克街上有一幢3层楼的寓所。

6 banal   

adj.陈腐的，平庸的

参考例句：

• Making banal remarks was one of his bad habits.他的坏习惯之一就是喜欢说些陈词滥调。
• The allegations ranged from the banal to the bizarre.从平淡无奇到离奇百怪的各种说法都有。

7 triangular   

adj.三角（形）的，三者间的

参考例句：

• It's more or less triangular plot of land.这块地略成三角形。
• One particular triangular relationship became the model of Simone's first novel.一段特殊的三角关系成了西蒙娜第一本小说的原型。

8 hooded   

adj.戴头巾的；有罩盖的；颈部因肋骨运动而膨胀的

参考例句：

• A hooded figure waited in the doorway. 一个戴兜帽的人在门口等候。
• Black-eyed gipsy girls, hooded in showy handkerchiefs, sallied forth to tell fortunes. 黑眼睛的吉卜赛姑娘，用华丽的手巾包着头，突然地闯了进来替人算命。 来自辞典例句

9 uproar   

n.骚动，喧嚣，鼎沸

参考例句：

• She could hear the uproar in the room.她能听见房间里的吵闹声。
• His remarks threw the audience into an uproar.他的讲话使听众沸腾起来。

10 ferment   

vt.使发酵；n./vt.（使）激动，（使）动乱

参考例句：

• Fruit juices ferment if they are kept a long time.果汁若是放置很久，就会发酵。
• The sixties were a time of theological ferment.六十年代是神学上骚动的时代。

11 quailed   

害怕，发抖，畏缩( quail的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• I quailed at the danger. 我一遇到危险，心里就发毛。
• His heart quailed before the enormous pyramidal shape. 面对这金字塔般的庞然大物，他的心不由得一阵畏缩。 来自英汉文学

12 motifs   

n. （文艺作品等的）主题( motif的名词复数 )；中心思想；基本模式；基本图案

参考例句：

• I try to develop beyond the old motifs. 我力求对传统的花纹图案做到推陈出新。 来自辞典例句
• American Dream is one of the most important motifs of American literature. “美国梦”是美国文学最重要的母题之一。 来自互联网

13 trauma   

n.外伤，精神创伤

参考例句：

• Counselling is helping him work through this trauma.心理辅导正帮助他面对痛苦。
• The phobia may have its root in a childhood trauma.恐惧症可能源于童年时期的创伤。

14 implicitly   

adv. 含蓄地, 暗中地, 毫不保留地

参考例句：

• Many verbs and many words of other kinds are implicitly causal. 许多动词和许多其他类词都蕴涵着因果关系。
• I can trust Mr. Somerville implicitly, I suppose? 我想，我可以毫无保留地信任萨莫维尔先生吧？

15 evade   

vt.逃避，回避；避开，躲避

参考例句：

• He tried to evade the embarrassing question.他企图回避这令人难堪的问题。
• You are in charge of the job.How could you evade the issue?你是负责人，你怎么能对这个问题不置可否？

16 evoked   

[医]诱发的

参考例句：

• The music evoked memories of her youth. 这乐曲勾起了她对青年时代的回忆。
• Her face, though sad, still evoked a feeling of serenity. 她的脸色虽然悲伤，但仍使人感觉安详。

17 atrocities   

n.邪恶，暴行( atrocity的名词复数 )；滔天大罪

参考例句：

• They were guilty of the most barbarous and inhuman atrocities. 他们犯有最野蛮、最灭绝人性的残暴罪行。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• The enemy's atrocities made one boil with anger. 敌人的暴行令人发指。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》