新加坡國家美術館背後的藝術野心
The first work visitors see at the imposing new National Gallery Singapore — a $380 million complex housed in the former Supreme Court and City Hall — is a small 1865 print that could almost be a parody of colonial art.
新落成的新加坡國家美術館(National Gallery Singapore)是一處耗資3.8億美元的建築，位於前最高法庭與市政廳之內，參觀者走進這棟壯觀的建築，最先注意到的便是一幅小小的版畫，它創作於1865年，幾乎是對殖民藝術的一種戲仿。
The image, by the German illustrator Heinrich Leutemann, shows a tiger leaping out of the jungle at George Drumgoole Coleman, the Irish architect who helped lay out the city in its early days as a British colony. Coleman stands his ground, looking startled, while his turbaned, dark-skinned servants fall down.
這件作品由德國畫家海因裏希·萊特曼(Heinrich Leutemann)創作，上面是一隻老虎從叢林中跳出來，撲向喬治·德拉姆古爾·科爾曼(George Drumgoole Coleman)，在英國殖民新加坡早期，這位愛爾蘭建築師曾經協助城市規劃方面的工作。科爾曼站在那裏，震驚地望着老虎，身邊包裹頭巾、皮膚黝黑的僕人們倒在地上。
“We looked high and low to see if this actually happened, and we don’t think it did,” said Shabbir Hussain Mustafa, a senior curator at the gallery, which wrapped up two weeks of opening celebrations on Dec. 6. He pointed to another historic picture, of a bustling port. “It’s supposed to be Singapore, but it’s got camels and minarets.”
“我們反覆查證，想知道這一幕是否真的發生過，但我們覺得並沒有，”美術館的資深策展人沙布爾·侯賽因·穆斯塔法(Shabbir Hussain Mustafa)說，該館將於12月6日舉辦爲期兩週的開業慶典。穆斯塔法指着另一幅歷史題材的畫作，上面是熙熙攘攘的碼頭。“這本應是新加坡，但上面卻有駱駝和清真宣禮塔。”
Those early works, with their blend of myth and reality, colonialism and modernization, set the tone for the National Gallery’s collection, which traces the cultural and artistic shifts in Southeast Asia from the mid-19th century to the present day, including events like the Vietnam War and the effects of rapid industrialization on an agrarian society.
這些早期作品將神話與現實、殖民主義和現代主義混合在一起，爲國家美術館的收藏奠定了計調，它追溯東南亞自19世紀中期到今天的文化與藝術變遷，包括越南戰爭等重大事件，以及高速工業化對一個農業社會所帶來的影響。
“This is the first major attempt by an institution to put together a collection of modern and contemporary art from Southeast Asia,” said Claire Hsu, executive director of the Asia Art Archive in Hong Kong. “It hasn’t been done before at this scale or with this depth.”
“這是一個機構收集現當代東南亞藝術的第一次大型嘗試，”香港亞洲藝術文獻庫總監徐文玠(Claire Hsu)說。“這樣的規模與深度都是前所未有的。”
Singapore was long seen as a city equally focused on commerce and on controlling its residents’ habits (it once banned chewing gum), a paternalistic view that included keeping an eye on the entertainment and culture its citizens were consuming.
長期以來，新加坡被視爲一個注重商業，同時對居民生活實行嚴格控制的城市（它一度禁止嚼口香糖），實行家長式統治，包括關注市民的娛樂與文化消費。
A decade ago, Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong, the son of Singapore’s founding father, Lee Kuan Yew, who died in March at 91, mapped out a vision for the continued renewal of its civic district that would help Singapore overcome its reputation as a cultural desert. With trademark efficiency backed by hundreds of millions of state dollars, cultural landmarks were opened or renovated one by one: The National Museum of Singapore in 2006; the Peranakan Museum of local culture in 2008; and the Victoria Theater in 2014.
新加坡國父李光耀於今年3月逝世，享年91歲，十年前，他的兒子，時任新加坡總理的李顯龍爲城市居民區制定了規劃，令新加坡擺脫了文化沙漠的名聲。以雄厚的經濟實力爲支撐的標誌性高效，令這裏的文化地標一座接一座地興建或翻新：2006年的新加坡國家博物館；2008年關注本地文化的土生華人博物館(Peranakan Museum)，還有2014年的維多利亞劇院(Victoria Theater)。
“The reality is that there will be a national agenda, to put itself in the center of the region,” said Ms. Hsu, whose Asia Art Archive has collected about 50,000 documents. “My hope is that the gallery will be a gatekeeper of these works, not merely a keeper. It should not own history, but inspire and enable others to engage with it.”
“事實上，新加坡有一個國家規劃，令它躋身地區中心位置，”徐女士說，她的亞洲藝術文獻庫收藏了大約五萬份文件。“我希望美術館能夠做那些作品的守門人，而不僅僅是一個保管者。它不僅僅應當保存歷史，而是應當鼓勵和幫助其他人蔘與到這項工作中來。”
More than 600 million people live in the 10 Asian nations roughly south of China and east of India, in what Eugene Tan, the director of the National Gallery, described as “one of the most culturally diverse regions in the world.” Yet much of its art has been overlooked by the West, and many significant works have been confined to private collections, partly a legacy of colonialism.
在中國以南，印度以東的10個亞洲國家裏，生活着6億多人口，國家美術館館長陳維德(Eugene Tan)稱，這裏是“世界上文化多樣性最豐富的地區之一”。然而，這裏的藝術長期受到西方的忽視，很多重要作品侷限在私人收藏的範疇，殖民主義是背後成因之一。
Singapore started collecting Southeast Asian art soon after becoming an independent state in 1965, which it achieved after British colonialism, Japanese wartime occupation and an uneasy two-year stint as part of Malaysia. But until now, this part of the national collection did not have a permanent exhibition space.
新加坡自1965年獨立之際，便開始收藏東南亞藝術品，按照英國殖民時期、日本佔領時期、作爲馬來西亞一部分的那動盪兩年進行分類。但是直到現在，這部分國家收藏仍然沒有一個永久的展示空間。
To create the National Gallery, the old Supreme Court and City Hall buildings were joined by a vaulted glass atrium held up by giant metal trees. Fashionable restaurants line a rooftop garden, while the buildings’ interiors have been left intact: pillars, marble floors, high teak ceilings and walls painted blood red.
爲了建造國家美術館，在舊有的最高法庭與市政大廳建築旁邊建起了一座有玻璃拱頂的天井，由巨大的金屬樹狀結構所支撐。屋頂花園上開了許多時尚餐廳，同時這兩棟建築的內部保持着原貌：柱子、大理石地板、棕色天花板與鮮紅色的牆壁。
A domed library is now an art research center, and two empty prison cells stand to remind visitors of the building’s past. (The museum’s promotional video starts with the ominous line: “Criminal masterminds were once sentenced to hang here.”) The “surrender chamber” in City Hall, where Japanese capitulated on Sept. 12, 1945, and where Lee Kuan Yew was sworn in as the first prime minister in 1959, has been artfully preserved.
館內有一個穹頂圖書館，是它的藝術研究中心，還有兩個空囚室，提醒着參觀者這棟建築的過去。美術館的宣傳視頻第一句就是陰沉沉的：“犯罪高手以前就是在這兒被判處絞刑的。”市政大廳的“投降室”獲得精心保存，1945年9月12日，日本就是在這裏投降，1959年，李光耀也是在這裏宣誓就職新加坡第一任總理。
The museum has opened with about 1,000 objects on display, divided between two exhibitions. “Between Declarations and Dreams” covers the broader region, while “Siapa Nama Kamu” (which means “What’s your name?” in Malay, one of Singapore’s four official languages, along with English, Chinese and Tamil) is focused on the city-state.
美術館開放之際，展出了大約1000件展品，分爲兩個展覽。其一是“宣言與夢想之間”(Between Declaration and Dreams)，涉及較爲寬泛的地域，其二名爲“Siapa Nama Kamu”這是馬來語的“你叫什麼名字”的意思，馬來語、英語、中文及泰米爾語並列爲新加坡的四種官方語言，這一展覽主要關注新加坡這個城市國家本身。
One of the highlights of the first is “Forest Fire” (1849), the largest known painting by Raden Saleh, a pioneering artist from what was then the Dutch East Indies (now Indonesia). A bull and tigers tumble ferociously over each other in a large oil that was originally a gift to King William III of the Netherlands.
“宣言和夢想之間”展上，最引人關注的展品之一要算是《森林之火》(Forest Fire，1849)，這是荷屬東印度羣島（今印度尼西亞）前衛藝術家拉登·薩爾(Raden Saleh)已知的最大作品。這幅巨大的油畫上，一隻公牛和幾隻老虎激烈地扭打，這件作品原本是送給荷蘭國王威廉三世的禮物。
“Because of the area’s colonial history, we had to cast our eyes beyond this region,” Lisa Horikawa, another senior curator at the gallery, said of the difficulties of retrieving works like “Forest Fire” from private collections. She added that “Forest Fire” required conservation, and that it took three years to bring it to Singapore from Europe.
“由於這個地區的殖民史，我們必須讓視野超越地域的界限，”美術館的另一位自身策展人麗莎·崛川( Lisa Horikawa，音譯)談起從私人收藏家手中購回《森林之火》之類作品的困難。她還說，《森林之火》的購回經歷了談判，美術館花費三年時間才把它從歐洲帶回新加坡。
Indeed, the gallery relied heavily on loans for its inaugural shows. One high-profile loan is “Put Down Your Whip,” an oil that the Chinese artist Xu Beihong painted in Singapore in 1939, on the cusp of World War II in the Pacific. It shows the actress Wang Ying as a young woman who had escaped Japanese occupation. The painting disappeared from public view in the 1950s and only re-emerged in 2007, when it was acquired by an anonymous buyer for $9.2 million at Sotheby’s in Hong Kong, a record high price for a Chinese painting at the time.
事實上，美術館爲幾場開幕展借來了大量展品。比如著名的《放下你的鞭子》，這是中國畫家徐悲鴻1939年在新加坡創作的，時值“二戰”戰火席捲太平洋之際。畫面上，女演員王瑩飾演一個逃出日佔區的年輕女子。這幅畫自從20世紀50年代就消失在公衆視野之內，直至2007年才重新出現，被一位匿名買家以920萬美元在香港蘇富比買下，創造了當時中國油畫的拍賣紀錄。
Many works in the collection reveal cross-cultural influences between the West and Southeast Asia. Some are unabashedly pro-colonialist, like “Spain and the Philippines” (1884) by Juan Luna, a Filipino artist who exhibited his work in Europe. It depicts two women in draped robes, with “Spain” leading the “Philippines” up a flight of flower-strewn stairs into, presumably, the golden dawn of Western enlightenment.
展覽中有不少作品展現了西方與東南亞之間的跨文化影響。有些作品赤裸裸地讚美殖民者，比如菲律賓藝術家胡安·盧納(Juan Luna)於1884年創作的《西班牙與菲律賓》(Spain and the Philippines)，他曾在歐洲展出自己的作品。畫面上，兩個女人穿着長袍，“西班牙”領導着“菲律賓”走上佈滿鮮花的階梯，可能是要走進西方啓蒙的黃金黎明。
Vietnamese works combine French Impressionist influences and traditional materials like silk and lacquer. Landscapes by the Indonesian artist Wakidi evoke the glowing pastel tones of Monet.
越南作品把法國印象主義影響與本地的絲綢與漆器質材結合起來。印度尼西亞藝術家瓦吉迪(Wakidi)筆下的風景畫令人想起莫奈閃光的淡彩色調。
Also of note is a small 1940s self-portrait by Georgette Chen, a cosmopolitan Singaporean painter who grew up in Paris and New York before returning to Asia. “Singapore was inherently global, long before we talked about global art,” said Mr. Mustafa, the senior curator.
值得一提的還有新加坡都市畫家張荔英(Georgette Chen)於20世紀40年代創作的一副小小的自畫像，她在巴黎和紐約長大，之後回到亞洲。“早在我們討論全球藝術之前，新加坡就一直是全球化的，”資深策展人穆斯塔法先生說。
Starting in the 1950s, the tone becomes darker, as local artists focus on social turmoil. “For the younger generation of artists, the romanticized image of the region was not sufficient,” he said.
從20世紀50年代起，作品的調子開始變得陰沉，本地藝術家開始關注社會的動盪。“對於年輕一代藝術家來說，把本地的想像浪漫化已經不夠了，”他說。
Two works important to the city-state’s identity are “Epic Poem of Malaya” (1955) and “National Language Class” (1959) by the Singaporean artist Chua Mia Tee. Both show a local teacher or speaker inspiring groups of youth. Such images marked “the end of colonialism and the beginnings of social realism,” said Mr. Tan, the gallery’s director.
展覽中，新加坡藝術家蔡名智(Chua Mia Tee)的兩幅作品對這個城市國家的身份顯得尤爲重要。一幅是1955年的《馬來亞史詩》(Epic Poem of Malaya)，一幅是1959年的《語文課》(National Language Class)。兩張畫上，都是一個本地老師或演講者，鼓勵年輕的人們。這樣的畫面標誌着“殖民主義的終結與社會現實主義的開始”，陳館長說。
A gallery that focuses on the Vietnam War has a wall of 17 illustrations by artists sent into the field by the North Vietnamese Army. Facing them is Le Huy Tiep’s “Blood of War,” from 1972, in which corpses lie at the feet of a blindfolded man, while a mother clutches a naked child. The tips of machine guns are visible at the edge of the frame.
館中有一處越南戰爭主題的畫廊，一面牆上陳列着17幅作品，均出自被北越軍隊送上戰場的藝術家作品之手。對面是畫家Le Huy Tiep於1972年創作的《戰爭之血》(Blood of War)，畫面上有一個被矇住雙眼的男人，他腳下都是屍體，還有一個母親緊緊抱着赤裸的孩子，畫面邊緣可以看到機關槍的槍口。
Over the next year, the National Gallery Singapore will be working with overseas institutions to put Southeast Asian art into a global context. Chinese museums will contribute to an exhibit space for the artist Wu Guanzhong. The Centre Georges Pompidou in Paris will lend about 100 works to a joint exhibition next spring, and “Arts and Empire,” a retrospective of British colonialism at Tate Britain, will move to Singapore next October.
明年，新加坡美術館將和海外機構合作，把東南亞藝術放在全球語境之下。若干中國藝術館將爲吳冠中作品展提供作品。巴黎的蓬皮杜藝術中心將在明年春天借出100幅左右的作品，舉辦聯展。英國泰特美術館的“藝術與帝國”英國殖民藝術回顧展將在明年10月移師新加坡。
Mr. Tan said the rise of a new generation in Singapore, less focused on the city-state’s emergence and eager to be part of the larger world, added urgency to displaying art from the city-state and its surrounding region.
陳先生說，新加坡崛起的新一代藝術家不太關心新加坡的興起，更渴望參與到更廣大的世界中去，因此展出新加坡與周邊地區的藝術品，就顯得更爲迫切。
“I think I only went to one museum as a kid,” he said, “and that was on a school trip. Singapore is a very different place now. And having a permanent space for our collection is a game changer.”
“我小時候好像只去過一個博物館，”他說，“是學校組織的集體活動。如今的新加坡已經完全不同了。我們的收藏能擁有一處永久展出空間，這是改變行業的大事。”
