文苑逸事

梅蘭芳學(xué)畫

1915年前后，梅蘭芳二十幾歲的時候?qū)L畫越來越發(fā)生興趣。先從王夢白習(xí)畫，后向陳師曾、齊白石等學(xué)藝。

梅蘭芳雖然早就認(rèn)識白石先生，但跟他學(xué)畫卻在1920年的秋天。一次，梅蘭芳邀他到家里來閑談，白石先生一見面就說：“聽說你近來習(xí)畫很用功，我看見你畫的佛像，比以前進(jìn)步了。”梅蘭芳說：“我是笨人，雖然有許多好老師，還是畫不好。今天要請您畫給我看，我要學(xué)您下筆的方法，我來替您磨墨。”白石先生笑著說：“我給你畫草蟲，你回頭唱一段給我聽就成了。”

那一天齊白石給梅蘭芳畫了幾開冊頁，草蟲魚蝦都有，落筆時還講了一些心得和竅門。等到琴師來了，梅蘭芳就唱了一段《刺湯》。國畫大師和京劇大師都喜氣盈盈。

梅蘭芳在抗日戰(zhàn)爭時期息影舞臺，還曾經(jīng)在上海以賣畫為生。（焦文）

《韓熙載夜宴圖》系間諜杰作

《韓熙載夜宴圖》出自五代畫家顧閎中之手，描繪的是名士韓熙載夜宴娛樂的場面。人物傳神，設(shè)色濃麗，是中國工筆人物畫的杰作。許多人都清楚這是一幅中國人物畫的巔峰之作，可很少有人知道這幅傳世杰作本是一張情報圖。

韓熙載的父親韓光嗣原是一名軍中統(tǒng)帥，被后唐明宗李嗣源所殺。韓熙載化裝逃往江南，投奔南唐，想憑著自己的才干，可不被南唐后主李煜重用，時時提防，生怕他干些什么于朝廷不利的勾當(dāng)，于是派畫院待詔顧閎中當(dāng)間諜去他府上窺探。

秋日傍晚，趁著蒼茫暮色，顧閎中潛入韓府，悄悄隱身在一片竹林之中。他凝神定氣，靜靜地觀察著韓府上下的風(fēng)吹草動。此時狀元朗粲、名妓王屋山、太常博士陳雍、教坊副使李嘉明與他的妹妹等紛至沓來，整個韓府燈火通明，笑語喧嘩，賓客滿堂。韓熙載高冠長髯，端坐榻沿；朗粲俯身抱膝，半臥榻上；陳雍和門人舒雅分坐案前……全場人都在靜聽李嘉明的妹妹彈奏琵琶。

歌舞既罷，賓客稍事休息。韓熙載退入內(nèi)室，一侍女緩步而入，奉上一盆清水讓他洗手。另外兩名侍女忙著準(zhǔn)備樂器，添酒換茶。一陣盡興的歡愉，韓熙載的身上僅著內(nèi)衫，袒胸露腹，脫去雙履，盤坐于漆椅之上，一邊輕搖紗扇，一邊與侍女?dāng)⒃挕?/p>

曲終人散。從韓府回到家中，顧閎中憑著目識心記，詳盡地描繪了這場夜宴的全部過程和整個場面。顧閎中是做間諜的好料，也是畫家的天才。這張華貴富麗的情報圖既使皇上得到了韓熙載與人交往的秘密，也傾倒了才子皇帝李煜，他將此畫藏于深宮，視為至寶。

（云成）

歐陽修怕“笑”

北宋大文豪歐陽修和兩位朋友在街上散步，看到一匹脫韁的奔馬踏死了一只狗。他提議，看誰能把這件事簡練地記述下來。一朋友說：“有犬臥于通衢，逸馬蹄而死之。”用了12個字。另一位說：“有馬逸于街衢，臥犬遭之而斃。”也用了12個字。歐陽修嫌他們說得不精練，只用了“逸馬殺犬于道”6個字。

歐陽修寫作嚴(yán)謹(jǐn)，往往是“為求一字穩(wěn)，耐得半宵寒”。妻子心疼地勸說：“你平日的文章已經(jīng)那么用心寫了，難道還怕那些先生罵嗎？”歐陽修笑著回答：“不怕先生罵，可怕后生們笑啊！”

（王進(jìn)建）

王一品齋來歷

在眾多的湖筆店中，名氣最大的要數(shù)“王一品齋筆莊”。王一品齋筆莊于乾隆六年始建，世代相傳已240余年。該店的創(chuàng)業(yè)者“王一品”，本名并非叫“一品”。據(jù)說是乾隆年間科舉開考，各省舉子紛紛赴京會試，這位湖州王姓制筆匠人，認(rèn)為這是推銷產(chǎn)品的好機(jī)會，于是就帶了一批毛筆進(jìn)京，向各地考生兜售。有位舉人買了他的筆，用起來得心應(yīng)手，巧的是他不僅高中了進(jìn)士，而且殿試又一舉奪魁，成了“一舉成名天下?lián)P”的狀元公。有人附會說此公得中狀元，與所用之筆有關(guān)。故王某所售毛筆，被一些舉子稱為“一品筆”，他本人則被稱為“王一品”，于是也就有了“王一品齋筆莊”的店號。

“王一品”的毛筆，吳昌碩愛用其羊毫；賀天健愛用其石權(quán)筆；而傅抱石則對王一品的白云筆贊不絕口，并畫《奇峰突兀圖》相贈；郭沫若也曾為王一品筆書寫匾額。（文之）

Anecdotes in the Realm of Art and Literature

By Yun Cheng， Wang Jinjian， Wen Zhi

Mei Lanfang Learned Painting

About 1915， Master Mei Lanfang (1894-1961) in his twenties began to take a strong interest in painting. He learned how to paint first from Wang Mengbai and then learned from Chen Shizeng and Qi Baishi.

Though Mei had known Qi Baishi for a long while， it was in the autumn of 1920 that Mei began to paint under the tutelage of Master Qi. One day Mei invited Qi to his house. Upon arrival， Qi said， “I hear you’ve been working hard at painting. I just saw a Buddha portrait you painted. You’ve made big progress.”Mei Lanfang replied， “I am slow. Though I have had many good teachers， I am a lousy pupil. Would you please demonstrate to me today how to paint? I want to learn the way you use the brush pen. Let me grind the ink for you first.” Master Qi smiled， saying， “I will draw some grass and insects for you. In return， would you please sing me an aria later， all right?”

Qi painted grass， fish， shrimps and insects for Mei Lanfang and demonstrated to Mei how to use the pen. When the accompanist came， Mei sang an aria. That day， both the master of Chinese painting and the master of Peking Opera had a good time.

Mei Lanfang retired from acting during the Resistance War against the Japanese Invasion during World War II. During these years he lived partly on proceeds from his own paintings he sold in Shanghai.

Han Xizai at a Night Feast

Han Xizai at a Night Feast was created by Gu Hongzhong， an artist of the Five Dynasties (907-960). The painting depicts a night carousal held by Han Xizai， a high-profile celebrity. The vivid characterization and rich colors in the fine-brushwork style make the painting a masterpiece of Chinese fine arts. Although it is known as a milestone painting in the history of Chinese fine arts， few know the painting was in fact a graphic report made by a spy.

Han Xizai disguised himself and fled to the Southern Tang Dynasty after his father， a general of the Later Tang Dynasty (923-936)， was killed by the emperor. He was appointed to an official post， but was never fully trusted by Li Yu， the emperor of the Southern Tang Dynasty (937-975). The emperor watched him closely for fear that the renegade might do something detrimental to the government. One night Gu Hongzhong， an artist at the Imperial Art Academy， was sent to Han’s house to spy on him.

The spy watched the banquet closely. Later， he recreated the party in a painting based on his memories. The painting was presented as an intelligence report to the emperor. The emperor， who was a scholar himself， liked the painting so much， that it came into his art collection.

Ouyang Xiu’s Worries

One day when Ouyang Xiu， a great literary master of the Northern Song Dynasty (960-1127)， took a stroll in the street with two friends， they saw a running-wild horse kill a dog. Ouyang proposed to his friends to describe the event in a minimalist style. One friend used 12 characters. The other friend could do no better. Ouyang Xiu used only six characters.

This anecdote embodies Ouyang’s uncompromising pursuit for accurate diction. He even described his concern with accuracy in a poem， saying that sometimes he spends half a night to search for one right word. Worried about his health， his wife said to him that since he was already a master， he did not need to worry that his teachers would scold him. To this Ouyang replied， “I did not worry about my teachers’ criticism， but I am afraid of being laughed at by after-borns!”

Wang Yipin Studio Brush-pen Shop

Wang Yipin Studio Brush-pen Shop is the most famous of all the brush-pen shops in Huzhou. The business started in the sixth year of Emperor Qianlong of the Qing Dynasty (1644-1911). The proprietor’s name was not Wang Yipin at that time. As story goes， when provincial graduates would meet in Beijing for imperial examinations， the brush-pen maker thought it was a good opportunity to promote his products. So he carried a large quantity of brush-pens to the capital and began to promote his products to examinees. One provincial graduate bought a brush-pen from Wang. As it happened that the provincial graduate became a metropolitan graduate with highest honors in the imperial examination and then came out first as the principal graduate in the final palace examination. Some people concluded that the scholar’s success was essentially ascribed to the brush pen he had used. For this reason， those provincial graduates later called Wang’s pens as Yipin pens. And the owner himself renamed himself as Wang Yipin， hence the name of the shop. Wu Changshuo liked the shop’s sheep-hair brush-pens. He Tianjian and Fu Baoshi also liked the shop’s pens. Guo Moruo once wrote an inscription for the shop.

(Translated by David)