松山韩蓉非洲艺术收藏展
The African Art Collection of Songshan & Han Rong

展览统筹：栗宪庭  张海涛
开幕时间：2011年3月12日（周六）下午3点
展览地址：宋庄美术馆
展览时间：2011.3.12-2011.4.10（周一休息）

主办单位：宋庄美术馆
协办单位：松山韩蓉非洲艺术收藏博物馆   艺术档案网（www.artda.cn）
电子邮箱：songartcenter@126.com

松山韩蓉非洲艺术收藏展

由宋庄美术馆主办的“松山韩蓉非洲艺术收藏展”将于3月12日下午3点在宋庄美术馆开幕，这次展览展出李松山、韩蓉夫妇30多年在非洲收藏的近千件艺术品。作品类型包括绘画、木雕（图腾艺术、群雕、抽象雕塑）、生活用具，尤其是马孔德民族艺术，是展览最重要的亮点。

马孔德雕塑分为四大类
一、西泰尼（Shetani,神灵）是马孔德艺术家最敬重的一类雕塑。类似图腾，内涵深刻，形体怪诞，或表现一种意志和愿望，或概括某种伦理：反映人的爱与憎、正直与邪恶，往往令人触目惊心。

二、云形（Mawingu,斯瓦西里语的词义为“云彩”)是马孔德雕塑家最自由的创作。在雕刻之前，往往观看天空变化多端的云彩，结合自己的想象再去创作，作品由此得名，云而形成一类。

三、群雕（Ujamaa,斯瓦西里语意为集体、团体，坦桑尼亚所实行的社会主义也用这个词）。在欧洲也有人称它为“生命树”（tree of life).把几个，十几个乃至上百个或数百个人物摞叠雕刻于一段木头上，是群雕（ujamaa）的艺术特征。手法上多采用浮雕或透雕的形式雕刻一段原木。上下左右与邻近的人物相连接，一般表现马孔德人的一个家庭或一个部落的劳动或生活情景。

四、用器。这类雕塑包括：手杖、手镯、梳子、耳饰、碗、勺、刀、叉，还有挂板，头像等装饰。这类物品种类繁多，强调实用性和装饰性。

这次展览是目前国内规模最大的非洲艺术收藏展，展览旨在探讨当代流行艺术人工化进程中，手工传统技术在当下传承的意义，也是宋庄美术馆继“烈日西藏展”之后又一次以人类学视角对地域文化的又一次深度调查展示，更深入讨论对于当代艺术整体价值判断的平衡与补充问题，如：传统与现代、民间与专业、人工与手工、流行与朴实、自然与不自然。非洲当地的文化背景和他们真诚、稚拙、自然的原始创造力，也是当代艺术中价值缺失和需要补充的。非洲艺术作品中体现的情感和想象力一直是现代和当代艺术吸收的力量。（张海涛）

布展作品

前言

我们夫妇为能在宋庄美术馆举办《松山韩蓉非洲艺术收藏展》感到欣慰。 这里聚集着几千位中国最富活力，充满热情的天才艺术家们。 同时我们也为这些藏品引以自豪， 因为这里的所有藏品都是我们夫妇，身居非洲几十年，以青春为代价, 用毕生精力和财力, 收集, 研究, 在上万件作品中挑选出来,  献给祖国的一份厚礼。展览之后它们将被分发到北京，浙江的美术院校，博物馆，大部分运往长春由《松山韩蓉非洲艺术收藏博物馆》收藏。在宋庄我们设立非洲艺术体验展厅，搭建同非洲艺术家交往的平台。 我们相信, 它将让我们的子孙后代受用无穷。

四十多年前，我们开始学习非洲的民族语言——斯瓦希里语（Swahili），并一直从事外交外事工作，奔走于中国与非洲之间。后来连我们自己都没有想到，这段经历竟成了我们的非洲情结，同黑非洲的精灵——马孔德艺术联系在一起。马孔德（Makonde）， 是非洲的一个小小的民族,  他们世世代代过着自然而无拘无束的生活，坚守自己的宇宙观,  崇拜神灵.   然而,  就是这个小小的民族, 却有着世界上最为庞大的雕塑艺术家群体。雕刻是他们血液里流淌出来的艺术，它火热奔放，充满激情，世界各地都可以看到它们的踪影, 艺术家和老百姓都喜欢它, 推崇它为时尚,  任由它 以其独特的魅力转播非洲精神和神话, 影响着广袤的艺术世界。这神奇的民族及其伟大的成就, 磁石般地把我们牢牢地吸引在这块黑人的土地上.  我们在坦桑尼亚创建了国家马孔德艺术协会，同几百位艺术家建立了兄弟般的友谊。设立了“马孔德艺术私人博物馆”，我们像爱护子女一样呵护着每一件艺术珍品。花尽了精力去研究它，同时也尽力去资助每一位马孔德雕塑家朋友。

几十年的岁月流失，我们已从风华正茂的青年变成了两鬓斑白的老人，我们惊喜地发现流失的岁月带走的是我们的容颜，却砺炼了我们的意志，净化了我们的灵魂。一切风雨、艰辛都不能泯灭我们对人世间美好的追求和挚爱。我们走的是一段艰难困苦的异国跋涉，是一次奇特快乐的文化苦旅，我们所寻觅探究，渴望靠近的是一座人类文明的艺术宝藏，我们试图抚摸和感悟的则是非洲艺术精灵的魅力和被人遗忘了的非洲精神。

朋友们， 我们希望大家在这里享受艺术, 陶冶情操.  更殷切地盼望在中国有一批像年轻时的我们一样的青年人，有理想、有抱负、有发现、有能力，去开拓 ,去创造伟大中华憧憬的明天。

李松山  韩蓉
2011年2月

Foreword

We are gratified for holding the African Art Collection of Songshan ＆Han Rong at Art Center of Song Zhuang where thousands of talent and enthusiastic Chinese contemporary artists cluster.

We also pride ourselves of presenting this rich gift to our homeland-China, because the exhibits in the museum are all selected from among the more than 10,000 pieces of art works we have collected during our stay in Africa over the past several dozen years, to which we have devoted our youth and most of our lifetime energy and financial resources.

Forty years ago, we began to learn the African language Swahili, and were later engaged in diplomatic and foreign-related work, for which we frequently traveled between China and Africa. Quite unexpectedly, this experience of ours, while enabling us to foster a profound feeling for Africa, has tied us with Makonde art—the cream of black African arts.

Makonde, a small ethnic group in Africa, has lived a natural and free life generation after generation, holding its own world view and worshipping its own deities. With a limited population, though, Makonde boasts the largest number of sculpture artists in the world. The sculptures, created with enormous ardor gushing out from the artists’ blood, look bold and untrammeled and are permeated with passion for life. With their unique charm, they have conveyed to the world the spirit and myth of Africa, and exerted great and extensive influences on worldwide art circles. Makonde, the mystical ethnic group, is itself a marvelous myth, and its great artistic achievement has become a treasure house of human civilization.

Several dozen years have elapsed since we first set foot on African soil, and now we are no longer young, with our hair turning gray at the temples. But, no hardships or setbacks could dampen our enthusiasm in pursuing and treasuring all the beautiful things in the world. We believe that any excellent art of a nation must be a world treasure. We hope it will help spur the development and innovation of the Chinese national art by drawing nourishment from the superb Makonde art, which, we wish, may benefit our later generations infinitely. 

Li Songshan   Han Rong
Lifelong Honorable Curators of the African Makonde Sculpture Art Museum

February 2011 

李松山、韩蓉夫妇简介

李松山，韩蓉夫妇二人曾先后于60年代在大学学习斯瓦西里语。（Swahili.班图语系，是坦桑尼亚和肯尼亚的国语，也通用于东非各国：索马里、乌干达、马拉维、布隆迪、卢旺达、莫桑比克、刚果等，使用人口约1亿）。

几十年来，李松山、韩蓉夫妇一直活跃在中国和坦桑尼亚的文化、经济舞台上，是中国对非洲关系的见证人和参与者，把人生最美好的青春献给了国际友好和中非文化交流事业。

从上个世纪六七十年代开始，他们就从事外文翻译工作，翻译过毛泽东著作、大批政治文章、小说等文学作品，编著斯瓦西里语汉语词典。从70年代末到80年代，他们先后多次被中国政府派往坦桑尼亚，参加经济援外专家组，医疗队和中国驻外文化机构的工作。

1990年，李松山、韩蓉夫妇先后辞去了公职，移居坦桑尼亚，开始了人生第二次创业，踏上了一条情系坦桑尼亚的充满探索和挑战的道路。

历经20年的坎坷曲折，他们已经成为坦桑尼亚著名的华侨企业家，非洲艺术学者和收藏家。他们在坦桑尼亚建立了“马孔德私人艺术博物馆”，收集了上万件马孔德雕塑珍品。在他们的倡导和组织下，与当地众多艺术家一起创立了“坦桑尼亚国家马孔德艺术协会”，李松山任协会会长，韩蓉任秘书长。

1997年5月他们曾应中国文化部邀请代表坦桑尼亚政府在北京劳动人民文化宫举行了大型坦桑尼亚工艺美术展，之后还组织和参加过多次国际展览。

2003年6月，李松山、韩蓉夫妇向长春市人民政府捐赠了500余件非洲现代木雕精品，成立了《非洲马孔德雕塑艺术博物馆》。坦桑尼亚前总统姆卡帕为此发来贺辞，文中高度赞扬李松山和韩蓉夫妇。同年9月，李松山、韩蓉夫妇应邀出席世界雕塑大会，并发表了题为“黑非洲的精灵——浅谈马孔德雕塑艺术”的论文。

2004年12月，李松山夫妇向中国美术馆捐赠157件非洲现代木雕——马孔德木雕，使中国美术馆又增添了一批高质量的非洲艺术藏品。2005年5月中国美术馆举办了《李松山，韩蓉夫妇捐赠非洲现代木雕展》。

2005年5月，李松山夫妇在北京西郊的北京印象建筑群中，创办了“非洲印象”沙龙，展示非洲奇特的艺术珍品，介绍非洲风土人情和非洲民俗文化。

2006年11月协助文化部在国家博物馆举办《从非洲走来》大型展览。

 

收藏者的话
 —— 情系黑精灵

一段艰难困苦的异国跋涉，
一次奇特快乐的文化苦旅，
几十年漫长的寻觅探究，
仅仅渴望能够靠近它的源流，
能抚摸它的质地，感悟它的神秘内涵，欣赏它的另类魅力。
——它是人类文明的艺术宝藏。
我们殷切地盼望在中国会有一批像年轻时的我们一样的青年人继续这段快乐的苦旅，这将给我们的世界带来更多的灿烂。

Introduction to Li Songshan and Han Rong

The couple, Li Songshan and Han Rong, began to learn Swahili in the 1960s. (Swahili, belonging to the Bantu language family, is spoken by about 100 million people in Africa. It is the national language of Tanzania and Kenya, and is also commonly used in such East African countries as Somali, Uganda, Malawi, Burundi, Rwanda, Mozambique and the Congo).

Over the past years, the couple has been actively engaged in Sino-Tanzanian cultural and economic exchange, dedicating the prime of their youth and enormous efforts to promoting international friendship and the development of Sino-African relations.

Since1960s and 1670s, they began to engage in translation work and participated in the translation of Selected Works of Mao Zedong and a great volume of documents, novels and literary works. They have also participated in the compilation of Swahili-Chinese dictionaries.

Between the late 1970s and the 1980s, the couple, dispatched by the Chinese Government, first served as interpreters for China’s foreign-aid expert groups and medical teams, and later worked for a cultural institution of China stationed in Tanzania.

In 1990, the couple resigned public employment and made emigration to Tanzania, starting a new career on this foreign land, which is fraught with hardships and challenges.

After experiencing numerous twists and turns over the past 16 years, Li and Han have become eminent Chinese entrepreneurs in Tanzania, and won the fame for their in-depth study and rich collection of African artworks. They have collected more than 10,000 masterpieces of Makonda woodcarvings and established a private Makonda art museum in Tanzania. They also have initiated and organized the Tanzania National Makonda Art Association, with the participation of many local artists, and Li serving as its president and Han its secretary-general.
In May 1997, at the invitation of the Chinese Ministry of Culture and representing the Tanzanian Government, the couple held a grand exhibition of Tanzanian arts and crafts at the Beijing Working People’s Cultural Palace. After that, they sponsored and participated in a number of other international exhibitions.

In June 2003, the couple contributed to the People’s Government of Changchun more than 500 exquisite African modern woodcarvings, which are now collected and exhibited by the Changchun Sculpture Art Museum. The People’s Government of Changchun granted the couple the title as lifetime honorable curators of the museum. Former president of Tanzania sent a message of greetings, speaking highly of the couple’s lifetime devotion to the study and collection of Makonda artworks and their great contribution to the development of human culture and art. In September the same year, the couple attended the World Sculpture Meet in Changchun at invitation, at which they delivered a paper entitled “A Brief Talk on Makonda Sculpture Art--the Spirit of Black Africa”.

In December 2004, the couple presented 157 pieces of African modern woodcarvings to the China Art Gallery, adding an array of African art treasures to it.

In May 2005, the couple opened the Africa Impression salon at the compound of Beijing Impression in the western suburbs of Beijing, hoping to show off the marvelous art and folklore of Africa and set up a platform for Chinese artists and scholars who yearn to approach African culture and arts. 

Words from Collectors
—— An insoluble bond with the Black Spirit

An experience fraught with hardships,
A peculiar yet enjoyable tough cultural journey,
Several dozen years of persistent searching and study,
Only yearn for approaching its origin, stroking its texture, sensing its innate mystery, and appreciating its unique charm.
--It’s a treasure-house of human civilization.
We ardently hope the coming of a batch of young people who will, as we did in our youth, bravely take this tough but happy journey, which, surely, will add great brilliance to humanity.