园林与造园家

在许多艺术创作领域，作者与作品的关系都是一个饶有趣味的话题。有人认为应该多了解作者，进而更深入地解读作品；另有人主张作者的匿名性，让作品自己说话。持这种观点的以法国哲学家罗兰 巴特（Roland Barthes）最具代表性，1967年他发表了《作者之死》（The Death of the Author）一文，倡导将作品从作者的权威中解放出来，实现一种更为自由开放的阅读空间。

园林可以和造园者分离吗？世界历史上营造的园林无数，有一些园林，没有思想，面貌平庸，或者只是模仿、组合他人的成果，这样的园林最多只能算是一件产品，人们不会关心其设计者。然而历史名园则完全不同，它们或是做出了原创性的探索，或是激发出特殊的情感，或是具有较高的艺术水准，他们不是产品，而是艺术，代表着一个时代在造园领域的成就，对于这样的园林，我们无法将作者与作品分离。

看到维康府邸（Vaux-le-Vicomte）、凡尔赛（Versailles）和索园（Sceaux）等这些法国历史上最伟大的园林，我们又怎么能回避造园家勒 诺特（Andre Le Nôtre）呢？他所开创的那种宁静而开阔，统一又变化，富丽堂皇、雄伟壮观的园林风格就被称为勒 诺特式园林。不了解勒 诺特，我们甚至都无从研究17世纪以后的西方园林历史。

对名园而言，我们需要确定作者的身份。勒 诺特是宫廷园林师，本人也出生于造园世家。无可否认，历史上许多名园是由造园师设计的，但是，造园与其他艺术领域有很多不同，文学、绘画、音乐的作者身份相对单纯，而园林创作者的身份就复杂多样。我们来看近代由法国艺术家设计的两个著名园林。

在摩洛哥的马拉喀什（Marrakech）有一处园林，蓝、黄、红、紫、绿色的地面、墙体、座凳和花钵赋予这座园林绚丽的色彩，光线穿过浓郁的树丛投向蔚蓝色的住宅和蓝边镶嵌的水渠及镜池，使得浓荫覆盖的园林更显神秘。这个园林最初的主人是法国画家马约尔（Jacques Majorelle），虽然他创作了大量以摩洛哥风景和村庄为题材的画作，但这座园林才是他最著名的作品。1923年马约尔在马拉喀什购买了这块土地，随后用了近40年的时间建造并养护着这座园林。1962年马约尔去世后，园林逐渐荒芜，直到1980年被法国服装设计师依夫 圣 洛朗（Yves Saint Laurent）买下。随后圣 洛朗修复了这座园林，并补种了大量新的植物，园林才成为今天的样子。我不太清楚这个园林对马约尔艺术的影响，但是在圣 洛朗的服装世界里，明艳而和谐的色彩正如花园一样，这座园林一定激发了他的艺术创作灵感。

另一处是位于法国吉维尼（Giverny）的莫奈（Claude Monet）花园。莫奈的后半生一直都在营建这座园林，在其中种植了上百种树木花草。花园里各种色彩的植物互相搭配，错落布置，协调地生长在一起，形成丰富完美的色彩组合，犹如巨大的调色板。莫奈还引附近的河水入园，挖掘了一个池塘，建造了一座日式小桥，池中种满睡莲。莫奈的晚年都在画这座园林，创作了上百幅睡莲绘画。莫奈的花园就是艺术家的画布，花园的布局是按画意安排的，他自己就表示“花园是我最美的作品”。

在马拉喀什和吉维尼的这两处园林每天游客络绎不绝，人们排着长队购票参观绝不仅仅是为了享受园林艺术，更多的原因还在于对园子特殊的主人和设计者的浓厚兴趣。

在中国，画家或诗人为自己造园是一个普遍现象。唐代诗人画家王维依据天然山水地貌，整理地形植被，以诗画创作的艺术手法，构筑建造了辋川别业。“空山不见人，但闻人语响”“明月松间照，清泉石上流。”王维以辋川为背景，写下了他最美的诗作。王维成就了辋川之禅意，辋川也影响了王维的诗境画境。只有理解了王维的诗和画，才能理解辋川。

类似的还有唐代白居易在洛阳建造的履道里园，宋代司马光在洛阳建造的独乐园，元代倪瓒在太湖边修建的“清閟阁”，等等，他们不仅是园主人，也是诗人、文学家或画家，还是造园家。只是到了明代，随着计成、张南垣等造园专业人士的出现，园林才更多地由造园师设计建造，但是园主、诗人、画家或其他艺术家仍然广泛地参与到造园实践中。有时造园师和艺术家的身份就是交叉重叠的，最好的造园家往往也是画家，又精通诗文，这种身份的叠加才能建造出具有诗情画意的园林。

园林是否与造园家相关，那要看怎么来定义园林，如果将园林看作是产品，可以复制，园林和造园家的关系如同是鸡蛋和母鸡，吃鸡蛋未必需要知道是哪只鸡下的。但我更将园林视为是艺术，作为艺术品就一定离不开艺术家的创作，艺术和艺术家是无法分离的。无论是王维的辋川还是莫奈在吉维尼的园林，都是园主人以艺术思想建造了园林，而反过来园林又造就了他们的艺术。阅读名园离不开研究造园家的思想。如果抛弃了作者的情感，只是从空间、序列、构图、虚实等分析研究园林，那就只能看到园林的表面，而无法深入园林的精神。

PREFACE

Gardens and the Garden Makers

The correlation of authors with their works in many artistic creation fields is a popular topic.Some people think that the author should be known firstly so that the works could be comprehended while others argue that the author be anonymous to have the works understood.Roland Barthes,the French philosopher has been most representative for the latter view.He published The Death of the Author in 1967 advocating the emancipation of the works from author authority to achieve a more free and open reading space.

Can garden be separated from its designer? Of the countless gardens have been constructed in the human history,those with limited ideological inspirations,mediocre looks or high imitation and follow-suits of others are at best landscaping products,so few people care about their makers.Nevertheless,those famous gardens in the history have been completely different because they virtually conceive original explorations and inspire special emotions with high artistic standards.They are more arts than products for their internal representation of the landscaping achievements of an era so we cannot separate the works from the designers.

When appreciating the greatest gardens in French history such as Vaux-le-Vicomte,Versailles and Sceaux,how could we disregard the designer Andre Le Nôtre? His creative garden style featured by tranquil openness,unified variation,wealthy splendor,majestic grandness has been called Le Nôtre Gardens.Without knowing Le Nôtre,the history of the western gardens after the 17th century could hardly be studied.

For those famous gardens in the history,we need to identify the author.Le Nôtre is an imperial garden maker born in a garden makers’ family.Undoubtedly many well-known gardens were designed by garden makers,but there is much difference between garden making and other artistic fields.The authorship of literature,painting and music is relatively simple while that for the landscaping is complex and diverse.Let us look at two famous garden cases of French artists in modern times.

In Marrakech of Morocco,there is a garden with grounds,walls,benches and flowerpots brilliantly colored with blue,yellow,red,purple,green so when sunshine penetrates dense bushes to reflect the azure houses and blue-selvedge canals and mirror ponds,certain mysterious inspirations arise to the visitors with the dense shades in the garden.The first owner of the garden was Jacques Majorelle,a French painter who created plenty of paintings on Moroccan landscapes and villages,yet it is this garden that became his most famous work.Majorelle bought the plot of land in 1923 and spent nearly 40 years for construction and maintenance.After Majorelle’s death in 1962,the garden became desolate and in 1980 was bought by French fashion designer Yves Saint Laurent for restoration and additional planting to make it what it is like today.I’m not quite sure how this garden had affected Majorelle’s artworks,however the bright harmonious colors in Saint Laurent’s world of clothing have resembled the beautiful colors of the garden which should have prompted Laurent’s artistic creation inspirations.

Another case is Claude Monet’s Garden located in Giverny,France.Monet spent his later part of life building the garden where over a hundred species of trees and vegetation were planted in mixtures to grow harmoniously in well dislocated terrains forming rich immaculate color combinations like a huge palette.Monet introduced water of nearby river into an excavated pond in the garden for extensive growth of water lilies and buildup of a Japanese bridge.Monet kept painting the garden in his later years creating hundreds of painting works of water lilies.To this end,Monet’s garden is the artist’s canvas and the garden was built to meet the ideological needs of painting.He said,“the garden is my most beautiful work.”

Both gardens in Marrakech and Giverny are now visited by numerous tourists every day.They stand in long queues to buy tickets not only to enjoy the landscape are,but also to meet their keen interest in the special owners and designers of the garden.

It is common in ancient China that painters or poets built gardens for themselves.Wang Wei,the poet and painter of Tang Dynasty constructed Wangchuan Villa with poetic painting and artistic method based on local natural landscape terrain and vegetation.In his most well-known poems “None is visible in empty mountains but someone’s voice is heard.” and “Clear bright moon casts light on pine woods while creeks flow above stones” the beauty of Wangchuan is portrayed.Wang Wei accomplished the tranquil peaceful mood of Wangchuan while Wangchuan had affected the poetic ideation of Wang Wei.Only by understanding Wang Wei’s poem and painting can the Wangchuan Suburban Villa be comprehended.

Similarly,Lvdaoli Garden was constructed by Bai Juyi in Luoyang in Tang Dynasty,Sole Paradise Garden by Sima Guang in Luoyang in Song Dynasty and Qingbi Pavilion by Ni Zan by Taihu Lake in Yuan Dynasty.They are not only garden owners,but also poets,litterateurs,painters and as well as garden makers.It was up till Ming Dynasty when more professional garden designers such as Ji Cheng and Zhang Nanyuan came to design and construct gardens,still the owners,poets,painters and other artists were largely involved in the whole practice process.The identities of landscape architect and artist may overlap sometimes,which means to some extent the best designers are often also outstanding painters and poets.Such dual identities integrate to construct gardens with due poetic inspirations.

Whether gardens correlate with its makers depends on how we define it.If regard it as products that can be replicated,the correlation of landscapes and gardens with the maker is like that between an egg and a hen:it is unnecessary for the egg eater to know which chicken is the hatcher.However,I prefer to regard it as art.Artwork is inseparable from creation of artists so art and artists cannot be separated.For both Wangchuan Suburban Villa by Wang Wei and Monet’s garden in Giverny,the garden owner’s artistic ideologies helped build the garden and in turn the garden helped create artworks of the owners.Comprehending famous gardens deserve studies of the garden makers’ thoughts.If the garden makers’ emotions are neglected and garden is analyzed and studied only from space,sequence,composition,virtual reality etc.,we could only explore the appearance of the garden and unable to dip into the spirit of it.

Translator:WANG Xiyue

Chief Editor:Prof.Dr-Ing.WANG Xiangrong

February 16th,2019