世界眼光中的印学视野

肖艳艳

三面云山一面城的杭州，有一座海拔仅35米的山——孤山。在这西湖边最小的一座山上，坐落着被誉为“天下第一名社”的西泠印社。穿越一个多世纪的历史云烟 ，从“保存金石、研究印学”出发的西泠印社不仅在海内外金石书画界享有无可替代的地位，更以其传承的文化、坚守的信仰、不绝的风骨闻名于世，增加着孤山的精神海拔，印刻下“天堂之城”的人文厚度。

西泠印社是中国成立最早的著名全国性印学社团，不仅是海内外研究金石篆刻历史最悠久、成就最高、影响最广的学术团体，还以篆刻书画创作的卓越成就和丰富的艺术收藏享誉海内外，被誉为“印学研究中心”。

日前，作为西泠印社副社长兼秘书长的陈振濂教授，就西泠印社新时代创新思维、如何走向世界、打造国际印学中心接受了采访。

坚定信仰与守正创新

陈振濂现任中國文联副主席，中国书法家协会副主席，中国文艺评论家协会副主席，浙江省文联副主席，浙江大学人文学院院长、教授、博士生导师。今年是西泠印社创建118年，在陈振濂教授看来，关于西泠印社118年辉煌历史的回溯梳理，已经有海量的论文著作、纪录片、专访与视频节目、国家级科研课题甚至大学课程与教材，当然包括每年十几次专业展览和大型学术研讨会作为强有力的见证。许多内容已经成为业界的常识，家喻户晓，人人都能如数家珍。

百年名社为何能成就百年伟业？陈振濂教授深思后指出，一定有一种坚定的信仰宗旨即共同目标的“精神维系”。具体说来，就是创社之初确立的“保存金石、研究印学”和后来的“兼及书画”。又在百年社庆之后，设定了打造“国际印学研究中心（大印学）”、“重振金石学”、“诗书画印综合（兼能）”的既根植于传统又与时俱进的崭新时代目标。这方面的内容，只要看一下这二十年来西泠印社社团工作的艺术学术活动记录，即可明了。

陈振濂教授十分肯定地认为，一百多年前的1904年，吴昌硕与“创社四子”丁辅之、王福庵、叶为铭、吴隐共同拟定的“保存金石、研究印学”，一直是西泠印社永久的“定海神针”，它是“根”。对照今天全国文艺界讲“守正创新”，毫无疑问，它就是必须守的“正”，是我们认识的前提。

时代在发展，社会经济客观环境与人文艺术环境发生了根本变化。作为西泠印社掌舵人的陈振濂教授为了适应新时代新要求，2003年百年社庆之后，陈振濂与印社团队对印社进行了与时俱进的逻辑延伸：一是从早期原有的“保存金石”延伸出“重振金石学”;二是从原有的“研究印学”延伸出沙孟海先生号召的“国际印学研究中心”;三是从60周年大庆时补立的“兼及书画”宗旨延伸出“诗书画印综合（兼能）”。创社时代和中兴时代印社前辈确立的三个宗旨，都被我们以“守正”精神坚决“守”住并赋予新的含义了。

“一带一路”与世界印章史

作为一个学术社团，西泠印社已有近百年的历史，其学术地位和社会声誉不但在国内印学界和书画界独树一帜，在日本、韩国和东南亚更是颇具影响，已为《辞海》《新华词典》等多种权威辞书机构所记载和认定。其悠久的历史、厚重的文化内涵、深远的国际影响和久负盛名的社会声誉，全国只此一家。

作为一个民间的印学社团，西泠印社成立之始就具有独特的号召力，其原因是社员多为名家，且来自全国各地甚至海外，就连日本的篆刻家也慕名而远涉重洋前来入社。近百年来，西泠印社共有社员近400人，现有社员250余人，分布在全国二十多个省、市、自治区，香港、澳门特别行政区和台湾地区，多为全国和各地著名篆刻家、书画家、鉴定家及学者。社员中还包括小林斗庵、梅舒适、金膺显等日本、韩国、新加坡的20多位国际篆刻书画界知名人士。

在新时代，在国家日新月异的迅速发展过程中，西泠印社如何才能做到与时代同频共振、与时俱进？这是摆在西泠印社面前的一大命题。正是在反复斟酌推敲、分析形势走向的深思熟虑之后，在2012年尤其是2015年之后，西泠印社在学术艺术关注侧重点上，作出了有指明方向性意义的重大“战略调整”。陈振濂教授说，其主要目标是两个：

首先，以传统印学、篆刻学为基盘，依仗多年（至少近二十年）以来的积聚，以“守正”为社务展开的底线和出发点。

其次，迅速扩大视野，构建当代“大印学”的时代新格局，除以篆刻艺术创作、古典印学印史印家印作印派研究作为品牌之外，在以古玺汉印、唐宋元明、皖浙流派、赵之谦、吴昌硕、黄牧甫的正宗正统风格类型的基础上，先转向过去曾经不太受关注的“战国小玺”形式、“封泥”形式、“汉玉印”形式、“烂铜印将军印”形式、“唐宋官印”形式、“元押”形式、“圆朱文”形式、“多字印”形式等，通过西泠印社举办的全国篆刻评展的投稿规定、现场考试题等，进行有意识的专业提倡，以促使当代篆刻创作风格技巧的多样化——这是从过去印学界长期形成的固定审美模式出发，扩大为具有现代艺术意识的“全印史”式以热点与冷门交替交融、不留盲点的创作视野大开发。在十多年间，当代中国甚至域外之印学艺术创作的每一轮新风兴起，几乎都与西泠印社基于“创新思维”的倡导和引领有关。

陈振濂教授认为，西泠的创新，不仅限于此。近年来，受国家倡导的“一带一路”世界战略布局的启发，丝绸之路沿线的诸多国家和地区，从中国的新疆、西藏等西域开始，经阿富汗、土耳其、伊朗、伊拉克、叙利亚到埃及，再进入欧洲，以及南亚印度等，在古代这些土地上都有印章遗存。

站在“世界印章史”史无前例的大视野上，又逢西泠印社长期遵从沙孟海社长“建设国际印学研究中心”和饶宗颐社长“东学西渐”的宏伟构想，同时深刻领悟、认同国家文化建设与交流的大目标，陈振濂与西泠印社的管理层开始对当代印学史“一带一路”的创新创作实践予以更系统的细化与构架尝试：以广义上的丝绸之路“一带一路”印章篆刻主题创作实践，将沿线一百多个国家的中文国名、本国文字国名、国花等要素进行排列组合，通过“印章”形式与成熟的经典式篆刻艺术表现，形成一个完整的、于篆刻而言也许是过去闻所未闻的崭新的“知识链”和“视觉形式链”。在赋予它以承载国家层面上的外交涵义、商贸涵义、民族交流融合与文化传播涵义的同时，还在艺术上创造出过去篆刻艺术之前所未有的新图像涵义、创造涵义与“印文化”拓展与再造涵义。

目前，構想已经成熟，实践尝试正在进行中。陈振濂教授笑着说，虽然目前还有不少困难，尤其是既要严格遵守传统金石学、印学的审美目标（守正的要求），又要置换掉篆刻已有的早已熟悉成习惯的中国古文字大小篆书的规范，而去研究古埃及文字、古波斯文字、古印度文字和今天西域各国通行的各民族文字如阿拉伯文字和中亚、西亚、北非各国文字，研究如何使这些异域文字形态妥帖地纳入篆刻印面而没有“违和感”。一旦成功，更可据此而延伸向欧美的英、法、德、俄、意大利、西班牙等文字。倘若以西泠印社为平台载体，倘若能以若干年的努力，接近或完成这一目标，则国家倡导的“文化自信”“讲好中国故事”“中国文化走出去”，在篆刻艺术这一小众艺术领域里就有了实践推动的可行性。而对于我们本来十分熟悉、视为己出的篆刻艺术创作、印章学与金石文化来说，也就有了一个激活新思维、开拓新资源、吸收新理念、创造新时代新任务新发展目标的千载难逢的历史机遇。

对今天的篆刻家尤其是“篆刻艺术家”（而不是刻印工匠）而言，基于“新时代”宏图大业，如何来实现专业的重新塑型？陈振濂教授再次解读了“守正、创新”四个字——“守正”，是对传统篆刻艺术创作的持续深化;“创新”，则是对“印章”“篆刻”“金石”的已有领域，从理念上实践上的一次几千年以来未有之“大拓展”。“守正”，是因为百年西泠印社已有明确的“首位度”，是享有世界声望的“天下第一社”，它的存在，必然是“正”而不可能“误”“邪”。而“创新”，是借助已有举世无双的雄厚积累，又能以团队的不懈努力，不断寻求专业学科领域在新时代的新发展新空间;更能巧妙妥帖地配合国家的大政方针，而使得作为一个小众而高端、局部的“篆刻艺术”，融入到国家发展前行的文化洪流大潮中去而不缺位，想国家之所想，从而使篆刻家、印学家、金石家们在坚守专业本位的前提下，成为一个具有“家国情怀”的真正的时代艺术家。

百年名社与老树新花

基于“创新思维”的“大印学”的提出——以学术治社。

西泠印社在这几年里，以“创新思维”为统领，已经有意识地在知识、学术研究、人才培养层面上有了很好的积累布局，审时度势地提出了“大印学”的时代新理念。作为它的构成步骤与有序推进，从2016—2021年的五年间，西泠印社有意识地召开了五次大型国际学术研讨会，如“图形印与非汉字系统印章”（2016）、“世界图纹与印记”（2018）两次研讨会，就是直接针对世界印章史这一课题而发起的。100多篇学术论文，构建起了对世界印章史（包括丝绸之路印章史与“一带一路印章史”）的基础认知框架。而关于印谱史、金石传拓史、两宋金石学之相关研究，我们也多有围绕印章、金石学核心概念下的相关资料研究和现有资料的展开。因此，对于印学界本来陌生、从未有过的新的认知建构与专业知识储备，我们胸有成竹。

百年名社，老树新花，西泠印社本身就代表了传统金石书画篆刻的精髓。在当下， 它缺的是什么？缺古代经典与传统吗？陈振濂教授肯定地说，当然不是。它缺的，正是创新精神。

从治社理念创新、社务创新、艺术学术创新到基于“解放思想”的观念创新，百年西泠印社向来就是“守正”的大本营，传统积累深厚而稳固，能够取得百年辉煌，正基于此。而且，西泠印社中人也皆以“正”之权威与代表性而互相标识，互相砥砺，引为同道。但正因如此，我们就更需要在“创新思维”方面下大力气，衔接历史，超越已有，创造世界大背景下中国篆刻界、印学界、本行本业发展进步的“新时代”。

1904年，在国艰民困、兵荒马乱之际，“创社四子”丁王叶吴“四公”联手吴缶翁遂取当时被“新学”浪潮挤压而凋零衰败、众皆弃若敝履的篆刻、印章、金石学，作登高一呼，从而保存了传统文化最珍贵之一脉香火。这震铄古今的大业绩，正是缘于他们这一辈圣贤之士头脑中拥有的创新精神。

最后，陈振濂教授表示，今天我们以与时俱进、同频共振的“创新思维”，推进“大印学”的新理念，植入世界眼光，拓开印学视野，它恰恰可被视为1904年创社这一石破天惊之举百年之后在精神上的继承与延续。它表明，篆刻艺术这一小众项目，在国家强盛发展与宏观文艺思想的映照下，是同样可以有“家国情怀”的。

The Xiling Seal Art Society is located on Gushan Hill by the West Lake in Hangzhou. Founded in 1904 with preserving epigraphic art and promoting seal studies as its primary purpose， it is now a leader in the circles of seal art， epigraphy， calligraphy and painting known to the world with its inherited culture， strong faith， and everlasting vigor of style. It has made Gushan Hill and the city of Hangzhou known by the world.

The Society tops nationally as one of the earliest established associations of the kind in China and is one of the most long-standing， fruitful and influential academic communities in epigraphy and sigillography in the world. Given its achievements in as well as collections of seal engraving works， epigraphic art， calligraphy， and paintings， it is known as the “Center for Sigillography”.

Recently， Professor Chen Zhenlian， deputy director and secretary-general of the Society， was interviewed on its innovation in the new era， i.e.， how the Society introduces seal studies to the world and how it builds the International Center for Sigillography.

Chen Zhenlian is a vice president of several national academic associations. He is a professor and a doctoral supervisor of the School of Humanities at Zhejiang University. He pointed out that the 118-year history of the Society has witnessed a sea of relevant publications， dozens of annual specialized exhibitions and large-scale academic conferences， and involved national research projects， university courses and teaching materials， many of which have become common sense in the field.

What makes the Society a success？ Professor Chen suggested a firm belief in a common goal. Its founding mission is preserving inscriptions on ancient bronzes and stone carvings and promoting seal studies， with calligraphy and paintings later added as an integral part. After its centennial celebration， the Society begins work on the International Center for Sigillography， aka Comprehensive Sigillography， to reinvigorate epigraphy and to integrate works of poetry， calligraphy， painting， and seal engraving. These are rooted in tradition but also keep up with the times， which is obviously shown by the records of the Society’s activities in the past two decades.

“The mission agreed on in 1904 by Wu Changshuo and the four founders， Ding， Wang， Ye and Wu， has been the anchor of its development. It is also the root， or what has worked well in the past， to which we must stick to. This is the premise of our understanding，” Professor Chen asserted.

Times have changed， so have socio-economic and humanistic contexts. As the man behind the wheel， Chen and his team have expanded their commitments： to revive epigraphy based on the earlier works saved， they build the International Center for Sigillography in accordance with Sha Menghai’s call， and integrate poems， seal engraving， calligraphy， and painting， since the latter two have become part of the family since the 60th anniversary of the Society.

As an academic community， Xiling Seal Art Society is well known to circles of seal-engraving， calligraphy and painting. It is especially influential in Japan， the Republic of Korea and Southeast Asia. It is the one and only seal art society that has a long history， a rich culture， and an international prestige.

Although non-governmental， the Society has its appeal as it has a total of 400 members， and currently more than 250 from different parts of China： many are famous seal-carving artists， calligraphers， painters， connoisseurs， and scholars， some are internationally renowned， such as Kobayashi Toan and Bai Joteki from Japan and Kim Eung-heon from the Republic of Korea.

How can the Society keep abreast of the rapid progress throughout the nation？ After a review of what has happened since 2012， especially after 2015， strategic adjustments have been made regarding the academic and artistic focuses for future development. Chen stated two main aims.

First， based on the experience accumulated from traditional sigillography over the last two decades， the Society adheres to what has worked well in the past as the bottom line or the starting point.

Second， the Society builds a new paradigm for Comprehensive Sigillography. Apart from regular studies， the society diverts its attention from the seals in traditional styles to the works that used to go unnoticed. It has put this into practice by enforcing subscription rules for the national seal engraving competitions and exhibitions， and by holding on-site tests. It also promotes professionalism and encourages versatile skills and styles. Moreover， it changes the aesthetic stereotype in previous sigillography to contemporary comprehensive sigillography， characterized by a mingling of popular and unpopular issues and an all-inclusive perspective for seal art. In the past decade or so， almost every new trend of seal art creation inside and outside China is related to this line of innovative thinking.

Chen argued that its innovation is reflected in more than the above-mentioned points. In recent years， inspired by the Belt and Road Initiative， the remains of ancient seals are found and studied in many places along the Silk Road.

The Society is aimed at writing the World History of Sigillography， which echoes Ex-Director Sha Menghai’s proposal of Building the International Research Center for Sigillography and that of Introducing Eastern Learning to the West initiated by Ex-Director Rao Zongyi. Chen and his staff endorse the national blueprint for promoting culture and communication and attempt to chart systematically the history of sigillography in alignment with the Belt and Road Initiative. They also practice seal engraving related to the theme of the Silk Road， arraying elements on seals， or expressing them in terms of classic seal art， which forms a knowledge chain and a chain of visual art， complete and brand new for seal engraving. This is important to diplomacy， business and trade， and communication between nations or cultures， and artistically， motivates the creation of new motifs and new meanings in seal culture.

We already have a plan and are putting it into practice， Chen smiled， although there is difficulty in balancing the traditional aesthetic standards and innovation when coming to replacing the conventions used for Chinese characters with those for the languages used in other countries west of China. It is challenging to have them fit nicely onto seals. Once achieved， however， this practice can be extended to alphabetical languages from Europe and America. If we achieve this goal with several years of hard work， it is highly possible and practical for us to enhance cultural confidence， tell China’s stories well， and support Chinese culture in going out via seal art. It is also an opportunity to encourage thinking， explore resources， absorb new ideas， undertake different tasks， and set new goals. Seal engravers themselves would be challenged by the changing knowledge and skills required and faced with the responsibility for and the mission of the times to emancipate minds.

Regarding this big plan in the new era， how can seal engravers， especially seal artists， rather than engraving artisans， achieve their professional re-molding？ Chen re-elaborated the meaning of Innovation on the Basis of What Has Worked in the Past. Continuing what has previously worked furthers the development of the art of seal engraving， whereas innovation is aimed to expand the studies of seals， seal engraving， and epigraphic art. Keeping the original work is premised on the fact that the Society has been known as one of the best in the field and won itself the honor of ‘The Greatest Society in the World’. Calling for innovation， the society can resort to its team efforts in pursuit of new progress in its specialty. This aligns with China’s major principles and policies. Although limited to a few people， sophisticated and regional， the art of seal engraving plays a role in the development of culture. In so doing， seal engravers， sigillographers， and epigraphers are considered as true artists as they adhere to their professionalism and care about their family and country.

The Society proposed Comprehensive Sigillography under the guideline of innovative thinking. Academically， it has accumulated knowledge， planned research， and cultivated talents for years. It held five large-scale international conferences between 2016 and 2021， which were directed at the research topic of the world history of sigillography. Moreover， over 100 academic papers contribute to the outline of this project. Many studies that focus on the rubbings of stone tablets and others also center on the core idea upheld in sigillography and epigraphy. The society has had a good understanding and a store of knowledge required for the professional preparations for this proposal.