脸是人类最不同也是最易变的特征。尽管脸在总体上具有一定的相似形，但大小、形状、肤色以及肌理特征的差异，却塑造出无穷无尽的面孔。相貌的不同造就了不同的脸谱，而不同的脸谱又决定了一张脸所具有的独特个性。无论是眼球的颜色还是肤色，某一具体的面部特征也许并不重要，然而由他们内在关联性所构成的脸谱，却使我们能轻而易举的发现脸与脸的不同，并确认出它们的承载者独一无二的身份特征。

　　脸谱对于人类认知能力的重要作用可以追溯到孩提时代。毫无视觉经验的初生婴儿从落地时起，便开始受到视觉刺激的支配。在初生后的一段时间内，视觉相对于其他感觉器官发展得较为缓慢。最初，婴儿只能察觉到笼统的光亮、运动、物体边缘和对比强烈的外形。对于他们来说，一切都还显得那么模糊。脸缘、发际等边缘部分由于与视像背景具有强烈的反差而易被察觉，因而总能首先吸引婴儿的注意力。在科学上，人类这种最初、将视觉专注于某一物体的能力，被称为“定像”，“定像”的出现是人类感觉和认知能力发展的肇端。

　　我们对一个人的基本判断，通常是基于对他棉布容貌的总体感觉。相面术更加认为，从一个人的面目特征可以判断出他的人格和性情。在古希腊，面相学曾被认为是一门非常严肃的科学，它把人类的性情和气质分为四种基本的体液类型——忧郁质、多血质、胆汁质和黏液质，这四类不同的体液构成了四种基本的性格特征。人们对于相面学的热情一直持续到19世纪，当时的著名学者拉瓦特曾发表过关于面相学研究的专著。他运用系统分析法，探究了人的面部特征所隐含的潜层信息。对人们来说，相面术似乎保持着永恒的魅力，因为想要了解周围人的欲望总是本能的驱动着我们。

　　面目特征尽管如此重要，但容貌上的特征性并非是脸——这一独特的部位让人类如此着迷的唯一因素。我们对脸更持久和强烈的兴趣，源于面部表情的灵活多变和它表达情感的能力。19世纪中叶，英国自然学家达尔文以无可辩驳的论据，证明了适者生存的自然法则，得以彪炳史册。他的《物种起源（1859）》尽管迄今饱受争议，特别是其中关于人类起源的论述；但这部影响深远的巨著仍然被认为是人类历史上最为重要的科学文献。然而鲜为人知的是，达尔文出版于1872年的另一本著作《人与动物的情感表达》，却在当时获得了更大的成功。在这部论述中，达尔文考察了人和动物是如何表达感、以及同类之间又是如何进行彼此沟通。他认为面部表情在本质上有普遍性和通用性；无论年龄和种族，我们都使用相同的动作表达相同的情绪和精神状态。然而发展到20世纪，达尔文的这些生物学论断却受到了社会达尔文主义和人类学理论的嘲弄。他们认为，人的行为方式完全由个人的文化背景和既往经验塑造和支配；情感源于经验，也是经验的产物；人们对于表情的解读会因文化背景的差异而有所不同，通用的表达方式是不存在的。但是随着时代的变迁，最新的研究成果似乎重新回到了对达尔文理论的支持，而社会和人类学的相关解说却在逐渐失去市场。事实上，我们的表情活动只能局限在相当有限的范围内进行运动，许多表情的呈现仅仅依赖于面部肌肉的相对位移和极其微妙的改变。从另外一个角度看，我们对这些微小变化的敏锐察觉、以及对它们进行准确解读的天赋，本身作为一种内在的生存机制，难道不是人类自身被自然选择的结果？对一个人个性特征的判断，无疑是受制于观察者所能获得的信息的。如果印象本身就模糊不清、甚至被有意模糊，或者它具备的某些特征被涂隐和删除，在或者它其中的一些特征被艺术化地加以突出；那么观察者多或信息的失真和不足，将促使他们自发的联想和比对其自身的个性特征和以往的先在经验，并以为线索进行认知和判断。

　　童雁汝南的艺术创作，可以说集中体现了上述这些方面。在由一系列小幅作品组成的大型组画《满觉陇的同志们》中，他记录了一个小村庄里的农民们各式各样的面孔。他的每一幅画作都没有着意于对细节的精密刻划，但他的笔下的每一张面孔都是对生活的真实再现。童雁汝南的作品可以看作是中国古典绘画的技术典范。因为你可以发现，谢赫“六法论”一一这部中国古代绘画理论名著中所提几的每一种技巧，在他的作品中都得到了运用和体现。童雁汝南的绘画有一种精神上的生命力和节奏感。他训练有素的笔力、对人物内心的细致捕捉、对色彩的真实还原，以及在构图上的饱满与和谐，充分展露出他从传统绘画中领悟的真谛。与此同时，艺术家的个人特征也被自然地融入到作品中；随着画笔的构砌，作品被打上了他自己的风格烙印。童雁汝南对真实与本质的理解和阐释，完全没有停留在对外貌和浅层表现上，而是为每一幅作品都赋予了独特的内涵。

　　童雁汝南通过深入地研究每一张面孔的整体结构、以及各个面部特征之间的内在关联，达到了一种内在逼真的境界。他的作品不仅能清晰地再现一个个体，而且更加深刻的反映出了对象异于他人的独特本质。当然，某些细节也在他的作品中被着意的略去，特别是对于眼睛的处理。而眼睛又恰恰是帮助我们辨别事物、认知他人的工具。通过欣赏这些作品，并对创作思路进行一番梳理，我们似乎也更加清楚地认识了我们自己。童雁汝南通过绘画，探究了我们这种通过对脸的观察来对他人进行判断的基本能力，也揭示出自身与面孔之间本质上的内在联系。

——原文：唐忠信Jonathan Thomson（艺术史论家）

翻译：张若丹

The Image in the Portrait

Jonathan Thomson

　　Human face is the most different and most changeable character. Even in general there is certain sameness on face, but the differences of its size, shape, color and texture feature, creats countless different faces. Different appearances creat different faces and different faces decide that each face has a unique character. No matter is the color the the eyeball or the color of skin, one specific facial feature is perhaps not important, but from the face combined by their internal relatives, we can easily find the differences between faces, and confirm the carriers' unique identity characteristics.

　　In human cognition ability, face's important role can be traced back to childhood. The newborn baby without any visual experience is under the command of visual stimulation from the moment it comes to this world. The following time, the sight develops more slowly compared with other organs. At the very beginning, baby can only feel a general light, movements, the edge of a material and shapes with strong contrast. For them, everything is so vague. Those edges parts like the edge of face and the edge of hair are easy to be detected because of the strong contrast with the video background, and always draw the baby's attention at the first monment. In science, human's ability of originally focus visual on one certein object is called "the fixup of image", it is because human feeling and cognitive capacity develops, then "the fixup of image" appears. Our basic judgment to a person is usually based on the overall feeling of his face. The physiognomy thinks more that you can judge his character and temperament from his facial feature. In ancient Greece, the physiognomy used to be thought as a very serious science, it divides man's character and temperament into four basic types of body fluid — melancholic temperament, sanguine temperament, choleric temperament and lymphatic temperament, the four different types of fluids form the four basic types of character traits. The enthusiasm of the physiognomy lasts until 19th century, the famous scholar Ravat at that time used to publish a monogragh on study of physiognomy. He uses the system analytical method, exploring the implied information of man's facial features. For people, it seems that physiognomy keeps an eternal charming, because the desire of knowing people around us always drives us instinctively.

　　Although Facial feature is so important, but the feature on face is not face on earth — this particular part is the only factor make people so fascinated. Our durable and strong interest to face dues to the facial expression's flexibility and its ability of expressing emotions. In the middle of 19th century, British naturalist Darwin proves the laws of nature "the fittest will survive" with indisputable arguments, remembered by the history forever.

　　"The origin of species(1859)" still suffers controversity till today, especially the addressing of the origin of human beings;But the widely influential masterpiece will still be considered as the most important scientific literature in human beings' history. However, out-of-the-way, Darwin's another book "the emotional expression of human beings and animals" published in 1872, makes a great success. In this book, Darwin observes how to express feelings for the people and animals and how to communicate with his own kind. He considers that facial expressions have a universality and applicability; regardless age and race, we are using the same action express the same emotional and mental state. However, when developing to the 20th century, the Darwin's biology judgments are mocked by social darwinism and anthropology theory. they think that man's behavior manner are completely figured and governed by personal cultural background and past experience: emotions are from experiences, and also products of experiences;People's understanding of expression differs because of different cultural background, a universal expression doesn't exist. But as time changes, the latest researchs seem to get back to in support of darwin's theory, the related commentary of society and anthropology, and is gradually lost their market. In fact, our facial activities can only happan within a limited scope, many facial expressions's presentation only depends on the facial muscles' relative displacement and extremely subtle change. From another perspective, our keenly aware of these minor changes and talent of precise definition, as an internal existence mechanism, is humankind not the result of natural selection?  To judge someone's characteristic feature, is doubtlessly limited by the information the observer can obtain. If the impression itself is blur, or even been deliberately vagued, or some characteristics are been altered and deleted, or some of these features are been artistically prominently showed; Then the distortion or the shortage of the information of observer will make them associate spontaneously and contrast with their own characteristics and former experience, then cognize and judge in this clue.

　　Tong Yanrunan's art creations best reflects these aspects. In the large painting in series "Man Juelong's Comrades" combined with series of small paintings, he records different kinds of peasants' face from a small village. None of his painting is devoted to the exact delineation of the details, but every face in his painting is a real reproductin of the life. Tong Yanrunan's work can be regarded as an example of classical Chinese painting techniques. Since you can find Xie He's "Six Eanous of Painting"--every type of skill mentioned in this famous masterpiece of ancient Chinese paintings theory, is used and displayed in his works. There is a spiritual life and rhythm in Tong Yanrunan's painting. The truth Tong Yanrunan awares from traditional painting is fully showed out by his trained style of drewing, detailed catching of figure's heart, reverse of on the color  truth, and the composition of the full and harmonious and fully showed him out from. meanwhile, the artist's personal characteristic is also natural to work with the paintbrush ; the course, was his own brand.

　　Tong Yanrunan for truth and essential to understand and clarify, didn't stop in to the appearance and shallow, but for each of the works are given special meaning. Tong Yanrunan through in-depth study every face of the overall structure, and all the facial features between the intrinsic link to an inner realistic.

　　His work is not only can reproduce an individual, and more deeply reflects the object from the unique nature. of course, in some detail in his work is devoted to the negligible, especially in the eyes. but his eyes and came to help us distinguish things, as a cat's paw of. by enjoy the works of creative thinking, and a brush, we seem more clearly. our own

　　Tong Yanrunan south through painting, we see this through for his watch to the judge of the basic skills, also revealed itself to face the essential link between the inner.