British artist LS Lowry's paintings of industrial, working-class Britain brought him popular fame in the UK. Yet his works have never been the subject of a solo exhibition abroad - until now.
英國畫家LS 勞里的畫作描述了工業(yè)時(shí)代下的、工人階級的英國，因此在英國名聲大噪。然而，他的畫作從來沒有單獨(dú)在國外展覽，但如今不是了。
LS Lowry, with his depictions of everyday northern life, is one of Britain's best loved painters. Popular he may be, but since his death in 1976, there have been accusations that the British art establishment has turned its back on him, finding his subject matter too working class.
LS 勞里的畫作描述了北方民眾的日常生活，他因此成為英國最受追捧的畫家之一。盡管他為人喜愛，但在1976年去世后，就有傳言稱英國畫界把他拋在腦后，稱他的作品的“工人階級”味道過了頭。
There's been public pressure for major galleries to do more to celebrate him and last year the Tate Britain put on a Lowry show. But remarkably, for such an icon of modern British art, no solo exhibition of his work has ever been held outside the UK. Until now. A collection of Lowry paintings is being shown at an exhibition in Nanjing in eastern China.
大型美術(shù)館若想慶祝他的作品，是要頂著公眾的壓力的，泰特博物館去年辦了一場勞里的美術(shù)展。但值得注意的是，即使對于這樣一個(gè)現(xiàn)代英國藝術(shù)的標(biāo)志性人物，他的個(gè)人展出也僅限于英國國內(nèi)。但如今不是了。在中國東部的城市南京，勞里的組畫正在展覽進(jìn)行時(shí)。
Lowry's canvases depict a side of British life that's now gone. The one above, Mill Scene, from 1965, is reminiscent of many of his paintings, with its smoke stacks and hurrying crowds of workers.
勞里的畫作里所描述的那些英國人的生活景象已經(jīng)遠(yuǎn)去。上邊的一張圖是米爾辛1965年的作品，讓人想起了他許多的舊作，里邊畫著林立的煙囪和疾行的工人們。
Lowry's subject matter may now be Britain's past but it is, of course, very much a part of China's present day. This is a photograph of one of Beijing's train stations ahead of Chinese New Year when millions of migrant workers flock away from their factory production lines and head home.
如今看來，勞里的主題描述的是英國的過去，然而，當(dāng)然了，很大程度上是中國的現(xiàn)在。這張圖展示的是北京站以及成百萬的外來務(wù)工人員在農(nóng)歷春節(jié)返鄉(xiāng)的景象，他們從工廠的生產(chǎn)線里解放了，返鄉(xiāng)了。
The exhibition came about following the chance meeting of Xiao Lang, a Chinese art consultant, and Andrew Kalman.
中國美術(shù)顧問的小浪和安德魯卡曼偶遇使得畫展得以成行。
Kalman's father, Andras, was a private gallery owner in Manchester and a close personal friend of Lowry. He agitated for British art institutions to promote Lowry's work overseas, but no solo exhibition was ever held outside the UK in either his or the painter's lifetime.
卡曼的父親安德拉斯是曼徹斯特的一家私人美術(shù)館館主，和勞里的私交甚好。他呼吁英國美術(shù)界向海外推廣勞里的畫作，但是在安德拉斯或是勞里的有生之年，勞里的個(gè)人畫作始終未在英國以外的地方展出。
The curators hope Lowry's paintings will resonate with Chinese audiences because they will see echoes of their own economic development and the problems it causes.
美術(shù)館長們希望勞里的畫作可以讓中國的觀賞者產(chǎn)生共鳴，因?yàn)樗麄兛梢栽谶@些畫里看到自家的經(jīng)濟(jì)發(fā)展及其帶來的問題。
Detail from Bargoed, 1964
巴格德港口寫實(shí)，1964年作
Xiao Lang points to notorious pea-souper smogs of Lowry's day and the swathes of grey and white in Lowry's paintings.
小浪提到了勞里時(shí)代的惡名遠(yuǎn)播的滾滾黃霧，還有勞里畫作里一條條灰和白的色帶。
"First of all the white sky," she says. "We have air pollution issues in China so the sky colour will definitely resonate with Chinese audiences."
小浪說：“首先是灰蒙蒙的天，因?yàn)樵谥袊覀冇锌諝馕廴镜膯栴}，所以天空的顏色絕對會(huì)讓中國的觀眾產(chǎn)生共鳴。”
Detail from Salford Street Scene, 1959
索爾福德市街景寫實(shí)，1959
Lowry was not a political painter and this is not socialist art. He was, after all, for most of his working life, a rent collector.
勞里不是一個(gè)有政治傾向的畫家，這些畫作也與社會(huì)主義無關(guān)。畢竟，他的一生中，大多出時(shí)間都用來收房租。
But there is great affection for his subject matter and his very painting of it suggests a deep respect for the working communities that he was surrounded by.
然而，他的題材仍受到廣泛的喜愛，他的最好的畫作傳達(dá)出對身邊的工人群體的濃濃的敬意。
Rising Street, undatedThe people Lowry painted, like so many Chinese migrants today, were doing hard work for little pay.
勞里畫筆下的人們就像是許多如今的中國外來務(wù)工者，做著苦工，掙著小錢。
Detail from Salford Street Scene, 1959
索爾福德街景寫實(shí)，1959
Detail from Rising Street, undated
萊辛大街寫實(shí)，日期不詳
Cai Su Yun, a street cleaner in Nanjing stands in front of her favourite picture in the exhibition - Rising Street. She likes the dogs. "It's nice that he painted working people," she tells me. "Do you feel a connection?" I ask. "Everywhere, we're all the same," she says.
蔡素云，南京的一名道路清潔工，站在他最喜歡的展畫——萊辛大街前。她喜歡狗，“他畫了工作的人們，畫的真好。”她對我說。“你感覺到自己和畫的關(guān)聯(lián)嗎？”我問，“關(guān)聯(lián)到處都在，我們簡直是一模一樣。”她說。
Some see in Lowry's decades of work, not a depiction of industrial strength, but a bleak portrayal of long industrial decline. Alongside the parallels with the present, Chinese audiences may well find hints and warnings about the future.
勞里的幾十年間的畫作，在一些人看來，描述的并不是工業(yè)盛世，而是黯淡而長期的工業(yè)蕭條。今日與昨日相比，中國的觀眾也許很容易找到未來的跡象和啟示。
Wasteground, 1940
荒地，1940
The exhibition at Nanjing University of the Arts runs until the 16 December 2014.
南京大學(xué)的這次畫展的展出截止日期到2014年12月16日。
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