從 1985年起，紐約畫家布萊斯．馬登 (Brice Marden) 以中國詩與書法為素材，從字形發展為線描與豐富色彩。他在第一組中國作品《王紅公蝕刻》(Etchings to Rexroth) 圖冊中，探索書法與英譯杜詩的內容。在長達二十多年期間，他藉用中國書法和文學，反省現代主義的內容。《王紅公蝕刻》的版畫與杜詩譯本的關係，以及相應的現代主義內涵，構成多層次的互文關係 (intertextuality)，看似邊緣的藝術交流現象，其實指向深層的知識基礎。 本文探索《王紅公蝕刻》的雙重轉譯──從語言到語言、從文字到圖像──與文化意義，逐步說明馬登對現代主義的解釋、王紅公譯杜詩的特點與內容，以解釋圖冊中線描與譯詩的互動關係，並對照現代主義藝評解釋中國藝術的幾個要例，指出其間的互文關係。本文的論旨是：馬登以王紅公 (Kenneth Rexroth) 翻譯的杜甫詩意，突破類別界限，探索中國元素的異質性 (heterogeneity)，彰顯現代主義中的自我改造特點。有別於形式主義的純繪畫主張，他讓世界又進入繪畫，而這個世界的內容納入亞洲文化。

Since 1985, New York artist Brice Marden has utilized Chinese poetry and calligraphy in his abstract painting. He has taken these written forms and developed them into rich, colorful line drawings. In his first series of Chinese work Etchings to Rexroth, he explored calligraphic drawings in light of Kenneth Rexroth’s translation of the poet Du Fu (杜甫). In a period of over twenty years he has continued to utilize Chinese calligraphy and literature introspecting the content of modernism. The relationships between the prints and poems in the album respond to modernist ideas of artistic categories, and configure multi-level intertextuality. This seemingly marginal artistic interaction refers in fact to contemporary cultural épistémè, or foundation of knowledge. This paper explores several aspects in the double transference of Etchings to Rexroth, from one language to another, and from words to images. It explains, step by step, Rexroth’s translation of Du Fu’s poems, the interrelation between prints and poems, and the intertextual correspondence between modernist criticism and earlier studies on Chinese art in the twentieth century. The main argument is that Marden used Rexroth’s translation to breakthrough category limits by exploring the heterogeneity of Chinese artistic elements and showing that the modernist characteristics of self transformation are present. As distinct from the pure painting of formalism he allows the world to enter the painting, and this world includes Asian culture.