他那大胆简括，重感受、抓整体，于抽象中见具象的特色，是艺术表现的可贵之处，是大有可为的。 —— 美术史论家 华夏 (1987)

Liu Dezhou belongs to the most recent generation. He has created his own vision of mountain landscape, with bold and free forms painted in dripping black ink. —— KRANNERT ART MUSEUM (1988,美国)

刘德舟的山水画，大胆概括，以现代艺术的取其一点不及其余的精神特征，组成简练鲜明的构图，让山山水水直奔眼底，大笔挥洒，达到酣畅淋漓的效果。 —— 画家、美术评论家、散文家 郁风 (1989)

Liu Dezhou’s paintings are based upon typical Chinese ink painting, but he created new style with the same materials, and developed Chinese ink painting. If there is an exhibition on the development and evolution of Chinese ink painting, Liu Dezhou’s paintings are representative in a sense. —— The Director of Zurich East Asia Art Museum (瑞士)

源于山水意象，却未必一定要回归到山水意象。这一未来指向有可能使他从山水出走，从而创造出一种新的境界。 这种简洁有力的宽笔大线我们在周韶华、贾浩义的作品中也能见到，但周韶华的宽笔大线多以侧锋为之，贾浩义则以大块面构成的方式，而唯刘德舟多用圆润的中锋。 —— 策展人、艺术批评家 贾方舟 (2010)

There’s grand power in Liu Dezhou’s paintings and that is very refreshing. The ways of appreciating and creating in east and west are dissimilar, but people taste the spirit and spice in his paintings. There is matchless enjoyment to taste the spirit from those lines combination, interaction of thick and pale ink and the changes emerging from the ink and water on rice paper. His paintings enable us to understand more of China, and increase our love for China. In Chinese there’s a saying as ‘appealing to both refined and popular tastes’, I think Liu Dezhou’s paintings could be called ’appealing to east and west’. —— Daniel Zehnder (原瑞士驻华大使馆文化参赞)

中国美术家协会《美术》杂志执行主编尚辉在刘德舟作品研讨会上谈到20世纪80年代以来的中国画发展时，提出在视觉形式感、震撼力和审美追求上的多方面探索是一个重要路向，其认为这一路向的画家有吴冠中、姜宝林、老甲、张桂铭和刘德舟，并指出刘德舟的水墨具有其独特的艺术面貌。

北京画院原副院长吴休先生：“刘德舟艺术在众多山水画的各种形式、探索中是异军突起，有‘新’；有‘势’；有‘放’；‘致广大尽精微’的特点，非常难得。”

中国美术家协会原党组副书记、秘书长李中贵先生曾说“刘德舟的山水画对传统的中国山水画是一个突破。刘德舟是传统智慧、修为与现代思想的融合，他‘做人知足，做事知不足，做学问不知足’，具有大师的素质，有开宗立派的趋势！”

北京画院画家张仁芝先生的评价是：“刘德舟的艺术特色正是古人推崇的‘胆敢独造’。他有胆识，才能‘独造’，这一点在艺术创造上极为可贵。他‘独造’的艺术面貌在画坛上找不出来第二位。”

798艺术区管委会主任张国华：“刘德舟的艺术作品是中国画在国际化开拓上的新进展，也被广泛的认可，预祝他在798艺术区，在国际上有更大的成就！”

中国国家画院创作研究部副主任、国家一级美术师邢少臣对刘德舟的评论中是这样说的：“李可染先生说的‘可贵者胆，所要者魂’，在德舟的作品里都集中体现出来了。”

著名相声演员、民俗专家孟凡贵在观看画展时发表的一段话是：“我看到他的《雪》时，想到了，远处是小兴安岭的山坡和林子，再近一点的是雪，雪旁边是水，水旁边，我们趟出一条泥泞的路，那条路是一个‘人’字，寓意着我们人生的道路……我不知道他是怎么想的、怎么画的，我看见这幅画时就是这么想的。我站在画前许久，感动得眼泪差点下来，我想起我那个连队山坡下的那条小河，和那座小兴安岭的树林子……刘德舟的画给我的感受是一种心灵的震撼。”

刘德舟是创新派的艺术家，多年来一直追求大写意，以高度概括的手法，表现他心中的大山大水。他的画让你有想象的空间，去琢磨它，回味无穷。他把生活容纳为自己的艺术，自然景物在他灵魂深处得到一种融化后被表现出来。他的画里有粗矿，有凝重，也有一种弯弯曲曲的符号性的元素，感觉上则是一种博大，呈现在观众面前。 ——蒋志鑫 画家

刘德舟的大写意山水画很明确地把握住了山的雄伟气势和内在精神，画面的“张力感”不属西方式的“爆发性”张扬，他是完完全全从东方式的含蓄中呈现的一种大气，拥有东方的书卷气，于柔和中具有一种力度。 ——谢忝宋 马来西亚 艺术家

刘德舟的绘画风格很硬朗，感观上有如北疆的白山黑水，体现着一种男人的豪放。——颜珍 剧作家、画家

新一代的画家

中国北京画院刘德舟（1953）属于最新一代的画家，他对山水风景画有自己独创的见解，大胆而自由地运用滴墨。

他的《燕山印象》（1987）仍然有风景画的线条，但是作为一幅大的泼墨来说这种线条已大为减少，而是将黑色的线条与点溅泼的淡墨和未着笔的白色的地带有组织地相结合起来。这幅作品表现了一种粗狂的风格，最低限度地运用写实因素就捕捉到了自然的力量。

《冬山》（1987）作品中心运用了大片白色区域地表示寒冷，在这片空白的区域之上，用爆发性的方式画出了乌黑的线条和轮廓，作品左边包括远去的山脉底部的峡谷都用有层次的泼墨描绘出来。所有这些加上围绕着黑色区域周围的各种色调，中央白色区域中溅泼的淡淡的墨点，同强有力的二度的中心主题相互照应。

—— KIYOHIKO MUNAKATA
美国伊利诺斯克兰纳特美术馆

Bright Stars in a New Era

Liu Dezhou(b.1953)belongs to the most recent generation. He has created his own vision of mountain landscape, with bold and free forms painted in dripping black ink. His Impression of Yan Mountain,1987(p.34), still bears the lineaments of landscape painting, but is severely reduced to a huge ink blotch, organically interrelated with black lines and dots, areas of thin ink wash, and unpainted white zones. A certain architectonic quality stabilizes this composition of wild forms. The power of nature is captured with a minimal use of narrative elements. Winter Mountains, 1987(p.35), uses a large square like white area at the center of the composition to express cold. Over this area stark, explosive forms are drawn with broad lines and blotches of jet black ink. Some naturalistic elements on the left side of this composition include receding mountain ranges, depicted by layers of ink wash, and a mountain gorge at the bottom. These, together with the variations of tone within the surrounding black area and thinly splashed and spotted ink over the central white zone, interact with the powerful two-dimensional central motif. ( KIYOHIKO MUNAKATA, KRANNERT ART MUSEUM )

刘德舟的极简山水
文/贾方舟 (策展人、艺术批评家)

源远流长的中国山水画在上千年的发展过程中可谓高峰叠起，门派林立，绵延不绝。山水画自魏晋到唐代已是蔚为大观，不仅有吴道子一日画就嘉陵江三百里风光的“疏体”山水，有李思训的金碧山水，还有张璪与王维的水墨山水。五代与两宋更是大家辈出：荆、关、董、巨，刘、李、马、夏……到元明清，山水画演变成画坛主流，元四家、明四家、四僧、四王、金陵八家……可以说，元以来的中国画史，几乎成为一部以山水画为主导的历史，直到进入现代以后仍有黄宾虹、李可染这样山水大家出现。

面对山水画中的一座座高峰，当代山水画家还有没有可能找到自己的发展空间？回答是肯定的，但也是艰难的。他们或是回到传统，从传统中寻求新变的机制，进行创造性转化；或是从现代西方艺术中广泛汲取新的表现因素，改变山水画的原有面貌；或是贴近现实生活，将大山大水与风土人情相结合；或醉心于笔墨的横涂竖抹，或迷恋于山水的形式结构之美……而刘德舟在这众多的可能性中，选择了用粗笔大线，去实现他对山水的结构之美的重新创造。

当他放胆用大写的手法纵横于尺幅之间时，他发现，那正是他确立自己风格面貌的最好方式和最佳状态。他用这种方式从众多的山水画中一下子跳出来，构成他自己对山水的独特理解。这种独特性，不在于他是否还原了山水的原貌，而在于他凸显出山水的形式结构之美和笔墨之美。

书写性和结构感是构成刘德舟作品的两个重要特征。所谓“书写性”，并非指绘画中一般意义上的书法用笔，当刘德舟在他的山水画中将这种“书写性”放大到与画面尺幅不相协调的程度时，那种“书写”的气势方显出一种特有的品格。这种简洁有力的宽笔大线我们在周韶华、贾浩义的作品中也能见到，但周韶华的宽笔大线多以侧锋为之，贾浩义则以大块面构成的方式，而唯刘德舟多用圆润的中锋。

所以，他的山水是一种以线型为主体从而弱化皴、擦、染的极简山水；所谓“结构感”是他以有数的线条分割画面而形成的构成主义特征。这种“结构感”使他的艺术具有了更多的抽象因素，有朝着抽象的方向演化的迹象。

源于山水意象，却未必一定要回归到山水意象。这一未来指向有可能使他从山水出走，从而创造出一种新的境界。

Climaxes of development and variety of schools have emerged during almost a thousand years of history of the long-standing and glorious Chinese landscape painting. The Chinese landscape painting had been prosperously developing from the Wei and Jin Dynasties to the Tang Dynasty. There were Wu Daozi who painted the landscape of the Jialing River in one day in the “sparse style”, Li Sixun who added the colour of gold into his landscape paintings, and Zhang Zao and Wang Wei who applied the skills of washing painting to painting the beauty of the landscape. And even more masters of Chinese landscape paintings came forth in the Five Dynasties and the Song Dynasty--Jing, Guan, Dong, Ju, Liu, Li, Ma, Xia and so on. And when it came to the Yuan, Ming and Qing Dynasties, landscape painting became the mainstream of the painting world; the four masters in the Yuan Dynasty, the four masters in the Ming Dynasty, the four monks, the four Wangs and the eight masters of Jinling were the representative painters. It can be said that since the Yuan Dynasty, China's history of painting had been led by Chinese landscape painting. And there still have been masters like Huang Binhong and Li Keran known to the world in the modern times. Having reached its peaks so many times for so long, is there any more space for further development left for today's landscape painters? Yes, there is, but it is difficult. They may seek inspiration and innovations from the traditional style to create something new, or they may absorb the ways of expression in modern Western art to change the original look of the Chinese landscape painting, or they may put the landscape and people's life together in one painting in order to get close to real life. They may either be infatuated with lines or get fascinated by structures. And out of the numerous possibilities, Liu Dezhou chooses to recreate the beauty of the structures of the landscape with thick lines. Though the usual painting skill of landscape serves the traditional aesthetic standard well, it is still seen as the stereotype of landscape painting. Liu can not find his own artistic individuality and value of existence through painting such kind of work. However, when he boldly applies thick lines to painting the landscape, he discovers that it is the best way and perfect condition to establish his own style. He then all at once gets rid of all the stereotypes and forms his own distinctive understanding of Chinese landscape painting. It does not matter if he restores the original appearance of the landscape. His unique understanding enables him to present the beauty of the structure of the landscape and his delicate skill of painting. Though he abandons the techniques of brush texturing as the traditional way of painting the landscape, he does not give up on the original spirit of expressing his aesthetic ideal and feelings as a painter by landscape painting. The vigour of the brush stroke and the dimensional structure of the composition are the two significant characteristics of Liu Dezhou's works. This kind of vigorous brush stroke does not commonly apply in calligraphy or painting. And when the lines are seemingly too thickened to fit the scale of the paper, this kind of vigorous brush stroke presents itself with idiosyncratic effect. The neat and powerful painting style can also be seen in Zhou Shaohua and Jia Haoyi's works. However, Zhou tends to make his writing brush lean a little at the end of a stroke, and Jia prefers to piece large parts of the landscape together in his paintings. And in most of his painting, Liu puts the strength in the centre of every brush stroke. Therefore, Liu Dezhou's simplistic style of landscape painting is basically based on lines. The dimensional structure of composition means that the painting parts are distinguished and separated by lines, which shows some touch of structuralism. This characteristic gives Liu's paintings the manner of abstraction to some extent. Paint the landscape, but not necessarily portray it exactly the way it is. The idea may offer Liu new inspiration to create an original type of painting. ( Jia Fangzhou )

Shaping of Ink

Unique and unexpected thrilling! Liu Dezhou’s ink world is a highly purification of beauty and soul.
His distinctive language of image and tremendous momentum of using pen and ink, bear aggressive visual power, penetrate into people’s heart and soul and are very enlightening. Through Liu Dezhou’s art vision, we are filled with magnanimous candor, upright power and firm courage while our thoughts could travel to infinity. Just as Mr. Yu Qiuyu’s saying,”Art is one kind of quality to prove one human. It’s a possibility for people to conduct beautiful communication among misunderstanding and irritation. It’s a repeating warning of human beings to avoid falling into superficial utility.” When reading Liu Dezhou’s paintings, we find the interest and happiness of sharing same insight and being connected spiritually. This is a high level enjoyment of recovering our original simplicity and abandoning secularity.
Liu De’zhou’s splashed ink landscapes is the liberation of thinking logic. He arranges the composition of paintings through his simple and generous character, and always accomplishes painting at a stretch on inspiration through techniques of splashing, texture strokes, dropping and haboku.
His spirit is like a riding warrior on glutinous rice paper, and each of his strokes is turning over a new leaf of his story. This state of creation breaks through the existed language, and naturally forms the unique art style of his own. He insisted on his image language during his many years’ art exploration. He visited nearly all the famous landscape of China, but was more attracted by some unknown and rural wild mountains. When he looked for angles that could easily be missed, and caught the natural rhythms of humble mountains and rocks, his found the source of inspiration.
He loves to observe mountains in mornings and evenings during which time he could abandon minor details but concentrate on the overall structure, and then put the momentary image in ink showing perpetual light and shadow. With acute instinct for art, fearless exaggeration and deformation, he created vivid and yet condensed, powerful mountains and rocks, and this becomes the very unique symbol of his when he faces towards the world.
Mr. Lu Chen once wrote in his ink painting view that “The most moving thing is the thing that has shape. So he whoever makes breakthrough in shaping in history will be outstanding.” But it is far more difficult to create one’s own language style on shaping than to gain techniques and skills of ink painting. This is just as Mr. Qi Gong said, “There is nothing more difficult than composition when painting.” Liu Dezhou’s personal faith in shaping will definitely leave unforgettable mark in history for his art works.
Liu Dezhou’s works are also challenging. On the one hand, it’s the challenge against parochiality and solidified aesthetic appreciation. In his view, the process of art renovation is to guide audience to adjust to new aesthetic appreciation while providing them free imagination. He constantly decomposes and rebuilds black and white, and excavates a special angle of view, thus experiences new visual stimulation. On another hand, it’s the challenge against perfect balancing realized by subjective motive. He thinks that pure rationality and irrationality are both flimsy. There should be “reasonable” and also “unreasonable” in view which means that paradoxical, protuberant or cracked elements should be added into the painting, in that way bringing contradictory strength into it, thus forms the healthy and complete beauty. His aesthetic opinion speaks also the continuation of Chinese classic philosophy and Zen spirit on modern people.
Liu Dezhou’s first teacher when he’s young is the son of Qi Baishi, Qi Liangyi. He lived in Yu’er Hutong of Nanluoguxiang which was the former site of the Beijing Fine Art Academy with many artists, like Wu Xiu, Zhang Renzhi, Wang Wenfang, Ma Quan, Zhou Sicong, Wei Jiangfan and so on. Liu Dezhou grew up in this environment of strong art atmosphere. He learned traditional techniques with Guan Songfang, Pu Songchuang in 1970s, and then was directed by Zhang Renzhi. He entered Beijing Fine Art Academy in 1977 to be the person responsible for the reference room. This provides him the opportunity to read famous artists’ works and learn the essence of predecessors’ artworks and this enables him to open horizon and lay firm foundation for his achievement of traditional art. China experienced dramatic renovation in 1980s, and at the same time Liu Dezhou’s artistic style and creation orientation were formed.
His ink painting follows the ancient theme, innovative and yet against the vogue. We could detect the natural fusion of traditional ink aroma and techniques with modern abstract method and manifestation. To achieve this does not only rely on his brilliant force and skill, but more on his profound root in the folk culture, as well as the modern aesthetic appreciation with history continuation. He’s just like the hard rock on mountain under his pen, the sense of national pride and self reliance are deep in his soul. What he’s exploring is a broad and brand-new way of Chinese ink painting, on which he is walking towards the world with his out-of-the-ordinary works that are loved by more and more people.

刘德舟是位杰出的画家，在众多山水画中，他独特的风格非常突出。中国画讲气韵、恰到好处，他用笔的功夫力量，一看就很打动人。他的水墨大写意很有气势，一些我们民族最宝贵的精神品质都在画里有所体现。 ——廖开明 版画家、评论家 中国美术馆画廊原主任

现代性的笔墨 刘德舟的山水画对传统的中国山水画是一个突破。
他的父亲刘同丰，是北京画院的老画家，擅长传统山水画，而刘德舟的画已经跟他父辈的山水画完全不同了。这么多年，他是一步步变过来的。他的艺术特色，首先是“大象无形”，他并不是完全局限在抽象，也有具象。他的山是整体的山，让我想起潘天寿画雁荡山的那种大山的感觉，但刘德舟是用黑白把山衬出来，在用笔上，感觉比传统山水更加有力量。他敢用黑，敢用白，“计白当黑”，黑白对比强烈，各色内部也富有变化，一张画里的黑、白、浓、淡、干、湿一系列的关系，既感觉非常紧密，视觉上又特别醒目。墨的地方并不是死黑一片，每一块都变化得十分微妙，既有浓破淡，也有淡破浓。山石留白的地方并不简单，有很多点，却不是传统的苔点，而是现代的技法。
以前的山水画，尤其是现代山水画，所谓的“写意”实际上总是误入了“细”途，很多人越画越细，皴皴点点地布满了画面……真正的大写意山水却很少。从台湾回来的孙瑛先生的山水画是大写意，但那还属于传统的。刘德舟的大写意，既有传统的笔墨，又加入了现代表现主义和现代构成点、线、面的因素，已经不是完全传统“18皴”的方法，是有现代性的笔墨，这是他的特点，也是很不容易的。——李中贵 中国美术家协会原党组副书记、秘书长

刘德舟的山水气象
文/ 赵权利 （《美术观察》副主编）
刘德舟的山水画具有男性的魄力，与其厚重、宽宏的性格恰相一致。他惯用一种宽阔的笔触和分割式的线条来表现山水形体，这种山水形体已经超越了大自然中真山真水的面貌，变化为经过心灵体悟之后的“胸中山水”的极有个性特色的样式。中国传统山水画经过五代两宋时期画家对山水真境的追求，到元代文人画兴起后画家以山水寄性的发展，“真”与“逸”成了中国山水画最主要的两种意境准则。但是，随着时代的变迁，艺术不断演进，石涛的一句“笔墨当随时代”道明了中国画发展的一条永恒规律。二十世纪八十年代以来，现代艺术思潮勃然兴起，带来了中国画领域创造观念的新变更。在山水真境之外，在文人逸趣之外，一种不同于求取山水自然之真，也不同于赋予山水以人情的另一种直入山水之理，以山水气象陶熔于人，使人养成一种山川观念，及至以笔墨落实出的新的山水样式开始产生并得以发展。这种山水样式，依然绵延着历史发展的履迹，并跳动着新时代艺术家的脉搏。刘德舟的山水画正是属于这种类型。

刘德舟的作品有一种浑厚和博大的气势充满其中，并在这种气势中流动悠然的韵致，回响着淡淡而优雅的乐声。这种气势，这种韵致，这种乐声，也正是大自然山林木的真实性格。同时也成为了画家的胸怀和心性。画家用粗重的线条描绘山石，墨色浓重、饱满、润泽，传统山水画中习用的皴法、点法、染法，被简化和省略，造成一种极其简明的黑白对比效果。其大块的染法和偶尔使用的色彩，更使画面增加了一种幽邃和静穆的气氛。

古人云：“胸中丘壑，纸上云烟。”刘德舟的作品也正是由其胸中丘壑成就了其画面上的山水气象。在这条路上，我们期待他走得更远。

超以象外

理论家努力在理清当代绘画中的种种关联，又做出详细的划分，例如新水墨中又有辟出来的“都市水墨”、“实验水墨”和“抽象水墨”，新抽象绘画其实也可以被列入“抽象水墨”的版块，相对于具象而言，抽象绘画一直都是单独成科的。如刘德舟的《青云》、《逍遥图》等作品，当代新抽象作品以非再现、非意象抒情、非形式审美为诉求，在笔歌墨舞中开垦出一片精神天地。对于抽象水墨的赏析，是仁者见仁智者见智的过程，没有任何一个具体的概念可以限定我们怎么去解读抽象绘画，见仁见智全在于观者内心的意念。
POLY AUCTION 2014

北京画院艺委会副主任、美术评论家王志纯：“从黄宾虹、李可染、傅抱石，到周韶华、贾浩义等，在山水画向现代性发展、演变的大背景中，刘德舟的艺术面貌也是很独特的，值得我们专门去研究。”

美术评论家、画家聂昌硕：“刘德舟的画典型地证明了绘画与音乐的相通，古典音乐着重的韵律，现代音乐着重的节奏，都在他画中。他以线条组成旋律，大块黑白的节奏极其响亮，粗、细线，大、小色块，大、小点都使画面产生了强烈的节奏感，这是他的一大特点。”
“他的画以黑白为主，但在他画中看到了一种令我最欣赏的‘灰色’，我认为黑白艺术的欣赏，核心在此。这种‘灰’指的是在大块黑白之后，那些密集的、小的细线、小点，在远处看就形成了一种特别的‘灰’，这种‘灰’调节了画面整体关系，是黑白作品的灵魂，会欣赏这种‘灰’，你就能享受到韵律之美。”

北大荒知青收藏界委员会主任、评论家何志云："刘德舟的画让我凛然一惊，在他的画中我看不到中国画的柔弱、缠绵、无病生吟，他笔下的大团墨块，和信手留白，在每一幅画中构成了巨大的冲突，这种冲突中透着无以名状的张力。置身于画前会有种鼓凸感，一种迫进挤压着我们的神经。他为人谦和，颇具古君子之风，笔下却是大开大合，以笔墨一书胸中之快，无所顾忌地开出一番生机，颇有活气。”
“他的画可任我们随意想象出鲜活的景象，或是山峦叠嶂，或是巨石为崖，或是激流飞淌，或是严寒中的漫漫白雪……他的画貌似写实，显现出来的则是现代主义的霸气，笔锋简略大气，不繁琐、不细碎，却耐人琢磨，中国画的一应技法都潜藏在这简略当中。"

中国国家画院创作研究部副主任、国家一级美术师邢少臣："细细品读刘德舟的作品，正像李可染先生说的‘可贵者胆，所要者魂’，在德舟的作品里都集中体现出来了。他之所以有‘胆’，因他是有底蕴的。他有传承，有借鉴，有开拓。他的传承可上溯到清初四僧，有八大山人、髡残的东西，特别是八大，他借鉴了很多，对北京老一代名家吴镜汀、溥松窗、关松房等老先生，也都有所继承。他的借鉴还有现代的东西，比如让我感受到的，欧洲著名大家米罗的一些东西。"
"刘德舟的画，面貌很独特，令人震撼，很有冲击力，这种冲击力是东方文化的一种‘碰撞’。他的人，非常厚道、本分，但在几十年前，他就在摸索这些大写意的，大笔头的，大墨体线的，视觉冲击力很强的艺术形式。他的画不限于书法、山水画，但是水墨画，且是极具现代感的水墨画。他的独创性完全是写心，写他自己对社会，对人生，对艺术的种种把握，极具表现力，非常有时代风格。他的这种‘碰撞’和他的开拓精神，为当代中国山水画提供了一种借鉴，也令我感到受益匪浅。"

刘德舟用粗矿大气的笔墨表现的高山大川和雪景，对比很强烈，笔墨淋漓。他用墨线和大墨块，形成了他鲜明独特的语言样式，很有思想，很有造诣，是一位笔头功夫很厉害，且很有个性的艺术家。—— 现代工笔画院院长 王天胜

刘德舟的山水画跟传统的山水画拉开了距离，他既有继承又有创新。他的特点是简练，突出线的作用。艺术讲究‘以少胜多’，过去中国美术理论家王朝闻先生在他的《以一当十》中说“艺术要简练，简练不是简单”，能以寥寥几笔就表现出山的气势和整个景深，刘德舟的画是很不简单的。他形成了自己独特的风格，一看作品就知道是刘德舟的，不是其他人共有的艺术特征，而是刘德舟独有的艺术创造。他在艺术追求上已经取得了丰硕的成果。
—— 北京画院原副院长 吴休

刘德舟用浓笔大墨的新手法去解构传统图式，很大气，很强烈。他的一些带有实景性的作品也很概括，强烈的黑白关系给人耳目一新的感觉。
—— 清华大学博士、林业大学教授、画家、美术评论家 韩朝

刘徳舟探索水墨的现代性，靠近抽象，挥写恣纵，是参展作品的特色。可以看出，他对水墨的迷离缥缈有浓厚的兴致和敏锐的感受力。
—— 陈思 《中国美术报》1989年

他是个富有创新精神的画家。他的山水画形象鲜明、强悍有力。
—— 弓超 《美的生活 美的艺术》1989年3月3日新华社新闻稿兼《北京晚报》

刘德舟不愧为当代山水画的大手笔，读他的画作就像欣赏一首首意韵悠长、恬淡宁静的抒情诗，给人振奋，给人力量，给人遐思，他的山水画在强调笔墨的同时，在创作形式上又融进了一种新的、独特的表现形式。作品中用大块的墨和浓重的点、线为构成要素，以现代意识和平面构成的审美理念，赋予山水画新的构成要素，读后使人耳目一新。
刘德舟出生于丹青世家，父亲刘同丰是北京画院著名画家，他从小在耳濡目染下就对绘画表现出浓厚的兴趣，他少年就拜师著名画家溥松窗、吴松房、张仁芝等潜心学习......他的绘画作品在师法传统、崇尚自然的基础上以探索和发展审美客体和人性化审美主体为目标，力求创造出一种画家对自然万物的感悟和生命情感，画家在创作时有意将自然界的山、水、物作变形夸张，概括处理，以增强绘画作品的意韵和诗意，他的山水画侧重于主观情感的流露和宣泄，崇尚自我意识的表述和伸张，无拘无束，置身法外，但可贵的是他的这些探索，十分注重和强调传统的笔墨和写生，因此他的画作在强调意境的同时，又不失传统的厚重，总的感觉给人一种高层次、高境界、高格调的艺术享受。—— 张晓宏《高境界 高层次 高格调》《文化市场报》2005年9月8日

第一眼见到他的画作时就彷如走进了另一个世界，那是一个宁静而安详的生活，是一个美好的大自然风景，亦是多少人梦寐以求的。
朴实浑厚，简洁鲜明是刘德舟绘画的风格，亦像其人，一身永远轻便简单的打扮。他老爱微笑，不好意思的说：「对不起，我的表达能力不好」其实，和他做访问是件愉快的事，因为任何问题，他都答得很细心，令旁人很容易吸收。讲到画，他表示：「我觉得画家和音乐家是一样的，它应该走在社会前面，倡导人们往前走，这也是搞艺术人的责任，画家不应该只是画画而已，他们应该给社会和人们带来些启示，领导大众向前走，我希望追求也是这样」。
—— 马来西亚《中国报》1995年1月8日

刘德舟深厚地继承了家学，他的父亲刘同丰是北京画院一位老画师，传统功力非常深厚，在画院很有名望，可惜在文化大革命期间遭到了不白之冤，病故。刘德舟虽然是子继父业进入北京画院，但他具有强烈的创新意识，不满足于走前人走过的路，在开创自己新风的同时，充分发挥了中国笔墨的特殊神韵，这一点极为难得。在北京画院，我认为他是创新方面的领军人物。
他的画具有很高的抽象美，且蕴含了丰富的墨趣，带有含蓄的意象性、意味性。他特别讲究构图，在经营位置上非常大胆，甚至有一点“乾坤大挪移”倒转时空的味道。
—— 黎克明