Li Yanzu
Li Yanzu, Professor of the Department of Art History, Academy of Fine Arts, Tsinghua University, doctoral supervisor, has long been engaged in the research and teaching of design and arts and crafts history. He has published more than 10 books and more than 200 papers. In 2003, he won the first National Teaching Teacher Award. Experts who enjoy special government allowances from the State Council. Editor-in-Chief of "Phoenix Library Design Theory Research Series" and Chief Reviewer of "History of World Design".
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As far as the translation and research of the history of Western design is concerned, since the 1980s, many scholars in China have been engaged in this work, when Xin Huaquan of the Central Academy of Arts and Crafts and a group of experts and scholars who planned and prepared the China Industrial Design Association, Zhang Fuchang and Wu Jingfang of the Wuxi Institute of Light Industry in Jiangsu Province, Wang Shouzhi and Yin Dingbang of the Guangzhou Academy of Fine Arts, were all translating the history of foreign design and doing a lot of work in the dynamics of design development. It is even more spectacular to look at the relevant translations of the architectural world.
As far as I can see, in recent decades, there have been hundreds of translations and publications of various works on the history of design, such as the earlier ones such as the British scholar Nicholas Pevsner, the editor-in-chief of the School of Architecture of Tsinghua University Wang Tan, wang Shenhu's translation of "Pioneers of Modern Design - From William Morris to Gropius" (China Architecture and Building Industry Press), and more recently, such as "The History of Modern Design" translated by American scholars David Ryzman and Wang Xuning;
Chinese scholars have written such as "History of Modern Design in the World" edited by Wang Shouzhi, and "History of Industrial Design" (Beijing Institute of Technology Press) written by Who. Among them, Mr. Wang Shouzhi should be said to be the most accomplished, after publishing the first "History of World Design" compiled by New World Publishing House, he published a series of works on the history of Western design, such as "History of Modern Graphic Design in the World" and "History of World Fashion". Also influential in the translation of design history is Professor He Renke of the School of Design of Hunan University, whose translation of "History of Industrial Design" is concise and clear in context, and has become a textbook for design majors in many colleges and universities.
Subsequently, with the development of design education in China, the history of design has become increasingly rich, and in 2007, the Chinese University Press published the American scholar David Reizman's "History of Modern Design", which is a better version for writing and translation. In addition, there are translations of design theory research works such as "Design Problems" and "Design Culture" published by China Architecture and Building Industry Press.
A History of World Design (Volumes 1 & 2)
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Today, translations publish works on the history of design have a different value and significance than they did in the 1980s. First, there are many versions of the history of design written by Chinese scholars and the various design histories of translation, and the history of design has long become one of the indispensable basic courses in design professional education, and domestic students are familiar with Morris and Bauhaus; Second, China's design education system has been gradually improved and has Chinese characteristics and advantages. Chinese scholars themselves continue to have innovative achievements, the team of design scholars continues to grow, and the construction and system of design are also relatively perfect and unique. It has become a common practice to pay attention to the latest achievements in the world's design community, absorb and discard them. It is in this state that we have translated the latest masterpiece of the famous American design scholar Margelin, "History of World Design".
As one of the earliest readers of the translation, I think that Mr. Margelin's tome deserves our attention in the following points:
First, a world perspective, the historical narrative is comprehensive and complete. There are narratives of China and Japan, which have a long history of design and rich information, as well as narratives of countries with few design documents such as the Near East and the Middle East, and even Africa, Latin America and other regions. Although some of the content is not comprehensive, the author consciously downplays the influence of the Eurocentric view of history and tries to be indicative and inclusive of the word "world", and Maglin believes that "there are rational and political reasons for writing a book on the history of world design." I realized that it would be unfair to exclude the achievements of people in other parts of the world outside Europe and the United States from the history of design, which should be examined in terms of the values of design around the world itself, rather than by what the industrialized countries of the West did at the same time. This orientation also corresponds to the academic trend in global history research today.
A History of World Design (Volumes 1 & 2)
Second, the book not only pays attention to the artifacts and the designers themselves, but also tries to put the artifacts and characters in the society and life of the time to recognize, both a clear development context, and a deep description of the historical background. This is not only related to the author's view of history, but importantly to his perception of design and the history of design, "whatever we define is how design has been working in various parts of the world." This means that there can be no single definition of design, and we need to think about the different conditions under which people produce items in order to meet their daily needs. I therefore emphasize the goods, systems and services that have historically become indispensable for the purposes of human activity. "This huge design history, inclusive and rich, not only has the tools and utensils that penetrate into daily life, but also has a considerable amount of space involving military weapons and aerospace engineering design.
The third is based on the ontological construction of interdisciplinary academic vision and design history. Design history is a relatively young discipline, in the 21st century today, history, archaeology, art history, history of science, history of technology and many other disciplines have undergone long-term development, fruitful, in theory, method have been systematized, disciplined. As a historical narrative with a relatively broad definition and relatively vague boundaries, that is, "how to write a disciplinary history with ambiguous boundaries or part of the problem that has been covered by other disciplines", is the first problem that design historians must face.
In his long-term research, Maglin realized that "subjects and techniques within other historical disciplines can be applied as long as it is conducive to a coherent and purposeful interpretation of history from a new perspective." Of course, the foundation of interdisciplinarity is the inherent prescriptiveness of one's own discipline, that is to say, based on the essential construction of one's own discipline. This involves not only the question of historical outlook, but also the problem of methodology. In his general remarks, On the question of methodology, Maglin writes: "Like Braudel, I have adopted an interdisciplinary approach, but I have placed more emphasis on how these products are formed than I do on the social consequences they evoke. ”
The above-mentioned simple discussion of Maglin's historical account is actually an appreciation for his theoretical self-consciousness, that is, theoretical self-consciousness in historical research. As a design historian, Mr. Ma Grin has made design theory the basis for the study of design history. In his book Design Problems: History, Theory, and Criticism, he writes that "design historians can give more credibility to theories by incorporating theories into the historical process," not only that, but he also points out: "Design history is still too young a field to form a critical and extensive discussion about its practice, as art history and literary history cannot be." This multidisciplinary model that "once" unites theorists, historians, critics, and designers, it will make a huge contribution to design research, and at the same time, design research itself has the potential to be combined into a new discipline and bring design to the center of the economic, political, and cultural discussions to which it belongs. ”
From these discussions, it is not difficult to find Mr. Margelin's self-evident understanding of design and the history of design itself. That is, the design history he wrote is the design history that he constructed or designed. In fact, the history of design is the remembrance and imagination of the past design process, in addition to the design of the physical objects and historical materials, the author's view of history determines the choice and direction of his historical narrative, and his historical view is related to his theoretical quality, which can be described as the "hermeneutic consciousness" of history.
History of World Design (Color & Monochrome Interior)
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After decades of development, China's design has made great progress and development, and China's design community has also made great progress and achievements. The discipline construction of design should include three aspects: design theory, design history, and design criticism in terms of basic theory. As a researcher, you actually need to work on these three aspects.
As Margelin puts it, "It's hard to know how a design scholar can bring theory, criticism, and history into the discussion of the core issues of the design profession, whether they are related to design practice, education, or even the public perception of design and designers." Clearly, we need a new discipline of design research to train such scholars. "As far as the history of design is concerned, it includes both the history of foreign design and the history of Chinese design. The history of Chinese design not only needs works such as general history, but also discipline history, various professional histories, etc., which requires the Chinese design community to calm down and concentrate on research and writing. We still have a lot of work to do in that regard, and many problems need to be solved.