Painting occupies an important position in Chinese art. In all the world's major museums, Chinese paintings are displayed. However, the appreciation of Chinese painting is not an easy task. At this point, we must first explain what is meant by "appreciation".
According to Benedetto Croce, a great modern aesthete, beauty is just intuition, and when you suddenly see an image in your heart and are attracted to it, this is appreciation and creation. Appreciating and creating is only one thing, because each person can appreciate the realm of his own creation, which is a reflection of his character and experience. Although this is an idealist aesthetic, it has been very dominant in modern times. We believe that appreciation is the generation of beauty. "Beauty" is not the same as "pleasure". "Pleasure" is a physiological response, while "beauty" is a state of mind. Colors and shapes can only cause "pleasure", and "beauty" requires other conditions. Croce said: All works of art have two aspects, material and spiritual, such as the language and writing used in literature, the shapes and colors used in pictures and sculptures, and the tone used in music; and the spiritual aspect is the whole realm formed by the melting of taste and imagery. The material aspect is dead, and it needs to be spiritually focused to be considered a living art. The "material aspect" is what we call the things that cause "pleasure," and the "spiritual aspect" is what we call the "aesthetic aspect." Regarding the cause of "beauty", we believe that in addition to the foundation of "pleasure", we also need the help of association, habit, subconscious, etc., and these truths are a long story, so let's take them here.
In order to commemorate the first anniversary of the liberation of Qingdao, the "1950 Group Photo of the '62' Teachers and Students of the Department of Literature and History of Shandong University" was taken. In the photo, there are Feng Yuanjun (third row, fourth from left), Wang Tongzhao (third row, fifth from left), Luo Binji (third row, sixth from left), Sun Sibai (third row, seventh from left), Liu Panxi (third row, eighth from left), Lu Zhenhua (third row, ninth from left), Gao Jianqiu (third row, tenth from left), Yin Huanxian (third row, 11th from left), Yang Xiangkui (third row, 10th from right), Tong Shuye (third row, ninth from right), Zhao Dianhe (third from right, third from right), Xiao Difei (third from left, first row), Sun Changxi (fourth from left, first row) and other gentlemen.
Although "aesthetics" is a kind of specialized science, although the meaning of "appreciation" is not understandable to the public, ordinary people are not completely unable to appreciate it, as long as they have the conditions for appreciation. What are the "conditions of appreciation"? We think that the first thing is to understand the techniques of art. The composition of a work of art requires technology, and without technology, although there is a good taste and imagery, it cannot be conveyed and cannot become a work of art. Technology is the medium through which spiritual beauty is expressed into material beauty. Although the average person cannot fully learn the art technique, it is possible to understand it quite well. Understanding the techniques of a certain art can be said to establish the basis for appreciating a certain art. The second is to understand the meaning of art. Each art has its special significance, and some of this meaning comes from association, such as Chinese landscape painting, which often expresses a kind of natural philosophical meaning, so that people can associate it with the greatness and beauty of nature. For example, Chinese freehand painting often expresses a detached personality, so that people can associate it with the temperament of a superior person. Some meanings come from habits, and we feel that it is always inappropriate to paint cars and houses in Chinese painting, because the more detached from reality, the more beautiful it is. At the same time, we feel that the things in Chinese painting should not be too realistic, and the more abstract they are, the more beautiful they are. These are habits, and after a long time they become the characteristics of a certain art, and they are not very changeable. Only when we have figured out the meaning of a kind of art, can we criticize the quality of the artwork. The third is to understand the flow of art. If a person wants to appreciate a certain art more thoroughly, he must know a little about the history of the evolution of this art, otherwise it is difficult to have a more accurate criticism of the artwork. Art history is certainly a specialized discipline, but general knowledge is not difficult to obtain. With the above three conditions, it can be said that you have the qualifications to appreciate.
As for the method of appreciation, it is to use subjective intuition, refer to objective knowledge, and come into contact with the artwork, and after contact, you can get a kind of realm, which is the "aesthetic experience", which can be understood but cannot be spoken. However, subjective intuition is available to everyone, but objective knowledge is not available to everyone. The so-called "objective knowledge" refers to the knowledge of the technology, meaning, and history of art. In this article, we will discuss the appreciation of Chinese painting, but now please talk about the history of the technique, meaning, and evolution of Chinese paintings.
Detail of Zhao Mengfu's "Autumn Color Map of Quehua" in the Yuan Dynasty. This painting depicts the autumn scenery of the famous mountains of Qizhou (now Jinan, Shandong) and the Queshan Mountain, and has always been regarded as the green landscape color of the literati painting style in the history of painting.
Regarding the technique of Chinese painting, the main thing is the line. "Line" is what the predecessors called "using the pen", which is to draw the body. The beauty of the lines can be roughly divided into two types: soft and strong, during which they are ever-changing, and it is difficult to say. However, the so-called "six laws" of Chinese painting have a "bone method with a brush", and the two words "bone method" mean powerful, which shows that no matter what kind of line, it must be strong, and if it is weak, it is not beautiful. There is a point outside the line, and the point is also a kind of "pen", which is the deficiency of the supplementary line. The dot is the same as the line, and it is also necessary to see the power of the pen and the pen to have a rhyme. Next to "using a pen" is "using ink". "Using ink" is "black and white beauty", and it is to depict light with black and white shades. The light of Chinese painting is mostly expressed in ink, and the shades of dry and wet ink should be well matched, which should be harmonious and distinct, but there is no certain rule, just need to look at the past appropriately. The beauty of ink can be roughly divided into two types: thick and clear: ink on top of ink, easy to thick, and ink blending, easy to clear the spirit. All in all, ink is not beautiful, ink is beautiful, and stagnation is not beautiful. The color of Chinese painting, flower painting and figure painting is more used, and its function is similar to that of ink. In landscape painting, it is often only a supplement to the lack of ink color. The colors of Chinese painting should be faint and harmonious, and more supplementary colors should be used and less contrasting colors should be used. Colors that are too bright and stimulating are inappropriate in Chinese painting. Chinese painting is very particular about the layout, it doesn't matter if it's not true, the layout must be perfect. The layout of Chinese painting has a certain law, it is very similar to the pattern, often sacrificing the truth of natural objects to accommodate the organization of the pattern. Chinese paintings don't look like the real thing, and that's a big reason. The "pictographic" method of Chinese painting mostly uses symbols, such as various dots and hooks for leaves, various methods for stone patterns, and various depictions for clothing patterns, all of which are symbolic symbols rather than faithful sketches. These symbols are like calligraphy, such as the dots, paintings, apostrophes, and verticals, all of which are beautiful from the brushstrokes, and Chinese painting and calligraphy are connected in this regard.
As for the meaning of Chinese painting, it has already been said above: it is the expression of natural philosophy and detachment of personality. At the same time, it is beautiful to leave reality and abstraction. The era of the rise of natural philosophy in China is very early, and the Taoist thought of the Warring States period already contains a strong natural philosophy connotation. The metaphysics of the Wei and Jin dynasties was the authentic of natural philosophy. The prosperity of Chinese painting began in the Wei and Jin dynasties, so the naturalistic colors in the paintings are very significant. The Chinese are not afraid of nature, nor do they want to conquer nature, they just sing the praises of nature, and become one with nature, and all man-made things also have the color of nature; take people in nature, not in opposition to nature. To understand Chinese painting, one must first understand this natural philosophy. Art is originally an expression of expression, and even Western painting is only an expression of the personality of each artist. However, Western painting is more limited by objects and cannot give full play to the individual's temperament, while Chinese painting breaks the constraints of all objects and uses abstract symbols to express people's true temperament. Chinese painting is naturalistic, and Chinese painters are also naturalistic philosophers, and most of their personalities are uninhibited, and this uninhibited personality is expressed in painting, which forms a characteristic of Chinese painting. Chinese painting must not be close to reality, because it is idealistic. Chinese natural philosophy has the nature of escapism: the man-made world is ugly, only nature is beautiful, and the less artificial colors there are, the better, and the best is "law nature". Under this doctrine, the natural house is inferior to the palace courtyard, and the palace courtyard is inferior to the thatched house. Chinese painting is a philosophical art, so it tends to be abstract, and the more concrete things are, the more vulgar they are, so Chinese painting does not seek to be realistic, but to make it meaningful.
Children's Book Industry Painting "Spring Morning in Zongyang"
The history of the evolution of Chinese painting is roughly from arts and crafts to religious art, and then from religious art to philosophical and literary art. Before the Han Dynasty, painting was only a decorative and educational craft. After the Three Kingdoms and until the Tang Dynasty, due to the influence of the spread of Buddhism, painting was also religious. At the same time, under the influence of art from the Western Regions and India, the technique of painting also improved. The Buddhist paintings of this period that have been handed down are very technical and majestic. However, during this period, only portrait painting was popular, and landscape painting and flower and bird painting did not yet rise. After the middle age of the Tang Dynasty, Buddhism gradually declined, and painting gradually became philosophical and literary. Paintings of this period are represented by landscape paintings and flower paintings. At first, landscape paintings were all painted in the northern landscape, with the brush paying attention to the strength, the ink to pay attention to the heavy, the color to pay attention to the brightness, and the layout to pay attention to the spaciousness. In the late Northern Song Dynasty, some people admired the mountains and rivers of the south of the Yangtze River. In the Yuan Dynasty, the Jiangnan faction rose up and overthrew the northern faction. The pen pays attention to softness, the ink pays attention to elegance, and the color gradually becomes unimportant, even if the color is set, only the light color of green ochre, and the layout is becoming more and more simplified. The landscapes of the Ming and Qing dynasties, but inherited the remnants of the Song and Yuan dynasties, and there was no major new development. Roughly speaking, the Jiangnan school became more and more prosperous, gradually creating a more fixed and simplified pattern. However, in terms of technology, there are also improvements over the previous generation, but the grandeur of the previous generation has gradually disappeared. Flower painting flourished in the Five Dynasties, and there were two schools: hook (hook out of outline) and boneless (all dyed with color). In the early period of the Northern Song Dynasty, it seems that the boneless school was more prosperous, and in the later period, the hook school gradually rose, but the flower painting was more important than the color, so the boneless school finally overturned the hook faction. The orthodox flower paintings of the Song, Yuan, Ming and Qing dynasties, although there are also hooks and strong, but the color work is valued. Since the Yuan Dynasty, the "Four Gentlemen's Paintings" such as Mozhu, Molan, Momei, and Moju have gradually emerged. In the Ming Dynasty, a kind of ordinary freehand flower painting arose, which was the precursor of Wu Changshuo's school of flower painting in the recent world.
From the standpoint of modern Western aesthetics, the status of Chinese painting is not low, and modern Western orthodox aesthetes believe that "beauty" is only "the intuition of form", so we can ignore the reality of things. The realm of "beauty" is often like a dream and an illusion, which often makes people forget themselves and materialize themselves into one. Chinese painting is very much in line with this principle. What Chinese painting expresses is all the form of intuition, Chinese painting is as straight as a dream and an illusion, and the real thing is the same. Modern aesthetes also believe that "beauty" should put aside the actual purpose and needs, and everything that is "beautiful" must be a little unreasonable, which is called "psychological distance". If the "beautiful" thing is too close, it is actually not beautiful. Chinese painting is also very much in line with this principle. The so-called "elegance" of Chinese painting is actually a kind of "psychological distance". As for the so-called "empathy" and "association" of modern aesthetes, they are the elements of Chinese painting. Chinese painting is indeed very much in line with the high-level principles of modern Western aesthetics.
If we observe Chinese painting from the standpoint of modern Western "experimental aesthetics", we can get the following criticism: Chinese painting represents an old and calm mood. Chinese painting is all about the "empathy" of "association", and there is no strict rule. According to experimental estheticians, children mostly prefer bright colors, and people in the tropics also prefer bright colors. On the contrary, the emotions represented by Chinese paintings are relatively old and calm. According to experimental estheticians, human beings can be divided into four categories: objective, physiological, associative, and personality. Originally, Chinese painting was biased towards association and empathy (according to the research of modern experimental aestheticians, lines are most likely to cause association and empathy, and Chinese painting emphasizes lines, which may be the reason why Chinese painting is biased towards association and empathy), and the view of color is more "associative" and "character". Experimental estheticians say that there is a very important principle of color coordination, called the "weight principle", that is, the darker color should be placed under the lighter color. The most suitable colors are "complementary colors" (the combination of two colors and light to form a white color, such as red and cyan, blue and yellow; that is, what we call "contrasting colors"). The most beautiful of the lines is the curves with ripples. There is a basic principle of the form of beauty, which is balance or symmetry. Among the various shapes, we like the rectangle most in which the ratio of the short side and the long side is equal to the ratio of the sum of the long side and the long side, which is called the "golden segment". Light things must be farther away from the center, and heavy things must be closer to the center. Many of these principles cannot be fully applied in Chinese painting, so Chinese painting is an art that is not very regular.
Eight professors on the campus of the central campus of Shandong University. In the 50s of the 20th century, eight famous historians gathered in the Department of History of Shandong University, and they started with major academic topics, leading the Chinese academic trend because of the changes of the times, and were known as "eight horses in the same trough".
Although Western "experimental aesthetics" is called "scientific aesthetics", it is not complete in the study of "beauty", and it is relatively superficial. It has already been said above: "beauty" is a state of mind, and it is an elusive state of mind. It is a mixed experience and is not likely to be analyzed and studied. Experimental aesthetics experiments only the basic "pleasure" of "aesthetics", because "pleasure" is a physiological state, which can be analyzed and studied, and our understanding of Chinese painting cannot be understood by the method of "experimental aesthetics", but can only be understood conceptually. A more specific understanding is not yet possible. For the appreciation of Chinese painting, we can not contribute a lot of meaning, and what we discuss in this article is just some preliminary knowledge.
In 1956, a children's book couple and Gu Jiegang (middle) were photographed in Qingdao
Mr. Tong Shuye (1908~1968) was a well-known historian in mainland China, who has made great achievements in the fields of ancient history and ancient books, ancient geography, pre-Qin intellectual history, historical theory, ancient economic history, Chinese art history, psychology and psychiatry. Mr. Tong's simultaneous study of painting techniques, painting studies, and historiography has made him handy in the study of painting history and has many creative ideas.
This article was originally published in the 71st issue of the Central Times Cultural Relics Weekly in Shanghai on January 28, 1948, and was later included in the collection of works of the children's book industry (Volume 5): A Collection of Essays on the History of Painting in the Children's Book Industry (Zhonghua Book Company, 2008 edition), pp. 557~562.