The development of art has always followed certain objective laws, from classicism to romanticism to modernism. The law of development behind this is almost consistent with people's understanding of the world.
From realism to freehand, people's understanding of art continues to deepen, and the world under the painter's pen has become more and more exciting.
<h1 class="pgc-h-arrow-right" data-track="3" > the necessity of the development of the art of painting</h1>
Western art starts from realism, and countless writers of the classical school of painting truly reflect the world with lines and colors. From the Renaissance onwards, the art of painting went through a long period of exploration.
The most important part of this stage is the truthful depiction of what people see, which naturally includes the naked human body.
It is precisely because of the exploration of the human body painting technology by the Western classical painting school that there has been a great development of Western painting art later.
However, unlike Western painting art, China, as a representative country of Eastern art, seems to follow another development law in painting art.
There is no doubt that the attainments and humanistic characteristics of Chinese painting in many aspects such as structural art and artistic conception are not available in Western painting.
The literati and inkers of ancient China did not go through the stage of looking at everything with a childlike eye and truthfully depicting everything like Western painters.
Ancient Chinese painters, in an almost leaping way, brought painting directly into the temple of romanticism and symbolism.
However, with the development and progress of the times, people's aesthetics are no longer limited to the presentation of traditional paintings. Whether it is a Western painter or a Chinese literati, the paintings born under the pen have gradually caused people to have aesthetic fatigue.
Therefore, for the art of painting, there is an urgent need for an exchange and integration of art culture between China and the West. Among them, chinese painters' study and exploration of human body configuration is also extremely necessary.
Looking back at history, people can always lightly brush up on what has happened in history, but the story behind each change is much more intense than people think, and even sometimes with a little cruel and bloody.
<h1 class="pgc-h-arrow-right" data-track="5" > taboo against "bare mold" in Chinese and foreign history</h1>
In Chinese and foreign history, the two words naked model have experienced a long-term taboo. Contrary to what many people think, the relatively open Western countries also went through a long period of debate and exclusion for naked models in the beginning.
According to historical records, the earliest nude models in the West appeared in ancient Greece. In many works of art preserved in ancient Greece, people can see naked figures of the human body.
But most of these artistic figures appeared in front of the world as gods, even if individual artists borrowed ordinary people as models to create the image of gods.
For the appreciator, it is difficult to stir up the "evil thoughts" of the public. Therefore, the naked model at that time, even if it existed, was not taken seriously, and there was not much controversy in terms of morality.
It was not until around the 4th century AD that the appearance of a beautiful woman in Athens, Frigne, broke the disguise of self-deception of the people of the time.
Legend has it that Frigne showed her naked body in the name of baptism during the sacrifice of the sea god. So the people took Frignie to court for blasphemy.
Interestingly, after some arguments, the court finally acquitted Frigne. This incident caused the Greek society of the time to discuss "beauty".
People began to face the inner aesthetics, changing the aesthetic object from God to man, and expanding the scope of aesthetics from the original divinity to human nature.
The story was finally presented by the 19th-century French painter Jérôme with his painting "Frigne in the Courtroom".
This time became the beginning of Western art's acceptance of the beauty of the human body, and it also became the indiscriminate pursuit of Western painters to depict the human body as the basic skill of painting.
The tolerance of the Western world has laid the foundation for the growth of painting art, and although it has experienced many ups and downs since then, it is difficult to stop the painter's enthusiasm for human body depiction with the brush in his hand.
Because of this, the Western art world has left many fine works of body art for mankind.
But the same thing, in China, is not so tolerant. China, which predates Frigne by about 5 centuries, is in the midst of the Western Han Dynasty.
It was also at this time that the first "naked model" of ancient China, Tao Wangqing, appeared. Tao Wangqing was the wife of Liu Go, the King of Guangchuan in the Western Han Dynasty, and originally Liu Went had a lot of love for Tao Wangqing.
But Tao Wangqing, who was impatient with the loneliness of the harem, did something that could be described as shocking at the time, causing himself not only to lose Liu Go's favor, but also to pay a tragic price for it.
At that time, Tao Wangqing invited a folk painter to paint a half-naked picture of the Spring Palace for himself. In the painting, Tao Wangqingxiang's shoulders are exposed, and his figure is wonderful.
The beautiful figure of this wonderful wife is fully displayed in the painter's pen. After the painting was completed, Tao Wangqing would occasionally turn to the picture scroll and admire himself.
It wasn't long before this matter was known to Liu's other concubines, so he made a small report that Tao Wangqing had committed adultery with someone and asked the adulterer to draw a picture of the Spring Palace for him.
Liu Went, who learned of this, was furious and immediately led someone to rush to Tao Wangqing and copied the flower roll.
After seeing Tao Wangqing's nude painting, Liu went to immediately ask someone to arrest the painter and execute him, and Tao Wangqing also fell out of favor and was beaten into the cold palace.
After that, the queen zhaoxin who framed her was tortured in every way, and all the torture was used on Tao Wangqing's body.
Later, Tao Wangqing wanted to commit suicide by throwing herself into a well after being humiliated, but she did not think of it but was saved by Queen Zhaoxin.
After rescuing Tao Wangqing, Queen Zhaoxin ordered people to burn a pool of boiling water with a mouthful of Dading and throw poison into it. In the end, Tao Wangqing was thrown alive into boiling water by Queen Zhaoxin and boiled into a pot of broth.
After this incident, Tao Wangqing was established as a shameless adulteress. For the next thousand years, no woman dared to cross the thunder pool.
Even after the Song Dynasty, kabuki performances for soliciting customers appeared outside the brothels of the city, and the system was nothing more than exposing the legs and slightly exposing the fragrant shoulders.
Even this would be strongly opposed by the moral theorists, who even thought that the overt Kabuki performance was offensive.
There are only a few people who dare to challenge etiquette, and the scope of the hunt is very limited. Tang Bohu, a famous talent of the Ming Dynasty, once painted many pictures of the Spring Palace.
However, the people painted are limited to some Qinglou women, and the paintings are also private collections. Occasionally, those in this life are only circulated in the community, and ordinary people rarely see them.
<h1 class="pgc-h-arrow-right" data-track="7" > the painter Liu Haisu and the nude model Chen Xiaojun who dared to be the first in the world</h1>
Whether it is Tao Wangqing's Spring Palace or Tang Bohu's paintings, their appearance is only for people to privately taste and appreciate, and it is almost impossible to circulate them publicly.
But even this was taboo in feudal society. The emergence of naked models in the true sense of our country was during the Republic of China period. Liu Haisu and her mannequin Chen Xiaojun became pioneers in breaking this barrier.
In November 1912, Liu Haisu, a 17-year-old returnee painter, together with friends, founded the first art school of real significance in Chinese history, shanghai normal college.
At that time, Liu Haisu deeply felt the depth and thorough study of Western painting art in the depiction of human body structures, so he set up a course of mannequin sketching in the Western painting department of Shanghai Normal College.
As soon as the news came out, it was widely opposed by the society at that time, and some students' parents even wrote to the government to ban Liu Haisu's "human body sketching" class.
After many coordination, Liu Haisu finally agreed to use only some male models and children as the object of painting, so the matter was eased to a certain extent. But even this criticism is loud.
After a period of teaching and exploration, Liu Haisu felt more and more the necessity of opening up the course of human body sketching.
In the classroom, almost all the students drew were men such as workers and homeless people recruited by Liu Haisu with money, or the children of friends.
Although this can meet the requirements of some human body sketching, on the whole, the students' painting skills are still lacking.
In desperation, Liu Haisu finally made a surprising decision to openly recruit women willing to engage in mannequins to the society to participate in teaching practice in schools.
At first, many more open-minded women were willing to apply, but after hearing that all the clothes should be stripped naked for people to describe, almost all the applicants were discouraged.
Liu Haisu said to the signatories: "Everyone has a body, and clothes are worn to protect the body, not to wear clothes so that our bodies cannot be seen. ”
Even if there is Liu Haisu's reasoning, it is only to win the participation of some male models. For women, such a request was almost impossible to accept at the time.
Fortunately, things took a turn for the better, when a female student named Chen Xiaojun was touched by Liu Haisu's words.
Chen Xiaojun was a female student in the east of Shanghai at the time, and by chance, she was exposed to the art of Western painting and was impressed by its exquisite techniques.
Chen Xiaojun couldn't believe that someone could depict such a delicate picture of the human body. So he plucked up enough courage to find Liu Haisu and promised Liu Haisu to be a mannequin at Shanghai Normal College.
In this way, the first mannequin with real significance in Chinese history was born.
When Chen Xiaojun stood in the studio, the students were very surprised by Chen Xiaojun's appearance. Immediately, the students present bowed deeply to Chen Xiaojun.
For the next three days, the students in the studio meticulously traced Chen Xiaojun's body under the guidance of Liu Haisu. Through the combination of lines and perspective, light and shade, a series of human sketches were born. This is the first time in the history of Chinese painting, and it is a brave step taken by Chinese in the art of painting.
However, such dazzling moments lasted only three days. On the morning of the fourth day, the students still came to the studio with their drawing boards to continue practicing.
But chen Xiaojun's figure was gone, and after a morning of waiting, only a little boy finally came.
It turned out that the little boy was Chen Xiaojun's younger brother, and he said that Chen Xiaojun's father was furious after learning that his daughter had become a mannequin and was naked in the studio for people to depict, and immediately gave Chen Xiaojun a severe beating. In the end, Chen Xiaojun was beaten by his father and could not even get out of bed.
After learning about this incident, Liu Haisu blamed himself and said indignantly: "What kind of world is this, if you want to beat me, come and beat me, what do you do when you beat your daughter?" She is holy and a pioneer of Chinese art! ”
Liu Haisu could not, can only continue to recruit female models. However, shortly after this incident, the "Declaration" reported chen Xiaojun's case and criticized it vigorously. Liu Haisu has also been portrayed as a cultural hooligan. At that time, there was a passage circulating: "There were three major literary demons in Shanghai, one was Zhang Jingsheng, who advocated sexual knowledge, the other was Li Jinhui, who sang drizzle, and the third was Liu Haisu, who advocated no clothes at all." ”
At that time, the Jiangsu Provincial Education Association demanded that the model be banned from sketching immediately after learning about this matter, and Liu Haisu wrote an open letter to defend the model.
Finally, Zhu Baosan, president of the Shanghai General Chamber of Commerce and chairman of the Zhengzheng Folk Society, and others publicly attacked Liu Haisu, saying that he was "inferior to animals and animals."
Things gradually became bigger, and Sun Chuanfang, the Beiyang warlord who was in charge of the military and political power in Shanghai at the time, also took the opportunity to hype up the morality of feudal society.
Liu Haisu was placed in a position for criticism. Sun Chuanfang even issued an arrest order, but fortunately the Shanghai Normal College was located in the French Concession. Therefore, Liu Haisu escaped from prison.
The poor thing is that Chen Xiaojun was beaten by his father and could not get out of bed, and since then he has never appeared in people's sights, and the tabloid reporters at that time reported that Chen Xiaojun was disgraced and finally committed suicide by jumping into the river.
But in fact, Chen Xiaojun did not die later, and just left Shanghai to study elsewhere after the incident.
Liu Haisu, who was bent on pursuing art, said indignantly: "I resist! I resist! Our schools never stop! I Liu Haisu lived for art, and I am willing to die for art! I would rather die than uphold the truth, and never be subjugated by might."
But in the general environment at that time, what was the use of Liu Haisu's resistance. So the first bold attempt at modern Chinese painting art ended like a flash in the pan.
It was not until after the founding of New China that a new round of discussion was held on the issue of body painting.
<h1 class="pgc-h-arrow-right" data-track="9" > the discussion of "bare molds" at the beginning of the founding of New China</h1>
At the beginning of the founding of New China, due to the influence of the "double hundred" policy, the literary and art circles could be described as prosperous.
During this period, although human body painting did not develop rapidly, it also had a certain mass base, and it was no longer taboo for people to shout and scold.
But the discussion of body painting really didn't stop for a moment. Although there are teaching activities in this regard, everyone is afraid to mention it.
In 1964, during the "Four Qing" movement, Kang Sheng and others wrote in their report "On the Use of Models": "I intend to resolutely prohibit it, I absolutely do not believe that to become a painter you must paint models." ”
So three months later, the Ministry of Culture issued the Notice on Abolishing the Use of Models in the Art Department.
In order not to let the good artistic atmosphere and situation that have been hard to create be erased, Wen Lipeng, a teacher at the Central Academy of Fine Arts, wrote to the central government, stating that "real person (model) sketching is an important method for the training of basic art skills", and cautiously said: "At least in the oil painting major and sculpture major, there should be a certain proportion of human body study."
After some debate, the issue of whether to continue to retain the "mannequin sketch" was submitted to Chairman Mao, who became the key to determining the survival of this matter.
Fortunately, Chairman Mao's approval saved the art course of "mannequin sketching".
Chairman Mao instructed on the front page of the letter: "This matter should be changed. Nude models, men, women and children, are the basic skills of painting and sculpture, do not fail... For the sake of the art discipline, there are small sacrifices. Please decide. ”
Chairman Mao's instructions saved the future of Chinese painting art, and although it has experienced many twists and turns since then, the art discipline of "mannequin sketching" has finally been accepted in difficult times.
The mannequin eventually went from being a taboo to a respected devotee of art.
At this point, those who have made endless contributions to the progress of art should also be able to feel comfort.