Xu Bei-hong. Horses
Qi Bai-shi. Camellia flowers
Li Ke-zhan. Boy on a buffalo
Guan Shai-yue. Life in the mountains
Jiang Zhao-he. Granddaughter reading newspaper to grandfather
Jiang Zhao-he. Land ownership document
Gu Yuan. Living Bridge
Gu Yuan. Factory restoration
Zhang Fan-fu. Wedding Dress
Yan Han. We are for peace with all our hearts. (Poster)
Accompanying article:
"...Modern Chinese painting and graphics, continuing the best traditions of Chinese art, are a new stage in the overall development of Chinese culture. While preserving the national identity of Chinese art, contemporary artists create works that reflect the construction of a new socialist China and the great transformations taking place in the country.
In the second half of the 19th century - the beginning of the 20th century, a new direction arose in Chinese painting. The founder of this trend was the talented artist Zhen Bo-nian (1839-1894), who broke with the old, conventional canons of feudal painting and turned to the direct study of nature. The followers of Zhen Bo-nian - Xu Bei-hung, Qi Bai-shi and other artists - created and are creating living realistic works that are understandable and close to the people.
The greatest master modern painting China, Xu BzY-hung (1894-1953), studying the best traditions of national art, developed his own individual style. His skill is revealed in the painting “Horses”, executed in Chinese ink very restrainedly, clearly and at the same time extremely expressively.
Another outstanding master of the older generation is the artist Qi Bai-shi. Qi Bai-shi writes exceptionally vividly, conveying the beauty and unfading charm of nature.
Placing his signature on the Appeal of the World Peace Council, Qi Bai-shi wrote: “I have been painting for 70 years. And I always depict beautiful, living things. How can you allow the world of beauty to be destroyed!” Qi Bai-shi, who is 96 years old, is actively participating with his art in building a new life in China.
A talented follower and student of Xu Bei-hung and Qi Bai-shi, the artist Li Ke-jan also writes laconically and expressively. His high skill is visible in the painting "Boy on a Buffalo".
Many contemporary Chinese artists, creating landscapes, reflect in these works the construction of a new China. Guan Shan-yue's painting "Life in the Mountains" depicts mountains covered with forest, a lone horseman and geologists' tents nearby. New life comes to the mountains, and the mountains give people the wealth of their depths.
The works of the outstanding contemporary artist Jiang Zhao-he are always relevant in theme and executed with great realistic skill. They talk about the new, happy life of the Chinese people.
In People's China, everyone, young and old, learns to read and write. One of Jiang Zhao-he's paintings tells about this. The artist restrainedly and simply draws a thoughtful old man with his eyes directed into the distance, who seems to see everything in front of him. what the pioneer granddaughter sitting next to her is reading. Another painting by the artist depicts a joyful moment in the life of Chinese peasants, who are no longer working for the landowner, but for themselves and on their own land.
One of the most widespread types of art in China is the art of wood engraving, which has a long history. Engraving has undergone special development in the last 20-25 years.
Progressive Chinese engravers of the 30s reflected in their works the revolutionary movement in China, the heroic struggle of the people against the Japanese invaders. The outstanding writer Lu Xun, who founded the Society for the Study of the Art of Wood Engraving in Shanghai in 1931, did a lot for the development of engraving. In 1938, on the initiative of the Chinese Communist Party, the Lu Xun Academy of Arts was organized in the city of Yan'an, the center of national resistance. Many of the best students of the Academy carried out propaganda work among the population in areas where the People's Army operated.
Engravings by contemporary Chinese artists are very relevant in theme and imbued with genuine optimism. Artists-engravers maintain in their works a continuous connection with the best traditions of the art of the past. Their works are characterized by originality of composition, firmness and expressiveness of line, and subtlety of execution.
The engraving of the talented master Gu Yuan “The Living Bridge” expresses the pathos of the heroic struggle of the Chinese people for their independence. The construction of a new, happy life, the heroism of everyday work are glorified in the engraving by the same artist, “Restoration of the Anshan Steel Plant.”
Lubok is very common in China - the most popular form of folk art. The Chinese people have been decorating in New Year your home with colorful pictures. Modern New Year pictures depict the joyful life of the working people of People's China. The free, happy life of modern Chinese women, the growth of the welfare of the people is shown by the artist Zhang Fan-fu in the popular print “Wedding Dress”.
One of the youngest types of Chinese fine art is the poster, which has become widespread in People's China. The poster by artist Yan Han “With all our hearts we are for peace”, which expresses the desire of the Chinese people for peace, is very popular.
The art of democratic China, which expresses the interests of the many millions of Chinese people and actively participates in the construction of socialism, in the struggle for peace and friendship between peoples, is on the way to further flourishing.
E. Norina..."
Liang Huang-chou. Date
Chen Chih-fo. Big snow - rich harvest
Jiang Zhao-he. Child and dove
Zhao Yan-nian and Tan Yun. Catching sparrows
Zhou Chang-gu. On the way home
Y. Vinogradova
The new art of China was formed in extremely difficult conditions associated with the entire complexity of the country's historical development paths. Only in the 20th century. The final crisis and collapse of feudalism occurred in China. Lagging behind in its development for many centuries, the inert and impoverished country at that time presented a picture of the wildest and most terrible contrasts, the ugliest creations of an era that had long since outlived its time. The feudal system declined in China already in the 17th and 18th centuries, which affected all areas of life. Economic backwardness and greater and greater isolation from the world have turned China into a country that exists as if by virtue of the inertia of past achievements accumulated over centuries. Isolation from other states completely deprived China of the opportunity to make any use of the discoveries made by the rest of humanity. While most large states took the path of capitalist development, feudal orders, which the ruling Manchu Qing dynasty used to suppress the people, were restored and preserved in China. The dominant ideology continued to be extremely conservative Confucianism with its archaic system of rituals and canons, supporting nationalism. The strictest observance of traditions was cultivated, down to the smallest details, penetrating into all areas of everyday life, culture and politics.
In the 60s - 70s. 19th century After the Opium Wars, which ended in unequal treaties with foreign powers, as well as after the Tainin uprising - a grandiose peasant movement that was brutally suppressed, but shook the very foundations of feudalism, the growth of national self-awareness intensified. At the same time, pressure from outside the capitalist world also increased. The country turned into a semi-colony. The growing foreign influence in the economy and the extremely rigid feudal structure within China itself led to deep contradictions in all aspects of the life of the state.
In the field of culture, these contradictions have reached an almost complete break between creativity and reality. The tenacity and artificial conservation of feudal traditions and canons, the struggle between the old and the not yet formed new worldviews characterize the art of China until the beginning of the 20th century. While artistic life throughout the world was in a continuous process of development, in China a century in the evolution of art did not bring any significant changes. Great skill, developed over centuries, determined for a long time a fairly high professional level of fine art. However, the imagination of the artists was so shackled by the chains of the medieval worldview that it could not in any way update the familiar forms and figurative structure of painting, which were monotonous in their endless repetition.
Officially, the leading genres of painting continued to be occupied by the familiar genres of landscape, flowers and birds. But for the most part they expressed the most conservative sentiments, since the ideals of the past were lost, and in the difficult situation of the country’s life, artists were required to be more actively involved in the surrounding reality, posing new, pressing creative questions. Those genres that have long been formed in the general system of world art - psychological portrait, everyday and historical painting - have received almost no development in China. The so-called genre of “zhenwu hua” - “painting of people” - formally claims to be a household painting, essentially in the 19th century. was very far from life, reproducing scenes of palace life or plots of medieval novels in a salon-archaic manner. The ability to portray a lively character, the modern appearance of a person, and the plasticity of the body was also completely absent. Sculpture, which degenerated in the 19th century, existed almost exclusively as handicraft depictions of temple figures of Buddhist saints, roughly painted and made according to old standard models. Only graphics developed more intensively - the most active and widespread form of art associated with pressing issues of life. However, at the end of the 19th - beginning of the 20th century. it has only just begun to acquire its own independent specificity.
Applied arts and folk crafts were also in a certain decline. The penetration of foreign capital and the import of foreign goods into China increasingly ruined artisans and small artisans. The tastes of foreign customers also had a detrimental effect on the production of porcelain and other applied products, where rough exoticism, sharp pretentious shapes and colors penetrated.
The general decline of culture could not but affect the development of architecture. Medieval Chinese architecture of the palace and temple type with its light one-story wooden buildings, picturesquely located among parks, despite its rationality and beauty, could no longer meet the new social needs. In connection with the transformation of China into a semi-colony from the second half of the 19th century. In large cities, not only individual buildings of the European type appeared, but also huge blocks of territory, which in their architectural principles had nothing similar to the architectural traditions of China. Cities such as Shanghai, Nanjing, Tianjin, Guangzhou (Canton), etc., were essentially cities for foreigners for more than a hundred years and represented a monstrous combination of the medieval poverty of an eastern city with the eclectic, overwhelming spirit of the buildings of huge capitalist firms, banks and offices built by different states without the slightest regard for the layout and style of national ensembles. Simultaneously with the cosmopolitan architecture, however, religious and palace buildings of the traditional plan continued to be erected, many of which, with their ever-increasing pretentiousness, exoticism and fragmentation of colors and decor, showed the degeneration of the medieval style. Empress Ci Xi replaced the railways and navy needed by the country at the end of the 19th century. rebuilt Yiheyuan Park with numerous intricate pavilions and a grand gazebo in the shape of a stone ship, eclectically combining elements of Chinese and European architecture. Both have existed in architecture since the mid-19th century. until the middle of the 20th century. directions alien to each other were very unfruitful for the development of Chinese architecture.
At the same time, life made new demands on art. In a tormented, poor and plundered country by foreign powers, popular indignation gradually matured, erupting in endless uprisings. The whole atmosphere of life was tense and permeated with the spirit of the struggle for independence. The 1905 revolution in Russia played a colossal role in awakening the people's consciousness, marking the beginning of a new stage in the history of China. “World capitalism and the Russian movement of 1905 finally awakened Asia. Hundreds of millions of downtrodden people, wild in medieval stagnation, woke up to a new life and to the struggle for basic human rights, for democracy" ( V. I. Lenin, Complete Works, vol. 23, p. 146.), - wrote V.I. Lenin about this period in the history of China. The need for revolutionary changes was so urgent in China that it was no longer possible not to feel it everywhere. Therefore, despite the incredible complexity of the phenomena taking place in the field of culture, the period of the second half of the 19th - early 20th centuries. was not only a time of decline and decay of feudal art that was dying out. At this time, the work of a number of outstanding painters, writers and engravers, generated by historical necessity, arose and took shape, who became exponents of new social ideals. At the end of the 19th - beginning of the 20th century. progressive figures like Lu Xun and Qu Qiu-bo were still exceptions against the general bleak background. However, it was they who, each in their own way, showed in this crisis pre-revolutionary period possible ways of developing art and literature of a new type. During these years, interest in progressive Russian and Western literature increased, and the works of A. P. Chekhov, A. M. Gorky, and L. N. Tolstoy were translated into Chinese.
The rise of the revolutionary movement, which began in China under the influence of the first Russian revolution, differed from the old Chinese riots and uprisings in the conscious unity of democratic forces. In 1911, a revolution began in China, overthrowing the Manchu dynasty and establishing a republic in 1912. By its nature it was a bourgeois-democratic revolution. It ended only with the overthrow of medieval monarchism, without essentially shaking either the feudal foundations of the country or imperialist domination. The peasant movement, as well as workers' actions, have not yet received their development. Nevertheless, the revolution of 1911 - 1912 had great historical significance for the country, strengthening the revolutionary activity and national consciousness of the Chinese people. The destruction of Manchu rule opened up greater opportunities for Chinese society to join world culture and overcome isolation and isolation from world problems.
The old feudal aristocracy lost its hegemony and its exclusive role as a legislator in the field of art, and the national bourgeoisie gradually began to come to the fore. This was accompanied by complex and contradictory phenomena in art. The old Chinese methods of education in art schools through the continuous assimilation of medieval painting schemes and canons or copying famous works of the past were partially replaced by teaching new European methods. A number of young artists were sent abroad to study. In 1912, in Shanghai, the most cosmopolitan city in China, a painting school of the Western European type was opened, where the entire education system was aimed at breaking artists away from the traditions of medieval art and mastering modernist Western trends. At the same time, another direction was developing, one of the exponents of which was the Guotsui school, which cultivated the most traditional features in painting and was not interested in pressing issues of our time. Both of these directions in art, despite their apparent opposition and hostility to each other, in essence, were almost equally far from the progressive tasks of their time, one connected with the feudal worldview and nationalist tendencies, the other with foreign capitalist influence.
At this time, to define the traditional manner of Chinese painting, the term “guohua” (literally translated as “national painting”) began to be used, denoting a unique way of painting with ink and mineral paints. The term “guohua” meant not only the sum of certain technical techniques, but also the entire traditional method of perceiving and reproducing reality - in a word, the entire arsenal that painters have used for thousands of years. The very appearance of the name “gohua” testified to the split that had occurred in the previously unified system of Chinese painting.
The first and still very timid democratic trends in the art of China in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. appeared in Guohua painting in the genre of “flowers and birds” and partly in landscape. This happened because for many centuries it was nature that served Chinese poets, thinkers and painters as essentially the only means of expressing the most significant feelings and aesthetic ideals, and artists could not immediately abandon the usual forms of figurative thinking, the most accessible and close artistic solutions.
Such innovation was very limited in nature, since it did not address any pressing issues of our time. However, these first timid quests were significant because the painters were looking for ways to get closer to life. The first of the painters of the genre of flowers and birds who managed to some extent go beyond the vicious circle in which the art of the late 19th and early 20th centuries was located were Zhen Bo-nian (1840 - 1895), Wu Chang-shi (1844 - 1927) and Chen Shih-tseng (1876 - 1924). The conquest of these artists was that, breaking away from memorized formulas, they seemed to rediscover the beauty of the natural world. And although the range of their subjects was not new and they did not touch upon the important problems of their time, their painting played a significant role with its humanity and beauty. The paintings of Wu Chang-shi, depicting either clusters of ripe fruits or a blooming delicate flower, are painted with a wide, strong brush with such skill and love for all living things that, despite their deep traditionality, they produce a more active, cheerful impression compared to medieval scrolls. None of these painters, however, was able to decisively take the path of innovation. They did not always maintain integrity in the implementation of their artistic ideas, sometimes creating epigone paintings in the spirit of the fashion of their time.
The true innovators in the field of "guohua", who truly expanded the horizons of Chinese painting, were Qi Bai-shi (1860 - 1957) and Xu Bei-hong (1895 - 1953), who, each in their own way, managed to absorb the wisdom of many generations , abandon false tradition and look at the world through the eyes of another era. Both of these painters, as if they had built a bridge from one era to another, were contemporaries of two different generations and two different periods of Chinese history. These painters had the opportunity to experience all the numerous shocks, hopes and tragedies that befell the Chinese people over a relatively short period of history: the enslavement of the country in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, numerous repressions, defeats and suppression of the revolutionary movement in the dark years of reaction after 1927 ., when the government of Chiang Kai-shek brutally dealt with the progressive intelligentsia, and every free thought, every living word was persecuted, as well as the Japanese intervention of 1937 - 1945. During these decades, when a mood of hopelessness and depression dominated many representatives of the Chinese intelligentsia, the work of Qi Pai-shi and Xu Bei-hung, which affirmed faith in life, faith in man, alien to pessimism, played a significant role for the advanced strata of Chinese society. Despite the fact that Qi Bai-shi devoted his entire life to depicting landscapes, flowers and birds, tools of peasant labor or the fruits of the earth, and his creative method underwent quite few changes throughout his almost hundred-year life, he was a kind of pioneer who managed to re-create to show humanity the beauty and bright joy of life through the world of seemingly everyday and unremarkable objects. Qi Bai-shi took an honorable place in modern art both as an excellent painter and by the breadth and democracy of his ideals. Unlike the work of his predecessors, his works were no longer intended for a select few, but were addressed to a wide range of people. It took the strength of the individual talent of the artist himself to transform and re-understand the established schemes for centuries, using what was truly valuable that was achieved in the Chinese culture of the past, to make his national art a universal property.
The son of a peasant who lived long life in the village, having known the joys and sorrows of peasant labor, Qi Bai-shi was decidedly different from the aesthetic Epigones of his time. He was able to talk about the poetic charm of life, manifested in a grapevine warmed by the sun, and in the fragrant freshness of a just-blooming wildflower, and in fussy tadpoles, and in simple village pitchforks placed by the owner against the wall, and in every particle of nature that falls the penetrating gaze of a working man who has learned the true value of earthly existence. Every small image served as a basis for him to make large and important generalizations. The painting of Qi Bai-shi is deeply human, despite the fact that there are almost no images of humans in it, and it is all dedicated to nature. This was both the strength and weakness of the art of Qi Bai-shi, who managed, within just one genre, to go beyond the boundaries of a narrow national worldview. However, even within this one genre, he found new solutions, always avoiding monotony. The painter's method is original and unique. Often continuously depicting the same object, be it a bursting fruit of a ripe pomegranate on a branch or a butterfly that has singed its wings on the fire of a rough village lamp, he finds for each object new image, spiritualizes it in a new way, as if showing the same thing seen through the eyes of different people. The simplicity and power of expressiveness of his images are such that the viewer often feels almost like a creator, privy to the secret of creating a work, since the artist, with his fluent, seemingly random sketches, evokes thoughts and images stored in human memory.
However, precisely in this apparent simplicity lies great complexity, partly associated with associative thinking that has existed in Chinese painting since time immemorial. Qi Bai-shi always highlights the hidden meaning of a phenomenon, showing, for example, not so much the fruit itself, but its glossy juiciness, emphasizing it with the even rougher softness of the leaves, not so much the flower itself, but the transparent freshness of its petals, not so much the rough rustic jug, braided straw, as much as the caring caress of peasant hands> who placed a bright bouquet of flowers in it. In every scene, even a small one, the painter put his memories of village life and the fruits of the earth, grown by man with patient love. The deep poetic meaning he invested in each phenomenon seemed to expand the scope of the world he showed, forcing the co-author and viewer to complement the laconic scene with his imagination. This attitude towards nature and the method of presenting visible reality existed long before Qi Bai-shi, however, the associations evoked by his paintings are simpler and more directly connected with specific human sensations than in medieval art. The decorative inscriptions accompanying many of Qi Bai-shi's works are full of humor and concern for people.
The works of Qi Bai-shi always captivate with the sharpness and virtuoso boldness of their solutions. He found that elusive line that separates the world of art, the world of poetic dreams from the dry prose of life. The viewer understands perfectly well that the blurred “blots” of black ink on a white sheet of paper are far from a literal image of a pond overgrown with lotuses, but when looking at the painting by Qi Bai-shi, an image of a space of quiet, sleepy water overgrown with wide soft leaves arises in his imagination. Sometimes he conveys the bright freshness of a blossoming flower only with the nuances of black ink. The decorative possibilities of the “guohua” manner, where a white sheet of paper always plays a special, active role, are used by Qi Bai-shi every time with amazing novelty and boldness. Discarding everything unnecessary, he writes on a snow-white sheet with transparent silver ink a catfish, the elastic movement of which makes it clear that it goes deep into the water column. And the viewer believes in this expanse of water, although in front of him there is only a sheet of paper and a few strokes of ink. This infinity of the master’s imagination seems to force the viewer to look at the world with new eyes. Qi Bai-shi has a surprisingly subtle statement about maintaining a constant distance in painting between external plausibility and genuine internal truth. “In painting, the secret of mastery is on the verge of similarity and dissimilarity. Excessive similarity is vulgar, dissimilarity is deception.” With these words he seemed to define his understanding of artistic truth in art.
However, the paths paved by the painting of Qi Bai-shi did not completely solve the problem of incorporating Chinese art into the mainstream of modern life. It was necessary to embody new social themes and vital problems not through hints and associations, but through the direct inclusion of a person in the sphere of art. Qi Bai-shi seemed to touch one of the strings, touching on one problem - the affirmation of human personality through the natural world. Other contemporary Guohua painters were not always able to cope with this task so organically. Qi Bai-shi's contemporary Huang Bin-hong (1864 - 1955) was certainly more archaic in his landscapes than Qi Bai-shi, since his quest concerned only changes in some formal pictorial traditions, and not the content of creativity.
At the same time, many artists of the subsequent generation, such as Pan Tian-shou (1897 - 1965) and Wang Ge. and (b. 1898), successfully continued the search for Qi Bai-shi in creating new images of the natural world. Both talented painters, in their own way, strove to master new ways of solving old themes. Painted with a strong and rich brush, the bluish-black powerful pine trees in the paintings of Pan Tian-shou in combination with the matte white background of the paper scroll, the great simplicity and laconicism of his images give his landscapes a special clarity and freshness. However, the range of searches of these painters was too limited for their time.
The largest figures of Chinese culture, Lu Xun and Qu Qiu-bo, together with other leading people of China, sought to bring the culture of their country from the limited sphere in which it had been for several centuries to a broader path, to end its national isolation and introduce artists and writers and all the people with the best achievements of world and especially Soviet art. Among painters, the young artist Xu Bei-hong eagerly took up the challenge of solving these same problems. Unlike his predecessors, he influenced not only the development of any one genre, but also the fate of Chinese art as a whole. Xu Bei-hong was one of the leading figures in China who fought to introduce into the national culture all the best that was created in world art. A staunch follower of the realistic movement, Xu Bei-hong, having lived for eight years in Paris, where he was sent to study, was never carried away by fashionable modernist trends, but with voracious attention studied the art of ancient Greece and the classical heritage of the masters of world art. The plastic beauty of the human body and the psychologism in portraiture became the subject of his careful artistic research. Returning to his homeland in 1927, Xu Bei-hong devoted many years to teaching at universities and art schools. He was one of the first to introduce young Chinese painters to the techniques and methods of oil painting and taught them to paint directly from life. Xu Bei-hong spent a lot of energy to turn Chinese art from the path of dead copying of past samples to the path of studying reality, living, relevant issues of art. At the same time, the artist understood the need to preserve the truly valuable things that had been achieved by the Chinese culture of the past. His innovative quests consistently followed the line of using the experience of world realistic art to update Guohua painting, which he himself studied to perfection. However, the paintings of Xu Bei-hong are significant not only because he enriched familiar images and themes with the introduction of chiaroscuro, linear perspective and volumetric sculpting of the face. His work revealed new possibilities for bringing Chinese painting to life. Xu Bei-hong himself worked in various genres, both as a landscape painter and as a master of large historical compositions. He also owns numerous portraits of workers, peasants, cultural figures of China and other countries. Addressing a person, something important that determined the character of his contemporary, occupied the artist most of all. Xu Bei-hong sought to combine in his portraits the beauty and expressiveness of the linear stroke characteristic of “guohua” with the depth and significance of the images of realistic portraits. However, his attempt to create this combination encountered such contradictions coming from the figurative system of medieval canons that in his portraits he gradually began to increasingly apply the methods of European portraiture.
Portraits of Xu Bei-hong are always full of love and respect for people, in which the artist tried to convey human dignity, active inner life. In the portrait of Rabindranath Tagore (1942; Beijing, Hsu Bei-hong Museum), already a mature work of the master, Hsu Bei-hong showed the deep creative concentration of a poet immersed in thought. The combination of voluminous sculpting of the face and hands with the line-hatched interpretation of clothing and the use of colored ink give this work, painted in light but bright colors, a certain amount of decorativeness characteristic of “gohua”. However, the significance of this picture was that it affirmed the new aesthetic value of man, his activity, his mind. Together with other portraits of Xu Bei-hong, it seemed to open new paths for other Chinese painters.
In the work of Xu Bei-hong, as in the paintings of Chinese artists of the past, the image of nature also occupied an important place. However, even in this genre, while maintaining a sense of majestic beauty, he sought to break at the same time with the medieval worldview and its contemplative passivity. In a number of paintings, he successfully combined different principles of showing space and perspective, trying to achieve new emotional solutions. The life-affirming and heroic pathos of his landscapes, painted, in contrast to the examples of the Middle Ages, directly from nature, gives them a different character compared to the past. Indicative in this sense are the paintings “Spring Rain on the Lijiang River” (1937) and “In the Emeishan Mountains” (1940s), in which the combination of traditional and new principles of showing nature is noticeably felt. The familiar shape of the scroll further emphasizes the novelty of the painting “Spring Rain on the Lijiang River,” painted in a completely different emotional key than before. High, quaint mountains shrouded in the moisture of fog would seem to be closely associated with tradition, but they serve as the backdrop to a European-style river landscape. The washes of monochrome ink convey not only the silvery fog and distant mountains, but also the three-dimensionality of the shapes of visible objects and their reflection in water muddy from rain - a technique that had not been used before.
Not all of Xu Bei-hong's landscapes are equally complete. The novelty of his quest and at the same time the fear of completely destroying the figurative structure that constituted the specificity of Chinese landscape painting sometimes led him to compromise artistic decisions.
Abroad in the 30s. Xu Bei-hong became known mainly as an animal painter, an attentive and deep observer of the animal world. This area attracted the artist, like many other painters in China. However, even in this traditional genre, he managed to find new ways to express feelings close to his contemporary people. Depicting a herd of wild, furiously rushing horses or a flock of noisy birds on a spring tree, he sought to convey to the viewer his active and cheerful feeling.
And here the same search for plastic grace of movements that is inherent in all his genres is noticeable.
Sincere friend Soviet Union, Xu Bei-hong propagated the ideas and methods of Soviet art among artists. The personality of Xu Bei-hong was especially attractive for his convinced and passionate thirst for the new. He provided constant assistance to young talented artists who, in the 1930s, unrecognized and persecuted, fought for a new word in art.
The work of Qi Bai-shi and Xu Bei-hung revealed new possibilities for bringing Chinese painting to life. Each of them followed the path of innovation in their own way. Xu Bei-hong, although less integral than Qi Bai-shi, was able to fulfill the tasks set by life in a more comprehensive manner.
The third major realist painter who began his activity in the 20s was a student of Xu Bei-hong - Jiang Zhao-he. The far from ordinary creative individuality of this master was primarily manifested in his choice of genre of painting. Jiang Zhao-he turned to the image of a person - the most difficult and most relevant object of art. His ardent love for people, his deep emotion and sublime strength of feelings, the simplicity and bold novelty of his artistic style put his figure in the category of exceptional phenomena for China. During the years of the most severe reaction, he sought in his paintings to show the image of his contemporary, to affirm the beauty and value of the human personality. He appeared, as it were, as an exposer of his time, revealing its deep ulcers and tragedies. The heroes of this master’s work are ordinary people, his compatriots, with whose feelings and thoughts the artist connected the solution of large universal human issues. It is characteristic that, having begun to write in a traditional manner very early, Jiang Zhao-he soon abandoned imitation of the past and independently began to look for new means of expression. Born in 1901 into a poor family from Sichuan province, the artist at the age of sixteen was forced to leave to work in Shanghai. The life of people in a huge and terrible cosmopolitan city with its indifference appeared before him in all its naked and brutal poverty. In 1927, Jiang Zhao-he exhibited his first revealing painting in Shanghai, “The Rickshaw Family,” where, against the backdrop of huge European buildings, he depicted a poor family living without shelter in the open air. This painting attracted the attention of Xu Bei-hong, who felt the significance of the young master’s talent. From now on, the creative biography of Jiang Zhao-he begins, consistently revealing the social dramas of the Epoch in his works. Beggar boys, exhausted, wandering through the city, with faces full of despair; a mother distraught with grief, bending over the corpse of a girl killed in a bombing on the street; a delivery boy carrying heavy jugs of hot tea under the scorching rays of the sun - all these are not just sketches of an observer. In these small scenes, the artist revealed such a deep truth of life, such a variety of complex human feelings, which none of the Chinese artists had been able to express before. Jiang Zhao-he, having largely departed from the figurative structure of old art, tried at the same time to use the graphic acuity and simplicity of traditional techniques, developing his own completely new artistic style, which allowed him to finally go beyond the boundaries of medieval aesthetics.
The most significant painting by Jiang Zhao-he was a grandiose scroll (about thirty meters in length) painted horizontally, painted during the Japanese intervention in 1943. Called “Refugees,” this painting, due to the strength of the emotions expressed in it, is not only the best that has been done so far by the master himself, it was a work of historical significance. Ruthless truthfulness and concentrated power of feeling, high universal meaning put it among the significant works of modern progressive art in the world. The grandiose scale of the work, previously unheard of in Chinese art, seems to be taken in accordance with the size of the disaster itself. The hero of the picture is a suffering people, whose feelings seem to have become especially acute.
The huge horizontal scroll is divided into a number of separate dramatic scenes, but it is so unified in mood and so thought out compositionally that it is perceived as a symphony of human feelings. Its borders seem to not exist; It is unclear where the tragic procession begins and where it ends. Driven out by the war, people wander in an endless line, supporting each other, and die right there on the road, without shelter, deprived of everything. Terrible in their simplicity and truthfulness, the tragic fates of different people are revealed to the viewer - the death of children, the horrors of bombing, the powerlessness of the elderly. However, misfortunes do not deprive them of their human appearance - tragedy, as it were, reveals spiritual nobility, greatness and selflessness in people. People help each other, share the last crumbs of food.
In this work, the features of innovation characteristic of all the master’s work are especially vivid. Unlike the past, the spiritual world of people is revealed through themselves, through their faces, through their interaction. The psychologism of Jiang Zhao-he's images reached unprecedented strength in China. Using traditional techniques of sharp graphic line and monochrome ink painting, which allow one to discard all that is superfluous and focus the viewer’s attention on the most important thing, Jiang Zhao-he achieves, as it were, purification of images from everything small and random. At the same time, the master organically combined old techniques with the use of light and shadow sculpting of the face, three-dimensional interpretation of bodies and a new, freer arrangement of figures in space. The picture had such a deep political meaning and made such a stunning impression on the audience that after one day it was removed by the Japanese authorities.
Jiang Zhao-he was a kind of unique figure in the painting of China in the 30s and 40s. Remaining a national artist, he showed, even more convincingly than Xu Bei-hong, the wealth of new solutions and ways of developing painting, the possibility of its inclusion in the general problems of world art that concern all people. The artist managed to convey in art more acutely than all his compatriots the ideas of protest against war, against violence against a person and his feelings.
Thus, the painting of China in the years following the revolution of 1911 and the October Socialist Revolution in Russia, which caused a huge upsurge of democratic forces in China, as well as in the subsequent years of the national liberation war against Japan and the Third civil war 1945 - 1949 enriched with many achievements. However, in general, the previous long years of stagnation to a certain extent slowed down the overall progress of the formation of new Chinese painting. Years of wars and continuous upheavals experienced by a weak and devastated country also did not contribute to the intensive development of easel and monumental painting. The graphics responded much faster to events. Engraving, or rather woodcut, which, like painting, had very long traditions in Chinese art, received new opportunities for its development back in the mid-19th century. along with the growth of democratic ideas in the country. During the years of the Tainin uprising and national liberation wars, this cheap and mass form of art was already used for propaganda purposes. These engravings, still very conventional, were closely related to the traditional appearance of old woodcuts and had the detailed descriptive nature of handicraft prints. A new engraving appeared in China in the 20s. along with the growth of revolutionary forces under the influence of the ideas of the Great October Socialist Revolution. The appearance of revolutionary caricatures, the first political posters, and illustrated newspapers, which became widespread in military units, dates back to this time. These also artistically still very immature works had, however, in those years great importance to convey to the people the experience of the revolutionary struggle, since, in essence, in those years it was the only type of art that addressed directly to the people and was accessible to them. The first who realized that engraving could be the greatest means of enlightenment and unity of the masses was Lu Xun, who saw in it a way to lead art out of the impasse in which it was. Lu Xun took over in the late 20s - early 30s. the role of a leader and educator of young artists. On his initiative, the skill of engraving artists was revived and put on the broad road, whom he introduced to Russian art, Soviet graphics and the achievements of revolutionary engraving in other countries. Essentially, for the first time, the Chinese, cut off from the world and locked in their isolation, saw in foreign artists their brothers, living with the same ideas, thoughts and feelings as them. Lu Xun, using his own funds, published in China albums of reproductions and collections of Soviet engravings containing works by N. II. Ppskarev, A.D. Goncharov, A.I. Kravchenko, V.A. Favorsky and others, organized several exhibitions and wrote a number of articles calling on young artists to learn from the Soviet Union, to adopt the experience of its deeply truthful art. The young engravers were so active, their activities were so inextricably linked with the revolutionary struggle, and the passion for Soviet art reached such large sizes that the reactionary Kuomintang authorities arrested people for simply belonging to the engraving society. However, despite the brutal persecution in the early 30s, many organizations arose in different cities - such as the League of Left Artists in Shanghai, the Modern Printmaking Society in Guangzhou, etc. These artistic centers for the dissemination of prints over time moved from time to time; some of them faded away, others arose in new places due to constant persecution. The attractive power of the engraving movement was so great, the need for new, contemporary art became so acute that many painters abandoned their activities and took up the chisel.
20 - 30s of our century were the years when the art of painting and graphics in China, as never before, sharply diverged in their directions and paths of development. If in painting the majority of artists were still in captivity of medieval traditions, Chinese engravers in the early 30s began to feel the paths laid through the jungle of new and hitherto unfamiliar images and feelings and the arsenal of the past, unsuitable for its fighting, active spirit. Young artists, who connected the legacy of feudal art with everything that was outdated and reactionary in the life of China, turned to the progressive artistic experience of other countries. In those years, many masters considered all topics other than revolutionary ones unworthy of depiction. Different manners and styles, the absence of a single direction characterize Chinese engraving from this period of apprenticeship. Often the pathos of the revolution in the engravings of young artists was conveyed through gross simplification of forms and increased expression. Sometimes formalistic methods seemed to young artists to be the most consistent with the harsh pathos of revolutionary and liberation battles. Sometimes the engravings of this time sounded pessimistic moods, depictions of horror and despair.
The main changes in Chinese graphics are planned in the late 30s - 40s. - the time of war with Japanese intervention and the patriotic unity of the entire people. Many artists at this time had already begun to move away from imitation. Art centers arose in the liberated areas, the main of which was Yan'an, where in April 1938 the Lu Xun Academy of Arts was established in loess caves. The students of this Academy not only studied, but also worked together with peasants in the liberated areas and waged guerrilla warfare in the occupied areas. The themes of the engravings began to reflect the life of the people more broadly. Masters such as Li Hua, Ma Da, Huang Yan, Li Qun, Gu Yuan, Yan Han and others were formed during this period. Their work is from the late 30s. were, as it were, chronicle documents of those years, sharply and laconically depicting the life of China. At this time, the engraving spread widely throughout the country, closely matching the poster, calling on people to fight for the liberation of their homeland. The works of Soviet masters had a huge influence on Chinese masters at this time, which helped the artists take the path of realistic depiction of reality. At the same time, artists are gradually beginning to turn to their national heritage. Even Lu Xun drew the attention of engravers to the fact that the broad masses of the people did not understand engraving, which was completely devoid of national specificity, those familiar figurative forms with which the people continued to live and think.
New searches for expressive means became especially noticeable in the 40s. Cycles of laconic and harsh engravings from the life of a suffering and struggling people were created by the young engraver Gu Yuan (b. 1919). The engravings “Dying of Hunger” and “Selling a Daughter into Slavery” from the series “The Past and Present of the Chinese Peasant” (1942) combine the sharpness and laconicism of the traditional manner with a fundamentally new expressiveness of feelings. Three dried up trees, the scorched sand of a deserted and gloomy area and the silhouette of an exhausted woman bending over an emaciated child, a raven circling above them, convey in a small engraving with extraordinary simplicity and power the tragedy of innocent people. His engravings “Maybe it’s still calm in our native places” (1949) and “Drought” (1944) are also expressive, where heightened feelings and images of people are conveyed concisely and conceptually on small sheets of paper, mostly in single-color ink. Li Hua's engravings of this period are extremely expressive, sometimes too sharp, as if a desperate young master was striving in such works as “Chasing the Light” (1944), “Recruitment for Soldiers” (1947), “Plowing” (1947), etc. ., to convey a cry of mental anguish for his people, tormented by troubles. At the end of the 40s. Many engravings are created dedicated to the historical events of the country's liberation. One of the best in this cycle was Gu Yuan’s engraving “The Living Bridge,” which depicts sparingly and without false pathos the heroic feat of the fighters who supported on their shoulders in icy water a bridge made of logs, over which the soldiers of the People’s Army crossed. In this engraving, built on the contrast between the expressive black silhouettes of running people and the red background of the sky illuminated by flashes and steely icy water, the master managed to convey the dynamics of the battle and the tension of the moment, full of deep drama.
Many artists, including Li Qun and Gu Yuan, turned at the same time to the traditions of decorative popular prints, which had long been loved by peasants. This new popular print, ingenuously and brightly, based on decorative and figurative techniques established by tradition, told the peasants of the liberated areas about all the events in the country, replacing a newspaper for the illiterate population and attracting wide attention with its elegance and entertainment.
We can say that the period of the 40s. in the development of Chinese engraving was one of the most fruitful, as he expressed in a concentrated form all the most acute and sublime feelings of a suffering and struggling people. The works of this time breathed deep sincerity and excitement of feelings, hopes for the future, the bitterness of defeats and the joys of achieved victories. Engraving 30__40s. in its social resonance, it occupied an important place in the history of Chinese art and in the people’s struggle for independence.
Chinese art after the formation of the People's Republic of China embarked on the path of inevitably solving many new problems. The year 1949 was, as it were, a milestone that separated the past millennia of the history of Chinese culture from the stage of its inclusion in the life of the modern world. Despite the new qualities of art that had developed to a certain extent during the years of revolutionary battles, in a country exhausted by long wars and having just won independence, many problems were far from resolved. In particular, the issues of urban planning and the birth of a new style of architecture turned out to be completely new tasks of primary importance, especially complicated by the need to organically incorporate a new type of architecture into the ensembles of old cities.
Ancient cities like Beijing, Luoyang and Xi'an, which underwent only minor foreign influences, had from ancient times not only a clear layout firmly established by tradition with highways crossing the city from end to end, but also grandiose palace and temple complexes located in the center and on the outskirts of the city , included in colossal spaces of parks with lakes and mounds. During the years of war, these buildings were destroyed, looted and devastated, the parks were turned into landfills, the lakes into fetid swamps, and the countless network of extremely narrow hutong alleys, located on the sides of the main highways, were in conditions that threatened the sanitary condition of the city.
Thus, new intensive construction for the improvement of the city began along two lines at once - the restoration and conversion of imperial ensembles into public museums and parks and the construction of new residential and public buildings. The tasks of constructing stone multi-storey buildings for residential and public purposes instead of single-storey manor-type buildings that make up the bulk of the blocks of old cities raised the problem of using them in architecture in the very first years after the formation of the People's Republic of China. national heritage. However, neither the Chinese residential one-story house, enclosed within a courtyard, nor the palace-type architecture, consisting of a complex of separate rooms, met the needs of today. In the early 50s. such structures as the Beijing Hotel, the Friendship Hotel and a number of other buildings were created, where the architects tried to establish communication new architecture with the ensemble of the old town by constructing characteristic tiled roofs with curved corners. This reflected the misunderstood idea of preserving, despite the tasks of life, the national characteristics of the past. To ensure that the weight of the roof was not excessive and the proportions of the building were not violated, builders sometimes made not one, but several roofs located on a flat terrace, which gave the impression of a mechanical artificial connection of a traditional pavilion with the frame of a modern stone house. The tiled roof, which covered the entire building, turned out to be too heavy and economically unprofitable, as it required extremely high costs. Therefore, architects in the late 50s. in municipal construction they began to lean towards significantly greater deviations from traditions. Since the late 50s. The principle of building microdistricts is being used more widely. A large number of public standard buildings, schools, hospitals, etc. were built. At the same time, the architecture of Beijing, which developed after 1949, is of interest not so much for individual structures as for ensemble solutions in connection with the idea of preserving and developing a unified aesthetic image of the city. Immediately after the formation of the People's Republic of China, restoration and reconstruction of the ancient garden and park areas that made up the aesthetic basis cities. The changes were carried out in such a way that the poetic identification of the features of nature, characteristic of the best examples of landscape gardening art of the past, would not be disrupted during the new social functions. While generally preserving their old appearance, thanks to the wide highways designed to accommodate large numbers of people, new embankments and wide staircases, these huge garden areas, included in the city, connected the ancient quarters with the modern ones more closely than before. The desire to connect the old and new cities was also manifested in the reconstruction of Beijing's central Tiananmen Square, rebuilt in 1957 - 1960, significantly expanded and lined with light stone. The square with the monument to fallen soldiers in the middle is currently the main core of the city, where all the main highways converge. The huge complex of the former imperial palace, and now the Gugun Museum, completes it on one side. New buildings are located on each side opposite each other Historical Museum and the House of the National People's Congress. However, when deciding on this ensemble, there was to a certain extent a craving for pomp, ostentation and gigantomania, which led to the fact that the excessive grandeur of the space of the square deprived it of human scale, and the ancient palace building sank in this space and looks insignificant. In addition, the buildings that frame the square on the other two sides are not in harmony with the architecture of the ancient palace. Thus, in recent years the idea of planning new cities in China has not always been organically resolved. National traditions have found their more organic embodiment in the decorative design of buildings, the use of polychrome, as well as in the interiors of modern public buildings, consisting of simple and sparsely filled interior spaces, decorated with several objects of applied art, for example, several vases or trees in a variety of ceramic vessels.
The fine arts of China began to develop extremely intensively in the first years after the founding of the People's Republic of China. It was during these years that Chinese painting, closely connected with the progressive aspirations and ideals of all mankind in its struggle for a peaceful creative life, entered as one of the important phenomena in modern artistic life. The subject matter of art has also expanded. Man as an active, effective force more and more became the basis of the content of painting. Sculpture also began to develop, paving its way anew. The activities of the painters who played such a large role during the years of the revolutionary struggle of China continued intensively: Xu Bei-hong, Qi Bai-shi, Jiang Zhao-he, Pan Tian-shou and others. They called on artists to break with the method of blindly copying past samples and to search for new ones. creative ways. It was at this time that numerous portraits of workers painted by Xu Bei-hong appeared - simple and modest workers, depicted without embellishment, but with great love and respect for people. It is no coincidence that at the same time, Qi Bai-shi, who wholeheartedly welcomed the liberation of his homeland, painted a large allegorical painting “Peace” (1952), where in the lush flowering of bright grasses he wanted to show that human happiness lies in a peaceful creative life. This theme of peaceful labor determined the unique lyrical and cheerful orientation of the art that was being revived after the long war years. Pan Yun’s paintings “Spring Morning” (1954) or “Girl Reading” by Jiang Zhao-he are full of comfort, chanting the quiet freshness of the morning day, the peaceful joys of human life. In these works, artists sought to combine traditional techniques of ink painting on scrolls with a reflection of the real life of their time. Such searches for new means of expression, begun by Xu Bei-hong and Jiang Zhao-he, led to the appearance of very different artistic solutions in guohua painting. Many painters, like Ye Qian-yu, Zhang Ding and Pan Yun, turned to the decorative possibilities of wall paintings, to the old folk lubok with their colorful brightness and specific tiered arrangement on the plane of the sheet, creating on an elongated strip of a scroll or screens images of folk dances and demonstrations , using this elongated format to somehow enhance the rhythmic effect. Such works, although not deeply touching on contemporary themes, were a great innovation for China and attracted attention with their active and joyful sense of life, the dynamics of their feelings and actions.
Chinese Guohua painters managed to reveal the area of human feelings especially subtly during this period in lyrical terms. Zhou Chang-gu and Huang Zhou showed the possibilities of developing painting in this direction. The life-affirming clarity of mood characteristic of the best works of ink painting, and at the same time the calm restraint of human feelings, are felt in Chou Chang-gu’s small scroll “Tibetan Cowgirl” (1954), where a barefoot girl leaning on a hedge looks with thoughtful caress at those frolicking in the meadow lambs The simplicity and naturalness of her pose, the great freedom in placing the figure on the almost empty plane of the sheet, where only a few blades of grass create the feeling of a free meadow, the thoughtful softness of the mood that permeates the whole picture, give it great charm. Huang Zhou also lyrically depicts in the painting “Date” (1957) the scene of the explanation of a young man and a girl, without showing their faces, but conveying their state with the usual system of hints through their poses, through several green spring branches.
The world of human feelings, directly conveyed through the image of the person himself and his actions, gradually expanded the scope of Guohua painting. In the mid-50s. such thematic paintings also arose as “Eight Heroines Throw themselves into the River” (1957) by Wang Sheng-le, which tells about the death of girl fighters during the Japanese occupation, or “Food Delivery on a Snowy Night” by Yang Chih-guang, which revealed the appearance of a new youth of China. The absence of artificiality of feelings, clarity and clarity of composition constitute the attractive qualities of these paintings.
At the same time, the path of development of the new art of the PRC turned out to be very complex and contradictory. The division that occurred at the beginning of the 20th century. between Guohua painting and oil painting, their large internal differences gave rise to many discussions regarding the goals and prospects of Guohua painting, which did not represent a single phenomenon in style and method, but united all paintings on scrolls painted in ink and mineral paints under a common, very conventional the term "national painting". Already the activities of Xu Bei-hong and Jiang Zhao-he have shown that the so-called “national way” cannot develop without major problems that concern people all over the world, and therefore, without major internal changes. However, the isolation from the world that shackled Chinese art for so long did not end even after the establishment of the PRC, associated in the first stages of the country’s development with deeply rooted nationalist remnants and tendencies. Traditional rules and patterns, preserved for many centuries, still dominated many artists even after 1949. It is characteristic that in the mid-50s. In Guohua, among the huge total number of paintings, an extremely large place was still occupied by landscapes and paintings of the genre of flowers and birds, written in the archaic manner of the 19th century. Not all master landscape painters were able to truly overcome the wall that dead traditions erected between them and the world. In an effort to connect their landscapes with life, many painters, like Li Hsiung-tsai in the scroll “Let’s hand over surplus grain to the state” (1954), limited themselves to introducing images of construction sites, blast furnaces, and highways into their traditional paintings, artificially connecting the grandiose landscapes of the past with modern themes .
The modern new landscape in Guohua was born slowly and painfully. Only in the works of the most advanced masters did it gradually begin to acquire its new appearance. The landscapes of Li Ke-ran (b. 1907) - one of the most significant landscape painters of the Guohua, a student of Qi Bai-shi - especially those created in 1954 - 1957, are characterized by the dynamic, sharp and inquisitive attitude of our contemporary to reality. Li Ke-jan, having creatively comprehended the possibilities of using traditions, was able to look at the world in his own way. The nature of Li Ke-ran's paintings, in contrast to the contemplative passivity of traditional landscapes, is more sensual and tangible; its power is made up of black fertile soil and thick green grass, rocky rough rocks, rusty and weather-scarred. Li Ke-jan usually encloses nature in the tight frames of the picture, limiting the design to the format of a rectangular sheet, cutting off the fields, which is why a special powerful dynamics is manifested in the appearance of his landscapes, as if the squeezed mountains are growing and swelling, filling with strength, and the villages and buildings located on their slopes, huddled closely together, they rise to their tops. This feeling of vitality is also evident in the painting “Spring Rain in Southern China”, where the little white village houses, cheerfully located throughout the mountain range, with their bright elegance, purity and clear strength of forms, give the black and wet after the rain earth and carmine-red plum flowers meihua has a special real persuasiveness, the earthly joy of the mighty flowering of nature. Sometimes Li Ke-jan connects the landscape with genre scenes, endowing them with warmth and humor. In the same direction of searching for a new attitude towards the natural world, Fu Bao-shi, Guang Shan-yue, Ying Ye-ping, Tsung Qi-hsiang and Zhang Ding each worked in their own manner.
Oil painting, despite the intensity of its development, had not yet reached a high artistic level in the 50s. Leading masters working in this technique, such as Wu Zuo-ren and Dong Xi-wen, depicted the best people and labor figures in oil paintings. “Portrait of a Machinist Li Yong” (1950), “Peasant Artist” (1958). Wu Tso-ren and “Selfless Labor in Liberated Areas” (1950) by Tong Hsi-wen show people at work, simple everyday life of work. Oil painting, like “gohua”, in the 50s. followed the path of quest, along the path of mastering and revealing a new human image for China.
The same contradictions and difficulties as in painting also arose in Chinese graphics, which developed along several different channels. Widely responding to all events in the life of the people, Chinese engravers of the 50s. depicted construction sites, industrial landscapes, schools, heroes of the country, using not only woodcuts, but also lithographic and offset techniques, linocut, and also widely turning to various genres and methods, bringing engraving closer to Guohua painting and oil painting , sometimes with an old popular print, sometimes borrowing the handwriting of engravings from other countries. Engraving of the 50s, continuing the traditions of the revolutionary years, strived to be the most popular and relevant form of art. However, its content has changed significantly. The pathos that inspired Chinese graphics in the 30s and 40s was replaced by an interest in narrative, peaceful, everyday themes. The best engraving masters - Li Qun, Li Ping-fan, Mo Tse, Li Huan-ming, Zhao Tsung-zao and many others - managed to combine new figurative content with the national artistic form more freely than painters. These masters created the face of the new Chinese graphics. In the mid-50s. Numerous landscapes appear, poetically depicting the peaceful daily life countries - views of the outskirts and new buildings, new areas, villages in the mountains, etc. National in spirit, they at the same time are completely different in their attitude from the old landscapes. Showing a small closed corner of Beijing, quiet courtyards covered with snow, Li Qun in the engraving “Winter in Beijing” (1957) - in an intimate and full of humanity scene - reveals the beauty of nature no longer through its immensity and detachment from people, but through the world of cozy urban humanity life, and even the traditional point of view from above helps the viewer to take an even closer look at this landscape inextricably linked with man. The same continuity is felt in the engraving by Zhao Zong Zao “They are going to a meeting”, where the snowy landscape, oriented vertically like a scroll, is enlivened by an unusually dynamic crowd of people under paper umbrellas, filling the entire field of the sheet from top to bottom and creating a new, clear, like swaying rhythm movements. Li Ping-fan's engravings, reflecting the most exciting themes of today's life - themes of peace, brotherhood of peoples, etc., are distinguished by their extreme clarity and simplicity artistic techniques and at the same time closely related to the convention and beauty of funny folk clippings, so common since ancient times in China.
Sculpture, which, like painting, did not have long traditions, developed much more slowly than painting. However, in this area in the 50s. a number of realistic works were created, such as the lyrical group “In Difficult Years” (1957) by Pan He, depicting a boy listening to a peasant’s pipe during a break between battles and dreaming of a bright, peaceful life, as well as portraits of workers and fighters created by Liu Kai- qu.
After the formation of the People's Republic of China, folk art was one of the inexhaustible sources to which masters of all types of art in China resorted. The folk crafts themselves, as well as applied art, in the 50s. increasingly turned to their ancient origins. The general decline of art at the end of the 19th - beginning of the 20th century. had such a painful impact on the development of all folk crafts, as well as on the production of ceramics, porcelain, stone, wood and bone products, and export orders had such a detrimental effect on tastes that the freedom and unconstrained simplicity inherent in the best traditions of the past were largely lost and modern masters have taken up their revival. After the formation of the People's Republic of China, new artels were formed, many masters returned to artistic crafts, and forgotten industries began to function again. In most industries, China's applied arts have retained a high level of products and a delicate sense of material. At the same time, the exotic pretentiousness that has penetrated into the products of applied art and has not yet been eliminated to this day, is especially evident in stone and ivory carvings, painted by hand. Ancient geometric ornaments and pictorial motifs, combined with great imagination and freedom in placing patterns on the surface, help craftsmen to introduce essentially new principles of ornament on an ancient basis. This can be felt in the decoration of porcelain products, in the strict forms of Yixing ceramics, and in new lacquer objects. The ancient art of artistic cutting has received great development in China - a type of art that seems to be adjacent to painting and graphics and at the same time has its own independent specificity, its own charm. Craftsmanship developed over centuries allows folk craftsmen to use simple scissors or a sharp chisel in a few quick movements to cut out the finest openwork decorations called “window flowers” in a thick pack of rice paper. Almost every region, every province creates its own type of “window flowers”. In black, red, colored, and often with a gold border, patterns pasted on white paper or directly on the windows and walls of houses reproduce the world of folk fantasy, dreams of happiness, and affectionate humor.
In subsequent years, Chinese art continues to develop, overcoming a number of internal contradictions and difficulties.
Facilities mass media
The Constitution of the People's Republic of China guarantees freedom of speech and freedom of information. Economic development since the 80s. has led to a trend toward media diversity. Currently, more than 2 thousand newspaper titles and over 8 thousand periodical magazine titles are published in China, 282 radio stations and 320 television stations broadcast. By the end of 2003, 774 transmitting and relaying radio stations operated on medium and short waves, and 105.08 million subscribers received cable television broadcasts. Radio and television covered 93.7% and 94.9% of the country's territory, respectively; a network of radio and television broadcasting with satellite, terrestrial and cable signal transmission channels was mainly formed.
News agencies
Xinhua State News Agency is located in Beijing, Xinhua is one of the world's leading news agencies, in the Asia-Pacific region, the Middle East, Latin America, Africa and other regions there are more than 100 of its offices. In 2003, a limited liability financial and economic company subordinate to Xinhua entered into an international alliance with the financial and economic company of the Agence France Presse (AFP) and completely bought up the agencies of the Asian branch of the AFP financial and economic company in Hong Kong, Japan, South Korea, Singapore and other 8 countries and regions in Asia. Thus, the Xinhua Agency's coverage area in global networks has expanded. Zhongguo News Agency is also headquartered in Beijing, and its news reports mainly target overseas Chinese, Chinese expatriates, and compatriots in Hong Kong and Macao SAR and Taiwan Province.
In 1950 - 2000 The number of newspaper titles increased almost 11 times. In 2003, there were more than 400 daily newspaper titles throughout the country, with a circulation of 80 million copies, making China the world's largest newspaper power. The content is enriched and the design of newspapers, which are aimed at a wide variety of readers, becomes more diverse. The reorganization of newspaper publishing houses is a noticeable trend in the development of this area in recent years; to date, 39 large newspaper publishing concerns have been created in the country, including Beijing Daily, Wenhui Xinmin and Guangzhou Daily. In 2003, interregional cooperation between paper media became a new boom. The Xinjing Bao newspaper, sponsored by the Guangming Daily and Nanfang Daily newspaper corporations, is the first inter-regional newspaper in China officially approved by the government. At the end of 2003, the weekly Liaowang Dongfang was published in Shanghai; its largest shareholder is the Xinhua Agency, whose headquarters are in Beijing.
State radio station - Central People's Radio Station has eight programs, a total of 156 hours of satellite broadcasting daily. All provinces, autonomous regions, municipalities, and local administrative units have their own radio stations. Radio China International is China's only radio for overseas audiences, broadcasting in 38 languages, as well as Mandarin and four local dialects, and broadcasting 290 hours of satellite broadcasts daily. The radio program includes news, reviews, entertainment programs, as well as special thematic sections on politics, economics, culture, science and technology. In terms of broadcasting duration and number of languages, China International Radio has taken third place in the world among radio stations broadcasting to foreign audiences.
A television
China has developed an integrated television system with a high technical level of program production, broadcasting and signal range. Central Television is the largest and most powerful in the country; it maintains business relations with more than 250 television organizations in over 130 countries and regions of the world. To keep up with the development of the international television industry, it launched two dedicated channels in 2003 - a news channel and a children's channel. Throughout the country - in all provinces, autonomous regions and municipalities - there are over 3 thousand television stations. Large-scale international television fairs are periodically held - Television Days in Shanghai, International Television Week in Beijing, the All-China Broadcasting and Television Equipment Fair, the Sichuan Television Festival, various competitions are organized and their winners are announced, scientific television exchanges and the purchase and sale of television programs are conducted. Shanghai has become Asia's largest TV exchange market.
Network media
Since the mid-90s. Online media are rapidly developing; 2,000 out of more than 10 thousand media outlets operate on the Internet. Well-known sites in the country operating as mass media were opened; they very quickly declared their advantages thanks to an exclusive selection of publications. Experts predict the integration of online and traditional media towards the creation of universal information multimedia platforms characterized by high sound quality, informative publications and rich illustrations. It is expected that in 2005 China's Internet will have up to 40 million users, 200 million subscribers will access the services of digital media, multimedia and Internet networks, and the coverage of the population by computer networks will be about 15%.
Multimedia corporations
In response to a stern challenge from the presenters foreign media, associated with China’s accession to the WTO, in the development of Chinese media there has been a tendency towards the formation of transmedia, interregional and multi-structure multimedia corporations. In 2001, the government adopted a targeted program to actively promote reforms aimed at consolidating the media and creating large inter-district multimedia corporations, and developed specific provisions regarding the accumulation of capital through media channels, cooperation with foreign investors and transmedia development. China Broadcasting, Film and Television Corporation, established at the end of 2001, pooled the resources and potential of Central Television and other central authorities of broadcasting, radio, film and radio network company. Currently, the corporation operates in the field of television, Internet, publishing and advertising, and is the largest and most powerful multimedia corporation in China.
Chinese media maintain cooperation with foreign partners. At the end of 2003, in China, 30 foreign TV channels, such as PHOENIX-TV, BLOOMBERG, STAR-TV, EUROSPORTSNEWS, CETV, etc., used cable television networks within the established limit. Chinese television in English is rebroadcast in the United States on the Fox News channel.
Publishing
The publishing industry is constantly evolving. In 2003, the total circulation of newspapers at the level of the state, province, autonomous region and central city was 24.36 billion copies, various magazines - 2.99 billion copies, books - 6.75 billion copies.
Since 2002, the merger of publishing houses began; currently there are 55 publishing corporations throughout the country. In April 2003, the China Publishing Corporation was created, which united 12 major bodies for the publication and distribution of printed materials, including the well-known domestic and foreign publishing houses Shanwu Yinshuguan, Zhonghua Shuju, Sanlian Shudian and the main bookstore Xinhua ", as well as the China Foreign Trade Publishing Major Company and the China Book Import and Export Corporation. This publishing giant in China integrates the publication and distribution of various printed publications, import and export, copyright trading, reproduction publishing, information services, science and technology development, has a complete chain of economic links and manages various types capital. According to the state plan, by 2005, 5 - 10 publishing corporations with sales revenues of 1 - 10 billion yuan per year each will be created in China, 10 - 20 world-famous periodicals will be established, as well as 1 - 2 periodical publishing corporations with income from sales 300 - 500 million yuan per year each.
In accordance with China's commitments upon joining the WTO, the General Administration of Press and Publishing issued "Measures for the Management of Foreign-Invested Enterprises for the Distribution of Books, Newspapers and Periodicals" in May 2003, which stipulates that, from May 1, foreign investors access to the Chinese retail book and press market; On December 1, 2004, the provisions on the establishment of enterprises came into force wholesale trade books and press with foreign investments. These measures, in addition, clearly stipulate that the creation by foreign investors of enterprises engaged in the retail or wholesale sale of books and press is permitted with the approval of the General Directorate of Press and Publishing. Currently, more than 60 foreign companies have established offices in mainland China and are ready to submit or have already submitted applications to invest in establishing book and periodical distribution enterprises.
Books and periodicals
There are 568 publishing houses and 292 audio and video production organizations in the country. Government departments plan the publication of basic literature and reward the best projects, which contributes to the development of the publishing industry. Periodical publishing is developing at an amazing pace. In 1949, only 257 magazine titles were published in the country with a total circulation of 20 million copies, an average of 1 copy. for 10 people. After the start of reforms and openness in 1979, 1,470 titles of periodicals were already published in the country with a total circulation of 1 billion 184 million copies, an average of 1 copy. per person. In 2003 total number periodicals exceeded 8,000 titles, the total circulation amounted to 2.99 billion copies, an average of 2.3 copies. per person.
Electronic publications
The acceleration of the pace of informatization of society has contributed to the rapid development of the electronic publications market, which today has a sufficient scale. Currently, there are 110 publishing organizations in the country producing electronic publishing products; in total, more than 2,400 titles of electronic publications were published in 2003.
Publications for foreign audiences
The Chinese International Publishing Corporation is the largest in this field, its main task is the publication and distribution of literature in foreign languages. It plays a specific role in external exchange and cooperation in the field of publishing. The corporation publishes four titles of magazines in English, French, Spanish, Arabic, Japanese and Chinese - "Beijing Weekly", "China Today", illustrated magazine "China", "People's China". The corporation opened websites on various languages. 7 publishing houses are subordinate to it, including the Publishing House of Literature in Foreign Languages and the Novy Mir Publishing House. More than 20 types of printed products are published annually in foreign languages, covering a thousand topics, which are distributed in more than 190 countries and regions of the world. This plays an important role in introducing the world to China even more closely. The corporation also includes the China International Book Trade Company, which distributes products in more than 80 countries and regions around the world and regularly participates in major international book fairs.
Publishing center "Five Continents". It is a non-governmental international publishing body that mainly offers audio and video products in many languages and various printed publications. It was created in 1993 to produce several hundred hours of television programs and over a hundred titles of printed products per year, all of which are distributed in more than 150 countries and regions of the world. The main content of the product is current situation in China, the progress of reform, opening up and modernization, answers to pressing issues of the international community, the culture of the Chinese nation, local conditions and customs of the people of China.
China Internet Information Center. This information network is the most prestigious, rich and diverse in content channel for introducing the outside world to the situation in China via the Internet. The center has been operating since January 1, 1997, and over 90% of electronic visitors are foreigners.
Libraries
By the end of 2003, there were 2,709 public libraries in the country, containing a total of more than 430 million items. Among university libraries, the libraries of Beijing and Wuhan universities are the leaders in terms of book storage volumes. The country's library network covers libraries of the scientific research system, trade unions, institutions and collectives, the army, as well as libraries of secondary and primary schools, towns, enterprises and street libraries.
The State Library, the largest in Asia, contains 25 million copies. books, its repository of literature in Chinese ranks first in the world in terms of the number of publications. The State Library is a majestic architectural ensemble of Beijing, located next to the beautiful Purple Bamboo Park. More than 3,500 mammoth tusk plates with inscriptions, 1.6 million ancient bound books, over 1 thousand scrolls of Dunhuang frescoes are stored here, 12 million books in foreign languages are collected here and there is a computer data repository, which is dynamically replenished and updated. Since 1916, the library has accepted printed publications officially published in the country for storage and is thus a state book depository. Since 1987, it has accepted domestic electronic publications. The Central State Catalog of Books (ISSN) and the Information Center for Computer Networks are located here. Currently, the State Library joins 90 other libraries in the digital media library alliance, jointly promoting the development and offering of digital media services in China. In April 2004, construction began on the second phase of the State Library, a digital information library, which is expected to become operational in October 2007. The library's expanded warehouse will meet book storage requirements for the next 30 years, thanks to the creation of a digital information library. The State Library will become the world's largest Chinese language digital information database and the most advanced network service base in the country.
Well-known at home and abroad, the Shanghai Library is the largest in China at the provincial and central city level. Its most valuable and unique asset is the ancient literary heritage presented to the general reader for the first time. This is more than 1.7 million books, of which 178 thousand volumes of 25 thousand titles are especially valuable rarities, many of them are preserved today in a single copy. The oldest book is almost 1500 years old.
Protection of ancient monuments
There are about 400 thousand above-ground and underground immovable cultural monuments in China. 90s The 20th century was the period of the largest government allocations for the rescue and protection of ancient monuments and the most effective results in this matter. The central financial authorities allocated about 700 million yuan for the rescue and protection of ancient monuments, which went towards the restoration and protection of more than a thousand ancient monuments. Thus, a large number of rarities that were on the verge of destruction were saved and taken under protection. In 2004, the government of the Tibet Autonomous Region plans to invest 70 million yuan in the renovation of three important monuments - the Potala Palace, Norbulingka and Sakya Monastery. Since February 2004, large-scale renovation of the Shaolins Temple in Henan Province, which has more than 1,500 years of history, began.
In recent years, the protection of ancient monuments has gradually been put on a legislative basis. At present, China has already acceded to all four international conventions on the protection of ancient monuments. The “Law of the People's Republic of China on the Protection of Cultural Monuments,” amended in October 2002, for the first time specifically defines the mechanisms for the transfer and exchange of cultural property. In 2003, several relevant laws were still published: “Regulations on the Implementation of the Law of the People's Republic of China on the Protection of Cultural Monuments,” “Temporary Regulations on the Management of Auctions of Ancient Monuments,” and “Beijing's Measures for the Management of the Protection of the Great Wall of China.”
To date, 100 cultural and historical cities of national significance and more than 80 cultural and historical cities at the provincial level have been approved, where ancient monuments and buildings, architectural layout and specificity, and traditional culture are taken under protection.
In China, a traditional agrarian power, many ancient settlements have been preserved. They are scattered throughout its wide expanses, representing a rare phenomenon in the world. In these places, the ecology has been perfectly preserved; many folk crafts and historical materials about rural art have been discovered. The departments for the protection of ancient monuments plan to expand the scope of protection of ancient settlements that have come down to us. In November 2003, the Ministry of Construction and the State Administration for the Preservation of Ancient Monuments jointly published a list of the first group of 10 cultural and historical villages (villages), including Jingsheng Village in Lingshi County, Shaanxi Province, and 12 villages, including Chuandixia Village in Mentougou District, Beijing.
Literature
The first collection of poems in China - the poetic anthology "Shijing", compiled in the 6th century BC, is considered the earliest literary monument in China. The prose of the pre-Qin era, the magnificent rhymed prose of the Hanfu, and the poems of the Yuefu Music Chamber of the late Han Dynasty reflect the character of the fiction of those eras. During the Tang dynasty, poetic creativity reached its peak. Thousands of famous poets, including Li Bo and Du Fu, wrote over 50 thousand poems. The Song era is distinguished by the new poetic genre “tsi”. The highest achievement of literature during the Yuan Dynasty is the “mixed plays” (“zaju”). During the Ming and Qing dynasties, the novels “The Three Kingdoms”, “River Pools”, “Journey to the West” and “The Dream of the Red Chamber” were published. Both in ancient times and today they are famous for their deep historical and literary significance and original artistic style.
In the 20th century, Chinese literature experienced two booms - in the 20-30s. and 80-90s. The first resulted in a movement for a new culture and from the very beginning was imbued with powerful ideas directed against imperialism and feudalism. Progressive writers, represented by Lu Xun, created a new Chinese literature. Lu Xun, Shen Congwen, Ba Jin, Mao Dun, Lao She and Zhang Ailing are considered major masters of words in literary world China.
In the 80s - 90s. The 20th century saw the release of works by new writers who gained worldwide fame; this is proven by the success and flourishing of modern Chinese literature. Chinese writers more maturely describe the life and feelings of their people in modern Chinese. In language, way of thinking and artistic expression, modern authors have surpassed their predecessors. In recent years, writers of the older and middle generations have actively expressed themselves in the literary field; in terms of the number and genre diversity of their works, they occupy a prominent place in Chinese literature. This is especially true for writers born after the 60s; their works significantly changed the images of heroes and their worldview, canonized in the classic novel, which creates a special humanitarian picture of modern society.
Dozens of literary prizes have been established in China, including the prestigious Literary Prizes. Mao Dun and Lu Xun, the All-China Literary Competition is held annually. The Women's Literature Prize, awarded every five years, is a major all-China literary prize covering fiction, prose, poetry, essay writing, women's literary and art theory, and literary translation.
Calligraphy and painting
Chinese writing arose in the process of gradual evolution of drawings and graphic signs. Hieroglyphics and the development of writing led to the birth of the art of calligraphy. In the history of China, there is a whole galaxy of outstanding calligraphers who embodied the styles of various dynasties in their work. The love for calligraphy is widespread today.
Traditional Chinese painting differs from Western painting in its specific forms. The earliest painting in China is drawings on ceramic products in the Neolithic era, which is separated from the present day by 6 - 7 thousand years. In the earliest painting and when writing hieroglyphs, masters used only a brush, and mainly wrote with strokes, therefore it is believed that calligraphy and painting have the same roots. In Chinese painting, there is usually a poem or inscription in the upper corner of the painting, and it combines poetry, calligraphy and painting, which enhances the aesthetic perception. The main themes of traditional Chinese painting are characters, mountains and rivers, flowers and birds. There are whole legends about the paintings left to us by our ancestors.
Traditional painting still flourishes in modern China. The China Art Pavilion hosts solo exhibitions and themed opening days throughout the year. Every year, traditional Chinese paintings are exhibited abroad - in Japan, the Republic of Korea, the USA, Canada and Europe. In addition to traditional painting, painting in Western styles - oil, graphics, watercolor - flourishes in China. Some artists combine traditional style with Western style, thereby enriching the treasury of Chinese painting. Modernism occupies a certain place with the use of modern materials, forms, frames and methods. Contemporary art exhibitions in China and abroad showcase domestic audio, video, digital and animation products.
In recent years, keeping pace with the development of art auctions, Chinese art galleries are gradually integrating into the generally accepted world practice of holding vernissages. Annual art fairs in Beijing, Shanghai and Guangzhou are becoming art trade channels. In particular, the fair in Shanghai is the largest in Asia in terms of the types of works of art exhibited.
Arts and crafts
Chinese decorative and applied arts are distinguished by a variety of forms and fine workmanship; many works are recognized as unique. The craftsmanship of folk craftsmen is protected by the state and passed on from generation to generation; many products go to the world market and are eagerly bought up by foreign guests.
Specific art is distinguished by the use of valuable and specific materials as raw materials. Deep design and fine processing give rise to graceful and precious works of art. Jade products, for example, are an example of the finest carving; when processing, craftsmen skillfully use the natural pattern, shine, color and shape of jade, which wonderfully merge in the work and fully demonstrate the miracle of nature. Jingtailan cloisonné enamel is world famous. Cloisonné enamel arose during the years of the Ming Emperor, who ruled under the motto “Jingtai,” when the most famous was blue (in Chinese: “doe”) cloisonné enamel. It is based on bronze and bronze wire, from which the ornament is made, then it is coated with gold and silver, as a result the product looks luxurious and magnificent. Vases, dishes and cups are mainly made from cloisonné enamel. Folk decorative and applied art has acquired a pronounced national flavor and local specificity; it is distinguished by its diversity. Forms of folk arts and crafts include paper cutting, decorative knot tying, basketry, weaving, embroidery, carving, sculpting and painting.
Theater
The traditional theater of China has an original name - “Xiqu” - opera and drama; together with Greek tragicomedy and Indian plays, it is one of the “three” of the ancient world theatrical culture. Chinese theater has more than 300 genres of local operas, the main stage means being the expression of the plot of the play in the form of song and dance. The Meihua Prize, which dates back to 1983, is China's highest theater award for young and middle-aged actors.
Peking Opera
The most widespread and most influential theater genre is Peking Opera. Its progenitor is the even more ancient genre of “kunqu”. Peking Opera appeared in Beijing at the beginning of the 19th century; this performing art combines elements of singing, drama, acrobatics and martial arts. For more than 200 years, this stage art has absorbed into its repertoire over 1000 wonderful operas, distinguished by original conventional stage techniques. Peking Opera was glorified by outstanding actors Mei Lanfang, Cheng Yanqiu, Ma Lianliang, Zhou Xinfang and Du Jinfang, many young outstanding actors appeared, selflessly devoted to their favorite art, the art of Peking Opera does not lose its traditions.
Over the past years, the Chinese Peking Opera Theater has made a bold attempt to incorporate elements of Western symphony into traditional Peking opera, which has been positively received by critics and audiences. Another important event took place in the history of Peking Opera - the video recording and dubbing of 355 plays from the classical repertoire of Peking Opera was completed. The anthology contains wonderful arias from 47 famous actors of Peking Opera from the 40s to the 60s. XX century, masterpieces performed by actors of the younger generation, so that the traditions of art are passed on from generation to generation.
Genres of local operas
The genres of local operas are constantly being reformed and updated, which preserve traditional features. Relatively popular are Yueju (Shaoxing opera), Huangmeixi, Chuanju (Sichuan opera), Yuju (Henan opera), and Yueju (Guangdong opera). Tibetan opera, distinguished by its pronounced religious flavor, simple plot and breadth of historical themes, is gaining increasing popularity among Chinese and foreign audiences.
Dramaturgy
Drama came to China from abroad at the beginning of the 20th century. In the 20s Realism and expressionism appeared on the dramatic stage. In the 30s Chinese dramaturgy was born, at that time the trilogy of the great stage master Cao Yu was staged - “The Thunderstorm”, “Sunrise” and “Field”, distinguished by its deep meaning and high acting skills, this is a classic of Chinese dramatic art. The trilogy is still staged on the dramatic stage and has been adapted into films and television.
The productions of the Beijing Folk Art Theater, established in 1952, reflect the highest level of Chinese drama. The plays in the genre of realism “Tea House” and “Longxugou Ditch” enjoy great fame not only in the country but also abroad. Over the past 20 years, the theater has staged more than 80 new performances and revived 12 previous ones. The theater is always sold out.
The dramatic “avant-garde” is recognized and accepted by a wide audience of the younger generation. The themes of the “avant-garde” are mainly dictated by the life of his contemporaries; a prominent representative of the “avant-garde” is director Meng Jinghui.
Movie
Realism is the main direction in the development of Chinese cinema. Since the mid-80s. Many well-known films were released on the screen, which marked a new rise in the art of cinema thanks to a deep and broad reflection of the life of the people, unprecedented thematic and genre diversity, a variety of expressive forms, the search for the language of cinema and innovation. World cinema paid attention to Zhang Yimou, Chen Kaige, Huang Jianxin and other directors of the “fifth generation”.
At the end of the 20th century and the beginning of the 21st century, a new galaxy of directors appeared, born in the 60s and 70s. These are Wang Xiaoshuai, Zhang Yuan, Lou Ye, whose films are aimed at ordinary and mass audiences and are distinguished by documentary techniques. Films directed by Feng Xiaogang have the greatest box office success in commercial cinema; they mostly tell about ordinary people.
The annual international film festivals in Changchun and Shanghai are quite prestigious. The Golden Rooster Prize is the highest film award in China. To encourage the development of the main trends in cinema, special state awards “Huabiao” and “Hundred Flowers” were established, the latter is awarded on the basis of audience choice.
Part 1:0 contemporary art of China.S.
Part II: Prelude to Contemporary Art (1978-1984).pp.
Chapter 1: The decline of the art of the “Cultural Revolution”. P.
Chapter 2: Denial of the “Cultural Revolution”. P.
Chapter 3: Theoretical discussions.S.ZZ
Part III: Spring of Contemporary Art (1985-1989).pp.
Chapter 1: “New trends in painting - 85” - beginning.P.
Chapter 2: “Exhibition of Contemporary Chinese Art” 1989 P.
Chapter 3: Artist Villages.S.
Part 1U: Multipolar period in the development of Chinese contemporary art (1990-1999). P.
Chapter 1: Pluralism of artistic styles.P.
Chapter 2: Art market.S.
Chapter 3: The largest international biennales.P.
Chapter 4: Exhibition curators.P.
Chapter 5: Art criticism.S.
Part V: Introduction to contemporary art of the new century (from the year to the present).pp.
Introduction of the dissertation (part of the abstract) on the topic “Contemporary art of China in the context of the world artistic process”
1. Purpose of the study
Since the late 1970s, with the growth of international cultural exchanges, Chinese art has become increasingly famous in the world, attracting international attention.
What great changes have occurred in Chinese art under the influence of Western art during the implementation of the policy of reform and opening up? At the same time, how does Chinese fine art combine the conflict and interpenetration of traditional and modern art? How do Chinese contemporary artists (including those working on Chinese soil and those who have emigrated abroad) reflect the combination of traditional and modern culture in their works? How did they gain influence on the international art scene? How did Chinese contemporary art become an international phenomenon and find its place in the international art world? Chinese contemporary art has occupied an important place in the history of Chinese art, but what are its prospects?
I carried out a systematic analysis of the above-mentioned issues of the evolution and development of Chinese contemporary art, an attempt was made to determine the trends in the development of Chinese fine art, starting from the late 70s of the last century to the present day, as well as to analyze its international influence and place in international art. stage. Currently, the degree of influence of foreign art on Chinese art is assessed as very high, while the influence of Chinese art on other countries appears to be insignificant.
2. Relevance of the study, its theoretical and practical significance
China is a country with a history of civilization and cultural tradition dating back five thousand years. Since the 19th century, China has experienced a period of internal and external turmoil and cultural attack from the West. In its quest for democracy, prosperity and in its efforts to become one of the modernized countries of the world, it has traveled a tortuous path of almost half a century.
The current research problem of this work is the most complete consideration of various artistic direction contemporary Chinese art. Under the influence of Western modern art, the development of Chinese contemporary art should be based on the unique cultural heritage of the Chinese nation, adhere to the course of artistic diversity, democratization, pay attention to the vital problems of the Chinese people and the deep issues of Chinese society, and avoid blind copying of Western art.
In the process of collecting material, it was discovered that Russian research in the field of Chinese culture covers both the period of antiquity and art up to the 70s of the last century, but the layer of contemporary art remained completely unexplored. The theoretical significance of the work lies in the fact that it introduces and explores in detail the situation and development trends of Chinese contemporary art, its influence in the world and its place in the international arena.
The analysis of the directions of development of Chinese contemporary art carried out in the work, from my point of view, provides factual material for understanding and researching the state of contemporary art in China and the trends in its development.
3. Degree of development of the problem
Chinese contemporary art has already overcome twenty years of development. The first Chinese and foreign research in the field
I modern art of the People's Republic of China saw the light in the 90s of the last century. 1 (Here it is worth mentioning the work of a team of authors led by Mr. Lu Peng I, “The History of Contemporary Art of China: 1979-1989,” edited by him!! in 2000, “The History of Contemporary Art of China 1990-1999,” and published by him in The 2007 monograph “The History of Chinese Art in the 20th Century,” “the first theoretical work that systematically describes and analyzes the artistic process in China in the 20th century,” effectively presents the art of the 80s as part of the general movement for the emancipation of consciousness and art of the 90s, striving to join the “current of globalization.”
Monograph “History of Contemporary Chinese Art: 1979-1989.” provides an excellent factual account of contemporary art in China from 1979 to 1989. This period from 1979 to 1989 passed for the Chinese people under the sign of the decisions of the Third Plenum of the 11th CPC Central Committee and became a decade of outstanding achievements achieved through the policy of reform and opening up. This monograph contains a large amount of illustrative material and written sources related to both artistic communities and individual artists.
Monograph “History of Contemporary Art in China: 1990-1999.” is a deep and original presentation of the ideology, language, stylistics and historical transformations of art in mainland China in the last decade of the 20th century from the point of view of a descriptive approach. This monograph is largely a work on the history of art with a sociological orientation. “The author of the monograph explored various factors of a political, economic, social and cultural nature that contributed to the emergence and development of art in the 90s. At the same time, along with a description of the history of this period, he gave a deep perspective disclosure of a number of historical, philosophical and social issues. »
In this monograph, readers will be able to view the transitional state of art characteristic of the period of the late 80s - 90s, as well as the fundamental trends of new artistic phenomena. The author describes in detail the events of artistic life in new directions such as “New Generation” and cynical realism, pop art, women’s art, vulgar art, and in such areas of conceptual art as installation, VIDEO ART, conceptual photography, talks about the main artistic works related to to these directions, and also gives an idea of the most characteristic (typical) moments of their ideology.
As an appendix, the monograph contains illustrative materials on more than 500 works of art, as well as a “Handbook” and “Chronology of Main Events”, which will serve the reader as a good aid for a comprehensive study of the history of art of this period. The detailed "Commentary" accompanying each chapter is also a valuable source of information for the interested researcher." At the end of the monograph it also contains English and French “Introduction” and “Conclusion” so that more readers will know the artistic history of this period.
Another iconic figure is Mr. Gao Minglu, his main English monographs: “Inside Out: New Chinese Art” and “The Wall: Reshaping Contemporary Chinese Art”. Chinese monographs: “The History of Contemporary Chinese Art 1985-1986”, “Chinese Avant-Garde Art”, “Separate Methods, Separate Modernity” and “The Wall - the History and Boundaries of Contemporary Chinese Art”.
A well-known theorist and critic, Mr. Gao Minglu, who, in collaboration with other authors, published the book “The History of Modern Chinese Art 1985-1986” in 1991, which became the first book since 1949.
1 separate study of contemporary art. Starting from (historical and philosophical theoretical premises), the authors summarized I and analyzed trends in the visual arts, various! groupings of artists, styles and works for the period from the end of the “cultural revolution” to the mid-80s. The ways of development of the visual arts were especially carefully commented and analyzed art of China in 1985-1986.
This book will talk about important art events, Chinese artists, artists' works and art movements in 1985-1986, especially the development of art movements, and also analyze the description of art in these two years. This book is written with a clear system, strict composition, and contains many exquisite color illustrations.
“Chinese Avant-Garde Art” was published in 1997, and “Separate Methods, Separate Modernity” and “The Wall—The History and Limits of Contemporary Chinese Art” have recently appeared. In "The Wall" the author analyzes contemporary Chinese art based on modern approaches. “The author makes an attempt to combine modernist research and work on art history, emphasizing the specificity of the “integrity” of Chinese modernity. Moreover, using the differential nature of Chinese modernist art as a methodology, and relying on the spatial concept of “The Wall,” he analyzes how Chinese modernity, as a kind of spatial consciousness, continuously constructs the history and boundaries of modern Chinese art. The book touches on many important issues related to the study of contemporary art in China, for example: how the Chinese avant-garde gets along in the complex space of the dual system; how traditional symbols are appropriated by the contemporary art space;. how, under the pressure of global culture, there is a collision (recognition) of the phenomena of “borderline man” culture and “feminine art”, etc.”
This book is written on detailed and accurate historical material and is a unique work on the history of modern fine art.
The monograph “Chinese Avant-garde Art” published by Gao Minglu mainly includes articles written by the author in the mid and second half of the 80s. Most of these articles were born as a result of direct communication with representatives of creative professions during the surge in public discussion on issues of culture and art that was characteristic of those years, as well as as a result of his direct participation, including as an organizer, in various events artistic life. These articles provide a “historical, real, objective, scientific” description of contemporary art phenomena.
The phenomena of modern art, considered from the point of view of changes occurring in culture and the general process of historical development, are for Gao Minglu the main starting point from which he starts in his work as an art critic.
In 2006, Jly Hong and Sun Zhenhua's book entitled "Foreign Body - Performance Art in China" was published, which introduced a new system of critical analysis of this art movement. Before its appearance, criticism, both theoretical and practical area, were poorly oriented in performance. There were very few specialists who could evaluate and interpret the phenomena of performance from a theoretical perspective. As a rule, the matter was limited to writing review articles or point-by-point assessments (of individual works). This work, based on extensive citation of original works, provides a relatively objective description of the development of performance art in China over the past ten years or more.
J For a more visual and voluminous disclosure of the essence of this art direction, the authors attach to their work the “Yearly List of the Main Works of Chinese Performance 1979-2005,” compiled by Feng! Fights.
Fine art circles believe that the book "Foreign Body - Performance Art in China" is the first part of a special work that explores the performance art history of more than 20 years of development in China.
Professor of the history of fine arts at Peking University Zhu Qingsheng noted that from a scientific point of view, this book summarizes and analyzes the phenomena of fine art objectively and in detail.
The book “20 Years of Modern Ink Painting” identifies and organizes the trends in the development of modern ink painting. This book introduces the reader in detail to the artists and works of this style.
On the development of Chinese painting, in the book “Where is Chinese painting going - a study and discussion of the development of Chinese painting art,” “its author Fan Ruihua, based on an in-depth study of three cultural traditions - Confucianism, Buddhism and Taoism, which represent the basis of the traditional culture of China, summarizes the patterns development of Chinese painting, as well as traditional Chinese philosophy and aesthetics. As a result of studying the ideological heritage of the Taiji system, the author of the book puts forward the theory of “three images” (“meaning-image”, “image-meaning”, “understanding-meaning”), thereby creating a new original system (classification) of Chinese painting art. "
The book presents a new point of view on the development of Chinese painting, of great interest in this sense, and answers many questions regarding how Chinese painting arose and in what direction it is moving. This publication is a valuable reference and index material for researchers of Chinese painting. The book proposes an original artistic concept of the development of Chinese painting in the present and future, and from a theoretical point of view it substantiates the existence of broad prospects (space) for such development.
This edition combines theoretical research and critical reviews, questions of theory" and patterns of development of Chinese painting are touched upon, innovative concepts are highlighted, the problem of "the relationship between Chinese and Western cultures" is explored, etc. On all these issues, the author expresses an original point of view, which plays an important stimulating role in intensifying research efforts in field of Chinese painting.
In the field of Chinese contemporary art research, two series of books have also been published: 1. “Library of Chinese Contemporary Art Trends”; 2. “A series of critical brochures on contemporary Chinese fine art.”
In 2002, Zou Jianping published “Trend Library of Chinese Contemporary Art.” "The Library" is based on 20 years of art history, contains apt conclusions and generalizations of critics, it analyzes and explores the processes in contemporary art of this era, the most characteristic artists and the most influential works.
Library of Trends in Chinese Contemporary Art" includes the following publications: 1. Gu Chengfeng, He Wanli, "Installation Art"; 2. Sun Zhenhua, “The Space of Sculpture”; 3. Yang Jianbin, Zhu Bin. “Twentieth Anniversary of Art Exhibitions”; 4. Xu Hong, “Women’s Art” and others.
The book “Installation Art”, compiled by Gu Chengfeng and He Wanli (part of the “Trends in Contemporary Chinese Art” series of publications), in terms of presentation, is distinguished by a free compositional structure and includes sections: reasons (occurrence), aesthetic position, development abroad, development in the country, pressing issues. Book I describes specific events in artistic life, | ", talks about a number of artists representing this movement. The author of the book uses an analytical-comparative method, explores the concepts of creativity and the works of Chinese installation art artists, including artists living abroad. The book focuses on the process of development of this type of art within China.
Sun Zhenhua's book "The Space of Sculpture" gives a detailed account of the history of the development of modern sculpture over a 20-year period. Beginning with the 1979 Stars exhibition, it “conducts in-depth analysis and research on a range of directions - from the revolution of form to localization, from cultural modification to holistic sculpture, from feminine forms to general art - taking into account the push for humanization , which the art of sculpture received from the ashes of the cultural revolution.
Twenty Years of Art Exhibitions (Yang Jianbin, Zhu Bin) provides a comprehensive retrospective of contemporary Chinese art exhibitions over a 20-year period, beginning with the Stars art exhibition and ending with The Door to a Century: Chinese Invitational Art Exhibitions 1979-1999 ." The book provides an objective chronological description of most of the largest exhibition events, which were distinguished by the greatest representativeness in each art form, the largest scale and richness of the exhibition, and also received the widest public response.
Women's art has become a new independent direction of modern art, which has its own specifics and deserves special attention. Since the mid-90s of the 20th century, following the progressive development of Chinese contemporary art and as information about women's art in the West gradually became available, some women artists, intuitively feeling dissatisfaction (with the current state of affairs), began to try to change something in their work , create your own women's works.
The author of the book “Women's Art,” Xu Hong, seeks to reveal the system of formation and development of women's art through a meticulous analysis of the artistic works of representatives of this movement, while focusing on its most interesting creative aspects.
The author of this book classifies the works of women artists according to different themes and forms of creativity, and analyzes the work of each artist of this art direction. The phenomena of art and artistic views covered in the book, a deep analysis of the creativity of authors and works, constitute valuable research material.
A series of critical brochures on contemporary fine art of China" includes the following publications: 1. Chen Shouxiang, " New painting“educated people” - 10 thousand images of the soul”; 2. Zhang Xiaoling, “Conceptual Art - Structure and Reconstructed Poetics”; 3. Sun Jin, “Pop Art - Break and Continuation”; 4. Lu Pingtian, “The Art of the New Generation - the Existence of Wandering”; 5. Huang Danhui, Hu Rong, “Neo-expressionism - a refuge for feelings”; 6. Han Jian, “New real art - between the real and the hidden”; 7. Zhang Xiaoling, Meng Luxin, “Abstract Art - Another World”; 8. Yu Ding, “New classical art - echo of the end of the century”, etc.
This series of printed publications is a collection of critical articles dedicated to the art of the 90s.
The new painting of “educated people” is one of the most significant phenomena of modern Chinese painting, arousing keen interest in the artistic community. This is the first artistic community in the history of Chinese painting that broke parochial and genre boundaries. In our century (XX century), it put forward an alternative concept for understanding Chinese culture and painting, making powerful intellectual and creative efforts to create high-genre Chinese art of modern times "
New painting of “educated people” - 10 thousand images of the soul” is the first part of a special work that explores the phenomenon of new painting of “educated people”.
The author of the book was the “skirmisher” and founding father of the new painting of “educated people”, as well as one of the organizers of artistic activity and leaders of this direction. Based on in-depth analysis and the presentation of detailed illustrative and documentary material, the book comments on the artistic achievements and goals (aspirations) of representatives of this direction of painting, and also gives its sincere assessment and a promising look into the future.
The art of the new generation represents a significant and most interesting phenomenon Chinese fine art of the 90s. In the book by Lu Pingtian “The Art of the New Generation - the Existence of Wandering”, a detailed description is given on a scientific basis and a systematic analysis of this phenomenon of artistic life is carried out. This book explores the cultural background, artistic trends, creative methods, characteristics and the creativity of more than a dozen of the most representative representatives of this direction.
The author of the book, Lu Pingtian, through a generalized analysis of works of art based on their holistic comparison through logical speculation, explains his value orientation in relation to the art of the new generation, gives a frank assessment of its specific creative practice, and also raises a number of scientific questions related to modern social trends (currents) and the cultural process.”
The heyday of conceptual art as an artistic phenomenon occurred in the 90s." Varieties of conceptual art are installation, performance, etc. In this book (Zhang Xiaoling, “Conceptual Art - Structure and Reconstructed Poetics”), conceptual art is considered in the broad context of changes that have affected Chinese society and culture. Summarizing this phenomenon as a single whole, the author of the book conducts a broad study of current aspects of modern social and cultural trends, and also systematizes and generalizes conceptual art as a new cultural poetics from a scientific point of view. At the same time, the book analyzes the work of more than two dozen representatives of this. art directions.
About the direction of Chinese political art, the book (Sun Jin, “Pop Art - Break and Continuation”) from the point of view of the sociology of art describes and analyzes the various manifestations and transformation of Chinese pop art of the 90s. The phenomena of art and artistic views covered in the book, a deep analysis of the creativity of authors and works, constitute valuable research material.
The peculiarity of the book is that the aesthetic analysis of Chinese pop art is given in it against the background of the country's policy of reform and opening up, as well as in the context of global conceptual changes in the cultural environment. The book is distinguished by the breadth of its spatio-temporal background and the relevance of the topics covered. It contains not only specific artistic assessments and comments, but also very valuable factual material from an educational point of view concerning the features, contradictions (conflicts) and directions of artistic activity (of the period under review).”
At the end of 2004, the Association of Artists of the People's Republic of China organized an all-China seminar on the theory of fine arts in Shanghai, the topic of which was formulated as “Trends in Chinese and World I! fine arts". "Participants from different points views discussed the essence of globalization and its impact on contemporary art, as well as the strategy for the development of Chinese contemporary art in these conditions. As a result, everyone came to a common conclusion: regardless of whether the problem of globalization in art is far-fetched or real, or the changes in the global art world, Chinese contemporary art will be able to withstand the test associated with powerful foreign influence. A new quality in the development of contemporary art in China will be achieved on the basis of a careful attitude to reality, maintaining national traditions and using the experience of foreign art.”
Among the magazines there are many that devote great attention contemporary art of China, among them such as: “Meishu” (“Fine Arts”), “Jiangsu Huakan” (“Fine Arts of Jiangsu”), “Meishu Guancha” (“Review of Fine Arts”), “Meishu Wenxian” (“Review of Fine Arts”) Monuments of Art"), "Yishu Pinglun" ("Art Review"), "Shijie Meishu" ("World Fine Art"), "Ishujia" ("Artist"), "Ishu Dandai" ("Modern Art"), etc. P.
The magazine "Meishu" ("Fine Arts") is a scientific periodical publication of the All-China Artists Association. This magazine is intended primarily to reflect the development of Chinese art, demonstrate creative achievements in art, show the latest developments in art criticism, it has become the main window into the world of contemporary Chinese art, allowing one to get acquainted with its development both in China and abroad.
The Meishu magazine has the following regular sections: Artists of China, Young Artists, Art of Ancient China, Foreign Art, Art of Hong Kong, Macau and Taiwan, Introduction to Exhibitions, Art Forum, Conversations on Creativity, Special Messages, Scientific Publications, Articles on Art and etc. The content of the magazine is devoted to the study of various issues of history and the current situation in Chinese and foreign art, allowing to satisfy the need for knowledge related to many branches and areas of art history.
The Meishu magazine is the most authoritative Chinese periodical scientific publication on art criticism, and turning to it is the best way to understand the situation in contemporary art; this magazine is highly valued all over the world by everyone who is in any way connected with art.
The Meishu magazine firmly takes the position of reflecting the world of art in all its diversity; representatives of various schools and movements compete on its pages. A deep understanding of the theory of art, meaningful publications on issues of Chinese and foreign art have determined the very important role that this magazine plays in the popularization of Chinese art, promoting the development of its creative potential.
Jiangsu Huakan (Jiangsu Fine Arts) magazine is a specialized art magazine published since 1974, published by the Art Literature Publishing House of the province. Jiangsu. This innovative magazine reflects modern understanding of art issues, it pays much attention to contemporary issues and how these modern trends are reflected in works of art, and also talks about the latest concepts in art criticism, thereby helping the development of contemporary art. The main goals of Jiangsu Huakan are “To write the history of modern art, to serve the modern reader.”
Now there is no doubt that Jiangsu Huakan magazine plays an important role in the art world, occupying one of the central places among art magazines. In July 2007, Jiangsu Huacan magazine changed its name to Huacan. Its most important sections include: Art News, Art Focus, Art Market, Foreign Art, A Look from the Outside, Theoretical Research, School of Painting, etc. The Jiangsu Huakan magazine takes an active part in the preparation and holding of important scientific events in China, has become initiator and participant of many important events in the art world, such as: China Art Exhibition, Guangzhou Art Biennale, etc. The Jiangsu Huakan magazine enjoys well-deserved recognition among Chinese and foreign scholars as a publication that provides insight into the contemporary state of art in China.
Meishu guancha" (Review of Fine Arts) is a non-specialized art magazine that publishes, among other things, articles by observers, art critics, four large columns devoted to issues of international art, as well as comments on current topics, reports from the scene, stories about remarkable people of our time, “number man”, stories about phenomena, reviews, theoretical articles, “scientific archive”, international platform, foreign art gallery, issues of international art, etc., as well as numerous small sections .
Meishu Guancha" pays attention to the latest trends and "hot spots" in the development of art, in-depth studies of fundamental issues of art theory and problems of creativity are conducted here, numerous sections of the magazine reflect the entire richness of the world of fine arts. The design of the Meishu Guancha magazine combines richness of form and richness of content, reflecting observations of the world of art, demonstrating the diversity of Chinese culture, its achievements and directions of development.
Editor-in-Chief of the magazine "Shijie Meishu" ("World Fine Arts", English title " World Art") is Shao Dazhen, a magazine published by the Central Beijing Academy of Fine Arts. This art magazine explores the situation with the teaching of art in foreign countries, introduces the results of foreign research in the field of theory and history of art, gives an idea and assessment of trends in modern and ancient art peoples of the world, authors and their creations, and also talks about the theory and technique of creating works of art, about attractions and museums, etc.
The magazine Meishu Wenxian (Art Monuments) is one of the main periodicals promoting and researching contemporary Chinese art. The magazine is entirely dedicated to presenting contemporary Chinese artists and events in the art world to readers, each issue is thematic, it combines articles by art critics, exhibition organizers talk about the implementation of their plans, they help gain fame for artists and their works, assisting in the collection of materials on the history of modern Chinese art to its researchers.
Yishu Dandai (Modern Art) is published by the Shanghai Art Literature Publishing House and is now one of the most prominent periodicals in China focusing on contemporary Chinese art studies. The editor-in-chief of this magazine, established in 2001, is Jly Fusheng, among those who actively participate in the work of the magazine in promoting contemporary Chinese art are Xu Jiang, Fan Dian, Zhang Qing and others.
The four most important sections of the Ishu Dandai magazine are the following: the first - “Today in the spotlight” contains a comprehensive overview of interesting trends, trends and events in the art world, an in-depth analysis of current problems in the study of contemporary art, promoting its research using specific examples and materials. The second, “The Space and Time of Art,” talks about important current events in the art world both domestically and internationally. The third - “An Eyewitness Account” - talks about individual artists and their works. The fourth, Parallel and Meridian News, contains comprehensive accounts of recent arts-related events both domestically and internationally.
Ishu Dandai magazine provides a "modern, scientific, easy-to-read" description of contemporary art phenomena, and is the only contemporary art magazine in Shanghai that presents diverse points of view and covers all areas of contemporary art.
In 2004, the first issue of the magazine “Yishu Pinglun” (“Art Review”), published under the auspices of the Ministry of Culture and the Chinese Art Research Academy, was officially published. It is a journal dedicated to the critical study of works of art, large in form and comprehensive in nature (editor-in-chief is Tian Qingren, chairman is Zhao Chunjiang). The magazine “Yishu Pinglun” is published monthly, the topics of its reviews cover fine arts, drama, music, choreography, cinema, architecture, sculpture, calligraphy and many other types of art, its main headings include “Celebrities”, “Culture Shock”, “ Scene”, “Fashion and Avant-garde”, etc. In 2005, in the fifth issue of the magazine, which consisted of 80 pages, about 60 pages were devoted to introducing readers to an important phenomenon of contemporary art of that time - the “village of artists”. The authors of the articles examined this phenomenon from various points of view, for example, they analyzed the reasons for its occurrence and directions of development, discussed the authors, their works, etc., the works were distinguished by their scientific nature and provided readers with abundant information.
The magazine "Yishujia" ("Artist") was founded in 1975 in Taiwan and became the most representative magazine devoted to art issues there. In Taiwan, it remains to this day the oldest and most widely read art magazine. In addition to Taiwan, the magazine is published in Hong Kong, mainland China, many countries in Europe and Asia, and the USA.
The Yishujia magazine has been published for more than 30 years, it has always strived to maintain a high level of educational value and scientific quality of the information it publishes, showing interest not only in the culture of Taiwan, but also paying a lot of attention to the art of mainland China, the development of the culture of Asian countries and the world in general. ; objectively informing readers about events in the art world, research in the field of art history, while maintaining a commitment to pluralism of opinions about art, its methods, concepts and creative practice.
Yishujia Magazine is published all over the world and is known as a Chinese magazine that publishes numerous materials on works of art, their creation, aesthetic value, the art market and new trends in the art world, its various materials are provided by authors from China and around the world , it informs readers in a timely manner about cultural events taking place in different countries and regions. Art magazines from different countries often refer to his materials, talking about new events and trends in the art world. The magazine is published at a high printing level and is well illustrated.
In March 2004, Yishujia Magazine and Hebei Educational Literature Publishing House released a mainland China version of Yishujia Magazine called Xin Yishujia (New Artist).
The Xin Yishujia magazine covers the latest trends in the development of art, art collecting, the art market, publishes critical reviews of art critics, etc.
Articles related to the arts are educational, scientific in nature and easy to read. Covers arts-related news not only from mainland China, but also from Taiwan and Hong Kong.
4. Research methods
The work uses historical-artistic analysis in combination with aesthetic-sociological consideration and practical research. The influence of Western trends in art, as well as factors of science and technology, is taken into account, the development and evolution of modern Chinese art, trends, as well as its connections with world art are explored. Combining theoretical premises and practical developments in a meaningful, but at the same time accessible form, each artistic movement and the work of individual artists is explored and analyzed. At the same time, comparisons are made with foreign phenomena in art - for example, with American pop art or political art of the former USSR, in order to demonstrate the differences of modern Chinese art and its unique features. The main material for the work was research in the field of fine arts, art magazines and theoretical works.
5. Subject of research
Over the past twenty-odd years, Chinese contemporary art has consistently followed rapid and complex changes in society. This fact determines that the study of Chinese contemporary art must first take into account the internal logic and complex nature of its evolution. The connections formed in the process of its development between art and the system of power, between artistic aesthetics and politics, internal factors and factors of internationalization, globalization, as well as the difference between the cultural identity of artists (including gender) and subjective social factors in art - all this together gave an extremely complex picture." In the last ten years or so, Chinese contemporary art has rapidly and fully integrated into international exhibition activities and has become part of the international art market system."
The subject of this work is the process of evolution and development of contemporary Chinese art in the context of an artistic process that has real significance on a global scale. The work of artistic groups and exhibitions of historical significance, new movements in art, individual artists, international exhibitions, exhibition curators, etc. are also explored. The collision and interpenetration of Chinese modern art and Western modern art, and the position (support) of Chinese modern art are chosen as the key object of study. In addition, it is studied how, under the influence of foreign trends towards systematic design, Chinese contemporary artists combine modern and traditional art in their work, how Chinese contemporary art combines both national flavor and the desire of the authors to go beyond the national origin, moving to the global level.
6. Scientific novelty
Just as China cannot be imagined in isolation from the rest of the world, the global picture will be incomplete without China. Especially since the beginning of the reform and opening-up policy, as cultural exchanges between China and abroad become more intense every day, the development trends of Chinese fine arts and world art have attracted more and more attention. | This work analyzes from different angles the entire process of development of Chinese contemporary art from the end of the “Great Cultural Revolution” to the present day. The focus is on its origin, development, I! theoretical research and criticism, new movements in art and new forms of expression. The artists’ works allow us to conclude that during this historical period enormous changes took place in people’s consciousness and help to rethink modern society. Artists take an active part in international exhibitions, creating works in different genres and gaining attention in the art world. This can be considered an example of the emancipation of consciousness, revolutionary movement in art.
Part I: About contemporary art in China
The concept of “contemporary art” is currently constantly becoming the subject of discussion and endless debate, due to the lack of a single clear interpretation of this term.
It is very difficult to give a single definition of “contemporary art”; different critics have different opinions on this matter.
"Modern art" is a term from the Latin language, the original meaning of which is "any activity in the field of art carried out at the present time." The term "Modern art" is only a description of activity in the field of art, and is by no means a characteristic description of all this activity. Even though in scientific discussions in the West, since 1880, art is usually called "modern art", we can distinguish differences in this classical (traditional) art. Moreover, there are many types of activities in the world. cultural activities, called “contemporary art”, which expresses the tendency of the demonstrative and collective nature of this term. Often "contemporary art" is called a phenomenon of economic, social and political order. “Contemporary art” may include concepts that do not contain any characteristics of contemporary art, such as the production and trade of art. »
To do a little analysis of the concept of "modern art", I am going to borrow from Waite Genxitan (Chinese trans.) the scientific point of view that he adhered to in the last period of his life. In fact, the concept of “contemporary art” in China is simultaneously used in two meanings: on the one hand, more and more artists belonging to its main movements view it in this meaning through the prism of time. They tend to classify any human creativity as “contemporary art,” and then such concepts as “modern Chinese fine writing,” “modern 1” (watercolor) and “modern engraving” appear. On the other hand, more and more figures
I | arts belonging to avant-garde movement, consider it,\ in this meaning through the prism of culture. Their dictionary emphasizes that “contemporary art” is accompanied by alternative, marginal and radical explorations. In addition, “modern art” is contrasted with traditional art. According to the famous critic Wu Hong, the term "modern art" "has a deep avant-garde meaning, usually denoting that various complex experiments are taking place in the traditional or orthodox system of painting."
The essence of modern art lies in revealing and reflecting the nature of modern realities in society. Traditional art, like contemporary art, is not clear cut. The goal of modern art is by no means the acquisition of aesthetic experience, but at the same time it cannot accept any conventions of generally accepted forms of art. It only tries to reflect and show real reality. And only through such a truthful reflection of reality do we have the opportunity to get rid of the deliberate deception of a person modern culture. Thus, only by freely studying and enjoying modern culture, despite all fears, can we, in the everyday reality we despise, gain the experience of the freedom of our own existence. »
Contemporary art can only exist in modern society and have the spirit of aesthetic consciousness and the characteristic features of the artistic creators of our era. Contemporary art embodies the interest of modern people in aesthetics.
Contemporary art is the general name for object forms of contemporary art; the name primarily refers to living things artistic process the end of the 20th century, which contains action, object-based methods of artistic expression - often the artist’s gesture replaces the work itself, for example: the Moscow action-exhibition “An Artist Instead of a Painting” (Moscow, Central House of Artists, 1999) (cf. action painting, happening, performance) .
Contemporary art is an extremely broad concept in art history and art criticism. Essentially, this is what happens “here and now.” Contemporary art is a phenomenon of artistic life, characterized not so much by temporal boundaries as by semantic and formal features that distinguish modern art from traditional art; This is art that reflects the spirit of the times, ideas that excite contemporaries. Contemporary art contains the meaning of an experimental search for form (cf. contemporary art).”
In world artistic practice, it is customary to distinguish between two types of contemporary art: modern art and contemporary art. The first includes works by artists working within an established style (from realism and abstractionism to surrealism, etc.). Modern art, or modern modernism, has its stars, fans and collectors, it is stable and respectable, the directions are time-tested, the controversies around (scandalous) projects are far behind. Representatives of this type of art within the chosen direction work without distance, absolutely sincerely, not by quoting, but by developing the main features of the style.
Contemporary art in Russian most closely corresponds to the term (contemporary)* art accepted among Moscow critics. ((Current)*
It does not mean either the immediate (the art of quick response) or the best (every direction deserves respect), but rather the latest, ] experimental - art in its infancy, the very process of its development. This type artistic practice is based on the assertion that I cannot be invented, but it is possible to expand linguistic boundaries using both the achievements of previous stages of art development and the realities of modern times. The main difference between modern art and contemporary art is, first of all, that the former thinks in terms of exclusively paintings, while in contemporary art the concept is primary - an integral statement in the form of a certain way organized space (installation), parts of which are paintings, photographs , video or performance - they obey her. In every country, of course, both types of art coexist peacefully, but it is contemporary art that at the current stage is the engine of the international artistic process.”
Part II: Prelude to Modern Art (1978-1984)
We will call the time from 1976, when the “Cultural Revolution” ended, to 1985 the stage of the “post-cultural revolution”, since during this period of time the main task of the new art was to cleanse itself from the influence of the “Cultural Revolution”, but at a conceptual level in art still felt the influence of the traditions of realism of the previous era.
Similar dissertations in the specialty "Fine and decorative arts and architecture", 17.00.04 code VAK
Russian artistic emigration to China in the first half of the 20th century 2007, candidate of art history Wang Ping
Classical Chinese landscape painting as an expression of the harmony of the artist’s personality and the world 2009, candidate of art history Voronin, Sergey Nikolaevich
The work of emigrant artists M.A. Kichigin and V.E. Kuznetsova-Kichigina in the context of Russian art of the 20th century 2010, candidate of cultural studies Lebedeva, Tatyana Albertovna
Artistic interpretation of traditional Chinese painting in the decorative decoration of the interiors of suburban palaces in St. Petersburg 2009, Ph.D. in art history Ping, Pingfan
Chinese folk painting nianhua of the 20th century: typology of genres and evolution 2007, candidate of art history Gultyaeva, Galina Sergeevna
Conclusion of the dissertation on the topic “Fine and decorative arts and architecture”, Wang Fei
Conclusion
Modern art in the West originated at the end of the nineteenth century. By the first half of the 20th century it was already a developed phenomenon. In the 80s of the twentieth century, as China gradually deepened reforms and pursued a policy of openness, the intensity of communication with foreign countries naturally increased, especially in the cultural, economic and scientific and technological fields.
The development of contemporary art in China is inseparable from the policy of reform and openness, from the correspondence of works of art to the psychological expectations of the viewing masses in China. The completion of the Cultural Revolution, reforms, openness and the establishment of other types of cultural and economic activity, which led to the establishment of an increasingly calm atmosphere, and in the field of art contributed to the establishment and existence of a diversity of approaches in art, the development of its various forms filled with diverse content.
Retrospective Review:
After thirty years of development, contemporary art in China has acquired a form completely different from the one with which it began this path.
1978-1984, the period of the beginnings of modern Chinese art.
During the ten years of the Cultural Revolution (1966 - 1976), Chinese art was viewed and used as one of the tools of statecraft. The established aesthetic preferences of the people were rejected for a long time. The people were tired of the unified model, a constant theme of the art of the Cultural Revolution. There was a need to free people's minds, the thinking of artists, and change the themes of works.
After the 3rd plenum of the 11th convocation held in December 1978, the focus of the Communist Party of China shifted from issues of class struggle to issues of “socialist modernization” of the economy, which marked the end of the Cultural Revolution. By the end of the Cultural Revolution, two movements in art had emerged and were subject to criticism. its supporters (“scar painting” and “village realism”). The artistic works of these styles reflected the aspirations of the young to understand themselves as individuals and the value of human life, as well as their search for truth.
In 1979, the art exhibition "Stars" and the theoretical discussion of that time contributed to the disintegration of revolutionary influence and gave strength to the development of Chinese modern art.
This period is characterized mainly by the eradication of the influence of the Cultural Revolution on art.
1985-1989, the period of formation of contemporary art in China.
The era of contemporary Chinese art began in 1985. Influenced by Western philosophy of modernist art, "New Movement in Painting - 85" emerged, which became an important moment in the development of Chinese culture and art in the 1980s, contributing to ideological liberation and reflecting the political course of reform and opening up.
Cultural and artistic activity of the 1980s. largely reflected the international dialogue in the field of philosophical worldview. Contemporary art in China was developing, largely imitating Western models; in those days, numerous groups of young artists arose, and soon almost all areas of modern Western art were represented in the artistic life of the country. After the completion of the “Exhibition of Contemporary Chinese Art” held in 1989, a period of flourishing of diverse styles and movements began in Chinese contemporary art.
The art of that time directly participated and had a stimulating effect on the processes of emancipation of consciousness,
I took place in China. It became a bridge to Western art and concepts, questioned and attacked the traditional cultural foundations that had developed in China for a long time. In addition, it gave a new language and concepts for modern art, laying the historical foundation for its development .
1990-1999, the period of maturation of contemporary Chinese art.
In the 90s, as we gradually moved along the path of reform and opening up and development market economy conditions for the existence and development of fine art changed for the better, which over time had a significant impact and changed means of expression and the form of painting. At the same time, the country's gates were wide open to Western economics, science and technology, which led to the introduction of Western values and concepts that had a significant impact on traditional Chinese culture. In contrast to the monotony that existed before, dictated by the language of authoritarianism, in the 90s of the twentieth century all directions, styles and techniques flourished in China.
In China at that time, the artistic styles of traditional art (Chinese painting, ink painting, "educated people" painting, etc.), and the introduced genres of Chinese fine art (oil painting, sculpture) would gradually change. And new art directions appeared (political art, cynical realism, women's art, etc.).
Art forms other than traditional ones have made their way into the heyday of Chinese contemporary art, including installations, performance art, conceptual art, video art, etc. The majority of the Chinese viewing audience does not consider these avant-garde movements in art as capable of somehow enriching the artistic concepts of Chinese art. They are considered a modern social phenomenon, and although they are sometimes criticized and attacked, they nevertheless arouse public interest and become part of modern Chinese art.
In order to show the audience the world of Chinese art, as well as to promote cultural exchanges, Chinese artists working in the field of contemporary art participate in international art exhibitions (Venice Biennale, Sao Paulo Biennale, etc.), and in addition , China has organized its own international biennials and triennials, which feature unique young contemporary Chinese culture. Contemporary Chinese art has reached its peak.
As the 1990s developed, the art market, exhibition curators, art theory critics, art historians, etc. began to have a stimulating role in the development of modern art.
At the beginning of the 21st century, when economic globalization swept the entire world and China joined the WTO, it had to face Western culture and the emergence of new challenges on an unprecedented scale. At the same time, in our era information technologies The challenge is also the growing demand of the Chinese people to satisfy their cultural needs. In these circumstances, contemporary Chinese art has to respond to new, increasingly serious challenges.
The path that Chinese art has traversed in its development and evolution from the late 70s of the last century to the beginning of the twenty-first century seems to us to be an important historical process. This time gave the artistic audience the opportunity to get acquainted with different types art, including fine art, as well as its other forms. In traditional fine arts, vast new horizons have also opened up, and they have become much richer in form and subject matter than before. Traditional and modern art forms are intertwined. People from the art world critically assessed new phenomena - some approved them, others opposed them. All this stimulated the development of contemporary art in China.
The emergence of contemporary Chinese art is inseparable from the realities of the PRC, the political situation of that time, as well as the psychological state of the country's population. By the era of the 90s of the twentieth century, Chinese art had finally parted with its former function of serving political interests and turned into a multi-genre, diverse phenomenon. Different forms of art received their own space for existence and development. The emergence of modern Chinese art can be considered caused by historical necessity.
The collision of Chinese culture with the cultures of other countries in the process of cultural exchange may give rise to contradictions, but the cultural differences of different countries and peoples will be overcome over time, merging into the Chinese cultural flow, the components of which will be traditional national cultures. The interaction of modern Chinese art and the influence of Western art, postmodern art, which came to China, looks like a complex and contradictory process of integration, but the current state of modern Chinese art is determined by the fact that it has gone through the stages of “imitation - absorption and use of transformation of innovations,” which predetermined its current diversity.
Chinese art demonstrates to the whole world its artistic value and its charm; it is one of the pillars on which the strength of the nation rests and is inseparable from the work of artists.
Contemporary art in China is already enjoying some influence, contributing to the flourishing of Chinese art in the 21st century. However, the author believes that it should be based on Chinese traditional culture, pay attention to the life of the Chinese people and the deep-seated problems of Chinese society, and preserve artistic diversity. The proverb says: “Only the national can be truly global.” Only by preserving our national traditions can we take our rightful place in the modern world.
List of references for dissertation research candidate of art history Wang Fei, 2008
1. Wang Lidan. Master's thesis: The important thing is not the result - a study of the local distribution of contemporary art in China. Southwestern Pedagogical University. 2002
2. Wang Qiufan. Contemporary media art of the West. Shenyang, 2002
3. Wang Shouzhi. History of world contemporary art. Beijing, 2005. 4. “The Trend of Art.” 1993 5. "Gallery". 1995
4. He Xianning Gallery. Image is Power: The Art of Wang Guany, Zhang Xiaogang, and Fang Lijun. - Changsha, 2002 P.117-134.
5. Gao Minglu. History of Chinese contemporary fine art: 1985-1986. - Shanghai, 1991. P.51-68.
6. Gao Minglu. Chinese avant-garde art. Nanjing, 1997
7. Gao Minglu. Isolated methods, isolated modernity. -Shanghai, 2005
8. Gao Minglu. The wall is the history and boundaries of Chinese contemporary art. - Beijing, 2006, pp. 34-64, 83-279.
9. Gao Qianhui. A journey of thought in contemporary art. -Guilin, 2003
10. Gu Chengfeng, Jia Wanli. Installation art. Changsha, 2003, pp. 26-27, 177-178.
11. Danna (France), Fu Lei (translation). Philosophy of art. Tianjin, 2004
12. Tao Tzu. Postmodern art systems. Chongqing, 2001
13. Du Dakai. Tsinghua Fine Arts (Volume 1): Beijing Venice Biennale (1895-2004). Beijing, 2005, pp. 10-11, 42-44.
14. And Tribute. History of the star exhibition. Changsha, 2002.17. "Art". 1979,1980,1981,1985,1986,1987,199418. "Fine Arts of Jiangsu". -1985,1990
15. And In. Twilight Academy. Changsha, 2001 " " (20. Yin Jinan. One knock on the door - a close look at modern1.|Chinese painting. Beijing, 1993, I 21. “The Art of Xiongshi.” - 1993. 22. “China and Abroad.” 23. “ Chinese art."
16. Theory Committee of the All-China Association of Fine Arts. Development trends of Chinese fine arts and world art. Beijing, 2004 pp. 129-130.
17. Li Xianting. The main thing is not art. Nanjing, 2000
18. Li Xianting. History of Contemporary Fine Arts 1985-1989 - Changsha, 1991
19. Luo Li. Doctoral dissertation: Feminist art critics. China Art Research Academy. 2005
20. Luo Qi. Calligraphy and modern art are the last collision of the end of the century. - Hangzhou, 2001 P.95-96.
21. Lu Fusheng, Xu Jianrong, Gu Wenda. Door of the century of Chinese painting (Guohua). Shanghai, 2002
22. Lu Hong. Chinese modern art: 1979-1999 oil painting. -Wuhan, 2001
23. Lu Hong. Chinese modern art: 1979-1999 conceptual art. Wuhan, 2001
24. Lu Hong. 20 years of modern ink painting. Changsha, 2002
25. Lu Hong, Sun Zhenhua. Foreign body performance art in China (China Performance Art). - Shijiazhuang, 2006, pp. 12, 29, 60-62.
26. Lu Hong, Sun Zhenhua. Art and Society: 26 leading critics discuss changes in contemporary Chinese art. Changsha, 2005 P.138-139.
27. Lu Pingtian. Art of a new generation The existence of wandering. - Changchun, 1999
28. Lu Peng, Yi Dan. A History of Chinese Modern Art: 1979-1989. Changsha, 1992
29. Lu Peng. History of Chinese art of the 20th century. Beijing, 2007, pp. 679-957.
30. Lu Peng. History of contemporary art in China 1990-1999. Changsha, 2000
31. Liu Chun. History of oil painting in China. Beijing, 2005, pp. 232-435.
32. Ma Qi. A study on the comparison of Chinese and Western aesthetic trends. Beijing, 199441. (USA)M. Lipuman, Dan Peng (translation).Modern aesthetics. Beijing, 1986
33. Peng De. Critics in Chinese Changsha, 200248. "Today's avant-garde."
34. Ce Haidong. Taiwanese contemporary art 1980-2000. Taipei.50. "Modern Art".
35. Sun Jin. Pop art break and continuation. - Changchun, 1999
36. Sun Zhenhua. Sculpture space. Changsha, 2002, pp. 50-72.
37. Xu Hong. Women's art. Changsha, 2005, pp. 29-30.
38. Xu Jin. Installation art. Beijing, 2003
39. Xue Yang. Doctoral dissertation: A study of contemporary Chinese art. Southeastern University. 2003
40. Han Jian. New real art between the real and the hidden. - Changsha, 1999, pp. 302-304.
41. Huang Danhui, Hu Rong. Neo-expressionism is a refuge for the senses. - Changchun, 1999
42. Cao Yulin. Changing the face of modern Chinese painting. -Shanghai, 2006. 180-181.
43. Zou Jianping. An act of art. Changsha, 1995
44. Zou Jianping. Chinese modern ink paintings. Changsha, 1999
45. Zou Yuejin, Wang Xiaoping. Vulgar art. Changsha, 2003, pp. 13-17.
46. Zou Yuejin. Another view of Westernism in contemporary art. -Beijing, 1996
47. Zou Yuejin. History of the fine arts of New China 1949-2000. Changsha, 2002, pp. 315-317.
48. Zeng Yanbin. Master's thesis: Going to the ground given tactics for the internationalization of Chinese local contemporary art. Zhongshan University. 2004
49. Zhang Wenli, Zhang Xutong, Liu Dachun. The secret limit of Taoism and Chinese culture. - Beijing, 1996
50. Zhang Xiaoling. Conceptual art structure and reconstructed poetics. - Changchun, 1999, pp. 6-7.
51. Zhang Xiaoling, Meng Luxin. Abstract art is another world. -Changchun, 1999
52. Zhang Qiang. Confused Objects of Perception Contemporary Art in the Chinese Cultural Perspective. - Jiangan, 1998
53. Zhang Yu, Shen Min. Calligraphy. Changsha, 2003, pp. 63-64.
54. Zhao Xianzhang. Western formal aesthetics. Shanghai, 1996 77.Zhou Xian. A study of Chinese modern aesthetic culture. -Beijing, 1997
55. Zhou Zeying. Master's thesis: Losing form, the delusion of the antiform of the Chinese avant-garde. Zhongshan University. 2005 79.Zhou Qing. An isolated cry: world art of feminism. - Beijing, 2005
56. Zhu Boxiong, Chen Ruilin. fiftieth anniversary European painting in China: 1898-1949. Beijing, 1989
57. Zhu Di. Contemporary artistic philosophy of the West. Beijing, 1994 82.Cheng Mingzhen. Doctoral dissertation: Study of intellectual painting. Southeastern University, 2000
58. Chen Danqing. Continuation of the collected works of regress. Guilin, 2007
59. Chen Danqing. Collected works of regression. Guilin, 2005 85.Chen Zehong. Master's thesis: Isolated objects of perception - a study of contemporary art. Wuhan University. 2001
60. Chen Zhuanxi. History of the aesthetics of Chinese painting. Beijing, 2000
61. Chen Shouxiang. New painting of "educated people" 10 thousand images of the soul. - Changchun, 1999, pp. 213-215.
62. Shao Dazhen. Dictionary of Contemporary Art. Beijing, 1989
63. Shu Kewen. Believe in art or artists. Beijing, 2003, p.38.
64. Shen Yubing. Art critics 20th century. Hangzhou, 2003
65. YU Ding. Doctoral dissertation: Realistic problems in Western modernism. Central Beijing Academy of Fine Arts. ; ; 2000
66. YU Ding. New classical art echoes the end of the century. - Changchun, 1999
67. Yang Jianbin, Zhu Bin. Twenty years of art exhibitions. Changsha, 2002, pp. 12-15.
68. Yang Zhijiang. Doctoral dissertation: Research of architecture in the field of view of contemporary art. Southeastern University. 20001. In Russian:
69. Brandon Taylor. Contemporary art 1970-2005. M., 2006
70. E.Yu.Andreeva. POSTMODERNISM art of the second half of the 20th - early 21st centuries. St. Petersburg, 2007
71. Literature and Art of the People's Republic of China (1976-1985). M., 1989
72. In Western European languages:98. Ian Chilvers. A Dictionary of Twentieth-Century Art. Oxford New York: OXFORD UNIVERSITY PRESS. 1998r.
73. Michael Rush. New media in late 20th-century art. New York, 1999. lOO.Sculpture by Liu Huanzhang: contemporary Chinese art. - Beijing, 1984.1. List of illustrations
74. Xu Kuan. Dear teacher. Wood carving.67x113 art.1976.
75. Luo Zhongli. Father. Canvas, oil. 222x155 st. 1980
76. Chen Danqing. Cycle of paintings Tibet. Canvas, oil. 75x50 st. 1980
77. He Dolin. Awakening of the spring wind. Canvas, oil. 95x129 st. 1981
78. Yuan Yunsheng. Splashes of water ode to life (Fragment). Wall drawing. 340x2100 st. 1979
79. In September 1979, the Stars exhibition opened in a small park next to the east gate of the China Fine Arts Gallery.
80. Wang Keping. Silence. Wooden sculpture. 1979
81. Zhang Qun, Meng Luding. The epiphany of Adam and Eve in the modern era.
82. Oil on canvas. 197x165 st. 1985
83. Xiao Lu. Dialogue. Installation. 1989
84. Zhang Nian. Incubation. Performance. 1989
85. Yang Feiyun. A girl from the North. Canvas, oil. 80x70 st. 1987
86. Xu Manyao. My dream. Canvas, oil. 180x180 st. 1987
87. Wang Yidong. Rain in the Maine mountains. Canvas, oil. 190x185 st. 1991
88. Zeng Fanzhi. Masks 1997№7. Canvas, oil. 150x130 st. 1997
89. Sui Jianguo. Constructions. Natural pebbles, copper. Height 30 cm.
90. Sui Jianguo. Heritage. Fiberglass, lead. 140x90x100 cm. 1998
91. Liao Shuo. Urban peasant. Fiberglass. 2000
92. Wang Guani. Big criticism of Coca Cola. Canvas, oil. 200x200cm. 1990 -1993
93. Wang Guani. Big criticism of Marlboro. Canvas, oil. 175x175cm. 1992
94. Yu Yuhan. Mao Zedong in Shanshan. Canvas, oil. 1992
95. Zhang Xiaogang. Series “Big family”, (Big family Series) No. 16. Oil on canvas. 200x250cm. 1998
96. ZO.Zhang Xiaogang. Pedigree: Large family. Canvas, oil. 150x180cm. 1994
97. Liu Xiaodong. Pastoral. Canvas, oil. 170x120cm. 1989
98. Liu Xiaodong. White-skinned fat man. Canvas, oil. 250x150cm. 1995
99. Liu Xiaodong. Breaking the rules. Canvas, oil. 180x230cm. 1996
100. Liu Xiaodong. Blind man's step. Canvas, oil. 174x119cm. 1994
101. Fan Lijun. Second series. 200x230 st. Canvas, oil. 1991-1992
102. Yue Minjun. FREEZE. 170x140 st. 2002
103. Feng Zhengze. Romantic journey. Oil on canvas.145x188 art.1999.
104. Pan Yuliang. Self-portrait. Canvas, tempera. 90х64сш.
105. Tsai Jin. Mei ren jiao (flower name). 180.5x132cm. 1998
106. Yu Hong. Chinese princess. Canvas, oil. 182x178cm. 1992
107. Yu Hong. Beginning. Canvas, oil. 167.5xl67.3cm. 1991
108. Zhu Fadong. Wanted advertisement for a person. Performance. Kunming city. 1993
109. Zhang Huan. 12 square meters. Performance. Beijing. 1994.
110. Luo Zidan. White Collar Series. Performance. 1996
111. Yin Xiuzhen. Erasing the river. Performance. Chengdu, 1995
112. Collective performance of artists of the Eastern Beijing village “Let's increase the nameless mountain by a meter” 1995 Mount Miaofeng, Mentougou Beijing.
114. Wu Shanchuan. Series "Red Humor". Installation. 1987
115. Huang Yongping. Mixed for 2 minutes Short story modern painting and a brief history of Chinese painting. Installation. 1987
116. Yin Xiuzhen. Wooden string instrument. Installation. 1994
117. Cai Guoqiang. Straw boat with arrows. Installation. 1999. 52. Zhang Peili. ZOkhZO.VIDEO-ART.1988
118. Zhang Peili. "Sanitation" document No. 3. VIDEO ART.1991
119. Wang Gongxing. Brooklyn sky. VIDEO APT. 1995
120. Xie Hailong. Project hope. Photo. 1994
121. Wang Wenlan. Bicycle Empire. Photo. 1991
122. Qiu Zhijie. Fine. Photo. 19981. Illustrations1 .Xu Kuan. Dear teacher. Wood carving. 67x 11 Z. . 976 it hurt, I'm calm. Canvas, oil. 1977
123. Z. Cheng Conglin. Snow on one day in 1968. Canvas, oil. 200X 300cm. 1979
124. Jlo Zhongli. Father. Canvas, oil. 222 X 155cm L 980g\
125. Chen Danqing. Cycle of paintings “Tibet”. Canvas, oil. 75 X 50cm. 1980
126. He Dolin. Awakening of the spring wind. Canvas, oil. 95 X 129cm.1981
127. Yuan Yunsheng. Splashes of water ode to life (Fragment). Wall drawing. 340X2100st. 197911 In September 1979, the Stars exhibition opened in a small park next to the east gate of the Chinese Fine Arts Gallery.
128. Wang Keping. Silence. Wooden sculpture. 1979
129. Zhang Qun, Meng Luding. The epiphany of Adam and Eve in the modern era. Canvas, oil. 197X 165cm. 1985
130. Xiao Lu. Dialogue. Installation. 1989
131. Zhang Nian. Incubation. Performance. 1989
132. Xu Bing. Xishijing. Installation, printing with water-based paints from a wooden block. 110X1200 cm. 1988
133. Qiu Zhijie. A thousand-fold copy of the Preface to “Poems Written in the Orchid Pavilion.” Modern calligraphy. 1990 1995
134. Jin Shangyi. Tajik girl. Canvas, oil. 60 X 50cm. 1983
135. Yang Feiyun. A girl from the North. Canvas, oil. 80 X 70cm. 1987kw
136. Xu Manyao. My dream. Canvas, oil. 180X 180cm. 1987
137. Wang Yidong. Rain in the Maine mountains. Oil on canvas.190X 185 art.1991
138. Zeng Fanzhi. Masks 1997№7. Canvas, oil. 150Х 130сш. 1997
139. Sui Jianguo. Constructions. Natural pebbles, copper. Height 30 cm.
140. Liao Shuo. Urban peasant. Fiberglass. 2000
141. Wang Guani. Big criticism of Coca Cola. Canvas, oil. 200><200ст. 1990 -1993 г.
142. Wang Guani. Big criticism of Marlboro. Canvas, oil. 175x175cm. 1992
143. Yu Yuhan. Mao Zedong in Shanshan. Canvas, oil. 1992
144. Zhang Xiaogang. Series “Big family”, (Big family Series) No. 16. Oil on canvas. 200x250cm. 1998
145. Zhang Xiaogang. Pedigree: Large family. Canvas, oil. 150x180cm. 1994
146. Liu Xiaodong. Pastoral. Canvas, oil. 170x120cm. 1989
147. Liu Xiaodong. White-skinned fat man. Canvas, oil. 250x 150cm. 1995
148. Liu Xiaodong. Breaking the rules. Canvas, oil. 180x230st. 1996
149. Liu Xiaodong. Blind man's step. Canvas, oil. 174x119cm. 1994
150. Fang Lijun. Second series. 200Х230сш. Canvas, oil. 1991-1992
151. Yue Minjun. FREEZE. 170*140st. 2002
152. Feng Zhengze. Romantic trip. Canvas, oil. 145 X 1 88cm. 1999
153. Pan Yuliang. Self-portrait. Canvas, tempera. 90x64cm.
154. Tsai Jin. Mei ren jiao (flower name). 180.5><132ст. 1998г.
155. Yu Hong. Chinese princess. Canvas, oil. 182x 178cm. 1992
156. Yu Hong. Beginning. Canvas, oil. 167.5x167.3cm. 1991
157. Zhu Fadong. Wanted advertisement for a person. Performance. Kunming, 1993
158. Zhang Huan. 12 square meters. Performance. Beijing. 1994.
159. Luo Zidan, White Collar Series. Performance. 1996
160. Yin Xiuzhen. Erasing the river. Chengdu. 1995
161. Collective performance of artists of the Eastern Beijing village “Let's increase the nameless mountain by a meter” 1995, Mount Miaofeng, Mentougou1. Beijing.
163. Wu Shanchuan. Series "Red Humor". Installation. 1987
164. Huang Yongping. Mixed for 2 minutes A Brief History of Modern Painting and A Brief History of Chinese Painting. Installation. 1987
165. Yin Xiuzhen. Wooden string instrument. Installation 1994
166. Cai Guoqiang. Straw boat with arrows. Installation. 1999.
167. Zhang Peili. "30x3O".VIDEO-ART.1988.
168. Zhang Peili. "Sanitation" document No. 3. VIDEO ART.1991
169. Wang Gongxing. Brooklyn sky. VIDEO APT. 1995
170. Xie Hailong. Project hope. Photo. 1994
Please note that the scientific texts presented above are posted for informational purposes only and were obtained through original dissertation text recognition (OCR). Therefore, they may contain errors associated with imperfect recognition algorithms. There are no such errors in the PDF files of dissertations and abstracts that we deliver.
Despite the name, “scar painting” did not offer anything expressive, or anything innovative in terms of form. She focused on the content - criticism of the events of the “cultural revolution” (after which “scars” remained). In the era of the “post-cultural revolution” (a term proposed by Gao Minglu), it was considered possible to consider the recent past using traditional academic methods, but now in line with the “present”, unbiased psychological realism, which would allow “not to resort to superficial denial of such iconic historical figures of a particular historical stage, like Lin Biao and the “gang of four” and not “to demonize such negative political characters as Lin Biao or Jiang Qing,” but to give “an image of them that is so real, as if taken from real life.”
Cheng Conglin. Once upon a time in 1968. Snow, 1979
Canvas, oil
From the collection of the National Art Museum of China (Beijing)
The main pathos of “scar painting” of the late 70s and “village realism” of the early 80s was to abandon the inertia that inspired, even after Mao’s death, to smash the enemies of the revolution. The titles of exemplary paintings from the mid-70s speak for themselves: “You got down to business, I’m calm” (that is, the departed Chairman is not worried about his undertakings) or “We angrily stigmatize the heinous crimes of the “gang of four”” - and protest the overriding principle era of the “cultural revolution” - “art is in the service of politics.” “Painting of scars” did not remain in this non-servile capacity for long; the 3rd Plenum of the 11th CPC Central Committee in December 1978 proposed a similar policy of “free thinking” and “practical search for truth.”
Cynical realism
Li Xianting, a prominent art critic and curator (in particular, the organizer of the landmark exhibition “Stars” in 1979, which began the history of contemporary art in China), first used the term “cynical realism” in the article “The Feeling of Boredom and the Third After the Cultural Revolution “Generation of Artists” (1991). He wrote: “Cynical realists are the generation born in the 60s and in the 80s who have not yet graduated from universities. The period of their maturation coincided with the end of the “cultural revolution”; Since this generation entered primary school in the mid-70s, they have found themselves immersed in an era of constant change in social concepts... This is a new movement with a touch of pathetic attitude towards the modernism of the 80s... The feeling of boredom is not only the most sincere feeling experienced them in relation to their own life, but also the most optimal path to “self-salvation” in new conditions... The feeling of boredom makes them ridicule themselves, be cynical and indifferent to themselves and the surrounding reality, depicting absurd scenes.”
Yue Minjun. Red Boat, 1993
Canvas, oil
Li Xianting also recalls that “cynicism and scandalous humor... are not only signs of the post-1989 era, but are the traditional way of self-expression of the Chinese intelligentsia, examples of which can be found in Chinese history, especially during periods of severe pressure from political power.”
Political pop
Another term coined by critic Li Xianting. Along with “cynical realism,” “political pop” has been an important Chinese cultural export since the 1990s. Approximately, the direction can be defined as a mix of American pop art and propaganda images from the time of the “cultural revolution”; analogy to “political pop”, thus Russian Sots Art turns out to be precisely an analogy, and not a model and example: as Gao Minglu argues, when in 1992 he drew parallels between Sots Art and “political pop” in an article for Jiangsu magazine ", Chinese artists had never heard of social art.
Wang Guangyi. Materialistic Art, 2006
Diptych. Canvas, oil
Private collection
“Political pop” was developed by artists from Hubei Province - Wang Guangyi, Wei Guangqing, Li Banyao, Yang Guoxin, Ren Duo, Fan Shaohua and others - who declared the following about themselves: “In the system of traditional art, it is difficult to find any materials for the future development... We want to use easy methods and visual effects that people know well; and for art to become a part of life.” Wang Guangyi is considered the most influential among the “political pop” artists; the most successful is Zhang Xiaogang, who seems to be reproducing old photographs from a family album in his paintings, recalling the forcibly terminated “humane” era before the “Great Leap Forward” and the “Cultural Revolution.”
New wave 85
The term “new wave of 85” in China, in contrast to the “new wave” of the late 70s - early 80s in Europe and America, marks a community of artists who did not have any stylistic or ideological unity, and they were only a community in the mid-80s, when contemporary art in China entered a new stage in its history (a landmark event was the May 1985 exhibition “Exhibition of Works by Advanced Chinese Youth” “New Wave 85” at the Beijing Art Gallery).
Fan Lijun. Series 2, number 11, 1998
Canvas, oil
Image courtesy of Sotheby's Hong Kong
As for ideology, the “new wave of 85” represented a conglomerate of various trends. The “idealistic painting” of the Harbin group “Artists of the North” and the Zhejiang associations “New Space Exhibition-85” and “Zhejiang Young Art Week - Large Contemporary Art Exhibition” preached a “northern civilization” that was superior to both Western and traditional Chinese models. “Xiamen Dada,” whose main representative was Huang Yongping, combined in its practice Dadaism, Chan Buddhism and postmodernism, protesting in the Dadaist spirit, with Taoist cunning and with postmodernist indifference, everything that was previously considered art.
Academic realism
It took some time to free realistic painting from the burden of unpleasant associations associated with its participation in the red officialdom - and by 1987, when the “First Chinese Oil Painting Exhibition” took place, Chinese academicians formulated a platform for a kind of “art for art’s sake” and movement "New classic". From their point of view, you just need to pretend that Chinese realism does not have any legacy of the “damned past”, but there is a school, and a good one - after which it remains, now turning not to ideological, but to the most everyday, peasant-philistine subjects , do as before: draw carefully.
Wang Yidong. Scenic area, 2009
Canvas, oil
The first prominent representative of such a strategy is considered to be Jin Shangyi (a student of the socialist realist Maximov, now the chairman of the All-China Association of Artists, the main official creative union), and “The Tajik Girl”, written by him in the early 80s, became a textbook. Sky-high prices for authors like Wang Yidong or Chen Yifei (prices, importantly, on the domestic market, that is, among the Chinese buyer themselves) serve as proof that academicians are walking on the right path.
Chinese ink
Traditional genres in China have been reformed for as long as China itself, that is, 100-150 years. As a result of the repeated crossing of classical Chinese art with Western art, many hybrid forms were born along with the ideology that supported them. The largest representatives of Chinese contemporary art, such as Xu Bing and Gu Wenda, also pay tribute to the carcasses; As for the adherents, local art critics divide them into three types: rigid conservatives; half-hearted opportunists; and consistent principled breeders - these latter include, for example, Xu Beihong, the first rector of the Central Academy of Arts under the Communists.
Wu Guanzhong. Spring herbs, 2002
Paper, ink and paints
The rights to the image belong to the artist
Despite the fact that ink is an undisputed Chinese specialty, at one time it inspired certain ideological suspicions, precisely because of its antiquity and, therefore, potential “reactionary” and retrograde, as well as elitism. In contrast, oil painting, adopted from the Socialist Realists, flourished under Mao. And, as the most ideologically charged and genetically closest to the international art of the West, it was oil painting that was the first to experience the changes caused by the death of the Chairman and the events that followed it. However, the 80s were spent in constant discussions about the possibilities and prospects of classical ink painting, and the next decade was marked by the rapid development of authentic Chinese “guohua” (“state painting”) in all its many varieties, as well as the return of the oldest genres in a new quality - like “painting of educated people”, which now flourishes in Jiangsu, Shanghai and Beijing in the form of “new painting of educated people” (Tian Liming, Zhu Xinjiang, Chen Ping, Lu Yushun, etc.) - or calligraphy, where the entire 90s continued theoretical battles: thus, in 1992, the “Calligraphy Manifesto” was published, in 1993, the “Calligraphy Movement” appeared in Henan province, and already in 1995, artists from Shandong province launched the “Criticism of Calligraphy” project.
Experimental art
Experimental art in China is generally called and considered to be everything that does not fit into the framework of academic art or traditional art; the term “contemporary art” or “contemporary art” is not in use here. The first major exhibition of contemporary art, “Stars,” took place in 1979. The 80s were spent in ideological and aesthetic disputes (the first half of the decade), the emergence and demarcation of artistic groups (the second half).
Cai Guoqiang. Drawing for Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation: Ode to Joy, 2002
Paper, gunpowder
Image copyright Christie's Images Limited 2008. Image courtesy of Christie's Hong Kong
The May 1985 exhibition gave rise to the Chinese New Wave; The emblem of the next epoch-making exhibition “China/Vanguard” in 1989 was the “No U-Turn” sign, which, according to the organizers, symbolized the irreversibility of the changes that occurred in China after the death of Mao. The exhibition “Contemporary Art of China after 1989” in 1993 was, in fact, a review of artistic forces on the eve of the breakthrough of Chinese art to large foreign exhibitions and entry into the art market. In the 90s, performance art flourished, the preconditions for the current powerful infrastructure with museums, galleries, neighborhoods and even artist villages were created, and Chinese artists began to be invited to participate in landmark international projects, such as the Venice Biennale or the Kassel Documenta. Cai Guoqiang's Golden Lion in Venice in 1999, in addition to being a personal award, also marked the success of all Chinese contemporary art in recent years.