"Meaningful form" refers to the understanding of "artistic essence" put forward by British art critic clive bell. Through "post-impressionism" painting, Bell discovered the composition of lines and colors and the independent value and significance of their arrangement and combination in works of art. He called this composition and arrangement a "meaningful form".
"Shape" means that for a person with aesthetic ability, the special combination of color and line produces aesthetic feeling, so this special combination of color and line becomes "shape"; "Yi" is a special and indescribable aesthetic emotion, which is produced when a person with aesthetic ability comes into contact with form. This is called "meaning".
Second, the important influence of the concept of "meaningful form"
(1)' s emphasis on form reflects the changes in artistic creation and the turning point in aesthetic research since19th century. Since ancient Greece, western art has always paid attention to reappearing reality, and western aesthetics is dominated by Aristotle's "imitation theory". Although there are some tendencies to pay attention to form, they are basically tributaries, and this situation was not changed until Cezanne appeared. Cezanne abandoned the reappearance factor and replaced it with the subjective reconstruction of painting form. Since then, formalism has gradually formed a huge trend, and clive bell's Meaningful Form just defends and summarizes this trend of thought aesthetically.
(2) "meaningful form" directly provides a theoretical basis for modernist creation. It promoted the development of modernist art and had a far-reaching impact on aesthetics. In order to break the mechanical form-content dichotomy in traditional aesthetics, carry out the research on the corresponding relationship between emotion and form, and reveal the independence of artistic works, a new idea has been opened up.
Third, the defects of the concept of "meaningful form".
(1) mystify the problem. Careful scrutiny of Bell's theory of meaningful form reveals the disadvantages of his circular argument, that is, mystifying the problem and ultimately failing to solve the essence of meaning, which brings some shortcomings to his theory.
(2) Degraded all reproduction art and realism. Bell doesn't think form is the only thing. He believes that the combination of lines and colors embodies a special meaning, which comes from the artist's spirit. However, Bell did not fully explain what "meaning" is and how to arouse aesthetic feeling. He even said that "meaning is form". His theory emphasizes the value of art form, but this concept belittles all reproducible and realistic art. The root cause of Bell's embarrassment lies in negative reappearance, and there is only one way to get rid of it. Adhering to art is the reappearance of life. Aesthetic emotion does not come from the pure form of color blocks and lines mentioned by clive bell, but from social life. Art is a reflection of social life.