The "China Seal·Dancing Beijing" emblem organically combines the zodiac seal, Chinese characters and the five-ring emblem, and is full of profound vitality. The land embodies the charm of the East and the West; the spirit of the Olympic Games is sublimated between the strokes.
"China Seal·Dancing Beijing" is no ordinary seal. She fills the biggest gap in the list of host cities in the nearly century-old history of the Olympic Games! She is the first step taken by the Chinese nation in the history of hosting the Olympic Games! She is the first interpretation of the Olympic Charter by Chinese civilization! She also has the largest number of people who have ever made a commitment to the Olympic Movement!
The French sculptor Rodin once said: "Beauty is everywhere. For our eyes, it is not a lack of beauty, but a lack of discovery." Next, the author wants to taste her beauty and explore her profound connotation from the perspective of culture and aesthetics.
1. Chinese Seal
Chinese seals were called Xi, Seal, Bao, Zhang in ancient times, "Seal", "Seal", "Record", "Zhu Ji", " "Contract", "Guanfang", "seal", "talisman", "deed", "deposit", "stamp", etc. are various customary names that have appeared in history. Ancient seals were popular in ancient times. Their simple and naive style reflects people's understanding and pursuit of beauty in different eras, and is imbued with the profound and mysterious beauty of history. Among them, there is a type of seal with pictures in it, which is the Xiao-shaped seal.
Xiao-shaped seal is a seal form that existed in my country in the pre-Qin Dynasty. The Han Dynasty was the prosperous period of ancient zodiac seals. The zodiac seals of that period include the "Four Spirits Seal", "Tiger Seal", "Deer Seal", "Phoenix Seal", "Fuxi Seal", "God Man Cao Snake Seal", etc., which depict national admiration and myths and legends. Seal patterns; there are also various types of zodiac seals that reflect real social life, such as "Inspiration Seal", "Drumming Seal and Yu Seal", "Long Sleeve Dance Seal" and other seal graphics; there are also "Cow Plowing Seal", "Juggling Seal", Seal forms such as "Animal Taming Seal" reflect the life and entertainment scenes of the Han Dynasty people from different aspects.
According to relics and historical records, seals were widely used in our country as late as the Warring States Period. Initially, the seal was used as a certificate when exchanging goods in commerce, and it was also a mark of credibility. After Qin Shihuang unified China, the scope of use of seals expanded to a legal object representing the rights and interests of those in power and a symbol of their power.
After you have a certain understanding of our country’s seals, if you try “China Seal·Dancing Beijing” again, you will find it even cuter. The strokes on her are like words but not words, like paintings but not paintings; the words are integrated into the paintings, and the paintings are included in the words; between the strokes, there is a graceful dance; in the dance rhyme, the pen and ink are indulgent; "Beijing2008" is written in bamboo slips and Chinese characters. It is also immersed in the profoundness of Chinese calligraphy art. All this not only condenses the development trajectory of ancient Chinese seals drawn from words, but also explains the mainstream view of ancient Chinese philosophy striving for moderation. These, coupled with the red ink pad and giant square seal that symbolize China, make "China Seal·Dancing Beijing" accumulate a large amount of historical information and rich cultural essence. No wonder the design director of the 1996 Atlanta Olympic Games and participant in the 2008 Olympic Games emblem One of them, Mr. Brad Copeland, saw "China Seal·Dancing Beijing" from many emblem designs and immediately said: She is from China!
2. Dancing Beijing
“China Seal·Dancing Beijing” is a metaphor for China’s credibility and stability. As the emblem of a sports meeting, she also shows the vitality and charm of Beijing. Beijing is dancing, dancing with the rhythm of the times; Beijing is not only a famous ancient city rich in cultural traditions, but also a modern city rich in innovative spirit - this is another meaning of "China Seal·Dancing Beijing".
According to investigation, the dance pattern painted pottery basin unearthed in Shangsunzhai, Datong County, Qinghai, about 5,000 years ago, is the oldest primitive dance image known to date in my country. On the inner wall of the pottery basin, there are three groups of dancers, with five people in each group dancing hand in hand.
There are nine sections of Daxia music and dance in ancient my country. During the performance, the actors wear fur hats and plain clothes, with a simple style. Wu music and dance in the Shang Dynasty were widely used in various sacrificial occasions. The emperor of Zhou Dynasty had the "Eight Yi" dance, and the Qin and Han Dynasties had special music and dance institutions. Zhao Feiyan at the end of the Western Han Dynasty was a well-known dancer. During the Wei, Jin, Southern and Northern Dynasties, hedonism was very popular among the gentry class, and they sang and danced all day long. The Sui and Tang Dynasties were an era when dance was very prosperous, among which "Nancy Dress and Feather Dance" and "Hu Xuan Dance" were the masterpieces.
The folk songs and dances of the Ming and Qing Dynasties are also very rich. Only the Han people have various titles such as Yangko, flower drums, tea picking, lanterns, Dalian incense, land boat racing, bamboo horses and so on. In modern times, traditional Chinese dance has regained its vitality and produced many excellent works, such as "Lotus Lantern", "Small Knife Club" and "Silk Road Flower Rain".
It can be seen that in every era of our country, dance has been inextricably linked with life. Our ancient ancestors performed various rituals and expressed various feelings along with dance, labor and sacrifice. We are hosting the Olympics for the first time. For such a world-wide event, we can certainly express it in the language of dance. The famous British abstract sculptor Moore said: "The most outstanding feature of all primitive arts is their vigorous vitality." It is this kind of vitality that we see in "China Seal·Dancing Beijing".
The humanoid pictures in "Chinese Seal·Dancing Beijing" seem familiar. This is the dance posture in the Dunhuang murals that has the same origin as the dance "Flower Rain on the Silk Road". The exaggerated body proportions and limb positions, stretched strokes and simple composition fully express the enthusiasm and heroism of Beijing people, while the unrestrained dancing fully heralds the future of Beijing. We seem to see a dancer full of enthusiasm and hope, passionate and energetic, cheering to those who cheer him. Of course, what he danced was not only people's enthusiasm, he also "danced" the Olympic concept of "faster, higher and stronger" freely.
3. A monument in the emblem
To understand more about the reason why "China Seal·Dancing Beijing" is used as the emblem of an Olympic Games, it is necessary for us to analyze the emblems of previous Olympic Games. Make a general inspection.
Counting "China Seal·Dancing Beijing", 46 emblems have appeared in the history of the Olympic Games. In the nearly century-old history of the Olympic Games, the Olympic Games emblem has evolved from scratch, from complexity to simplicity, and the emblem design has embarked on a path from concrete to abstract. In the previous Olympic Games, the emblem had not yet appeared, and the visual image representing the image of the Olympic Games was often provided by posters. The initial emblem patterns mostly represented the regional symbols or sports images of the host country; later, emblems that combined regional and sports patterns were produced; and later, abstract patterns appeared.
The above changes in the emblem pattern are completely consistent with the imprint of Western painting schools. Leaving aside the older academic and religious painting schools that focus on realism, just from the 19th century Romanticism (including Symbolism), Realism (including Naturalism) to Impressionism and later to Fauvism and Expressionism. , abstract art school, surrealist school and later postmodern school, the history of Western art has gone through a development path from "realism" to "abstraction" and then to "no theme". Whether from the perspective of aesthetic theory or art practice, abstract patterns are the patterns that best convey metaphorical meaning and are the patterns that best express ideas.
If "China Seal·Dancing Beijing" is regarded as a Chinese character "京", it is the first introduction of Chinese character glyphs in the history of Olympic emblems. Chinese characters are ideograms, a symbolic system of symbols. Every stroke in Chinese characters is full of metaphors for the atmosphere of life and the meaning of life. If "China Seal·Dancing Beijing" is regarded as a "human" painting, it is an outstanding application of Eastern painting expression techniques. Compared with the strict realistic methods in the West, Eastern paintings are more flexible and general in terms of space requirements, allowing virtualization and omission. But it is this kind of virtuality and omission that creates real and unlimited imagination space for the viewer. "Chinese Seal·Dancing Beijing" is a successful artistic practice that integrates Chinese calligraphy, seals, dance, painting art and Western modern art concepts. She expresses the ideas that people want to express, and also entrusts the ideals that people will ascribe to her. She belongs to China and the world. She will undoubtedly become an artistic monument in the history of the visual image of the Olympic movement.
"Chinese Seal·Dancing Beijing" stroke by stroke, each of its constituent elements carries the solemn Chinese cultural tradition and the exciting Olympic spirit, demonstrating advanced aesthetic concepts and high-spirited spirit. The passion of the times. What she brings to people is not only an unprecedented emblem in the history of the Olympic Games, but also another promotion of Chinese civilization in the history of world civilization.