Rodin said that art thinks that beautiful things are only things with characteristics. By characteristics, he means strong authenticity-double authenticity: external authenticity and internal authenticity. Art thinks that ugly things are just featureless things, with neither external truth nor internal truth. Ugliness recognized in nature can be the most beautiful in art, because ugly things show more characteristics and it is easier to reveal their inner truth. His sculptures "The Beauty of Ugliness" and "The Beautiful Girl in the Palace" are typical works that transform the reality ugliness into artistic beauty.
He believes that real artists have a good eye for the natural mysteries of caves and candles, and emphasizes that "the source of art lies in the inner truth". He said that everything in nature is beautiful in front of a veritable artist; Because his eyes can accept all external truths and read all internal truths as in an unfolded picture. Just look at a person's face and he can see a soul. He experienced the humble life of animals in their foresight and action.
He said to express true feelings, true feelings, even if your feelings conflict with your inherent ideas. A true artist is not afraid to commit all established prejudices and honestly express his feelings. He accused that works that are pleasing to the eye and have no inner truth are by no means art, and copying "seeing" without "seeing" naturally cannot produce works of art. He warned against putting on airs to seduce the masses.
From it, I can see that Rodin's definition of art can be summarized in one sentence: discovering truth and expressing truth. What is "true"? The universality and inevitability of the development of things revealed in The Mystery of Nature, Plato's Formula and Aristotle's Imitation? Rodin himself said: the characteristics of things. That should be the different characteristics of different things, the essential attribute of a thing and the essential attribute of a state. Remove the connection, leaving only what can explain and show the essence of one thing different from others. This is what Rodin said. It's true. It takes a pair of discerning eyes to get rid of persistence and discover the essence. If something wants to look beautiful, on the one hand, it depends on its own characteristics, on the other hand, it depends on the audience's cognitive ability.
Diderot also expressed the identity of truth, goodness and beauty well. He said: "Beauty in art and truth in philosophy are based on the same foundation. What is this? Truth is the consistency of our judgment on things. Where is the beauty of imitation art? This kind of beauty is the consistency between the depicted image and things. "
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Finding the truth is indeed a difficult problem, and expressing the truth is even more difficult.
How to express the truth you found through artistic forms? Express your knowledge, feelings, feelings and thoughts about things?
This expression first highlights, focuses and magnifies the essential attributes of things, and even idealizes them through imagination. Of course, this kind of idealization should conform to the essence and law of things, and to the law of possibility and inevitability. As Aristotle put forward "describing the true colors of things", and as Zhu Guangqian summed up Bacon's point of view: art should idealize nature and improve people's minds by improving nature, which has dual functions of entertainment and education.
Second, the ability to express. Different art forms have different ways of expression, literature depends on language, calligraphy depends on lines, painting depends on colors and so on. And the following expression skills are different. The application of any artistic expression is first of all a kind of technology, which has its technical norms and needs continuous learning to master. Rodin said: "Real art hates skill" just to emphasize that what artists see in their eyes and express in their hands is from the heart. Instead of saying he didn't want skills, he said, "Who said you looked down on skills? Undoubtedly, skill is only the method. However, if an artist ignores this, he will never achieve his goal and will never be able to convey his emotions and thoughts. " "We must have a deep understanding of form and proportion, and we must be able to express all kinds of emotions freely. This is hard work that no inspiration can replace. When I say that people should not be aware of his skills, I don't mean that artists can be without skills. On the contrary, you must have a skilled wrist to express what you know. "
? The aesthete Miguel Mikel Dufrenne said that artists think with their hands. He said, "He who thinks with his hands is truly happy."
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Rodin expounded the mysterious beauty in art, which he believed was based on the infinite unknowability around the "known small world". A small part of our consciousness and soul can feel it, and the rest are immersed in infinite darkness. Confused emotions, sadness and drunkenness, boundless sky, and the mystery of how to survive, Rodin said: "My soul yearns for the dream kingdom and the boundless realm of freedom, which is really the deepest mystery to me."