The educational goal of humanities is to develop human nature, perfect personality, provide correct values or meaning theory, and establish correct humanistic value orientation for society.
The ancients said, "Civilization ends with human nature. Observe astronomy, observe the changes of time, observe human nature and turn it into the world. "
Humanistic quality is an intrinsic thing. Mencius said: "Benevolence, courtesy and wisdom are rooted in the heart, and their colors are also the quintessence of the country." They are seen on the face, stolen from behind and applied to four bodies. The four bodies speak for themselves. "
Focus on octupole and go to Wan Ren.
Some people generalize it as the so-called scattered perspective, which is completely different from the "focus perspective" of western painting. The ancients summarized this ever-changing viewing rule as the "three-distance" method. Guo, a great painter in the Song Dynasty, said: "The mountain is three miles away: from the foot of the mountain to the top of the mountain, it is called high. Looking at the back of the mountain from the front is profound. Looking far from the near mountain is called the plain. The lofty color is bright, the far-reaching color is heavy, and the flat color is bright. "
When you act like this, when you feel and think with actions, you have unconsciously stepped into aesthetics.
Laozi: Heaven and earth are beautiful without saying anything.
An aesthetic proverb is "interest is indisputable", which means that personal aesthetic preference is indisputable.
In the view of classical philosophers, the only way to know the truth is rational thinking, while perceptual knowledge is impossible to grasp the truth.
"The purpose of aesthetics is the perfection of perceptual knowledge itself (perfect perceptual knowledge), and this perfection is beauty."
Is beauty or ugliness inherent in the object under investigation? Or in the eyes of the viewer?
Three branches of philosophy
Logic-Pure Reason-Thought-Truth
Ethics-practical reason-will-goodness
Aesthetics-Judgment-Emotion-Beauty
Human knowledge is a complex system. Roughly speaking, we can summarize this huge and all-encompassing knowledge system into several major disciplines. The first is natural science (science), including some basic sciences, such as physics, chemistry, mathematics, life sciences, etc. Followed by technical science (engineering), such as computer science, mechanical engineering, chemical engineering, material science and so on. Third, social sciences (one of the liberal arts), such as economics, law, politics, sociology, etc. The last category is humanities (second liberal arts), such as literature, language, history, philosophy and art.
The most familiar things are often the most inconsiderate.
Why did Gu Kaizhi, a great painter in the Eastern Jin Dynasty, draw portraits for several years without anyone noticing? His reason is that "a vivid portrayal is just around the corner"? Why did Zhang Xu, a great calligrapher in the Tang Dynasty, realize his brushwork only after seeing Gong Sundaniang's sword dance, and his calligraphy improved greatly? Why do earrings solve the problem of cattle, "seeing God but not seeing, doing things for the official Zhi Zhi" and "integrating with mulberry dance as the first meeting"? Why did Lao Tzu pretend to say "loud and happy" and "elephant invisible"? There are countless such mysteries.
The guest once painted for the King of Qi. The King of Qi asked, Who is the most difficult to paint well? Yue: Dogs and horses are the hardest. Who is the easiest to cook? Yue: Ghosts are the easiest. Everyone knows everything. It's hard to stick to the past without that. Ghosts and invisible people used to smell bad, so it's easy. "That is to say, what we are used to is actually not easy to draw, because we are so familiar with it that it is easy to judge whether it is good or not. On the contrary, ghosts that have never been seen are easy to draw, because there is no need to imitate them realistically.
Su Dongpo's poem said: On the similarity of paintings, we can see that there are children in the neighborhood.
The sounds are different, so the characters in the south are different from those in the north. Generally speaking, the land in the north is thick and profound, and people's livelihood is mostly practical; The south is rich in land, and people's livelihood is mostly empty. The people are still practical, so the articles written are nothing more than notes and analysis; The people are still nothing, so their articles are either vivid or lyrical. Confucianism is the product of northern culture, while Taoism is considered as the crystallization of southern culture. Confucianism actively joined the WTO, while Taoism passively avoided the world. All China people are Confucianists when they succeed, and Taoists when they fail. Confucian aesthetics advocates harmony while Taoist aesthetics pursues beauty. Confucian aesthetics is the humanization of art and Taoist aesthetics is the artistry of life.
"The son's name is Shao:' Great, not bad. "Quality wins literature, and literature wins history. Gentle, then a gentleman. " Guan Wei is happy but not lewd, sad but not hurtful. "From these classic expressions, the core of Confucianism is obviously to emphasize a kind of' harmony' of unity of opposites. Therefore, "harmony" is not only the aesthetic requirement of art itself, but more importantly, the emotion expressed by art should be controlled by "ceremony". Therefore, Confucian aesthetics particularly emphasizes that the important role of art in traditional society is not only emotional pleasure, but also the formation of social order and human harmony.
Demi, the "two kings" of calligraphy (Wang Xizhi and Wang Xianzhi), thinks that Ou Yangxun is "cold and frugal" and Liu Gongquan is "exhausted", and "there are vulgar books since Liu". "If you keep your heart and write at will, it will be natural and quaint."
Based on his "inaction" theory, Laozi put forward the view that "all five colors are blind and all five tones are deaf" and advocated the ideal of a small country with fewer people and less selfish desires. Zhuangzi inherited the tradition of Laozi, emphasizing "no self", "inaction" and "namelessness" in life.
China pays attention to expression, while western art pays attention to reproduction.
Zong Baihua took "jade" as the embodiment of this aesthetic view, which was very convincing. In his view, China has always regarded "jade" as the ideal of beauty, and the beauty of jade is the beauty of "gorgeous to plain". All the beauty of art, even the beauty of personality, tends to the beauty of jade: there is luster inside, subtle luster outside, and it is extremely gorgeous and plain.
Doing nothing, doing nothing, is tasteless. Li Bai has the so-called "clear water produces hibiscus, natural decoration"; Du Fu emphasized "taking the true nature directly". Mei Yaochen said: "Poetry is ancient and modern, plain and difficult to write." Su Shi bluntly said: "It is difficult for the weather to be magnificent, colorful, old and mature."
Ink and wash five-color tool, Zhang Yanyuan
The art historian of Venus describes the charm of this statue in this way: Although this semi-naked female statue is beautiful, healthy and full of vitality, it does not give people the impression of softness or lewdness. Its turning posture is generous and even "majestic"; There is an open self-esteem in the quiet expression. She is not a slave of others, so there is no need to please or tease others deliberately; She doesn't want to be above others, so she doesn't feel arrogant. In front of her, people feel kindness, joy and yearning for perfect people and life freedom.
Greek art has a temperament, that is, noble simplicity and quiet greatness.
Horses fly north in the autumn wind, and apricot blossoms are in Jiangnan Spring.
Winkelmann: Beauty is a bit like the purest water drawn from a spring. The more tasteless, the healthier, because it means eliminating any impurities.
Fisher, an aesthete, pointed out: "Duchamp thus disintegrated many basic assumptions that constitute visual art: 1) Art is handmade; 2) Art is unique; 3) Art should look beautiful or beautiful; 4) Art should express certain views; 5) Art should require skill or technology. " It can be speculated that Duchamp's intention is to let us forget the appearance of traditional art and give up making any "beauty" judgment when watching his "works".
The beauty and sublimity of the west originated from the rationality of Greece and Hebrew, and also related to the spirit of Apollo and Dionysus. China's beauty of Yin and Yang originated from the theory of Yin and Yang in China's ancient philosophy. "The way to establish heaven is yin and yang, and the way to stand on the ground is rigid and soft." (Liu Xizai)
Goethe once said that a person who can only appreciate beauty is weak, and a person who can appreciate sublimity, tragedy, absurdity and even ugliness has a sound aesthetic taste.
This process shows that all artistic creation activities originate from the real life of a specific social culture, and artists observe and experience them to form a specific theme or theme. Then, through the artist's inner conception and resort to expression, artistic works are born, and artistic works materialize the artist's inner experience and thoughts. Once a work of art appears, it has an inherent attraction or call to the viewer. In other words, a work of art itself is a thing, but it is different from other things. Because works of art contain the artist's creative intention and emotional experience, they are spiritual and spiritual objects, calling for the intentional introduction of the viewer.
In aesthetics, an important difference between artistic works and non-artistic works is that the former exists for people's aesthetics and has no practical function. In more professional aesthetic terms, it is what Kant called "non-utilitarian" aesthetics. The so-called non-practical means that an object only exists as an object of appreciation and has no use function. Aestheticists have revised that practical items can also become works of art, but when they are regarded as works of art, what people see is no longer its practical function or usefulness, but its aesthetic characteristics.
The more realistic the work is, the more it can arouse clear cognitive pleasure. On the one hand, it makes the viewer get clear image information, on the other hand, it makes the viewer admire the painter's superb imitation ability.
Zheng Banqiao: In autumn, the officers will be clear, and in the morning, the bamboo will be seen, and the smoke and light will be exposed, all floating among the sparse branches and dense leaves. All I can think about is paintings. In fact, the bamboo in the chest is not the bamboo in the eye. Therefore, grinding ink to spread paper, putting pen to paper is disguised, and the bamboo in the hand is not the bamboo in the chest. In short, it means to write first, and the rules are also; Those who intentionally stay out of the law will become machines. Draw a cloud alone! Imagine that in the process of artistic creation, if genuine bamboo is exactly the same as "bamboo in the eye", "bamboo in the chest" and "bamboo in the hand", there is no difference and change, then artistic creation will lose the motivation to drive people to explore and discover, and it will become a simple copying process, which will be unremarkable.
The philosopher Cahill put it well: "The artist chooses a certain aspect of reality, but this selection process is also an objectification process. When we enter his lens, we have to look at the world from his eyes, as if we have never observed the world from this special aspect before. "
The reproduced object (artistic work) truly reproduces the reproduced object, which shows that although art is not reality itself, it presents some aspects of reality in its unique way of expression and reveals authenticity, so art has certain truth function.
Zhong You, a great calligrapher in the Western Jin Dynasty, said: "Calligraphy is also a world, and beautiful people are extraordinary. Seeing all kinds of things, it is like a mountain, like a rain line, as thin as a millimeter, as light as a floating cloud, people who leave are like a trip to Mingfeng, and people who come are like tourists entering the flower forest. " This means that calligraphy with a pen is also associated with painting. Li, a great calligrapher in the Tang Dynasty, said: "The mountains and rivers of heaven and earth are flowing, and the sun, the moon and the stars are bright in latitude and longitude. Close to the body, away from everything, as for the realm of ghosts and gods, as for joys and sorrows, there is no end. "
If the theory of representation highlights the realistic description relationship between art and the real world, then the theory of expression focuses on the expression of art and the artist's inner world; If expressionism is to solve the real imitation of the external objective world, then expressionism highlights how works of art strongly convey the artist's feelings, ideas or spiritual temperament.
"Poets, ambition is also, in the heart for ambition, words for poetry. Emotion moves in the middle and forms in words. It is not enough to say it, so it is a sigh; Lament for lack, so sing forever; Without eternal singing, I don't know how to dance with my hands. I can dance with my feet. "
The whole process of art is: emotion (artist's) → feeling → artwork → feeling → emotion (viewer's).
"Spring mountains are like laughter, summer mountains are like anger, autumn mountains are like makeup, winter mountains are like sleep, and the meaning of four mountains is beyond words and people can speak." (Hunnantian)
As the ancient poem says, "There is nothing, so it is boundless." That is to say, there are too many things in my mind, too excited or too volatile, which is not conducive to artistic creation. This shows that for artistic creation, not any emotional state can enter the creative realm, and emotions need to be precipitated, separated and diluted.
Don't make emotions a slave to skills, don't indulge emotions and destroy skills. Therefore, the artistic expression of emotion needs to adjust emotion itself. It is in this sense that we say that artistic emotion is different from daily emotion, and it is an adjusted and formalized emotion.
At this point, we can draw a conclusion that an artist is not only a master of skills, but also a person who is sensitive to emotional experience and expression. Without this, he may lack an important "artistic temperament." exist
Wordsworth: A poet talks to people as a person. He is a person, more sensitive, more worried, warmer, more understanding of human nature and more open soul than the average person; He likes his enthusiasm and will, and his inner vitality makes him much happier than others; He is willing to observe similar passions and wills in cosmic phenomena and is used to creating them himself where he has not found them. In addition to these characteristics, he also has a temperament, which is more easily moved by things that are not in front of him than others, as if they are all in front of him; He has an ability to arouse enthusiasm from his own heart, which is very different from the enthusiasm aroused by real events. ..... a man can express his thoughts and feelings more quickly, especially those thoughts and feelings, not because of direct external stimuli, but because of his choice or the structure of his mind.
Various artistic forms of expressionism come from the imitated or reproduced real world, and the forms emphasized by expressionism come more from the artist's subjective reaction and understanding of this real world.
Sculpture is subtraction, painting is addition. Art is a process in which artists constantly "shape", from scattered intangible clay tires to perfectly shaped sculptures, from chaotic root carvings to complete root carving works. From this perspective, art is a configuration process from intangible to tangible, an organization process from chaos to order, and a transformation process from miscellaneous to unified.
Lines or shapes are not lifeless, but have certain emotional characteristics and symbolic significance. Straight lines represent decisiveness, firmness and strength, while curves represent hesitation, flexibility and decorative effects.
In the stage of modernism, the expressive force of art is highlighted, and the emotional factors of artists become very important. When the reappearance of realism is no longer the only closure of art, the formal elements gradually move from the background to the foreground.
If the reproduction art is to integrate the artist's emotion into the realistic picture, then the expressive works directly express the emotion, with form as the direct medium of the emotion.
Ye Xie put forward: "The ancients wrote poems, so did I. I wrote poems myself, not narratives. Therefore, any poem is called a new poem. ..... I will say what my predecessors didn't say, send what my predecessors didn't send, and then my poem. " Shi Tao also has a wonderful theory: "I am me, I am there." The ancients couldn't leave my face, and the hearts of the ancients couldn't enter my stomach. I spontaneously felt my heart and exposed my eyebrows.
The world is inexhaustible wealth, but we turn a blind eye and turn a deaf ear to it because we are too familiar and selfish. Although we have a heart, we can neither feel nor understand it. In this discussion, the Romantic poets put forward that the function of art lies in liberating people from familiar and sheltered daily experience and looking at beautiful and amazing things in the world with new eyes. Why can't we see this in our daily life? The reason is that too familiar, selfish and utilitarian narrow-minded eyes hinder our discovery. In fact, this thought is also well expressed in China's classical aesthetics. Wang Fuzhi wrote: Those who can prosper are called heroes. Xing, sexual life depends on qi. It's natural to drag incense, but it's not. All day long, you can't spend as much time as Luwei Tian Zhai's wife. You are paid by the meter. You don't know its height when you look up at the sky, and you don't know its thickness when you look down at the ground. Although you feel like a dream, you regard it as blind. Although you are diligent in moving your body and your heart is ineffective, you are not happy. Sages teach poetry to purify their hearts, shock their virtues, accept them as heroes, and then become saints, saving people from troubled times.
Children's eyes are a kind of strange eyes. Looking at the world with different eyes is to discover the beauty and surprise of the world (defamiliarization theory).
The habit of daily life is dark, which dulls our sensitivity and makes us tend to be unconscious and mechanical. Therefore, art undertakes an important function, which is to maintain and strengthen our keen sense.
Kafka's novels of the same color and Beckett's plays of the Absurd are all aimed at destroying the way we are used to appreciating and feeling, challenging the old habits of the appreciator, and then providing a brand-new and unfamiliar world view. From this point of view, the defamiliarization form of art has surpassed the narrow and dangerous formalism and gained the possibility of "revolution" and "subversion". By entering the art world and looking at this strange world through the eyes of artists, people have subtly changed their old and mediocre ideas and views, and then reached a new understanding and understanding of the real world.
In people's general impression, artists are really different from ordinary people, not only because of their personality, but also because of their profession, which seems to require a special psychological temperament. Even in modern society, artists are often dissolute and eccentric, so there is a lot of common sense or prejudice about artists, such as artists are crazy, artistic geniuses are mentally ill, it is a bit strange to engage in art, and so on. Indeed, in a society that increasingly emphasizes that social behavior and lifestyle conform to norms, and in a culture that is more and more disciplined, artists seem to become a symbol of a unique lifestyle-unrestrained and unique aesthetic survival.
Su Shi, a great poet in the Song Dynasty, said with deep feelings about his prose creation: "My prose is like a fountain, gushing out and gurgling on the flat ground. Although it is difficult in a day, it twists and turns with the stone, and it is unpredictable with things. " The knower always does what they do and ends up in the deep stone, that's all. Although there is nothing else, there is nothing I don't know.
"People never said it, but they began to say it." "It is not with the heel of the world, nor with the heel of the ancients. The ancients learned without being thin, and there are natural articles in the world, which are announced by my touch "(Ye Xie)
According to Picasso's biography, this famous western painter often appears in some children's art exhibitions. After a visit, a reporter asked him what he thought. Picasso said a thought-provoking sentence: "When I was their age, I could paint like Raphael, but it took me a lifetime to learn to paint like them." Because only like children can we get rid of the stereotype in painting and observe nature without any prejudice.
Art is a memorandum of the country, a clerk of civilization and a witness of history ... We love art because it stimulates our emotions and imagination. So we love art, because art allows us to transcend the rigid and mediocre daily life; We linger in art because in art, we catch a glimpse of the past, present and future, and we reflect on ourselves in art.
Actually, it's not strange to us. In advertisements, picture books, postcards and even T-shirts, "Mona Lisa" frequently appears. Some experts say that the extensive reproduction of this kind of image actually hinders our appreciation of the original, making it difficult for us to feel fresh. Therefore, "we might as well forget what we know, or what I think you know about this painting, and appreciate it as if it were the first time we saw it."
According to legend, Wang Yangming, a philosopher in the Ming Dynasty, traveled to Nanzhen with friends. A man pointed to a flower tree in the mountain and asked, "This flower falls in the mountain. What does it have to do with my heart? " Wang Yangming replied: "when you didn't see this flower, it died with you;" When you look at this flower, the color of this flower will be understood in a moment; Is that this flower is not in your heart. "
The philosopher Sartre said: If no one pays attention to a landscape, it will lose its "witness", so it will inevitably stagnate in "eternal ignorance".
Readers perform poems when they read them, and novels when they read them with their eyes. Because the book itself is just a lifeless dark existence: the words and symbols written on a piece of white paper, their meaning still stays in a potential state before they are realized. "
When we stand in front of this painting, you clearly feel the Mona Lisa's eyes: "She looks at you, she looks at you, and her eyes will induce your gaze. Those eyes are like fireballs shining far away in the evening after getting lost, shining brightly, calling you and tempting you to find her. And you suddenly have the eyesight of an owl, the brisk pace of a wild cat, and the sensitivity of an old sailor to observe the sunset glow. "
I think, when you stare at Mona Lisa, you must have your own thoughts and feelings, and integrate your understanding of life and the world into it. You can see Mona Lisa through the painter's eyes and see how Mona Lisa views herself through your own eyes. The interaction of eyes and the collision of thoughts constitute the dynamic process of aesthetic activities.
Interest is a selective emotional judgment. Laozi said: the export of Tao is tasteless. Doing nothing, doing nothing, is tasteless.
What they want to see is also very different from what they see. The so-called "generous people clap their hands together, borrowers see the secret dance high, floating wise people see the strange dance, and those who love the strange smell it." Wenxindiaolong
The class difference of aesthetic taste is a kind of "division" in the sociological sense, which reveals the cultural preferences and preferences of different social groups and strata.
Scientific works require clear, accurate and unambiguous language, while poetic language is just the opposite. It strives to maintain its own fuzziness and polysemy, thus maintaining the vitality of artistic language.
Wisdom is as difficult to impart as knowledge. It needs more inner consciousness and deeper introspection and recognition.
As one of humanistic knowledge, aesthetics is not as practical as applied science, but "uselessness" means "great use"! Although aesthetics can't teach you how to make money, how to go to court and how to coordinate interpersonal relationships, it can enhance your spiritual realm and aesthetic taste, enrich your life feelings and experiences, improve your personality and enrich your wisdom.
The mediocrity, triviality and slowness of daily life have the function of killing people's will and personality. It lets people know that "everything that started from the beginning was shattered overnight". ... any secret loses its power. "Daily life may lead people to mediocrity and triviality, which will suppress daily life to some extent. Boredom and boredom are the typical mentality of daily life. From this perspective, there is obviously some inertia and conservatism in daily life.
The mode of daily life inhibits people's creative behavior in many ways, and the current exam-oriented education mode in China is a typical one.
In modern society, perceptual impulse and formal impulse are opposites. Emotional impulse refers to instinctive impulse, while formal impulse refers to moral impulse. The latter wants to suppress the former and the former wants to resist the latter. The split between the two forms a crack in modern human nature.
When people indulge in the continuous improvement of the standards of food, clothing, housing and transportation, they forget and ignore their inner spiritual needs, forget to nourish their spirit, and no longer attach importance to cultivating their own aesthetic taste.
If he finally wants to get his own peace, then musicians must compose music, artists must paint and poets must write. Man must be what he can be. We call this demand self-realization. (Marmoset's hierarchy theory)
Goethe said: "There is no more reliable way to escape from this world than art; There is no more reliable way to integrate with the world than art. "
Real life full of competition often makes people more and more sophisticated and vulgar. Survival skills and interest drive lock people in various practical and utilitarian considerations, and childlike innocence and innocence in human nature are ruthlessly suppressed.
Aesthetic activities provide people with a spiritual edification and a pleasant imagination space, breaking the limitations imposed on individuals by specific daily life. Any individual always lives in a specific environment, which not only adapts to it, but also limits his possibilities.
Anyone with artistic temperament and aesthetic quality must be tolerant, respect differences, pursue equality, care for humanity and listen to others.
Rodin said that great artists only find beauty where people are used to it; Rilke told young people earnestly that in the eyes of creators, nothing is bland.
Daily life constantly makes people adjust and socialize through various strategies, thus creating a large number of "ordinary people" and "mediocre people". Like others, it is not only a survival mode, but also the safest way, because "being different" often contains danger.
Try your best to stretch your imagination and cultivate your aesthetic sensitivity and sympathy for things. I firmly believe that nothing in the world is static: the sun is new every day, and work is changing every day. Adhere to your own personality and the spirit of independent thinking and criticism. More frankness and childlike interest, less indifference and sophistication; More game spirit and "amateur" attitude, less professional utility and pragmatism; More self-care for the perceptual world, less repression and obedience to instrumental rationality. Learn to look at your living environment from an aesthetic perspective.