Human and Painting Professional Reference Series for Art Students in Higher Education

Author: Gao Shengkui
Publisher:
Publish Date: 2004-02-01
Features: A focus on the human body, as early inhabitants of the Chinese land had already demonstrated this from childhood. This very expression became a starting point for human civilization. Whether it was the Eight Trigrams used for divination or ancient scripts that recorded the lives of early people, they all followed the path of observing the vast world (including humans themselves) to create abstract forms. Especially in the case of writing, its principles largely reflect the imagery and contexts of human activities. Thus, humans' concern for themselves has a long tradition.
However, on the other side of the world, in ancient Greece, due to the influence of martial and competitive ideologies, the ancient Greeks had already demonstrated their appreciation for the beauty of the human body in sculpture. This aesthetic tradition continued to influence the 14th and 15th centuries after the Common Era, with the rise of the Renaissance. The emerging class broke through the ideological constraints of the Middle Ages and reaffirmed the value of humanity. Guided by humanistic spirit and scientific thought, the beautiful human body once again became an aesthetic object, greatly promoting the prosperity of sculpture and painting, as well as the development of social civilization, and ushering in the modern era.
With the rise of photographic art, the appreciation of human beauty gained another artistic path. The rich capabilities of photographic tools and the skilled mastery of photographers have opened up broader spaces for the expression of human beauty, greatly compensating for the shortcomings of sculpture and painting in representing the human form. This has made photographic art deeply loved by people. This book compares and verifies the beauty of the human body in classic sculptures and paintings with that in photography. On one hand, it illustrates that all beautiful things are interconnected. On the other hand, it shows that the beauty of the human body in reality is not merely material but also spiritual.
In summary, recognizing, admiring, and appreciating the beauty of the human body, from a certain perspective, is a sign of social civilization and cultural development. Conversely, the exploration and appreciation of human beauty will inevitably have a positive impact on the growth of the human spirit. I believe the content presented in this book will definitely have this positive effect.