Art Theory: A New Edition

Author: Liang Jiang
Publisher:
Publish Date: 2005-03-01
Features: Van Gogh's art is a passion like fire and a surging blood, the natural flow of his life energy. It is precisely because of this that his madness led him to completely reject mediocrity. In people's minds, Van Gogh's significance lies only in that he is a true, pure, and perhaps the only artist who can cross the barriers. This series of "Art Class" books is compiled for the development of art education in universities. Education is not only for the dissemination of knowledge and the cultivation of skills, but also for the cultivation of personalities that mark the progress of human civilization and social advancement, and university education is particularly so. Confucius said, "Enter a country, and you can know its education." Confucius meant that through different teaching materials, subjects, and educational models such as poetry, books, music, the I Ching, and rites to educate the people, different effects would be achieved in the cultivation of their personalities. Since the Industrial Revolution in Europe, the modern education system has gradually taken shape, greatly enriching the connotation of education. National education has long since moved beyond being limited to a single teaching material and educational model. From the perspective of personality cultivation, an educational model that combines multiple subjects is more suitable for cultivating comprehensive talents needed for social development. However, for China, the introduction of this education system has been too short, and it is far from being mature, inevitably with many shortcomings. The severe lag in art education is one of the important manifestations of these shortcomings. Compared to subjects that can more directly cultivate people's practical abilities, especially natural science subjects and other practical subjects, the importance of art education, especially its position in the entire basic education system, has far from been given enough attention. Humans are animals with spiritual lives and need spiritual lives. In the process of personality cultivation, the special significance of art education lies in tempering people's temperament and enriching their souls through poetic means, thereby enriching their spiritual world. In an era where human material desires have surged dramatically, leading to a severe imbalance between material and spiritual pursuits and distorted personalities, art, with its corrective role in promoting healthy personality development, is increasingly highlighting its special significance for human survival and the future. Over two thousand years ago, Confucius recognized that "gentleness and kindness, poetry education" and "gentleness and kindness without foolishness, then one is deeply versed in poetry." Indeed, the "gentleness and kindness" in temperament cannot be naturally acquired; it requires post-natal education and cultivation. If we the personality realm that Confucius advocates, it is not difficult to recognize the value of art and the value of art education. Indeed, with more and more knowledgeable individuals advocating for quality-oriented education, the significance of art education has also become a social consensus. Since the mid-1990s of the 20th century, art education in China has begun to rapidly heat up. In addition to the existing art professional colleges and secondary art professional schools that have been upgraded to art professional colleges, ordinary comprehensive universities have also established art departments and majors based on their public art teaching and research offices. However, due to the long-term emphasis on technical-level teaching in the field of art professional education, basic historical and theoretical research has lagged severely. Everywhere feels a lack of suitable teaching materials and reference materials, and the need for basic art history and theory textbooks for art departments and majors in ordinary universities, especially qualified teaching materials and reference materials for popularizing basic art knowledge for non-art majors, is particularly urgent. Therefore, organizing experts to compile a series of works on art history and theory, forming a relatively complete library of art history and theory with works from different categories, is a timely measure. For this reason, we invited famous experts from various art disciplines in China to compile this series of books, which includes five major categories: music, fine arts, theater, dance, and film and television. Each category is divided into three volumes: history, theory, and materials. This allows readers to have a basic understanding of the overall situation or basic principles of the art in that category with just one volume in hand, and to master the most important historical documents in that field. The authors of this series are all experts who have immersed themselves in their respective fields for many years, are knowledgeable, and have sharp insights. Therefore, it is possible to convey the core knowledge and thought-provoking ideas of each art category in a relatively moderate volume. The design of this series aims to make the library more practical and distinctive than similar books on the market, and is also more suitable for the teaching of art departments in non-professional art colleges, the research of art college teachers and students on non-major art categories, and cultivating the interest of ordinary university students in encountering and appreciating art. Art was born with the birth of human civilization and has been changing along with the process of human civilization. Therefore, every nation has developed various categories of art, but the art that emerges in the process of each civilization's development is also different. Even within the same category of art, different nations may have significant differences in aesthetic orientation and development paths. Art is often national, yet it is also the endeavor of all humanity. How to balance the national and global aspects of art is a great challenge for all the authors of this series. To view art as a common spiritual pursuit of all humanity and to grant it a global perspective in research is the new artistic view that this series strives to embody, and it is also a special response from many experts in the field of contemporary Chinese art research to the era of globalization. Therefore, during the compilation process, this series has always paid attention to discussing each nation's art as an integral part of the overall world art. To ultimately achieve this goal, it requires the joint efforts of more experts and scholars. What we have done is only a new attempt; whether it is close to the desired goal and to what extent it is close to this goal still needs to be tested by readers and peers. We look forward to feedback from readers and peers, and hope that this series can open the door to art for readers and that readers will enjoy it.