A Comparison of Chinese and Western Art

Author: Kong Xinmiao / Zhang Ping
Author Country: China
Publisher:
Publish Date: 2002-01-01
Features: The novelty of this book lies in breaking away from the conventional approach of introducing Eastern and Western art as two unrelated systems. It adopts a new perspective to examine the characteristics of creative thinking in Eastern and Western painting, and through comparative analysis of classic works from ancient and modern times across cultures, it reveals the similarities and differences in the aesthetic cultural features of Eastern and Western art. Using the "comparative research" method, it interprets the historical development and mutual influence of Eastern and Western artistic concepts and painting languages against the backdrop of contemporary transformations in Eastern and Western art.
Excerpt:
Section II: The Historical and Social Changes of Aesthetics in Modern Eastern and Western Art have altered the spiritual lives of people living in them. The historical transition from ancient to modern times in both Eastern and Western societies has given rise to new creative landscapes in art. Moreover, due to different cultural traditions and realities, this transition from ancient to modern times has shown distinct aesthetic trends in Eastern and Western art.
I. From "Strangeness" to "Vulgar Imagery": The Harmony Rift
In the history of Chinese culture, we observe a phenomenon: during turbulent periods marked by regime changes and sharp national conflicts, the emotions reflected in literati painting were primarily the "serene detachment" of "needing nothing from the world, nor being disturbed by praise or criticism" (Qian Xuan, Yuan Dynasty). Feudal literati adeptly transformed the contradictions, frustrations, and conflicts between personal and social life, between their nation and external enemies, between ideals and reality into aesthetic expressions of "writing the free spirit in one's heart." However, this expression was not a high-profile transformation of aesthetic form or an exaggeration of creative individuality. Instead, it often sought an introspective experience of simplicity and innocence.
The fundamental reason for this unique mindset—resisting external pressures by retreating inward—was pointed out by Mr. Jin Yueling as the ancient philosophical worldview of "subject merging into object, or object merging into subject, upholding fundamental unity, eliminating all significant differences, and achieving a state where the individual and the universe are one." In other words, the ideal realm of classical Chinese aesthetics was achieved through art by harmonizing human and nature, individual and society, reality and ideal, sensibility and rationality, as well as contradictions like loyalty to the ruler and serving the country, practical application and unfulfilled talent. This harmonization, through the unity of poetry and painting and the mutual fusion of subject and object, cleverly dissolved these contradictions into nothingness in a subtle, transcendent simplicity, providing an aesthetic escape route from real-life disappointments and setbacks. In this sense, classical Chinese poetry and painting served as a unique sanctuary and refuge for intellectuals to collect and balance their minds.
But history wields a mighty hand to change everything. Since the mid-Ming Dynasty, with the development of productivity and class contradictions within China's feudal society, the classical harmonious world of art began to show internal rifts. At that time, China's commercial economy flourished, and frequent commercial activities led to the prosperity of urban life, particularly in the rise of numerous commercial towns in the Jiangnan region. New lifestyles inevitably brought new values. Merchants no longer appeared as humble and petty as in the past, simply because the power of wealth encouraged them to boldly enter social, political, and cultural life, gradually playing a role. The wealthy merchants in Jiangnan became objects of admiration, and a hedonistic lifestyle gradually spread, while feudal ethical norms faced strong challenges from urban consciousness. In the realm of philosophy, this period saw a transition from objective idealism to subjective idealism, with Neo-Confucianism replaced by Wang Yangming's Mind School.
We know that the Song and Ming dynasties were dominated by Neo-Confucianism, which was an evolution of Confucian thought. Its fundamental characteristic was an attempt to reconstruct Confucianism using the dialectical theoretical systems of Buddhism and Taoism, elevating ethics to a metaphysical principle and rebuilding human philosophy. However, by later stages, Neo-Confucianism had become a rigid ruling ideology, confining people's thoughts. Mind School emerged as the opposite of Neo-Confucianism. Wang Yangming's Mind School took the mind as the metaphysical principle, meaning "establishing an inner ethics based on an external cosmology, which ultimately reverted to psychology-physiology, and theoretically collapsed the entire Neo-Confucian system."
Li Zhi, a late Ming thinker who inherited and developed Wang Yangming's Mind School, proposed the concept of "innocent heart," boldly critiquing the feudal ethical norms and aesthetic ideals revered for millennia. The "innocent heart" refers to innocence untainted by the world, or true sincerity. Li Zhi believed that to be human is to maintain one's unique and genuine self. To be imprisoned by feudal ethics and morality could only result in becoming a "fake person." He argued that the drive of selfish desires was "natural," and that "wearing clothes and eating were part of human ethical norms" (Volume 1, "Reply to Geng Zhongcheng," Burning Books). Here, Li Zhi explicitly elevated human natural inclinations, desires, and physical pleasures to the metaphysical foundation of being human, clearly differing from the transcendental worldview of the "refined" style in Song and Yuan literati painting.
Furthermore, he advocated that art should not take collective ethical norms as its guiding principle but should instead be based on individual natural tendencies. The "innocent heart" is pure and unadulterated, the original heart at the very beginning of thought. If one loses the innocent heart, one loses the true self. Once a person is fake, everything becomes fake. Thus, speaking to a fake person with a fake face makes the fake person happy; dealing with a fake person with fake matters makes the fake person happy; discussing with a fake person with fake words makes the fake person happy. Everything is fake, so everything is pleasing. In a world full of fakes, how can a short-sighted person discern anything? But even with the greatest works in the world, if they are lost to fake people and not fully seen by later generations, how many are there? Why? Because there are no greatest works in the world that do not arise from an innocent heart. The Six Classics, the Analects, and the Mencius are the talking points of Confucianism and the breeding ground of fake people. It is absolutely clear that they cannot speak of the innocent heart. (Complete Works of Yuan Zhonglang, Volume 3)
Li Zhi highly praised the "innocent heart," believing that if the mind is fake, then art is also fake. The reason for this falsity is the society's devouring of the individual self, the submersion of individuality by ethics. Li Zhi even boldly stated: "I take selfish and self-interested desires as the study of selfishness and self-interest, seeking immediate gratification for myself, regardless of others' criticism" (Burning Books, Volume 3, "Continuation of the Legal Mirror"). Here, we can see the affinity between Li Zhi's "innocent heart" theory and Western Romanticism—the attack on traditional worldview and aesthetics through the veneration of individual life desires.
Li Zhi's "innocent heart" theory "pioneered modern Chinese aesthetics." If the core of ancient Chinese aesthetic thought is ethics, a historical process that incorporates the essence of beauty into the Confucian ethical track, then the core of modern Chinese aesthetic thought is anti-ethics, a historical process that liberates human aesthetic activity from traditional ethical activities. Li Zhi's rebellion against feudal ethical norms was not just a lone cry in the wilderness. Even before him, during the Hongzhi and Zhengde years of the Ming Dynasty, some well-known "unrestrained" scholars emerged, one of whom was Tang Yin, who called himself a "Jiangnan stylish talent." His artistic creations that took vulgarity as interest and his hedonistic lifestyle immersed in wine and beauty perfectly reflected the growing influence of urban thought and popular culture in the Jiangnan region against traditional moral values.
Tang Yin, together with Shen Zhou, Wen Zhengming, and Qiu Ying, was known as the "Four Masters of the Ming Dynasty." However, from the perspective of the orthodox "refined" literati painting, his artistic realm was not as sublime as Shen Zhou and Wen Zhengming, and in terms of the skillful brushwork of the "practicing" painter, he was inferior to Qiu Ying, who was a painter by profession. In Tang Yin's works, there was a blend of a "scholarly" weakness and a "bourgeois" sensuality, creating a "strange charm." Especially in the design of female figures, their slender waists, narrow shoulders, and small eyes could not hide their inherent decline, whether in meticulous brushwork and rich colors or in light ink and clear wash. If the women in Tang Dynasty paintings were elegant aristocratic beauties, then the beauties in Tang Yin's works were charming and playful small-town ladies; the figures in Yuan Dynasty paintings were reclusive scholars, while the figures in Tang Yin's works were actors in the world of pleasure. This pursuit of novelty and sensory stimulation clearly marked a struggle for individual independence and freedom in the context of feudal moral codes.
Tang Yin's last poem was a declaration of this life experience:
Living in Yangguan, the performance is over;
Dying in the underworld, what harm?
Yangguan and the underworld are similar;
Just drift as a foreigner in a foreign land. (Final Words of Bohu)
Postscript: The expansion of the perspective on comparative studies of Eastern and Western art and the construction of academic achievements are pivotal to the development of contemporary Chinese art research, education, and creation. Whether continuing the academic reflections and creative integration of predecessors in the context of intense cultural clashes between Eastern and Western civilizations in the 20th century, or promoting the spirit of Chinese culture with millennia of tradition toward the world in the present and future, all rely on the solid construction of comparative art research and the cultivation of talent. Clearly, contemporary scholars in this field carry an inescapable historical and cultural attachment and academic practice concern.
By the end of 1997, "Comparative Studies of Eastern and Western Art" was listed as a "Shandong Province 21st Century Higher Education Reform Plan Textbook Project," bringing the above ideas to fruition in this achievement. The main content of the book was taught to graduate and advanced students before publication, receiving unexpected positive feedback from peers and students, as well as inspiring suggestions that helped us refine the content before publication. At this point, the inevitable superficialities and shortcomings left by the authors' limitations can only be sincerely requested from the readers for criticism.
Finally, once again, I express my respect to Professor Zhou Laixiang. His teachings, academic integrity, and scholarly attitude were the spiritual support for me as I walked the solitary path of dialectical thought.
Author
Summer of 2001 at Shandong Normal University