Art Introduction

Author: Huang Baofu et al. / Country:
Publisher:
Publishing Date: 2001-07-01
Features: Inheriting artistic heritage the most important principle is the critical one. Criticism is not simply discarding or negating, but absorbing its essence and discarding its dross. That is to discard those backward, reactionary, and decadent ideological contents, discard those anti-people, anti-revolution, and anti-progressive ideological contents, discard those artistic forms that are not conducive to expressing progressive ideas, and absorb the advanced and progressive ideological contents in the artistic heritage, such as democratic, free, patriotic, and people-oriented, as well as the artistic forms that are beneficial to expressing these ideas. Inheriting artistic heritage must oppose two erroneous tendencies: one is to affirm everything, and the other is to negate everything. Affirming everything is essentially a form of retrogression, believing that everything in past art is good. Negating everything is another extreme, essentially a form of historical nihilism, believing that everything in past art is bad and has no value. In reality, artistic heritage is always a mixture of essence and dross, good and bad, and absolute good or absolute bad does not exist. For inheritance, it is necessary to treat artistic heritage objectively and justly, and reasonably absorb its useful and beneficial components.
2. Innovation in Art Development. Innovation is an inevitable law of art development for all nations and all eras. This is primarily determined by the task of art. The task of art is to reflect social life and meet people's growing spiritual needs, especially aesthetic ones, while social life and people's spiritual needs, particularly aesthetic needs, are constantly changing. Art must also develop and change; otherwise, it will become disconnected from the times and society. In this sense, artistic innovation is inevitable.
Secondly, artistic innovation is determined by the nature of art. The most important nature of art lies in its uniqueness and creativity, which can be said to be the most important defining characteristic of art. Without creativity, there is no art, and the life of art lies in innovation.
Thirdly, innovation is also determined by the aesthetic needs of the audience. From an aesthetic psychological perspective, the desire for novelty and diversity has ample psychological basis. It is not only the nature of artists but also the nature of audiences. The audience's psychological need for change and their demand for art determine that art must innovate; otherwise, it will lose its audience and its subject.
Fourthly, innovation is also determined by the creative personality and stylistic characteristics of the artist. For artistic creation, on the one hand, the artist inherits the artistic achievements of predecessors, but on the other hand, he expresses his unique thoughts, feelings, and artistic exploration on the basis of these achievements, thus demonstrating innovation. Otherwise, art would only be layered upon layer.
The innovation in art development is primarily manifested in the following three aspects:
First, from the perspective of artistic works, artistic innovation is reflected in the innovation of content and form. Literature reflects social life, which is constantly changing. Correspondingly, the thoughts and emotions of artists are also evolving, requiring the content of art to develop and change. In fact, in any era or individual's art in history, it is impossible for the ideological content to remain completely unchanged and unaltered. The innovation of artistic content will inevitably bring about the innovation of artistic form. To adapt to the changes and developments in artistic content, the form must also change and develop, thus demonstrating innovation. At the same time, relative to artistic content, artistic form has a certain degree of independence. In addition to being influenced by artistic content, artistic form also has its own development laws. For art to develop, in addition to reforming its form to adapt to changes in social life, the form itself has an inherent desire for internal transformation, which is determined by the nature of art's uniqueness.
Second, from the perspective of the artist, innovation is reflected in the transformation of others and the renewal of oneself. For the artist, innovation first manifests in breaking through and surpassing others, that is, surpassing predecessors and others to achieve artistic transcendence. Although such transcendence, especially the transcendence of artistic peaks, can only be achieved by a few, most people's attempts and efforts will end in mediocrity. The peak of art is not easily achieved, and the law of artistic development does not always follow the pattern of "the wave behind pushes the wave ahead." However, breaking through and surpassing are the endless pursuit of art and its fundamental ethics. The process of artistic development differs from that of scientific development. In science, studying brilliant science itself can achieve brilliance, but in art, studying brilliant art itself may not lead to brilliance. Only by surpassing the brilliance of art can one achieve one's own brilliant artistic achievements. Artistic innovation cannot repeat others, nor can it repeat itself. That is to say, innovation is not only for others but also for oneself, especially for great artists.
Third, from the degree of innovation, it can be distinguished between innovation within the same style and breaking through the style. Style is a very broad category for art. So far in the history of art, artistic styles have been very limited in overall types. For individual artists, style is personality, uniqueness, but not every artist has their own style, and style is not formed overnight. Style is a sign of maturity for the artist. The so-called innovation within the same style is mainly in the sense of enriching and perfecting a certain style. In terms of type, style is an inclusive or open category, and enriching and perfecting require great creativity, thus also falling within the scope of innovation. Breaking through the style, fundamentally transforming a past artistic style to create a new one, is a qualitative leap in the development of art and the most profound artistic transformation.
The new development and creation of art require inheriting the artistic heritage of previous generations, critically absorbing its essence and discarding its dross, and then, in line with the requirements of the new society and new era, boldly innovating and creating to promote the prosperity and development of art. Inheriting the artistic heritage of predecessors is for the development of new art. Artistic creation cannot be created out of thin air, and artistic heritage is the foundation of artistic creation. Without inheritance, there is no innovation.
On the other hand, inheritance is for innovation. Inheritance is the prerequisite, and innovation is the purpose. Without artistic inheritance, there is no artistic development. If one is not bold in innovation, does not boldly break through the constraints of traditional art, and does not conduct new artistic exploration according to the needs of the new realistic life, but only imitates the ancients and praises the past, then there can be no new art, no artistic development, let alone artistic prosperity. If one ignores the changes of historical times and merely adheres to conventions, failing to carry out artistic reform and creation, then it will not be possible to effectively inherit and carry forward the fine traditions of artistic heritage, but only to waste it.
Therefore, inheritance and innovation are dialectically unified. Both must be inherited and innovated, and only by correctly handling the relationship between the two can art develop and prosper.
III. Interrelationships Between the Arts of Different Ethnic Groups. Ethnic groups are stable communities formed in history with a common language, common territory, common economic life, and a common psychological quality reflected in their shared culture. All ethnic groups in the world have their own culture and art, and in terms of art, they all have their own inheritance and unique historical traditions. The arts of different ethnic groups are mutually influenced, absorbed, and learn from each other through political, economic, and cultural exchanges, thus promoting the common prosperity of world art. This is another objective law of artistic development.
The mutual influence between the arts of different ethnic groups refers not only to the mutual influence and promotion between different ethnic groups within the same country but also to the mutual influence and promotion between the arts of different ethnic groups in different countries. This mutual influence and promotion between the arts of different ethnic groups play a huge role in the development of art.