Among all kinds of sensory organs, vision is the most complex, delicate and sensitive, and it is also the main source of information. People often perceive the richness and diversity of the external world through visual activities. Therefore, the types and styles of visual arts are also the richest, and even other arts often need to construct artistic images based on visual feelings.
Humans have been exploring visual modeling since ancient times, leaving behind the earliest paintings and sculptures. With the progress of human civilization, there are more and more kinds and means of art that take vision as the aesthetic way. Painting, sculpture, architecture, arts and crafts, paper cutting, calligraphy and photography are the most typical types of visual arts.
Intuition is the most basic aesthetic feature of visual art, and the direct perception of vision is intuitive shape, color (or tone), texture (texture or volume) and their relationships. Therefore, in visual arts, both plane (painting, calligraphy, photography) and three-dimensional (sculpture, architecture) modeling attach great importance to the application of the law of formal beauty. Diversity, unity, symmetry, balance, contrast, harmony and the relationship between the picture and the bottom are all important factors that constitute the aesthetic characteristics of visual art. In visual arts, form and content, image and meaning are expressed in various ways, which constitute the unparalleled aesthetic charm of visual arts. For example, based on the high generalization ability of life movement changes and different textures or senses, lines can produce direct aesthetic interest, and different lines can give people different aesthetic feelings. Therefore, lines not only become the main language element of painting, but also become an important language of other visual arts. Color has the function of affecting people's emotions, and it is also the main aesthetic element of visual art. Different color configurations or tones can make people have different emotional tendencies, obtain visual pleasure and realize their expressive significance.
(1) Painting and Sculpture
Painting and sculpture mainly use shape, color, quality, point, line, surface and body to form a certain artistic image. The former is expressed in two-dimensional plane, while the latter is shaped in three-dimensional space. Modeling is their most important aesthetic feature.
Because of the different means of expression, there are many kinds of painting, and realism and expression are the two most important ways. Realistic painting directly imitates the images of natural and realistic things and achieves specific figurative effects by realistic means; Expressive painting emphasizes the subjective spirit and directly expresses the emotional experience and aesthetic needs of the subject by exaggeration, deformation, symbol and abstraction, thus shaping the artistic image. For example, the characteristics of Chinese painting lie not only in the great particularity of its tool materials (brush, rice paper and ink color), but more importantly, it attaches great importance to expressing the inner spirit of the subject, emphasizes "writing spirit with form" and "both form and spirit", and pursues charm, vividness and artistic conception, not to study the material characteristics of the image towards the objective world, but to touch the image of the painting for the needs of the soul and show it implicitly and profoundly.
Sculpture is highly general and symbolic in shaping artistic images. It creates a visible and tangible three-dimensional artistic image in three-dimensional space with material entities, and its aesthetic characteristics are obtained in space, and the surrounding environment related to sculpture is also an organic part of sculpture works. Generally speaking, there are two main ways of expression of sculpture: one is clear presentation, and the other is implicit suggestion. Modernist sculpture, for example, often obtains novel artistic effects through abstraction and suggestion.
(2) architecture
Architecture is a symbolic visual art, which "generally can only use things in the external environment to imply the meaning transplanted into it" and "create a work whose external shape can only imply the meaning in a symbolic way".
Architecture fully embodies the organic combination of function and aesthetics, technology and art. Although the forms and uses of various buildings are different, it generally embodies the principle of "practicality, firmness and beauty" emphasized by the ancient Roman architect Vitruvius, and always tries to express the forms of various basic natural forces and the spirit and wisdom of human beings. In other words, buildings have practical functions (people can live in them, and so on). ), at the same time, it has certain aesthetic function characteristics. Through physical structure, spatial combination and decorative techniques, rhythmic abstract formal beauty is formed to stimulate people's aesthetic association in the process of observation, thus causing various specific aesthetic experiences. For example, the ancient palaces in China are rigorous and symmetrical, giving people a sense of neatness and solemnity; Gothic churches are like minarets and towering towers, which make people feel soaring upwards. Tiantan in Beijing, pyramids in Egypt, Notre Dame de Paris in France, Sydney Opera House in Australia, etc. All of them give people a unique aesthetic feeling and enlightenment with their unique abstract shapes. follow
With the increasing awareness of ecological environment, the harmony between architecture and environment has become an urgent need of human beings. Blue sky, green land, water surface and green trees have expanded people's visual aesthetics of architecture to a larger scope.
Architecture is also a mirror of the cultural spirit of the times, just like history written in stone. Hugo pointed out when talking about Notre Dame Cathedral: "This is a time system. Every wave of time is increasing its sand layer, and every generation accumulates these sediments on this building. " Facing all kinds of buildings, people can not only appreciate the beauty of their shapes, but also understand and feel the historical features, changes of the times, national spirit and cultural creation. The solemnity and beauty of ancient Greek architecture, the towering Gothic architecture, the gorgeous style of Rococo architecture, the smooth and thin facade of modern architecture, and the metaphorical deformation, division and exaggerated decoration of post-modern architecture all accurately reflect the cultural spirit of the times and people's aesthetic taste in different historical periods.
(3) Calligraphy
Calligraphy, as a unique art in China, is sublimated from practicality. It uses the particularity of brush and Xuan paper to establish an isomorphic aesthetic relationship between the combined movement of font modeling and human emotions through the stippling of Chinese characters, which makes every Chinese character seem to have life and embodies the calligrapher's spiritual temperament and aesthetic pursuit. "China's calligraphy is rhythmic and natural, expressing a profound conception of life images and becoming an art that reflects life."
Specifically, the aesthetic characteristics of calligraphy are mainly reflected in: First, posture. The cursive script and running script are light, smart or vigorous, while the official script and regular script show the beauty of flying in stability. The branches of seal script are round and neat, and their pens are smooth and flying, each with the beauty of modeling and posture. In calligraphy works, brushwork and brushwork are harmonious, fonts and strokes are free and diverse, and lines are straight and round, conveying various postures and momentum, forming endless artistic effects. The implication of calligrapher's own personality makes stippling ink form a kind of strength and momentum with a pen, which embodies the sports beauty of life. Sun, a calligrapher in the Tang Dynasty, once marveled: "Hanging needles and dew."
Wang Xizhi's Preface to the Lanting Pavilion in the Eastern Jin Dynasty is different, with the strangeness of rushing to the rocks, the horror of flying beasts, the state of dancing snakes, the trend of landing on the shore and the shape of danger; Or as heavy as a cloud or as light as a cicada; Guide the spring, the mountain will be safe; Like a cliff in the first month, like a river between stars. "Wang Xizhi's Preface to the Lanting Pavilion has a graceful beauty and is naturally implicit." The word is powerful, like a dragon leaping into the sky and a tiger lying in a phoenix pavilion, reaching the peak of physical beauty.
Second, the way of expression. Calligraphy is a portrayal of the soul. Wang Sengqian, a calligrapher in the Southern Qi Dynasty, said: "The wonderful way of books lies in Guanghua." . Zhang Huaiguan's "Introduction" also said: "A few words in a text are its meaning, and a word in a book is its meaning." . In calligraphy creation, the changes of lines and spatial structure show a broad emotional realm, which freely and flexibly brings the calligrapher's inner temperament and personal life perception into pen and ink, making it a reflection of personality and spirit. "The joys and sorrows, each with a score. It is appropriate to like harmony, dangerous to be angry, condensed to be sad and depressed, and plain and beautiful to like. If the feelings are serious, the words will be deep and the changes will be endless. " This kind of emotional line pen and ink has an emotional corresponding effect with the appreciator, arousing similar aesthetic experience, thus getting aesthetic edification and enjoyment.
Third, artistic conception. Artistic conception creation is the highest realm of calligraphy. "If the ancient calligrapher in China wants to make' Zi' express life and become an art that reflects life, he must use the methods and tools he has to show the feeling of bones, tendons, flesh and blood of a living body in his words". Calligraphy art is colorless in the form of strokes, brilliant in painting and silent and harmonious in music. Calligraphy works with far-reaching artistic conception must embody the calligrapher's specific aesthetic ideal. In the Tang Dynasty, Yan Zhenqing pursued the majestic realm of "noble spirit" spiritually. His calligraphy is dignified and generous, vigorous and powerful, giving people a hearty and awe-inspiring feeling. Zheng Banqiao in Qing Dynasty was born, and his Six Books and a Half is so vivid. The flying of tangible handwriting creates a metaphysical charm, which makes the art of calligraphy transcend the limited form and enter the infinite realm. "Little by little, it means vertical and horizontal, and there are many in central Asia." The beauty of this artistic conception is the overall aesthetic intention of China's calligraphy art, and it is also the soul of calligraphy art. Performing arts is an art that shapes images, conveys emotions and emotions through people's singing, performance or people's actions and expressions, thus expressing life. Performing arts usually include dance, music, folk art, acrobatics, magic and so on. (1) Music Music expresses the emotional state of the subject through organized musical sounds, and its basic elements are rhythm, melody, timbre, harmony, tone and intensity, which constitute an incomparably rich musical form. Beethoven once praised that "music is a higher revelation than all wisdom and philosophy", while Heine emphasized that "music may be the last artistic language". The aesthetic characteristics of music are mainly reflected in: First, music is the art of sound. Sound (including human voice and the sounds of various musical instruments, etc.). ) is the material material on which music depends. It can not only directly express the personal feelings of the subject, but also arouse the strong feelings of others. Music uses sound to shape images and express thoughts and feelings. In music, high or low, urgent or long, strong or soft sounds have aesthetic taste, which stimulates corresponding feelings and emotions.
Second, music is the art of time. With the appearance and passage of time, music shows continuous, changing and flowing life feelings or things, calling the subject's aesthetic experience in a certain time. However, people's psychological world, spiritual activities and emotional experience are all carried out in a dynamic time flow, so in the time flow, dynamic and procedural music can fully show the complex psychological activities of the subject. In this way, the appreciation of music requires a certain agility in the perception and understanding of the subject, and it is difficult for slow people to capture the image of music in the flow of time.
Third, music is the art of expression. The famous Russian composer Stravinsky once said, "Music is emotion. Without emotion, there is no music." Music itself is the form and transmission medium of emotional materialization. Music with the aesthetic charm of "moving people with emotion" does not need to rely on some intermediary link like other arts, but can directly act on the subject's mind through hearing and directly convey the artist's inner thoughts and emotions. It has incomparable effect in expressing and expressing the rich, delicate and complex emotions of human beings, so it is suitable for expressing the ups and downs of the subject's emotions, making people have some emotions and emotional experiences, and even causing people's physiological changes and reactions.
Fourthly, music is also characterized by uncertainty. Music language is not a fixed monosyllabic word, and its expression of emotion is not as clear and conceptual as written language, but vague and broad. This feature not only leaves a broad space for imagination and re-creation for the creative subject and the receptive subject, but also puts forward specific requirements for the creative subject and the receptive subject, that is, they should have a good musical feeling, certain musical aesthetic experience and imagination. For example, the effect of music appreciation depends not only on the level, quality and sound equipment of music creators and performers, but also on the personal experience, comprehension ability and psychological state of the recipients. Similarly, because of the uncertainty of music's expression of emotion, it can be directly felt by different nationalities in the world and become a special bridge for spiritual, cultural, ideological and emotional exchanges between ethnic groups. (2) Dance
Dance is an art form in which the human body keeps moving according to a certain rhythm. It originated from the productive labor of ancient human beings, combined with music and poetry, and is one of the earliest art forms in human history.
As an art to express the beauty of human body, dance conveys people's aesthetic feelings and expresses the aesthetic attributes of life by means of exquisite, organized and beautified human posture. In dance, people's body movements continue and change with the music in time, which not only infects the emotions of those who appreciate (accept) and gives them aesthetic pleasure, but also creates an atmosphere for directly venting their emotions, which stimulates the dancers' emotions and enables them to obtain entertaining spiritual satisfaction from rhythm and sports. The aesthetic characteristics of dance are first expressed as lyricism and expressiveness. Dance language is a virtual and symbolic language. Because dance can only be expressed by the dancer's posture, it is necessary to use exaggerated and symbolic body movements to shape artistic images and convey inner thoughts and feelings. Dance constructs a unique artistic image through rhythmic movements, postures, expressions and ever-changing shapes. The movement to express life is the most fundamental aesthetic feature of dance art. Yi Fu's Dance Fu in the Eastern Han Dynasty once described the exquisite dancing skills and spiritual breath of the dancer "Zheng Nv" in the Han Dynasty drum dance: "Luo Yi brushed the long sleeves with the wind, dancing endlessly and whispering. A bird flying in torii's Yanwu is shocking, graceful and leisurely, quick and light. Wonderful posture, pure and clear heart, practicing etiquette and showing ambition, thinking alone. In the mountains, in the soup. Aspiring to be pneumatic, it is not empty. " In this description, it is not difficult for us to see tenderness, gentleness and strength from the dancer's gentle, soothing, erratic and charming body movements. Its majestic air and swift beauty, like a gust of wind, make an amazing leap, be as quiet as a virgin and move as a rabbit, perfectly show the inner feelings of dancers, such as "air is like clouds, ambition is like autumn frost".
Secondly, dance pays great attention to modeling, because it is expressed through human movements, but this modeling is a combination of motion and stillness, vision and hearing, which only exists in the performance process and is fleeting. Compared with sculpture, dance mainly shapes in motion; Compared with music, dance can better express the external form of the subject's aesthetic emotion.
Thirdly, although the movements and postures that constitute the dance form are derived from the imitation of real objects, they have been abstracted and generalized in the dance performance, and are no longer natural things in life, but become a relatively stable and independent dance language that expresses people's thoughts and feelings, with specific aesthetic value. For example, the gesture of orchids in China traditional operas may have originated from the gesture of spinning and embroidery at first, but after the artist's transformation, it has the meanings of "budding", "hanging silk" and "emerging core".
Generally speaking, dance can be divided into life dance and artistic dance. The former is a dance activity in people's life, and the most popular one is ballroom dancing, which originated in Europe and later became popular all over the world, including elegant waltz, tango and rumba with distinct rhythm, disco with strong sense of movement and so on. Artistic dance refers to the works that dancers perform on the stage and create through artistic conception. There is a high demand for dance skills, such as ballet, modern dance, folk dance and ballet. (3) Quyi Quyi is the floorboard of all kinds of rap arts of the Chinese nation. It is formed by the long-term development and evolution of folk oral literature and singing art, and it is a performing art category that tells stories, shapes characters, expresses thoughts and feelings and reflects social life by "oral rap". Most of them focus on narration, supplemented by endorsement, and have the characteristics of "one person has many angles (that is, one actor simulates multiple roles)", or speaks or sings; A few people mainly speak on behalf of others, supplemented by narration, and sing in different roles. Different Quyi varieties are closely related to their respective regional dialects, and Quyi music is an important part of China national music. When performing, the number of actors is small, usually only one or two or three, and simple props are used. The performance forms include sitting, standing, singing, standing, walking, dismantling and colorful singing. This song has three genres: prose and verse, full prose and full verse. Music styles include "couplet style" of singing Qupai, "main style" of singing seven or cross sentences, or a combination of the two. Quyi includes all kinds of special arts. According to investigation and statistics, there are about 400 existing and active folk art varieties in China, excluding those that have appeared in history but have died out. Including cross talk, storytelling, duet, plucked string, drum and double spring, as well as Rewafu Shaq of Xinjiang Uygur, Pingxian of Qinghai, King Gelsall of Inner Mongolia, Haolaibao, rap of Tibet, Big Ben of Yunnan Bai people, and Qin Shu of Beijing, Shidiao of Tianjin, Kuaishu of Shandong, pendant of Henan, plucked words of Suzhou, Pinghua of Yangzhou and Hubei Drum. There are different kinds of music in different regions and ethnic groups, ranging from a dozen provinces to one or two counties, which are popularized and spread to varying degrees. Although these kinds of music have their own development process, they all have distinct folk and mass characteristics and have the same artistic characteristics. This makes China Quyi not only an art category with the largest number of songs, but also an art category that is deeply rooted in people's hearts and has the widest mass base. As the integration of performing art forms with the most national characteristics and folk meanings in China, Quyi has the following main artistic characteristics: First, the performance of Quyi is mainly expressed by "speaking" and "singing", so its language must be suitable for speaking or singing, lively, concise and incisive, and easy to catchy. Secondly, Quyi is not performed by actors dressed as fixed roles like drama, but by actors dressed as different roles. Through speaking and singing, all kinds of characters and stories are performed to the audience in a way of "one person with many angles". Therefore, Quyi performance is simpler and easier than drama. Thirdly, the simplicity of Quyi performance makes it reflect life quickly, and most of the tracks and bibliographies are short and pithy, so Quyi actors can usually create and perform by themselves. Fourthly, Quyi takes speaking and singing as the main artistic expression means, so it is an art that appeals to people's hearing. It stimulates the audience's hearing through speaking and singing to drive the audience's thinking in images, and completes artistic creation with the actors in the audience's thinking imagination. Fifth, Quyi actors must have a solid foundation in speaking, singing, doing and imitating. Only when actors have these skills can they portray the characters vividly, make the narrative of events fascinating and win the appreciation of the audience. The above is the similarity of the artistic characteristics of Quyi varieties in different degrees, which is their * * * nature. At the same time, these kinds of songs exist independently and have their own personalities. Not only that, the same genre has its own characteristics because of the strength of performers, and there are also different artistic genres. Even the same genre has its own characteristics because of the differences of performers, forming a prosperous scene of music. Quyi has a long history. As early as ancient times, China's folk stories and jokes, the songs, dances and funny performances of "Nuo You" (a folk art expert specializing in court performances) in the court. , all contain the artistic factors of Quyi. In the Tang Dynasty (AD 6 18 ~ 904), the emergence of "popular stories" telling stories and spreading Buddhist stories and the popularity of folk tunes made the rap skills gradually flourish, marking the beginning of Quyi as an independent art form. In the Song Dynasty (960 ~ 1278), due to the prosperity of society, the civil class gradually grew, rap performances had special places, professional artists appeared, and various forms of rap flourished. From the Ming and Qing Dynasties to the early years of the Republic of China (A.D.14 ~ 20th century), with the germination of capitalist economy and the rapid increase in the number of cities, the rap art developed greatly and gradually formed the Quyi art system we see today. The so-called audio-visual comprehensive art refers to the art of conveying and feeling aesthetic experience through the simultaneous activities of visual and auditory senses and corresponding aesthetic means. Mainly including movies, television, dance, drama and so on.
(1) Film and TV
Film and television is both audio-visual and audio-visual art. Since the birth of 1895, in a short period of more than one hundred years, the artistic creation means and aesthetic expression ability of movies have been rapidly developed and enriched, which not only greatly expanded the aesthetic taste of movie art, but also formed its own aesthetic characteristics and became the most expressive art type in the 20th century. As a modern media, TV is also a young type of audio-visual art, which permeates all aspects of human real life and has a great influence on contemporary society.
The great charm of film and television art is inseparable from its realistic, athletic and comprehensive aesthetic characteristics. First of all, photography and video recording determine the image fidelity of film and television art, and the pictures and sounds of film and television are interdependent, which makes it easier for artistic images to directly enter the audience's audio-visual psychological activity space, and then develop aesthetic experience, thus forming a unique aesthetic way and artistic charm of film and television art. For example, the artistic language used in film creation is mainly composed of pictures, sounds and montages. The so-called "motage" refers to editing and combining scattered shots, scenes and paragraphs in film production according to certain creative ideas, thus forming certain plots and effects. Because montage reproduces the internal process of people's contact with video in turn with the shift of attention in the environment, through the use of montage, the combination relationship of picture, picture and sound, picture and color can be formed in the film, thus producing the artistic rhythm and atmosphere of the film, such as speed, tension and relaxation, and the time-space transformation in the film has a convincing sense of reality.
Secondly, the movement of the picture is a unique aesthetic feature of film and television art, and the film and television show the plot in time, and the lens movement plays a prominent role in it. For example, in thrilling film and television dramas, you can often see the scene of riding a horse or chasing by car. This kind of lens is not only an integral part of the film plot, but also gives full play to the aesthetic characteristics of the film movement, giving the audience a special visual pleasure.
Thirdly, film and television have comprehensive characteristics. Film and television art has absorbed narrative style and structure from literature, actor's performance method from drama, composition and timbre from painting, and rhythm from music, so it has great aesthetic expression. The films "The Sound of Music" and "La Traviata" are called "musical films" because they mainly combine the structure of music. One-night stand and Hamlet are called "dramatic movies" because they mainly combine the structural factors of drama and are mainly influenced by drama. In China's films such as Yellow Land and One and Eight, we can clearly see the factors of sculpture modeling and its influence. As A.Gance, a pioneer film movement in Europe, said: The film "should be music, which is formed by many crystals that collide with each other and seek each other's hearts, as well as the characteristics of visual harmony and silence; Composition should be painting and sculpture; It should be architecture in structure and tailoring; It should be a poem, composed of a whirlwind of dreams, which pounces on the souls of people and things; It should be a dance, a dance formed by the inner rhythm that communicates with the heart, so that your heart can come out and blend with the actors in the painting. "
As the product of human scientific and technological progress, film and television art constantly integrates the new achievements of contemporary science and technology, constantly reflects the new requirements of contemporary culture, and constantly adapts to the development of contemporary human aesthetic taste, thus becoming the main form of leisure after work. Today, high-definition and digital film and television works provide people with higher quality audio-visual aesthetic enjoyment than before. With the rapid development of high technology, film and television, the art form with the most aesthetic expression potential, will show a broader development prospect.
(2) Drama
Drama is a comprehensive art composed of literature, painting, sculpture, music, dance and other art forms. It is an art form in which actors play roles and perform the contradictions, conflicts, development and evolution of life in public places.
Generally speaking, the aesthetic characteristics of drama art are mainly reflected in the following aspects: first, drama, as a comprehensive art, is not a simple combination of various artistic elements, but an organic synthesis of various artistic elements to present to the audience as a whole stage image. The visual artistic factors in drama, such as script, actor image, stage art and auditory artistic factors, such as music and sound, all have unique aesthetic value unilaterally, but they are not only irreplaceable, but also not the aesthetic value of the drama itself. All kinds of artistic elements must obey and unify the aesthetic principles of drama itself. Only through the collective creation of playwrights, directors, actors, stage artists and musicians can the unique aesthetic value of drama be formed. In other words, drama is a collective creation; Because the writers, actors, choreographers, technicians who made costumes, props and lighting all contributed, even the audience who went to the theater contributed. "
Secondly, the drama unfolds the plot and shapes the characters by expressing contradictions and conflicts. No conflict, no drama. The core of drama conflict is the conflict of personality and will with social significance between typical characters. Characters with different personalities and wills form various contradictions and conflicts in a specific drama plot, and move forward along the development path of the plot, so that the audience (the receiving subject) feels shocked, pitied or frightened in the turbulent changes of the plot, and then obtains a high degree of aesthetic enjoyment and education.
Thirdly, drama has the intuition of public performance. It consists of actors playing others or other things, performing events with complete plots and constant conflicts in front of the audience (recipients), shaping characters, so that the audience can get an aesthetic experience of "singing and dancing if they are happy, crying if they are sad, and dying if they are angry, which is full of life interest".