AN INVESTIGATION OF THE DISCRIMINATORS OF CHINESE AESTHETICS AS SEEN IN THE LIFE AND WORKS OF CH'I PAI-SHIH (1864-1957), AND ITS IMPLICATIONS FOR TEACHING CHINESE ART

This is a case study based on the life and works of one of the most successful Chinese artists, analyzing his theories about Chinese painting and observing his practice as well as how Chinese society responds to him. By probing the meaning of the traditional art criticism terms in the artist's vocabulary, the study makes clear to the Western student the heretofore obscure and ambiguous concepts of Chinese aesthetics. By further relating the Chinese response to the artist's changing and constant ideas about attitudes toward art during a dramatically transitional period in Chinese society, 1864 to 1957, the study explains why certain traditional aesthetic elements continue to appeal to the Chinese viewer of paintings.Finally, the study recommends that further investigation be conducted with more case studies involving equally significant Chinese artists who embrace both traditional and modern concepts about art, in order to continue to refine and amplify the findings.The result of the investigation is expected to assist the art teacher who has to help American students bridge the gap of communication between Western and Chinese art. No attempt has been made to devise a set of simplistic discriminators of Chinese aesthetics that are easily applicable, but the careful and systematic analyses in the study bring the mystifying traditional Chinese art theories close to some of the generally accepted assumptions in Western art.