Modernist Experiment And Modern Value Of Chinese Oil Painting(1928-1937)

During the period from 1928 to 1937,the creation of oil paintings with a modernist style trend in the Chinese painting circle entered an active period.During this period,modernist painters who had studied in France and Japan became the main promoters of this art movement.The oil painting societies they founded changed the loose image of traditional gatherings and became organized and programmatic art "positions".The painter community actively participated in running schools,which promoted the emergence of a new era in Chinese art education.In the interaction between the collective wisdom of the painting circle and the individual values of painters,modernist painters chose European modernist painting as a reference and tried to borrow and integrate post-impressionism,Fauvism,Cubism,and Surrealism in the context of Chinese art,in order to show the appeal of modern aesthetics at the formal level and exert influence on modern art in Chinese society at that time.The ideology that gave birth to this wave of art is different from the methodology that regarded oil painting as a skillful painting manual in the cultural field since the "Art Revolution" in 1918.The modernist painters connected Western formal language with Chinese aesthetic spirit,which promoted the natural landing and rooting of oil painting,a native Western art form,in China and developed it towards an independent artistic style.Although it was suspended due to the outbreak of the national crisis,it was undoubtedly an unprecedented cultural experiment on how new and old,Western and Chinese,self and others could harmoniously coexist.The history of Chinese oil painting drew external development impetus from this experiment.While honing their basic skills and accumulating new experiences,the painters began to think about how Chinese and Western art could blend together in both external form and internal spirit,and produce a new art that transcends tradition.In this regard,the development of Chinese oil painting has surpassed the "false budding state" since the Ming and Qing Dynasties,as well as the "emulation of foreign skills to strengthen ourselves" only realism theory in the days of the May Fourth Movement,and officially entered the world-wide and modern art field.The formal aesthetic tradition of China,which emphasizes the meaning of shape and the abstract composition of the picture,is the reason why modern oil painting and Chinese art resonate and intersect with each other.The exploration of form using formal language as a research breakthrough is both a re-recognition of this group of oil paintings that mixed various language styles in the early 20 th century,and also a full exploration of the aesthetic enlightenment of modernism in Chinese society,which emphasizes the ontology of painting,the independence of aesthetics,and transcends the utilitarian consciousness and institutionalized framework of rationalism.It stands in the value system of modern humanism and focuses on the value of painters and artistic creation.For Chinese modern art,its modernity side was born,which is also a side-view of the modernity explosion in Chinese society.