"Situational Analysis" And Writing The History Of Chinese Art

The 20^th century witnessed a new chapter being turned in the history of the Chinese fine arts research,which has gained numerous achievement,because many western researching methods was introduced to the Chinese scholars and it received influence of the western historical theories and art theories.Most of the writing works on the history of the Chinese fine arts take the form of general history,which can satisfy the developing needs of the current education of Chinese fine arts.The general history of fine arts could help us grasp the overall clue of its development in the macro sense,but theoretically it was influenced by the historical evolution and determination of Hegel.In the teaching material of the general history of fine arts,it took the corresponding relation between art phenomenon and social history as one-to-one,for instance,the Chinese fine arts reached its heyday in the Tang Dynasty,but it took the downturn tendency in the Yuan,Ming and Qing Dynasty,just as the declining of the feudal society.According to the theory that the spirit of the time determines the appearance of the arts,the real relation between art phenomenon and social background is replaced by the abstract laws,so obviously the history of fine arts take a accessory position.This paper highlightly combs the researching methods of arts in the western world,namely,"the analysis of context",a concept which was formerly put forward by Popper as a substitute theory for the"Historical determinism",and after being succeeded inherited by Gombrich,was successfully applied into the research of art history.Historical determinism is a philosophical viewpoint that holds social phenomenon and historic events have their own inevitability,laws and cause-effect restriction.It emphasizes the predictability of the development of matters,and is positive about the cause-effect restriction between things and is sure that the development of things will be defined by the inevitability.For instance,Hegal believes that spirit is the root of the development and change of all phenomenon.and this development and change demonstrates the evoluting process of spirit from abstract to substantialization.Hegal highlights that the development of arts depends on the evolution of spirit,but both Popper and Gombrich are against this opinion. Popper denied the existence of the objective historical laws and some unchangeable developing tendency of history.He holds the opinion that the historical process is full of fortuitousness. Gombrich uses"vanity fair"to explain the development and disappearance of various artistic styles,which provides an objective and practical cause for the development of arts."Context analysis"takes every effects to expound the relation between the individual and the context,to show how the various factors in the context result the substantialization and uniquity of the individual creation.In Gombrich eye,the cause for production,development and transformation of some art style,more often than not,lies in the inconspicuous objective facts,whereas to Hegal,these objective facts was replaced by the spirit of the time or of the people,and its answer has already been set in advance in the framework of the theory,thus the real thought-provoking development,change of things and its cause are seldom discussed.So this academic arbitrariness and dogmatics worths a second thought.In the 20th century,the concept of western art history tinged with some determinism was spread into China.so the works of the Chinese art history takes on some of this characteristic under the background of the development of the Chinese present history.Take Li Yu for example,in his The Syllabus of the Chinese Art History,he re-judged the Chinese art history with the principle that the art history equals the history of final victory as a result of the fighting between realism and non-realism,he hold that all the historical fortuitousness should obey the arrangement of the law and even those phenomena which are not in accordance with the theory should also be imposed on, leaving no growing space for fortuitousness.The study of the Chinese art history is gradually improved and perfected in the development of the international multi-plolarized culture.Many scholars who write the Chinese art history characterized by the theory of"context analysis"such as art historian Teng Gu,Li Zhujin,Gao Juhan,Fang Wen and the like breakthrough the researching methods of the traditional art history,and provide all the more convincing demonstrations for many questions and phenomena.This makes the Chinese art history take on a new look.For instance,American scholar Wu Hong under the enlightment of Gombrich,proposed the"original context"method,so in the analysis of the silk painting A Second Thought On Ma Wangdui,he reread the"Happiness Values"of the people in Han Dynasty,that is,to the dead,the safest place is his grave,in the same way,to the alive,the safest place is his home.Domestic scholar like Hong Zaixin absorbs the newest researching results both at home and abroad and pay attention to the analysis of culture context and accidental factors.Under his writing,Dong Qichang is no longer the declining criminal as written by Li Yu but a great master in the history of Chinese calligraphy and painting.The characteristics of the current study and description of Chinese art history are using the historical materials as much as possible,moulding the cultural context of that time and taking the viewpoint of context at that time to explore and to explain the evolution of art phenomena and styles.History,in essence,talks about the history of man in which there are stories,experiences and different demonstrating methods at different times.In order to deepen the research level,change the secondary position of art history and value the analysis of cultural context,research with some questions in mind will be more in line with real character of the study of history.The research of the Chinese art history needs the suspecting spirit,in which there is a criticizing spirit that criticizes the historical determinism in the description of the Chinese art history.A history of fine arts without any questions is nothing but a record of historical facts and phenomena,whereas the one with questions is beneficial to eliminate the shadow of the power and dogmatics in the past teaching material of art history.Thus,the description of the Chinese art history needs the consciousness of suspicion,that is,deepen the recognition of the researching object in process of asking the questions,realize the unification of history and logic in the context and that of the historical proof and judgment of value,these are where the essence of the study of art history lies."Context analysis"makes up for the shortcomings in the traditional research of art history,bearing profound significance in enriching the researching methods of Chinese art history and changing the stiff conclusion of spiritual determinism.It is from context analysis that research of Chinese art history becomes more profound,objective and rich.