A Research On The Feasibility Of Lacquer Art’s Development In Chengde

Abstract: Located at the foot of the Yanshan Mountain, Chengde was listed in thefirst group of “key cultural relic units under national protection”. Its long history,together with its advantages in favorable humanistic atmosphere, unique geographyfeatures, rich natural resources and steady economic growth, lays a solid foundationfor the city’s cultural development. But influenced by the overall context, Chengdepeople are gradually losing their diligence and intention to make progress which usedto be the main guarantee to culture development. This change leads to fault anddamage in cultural development and further results in the lagging of culturalinheritance and introduction of new culture. Cultural taste should be expressed inevery day-to-day scene of Chengde’s well developed society and a diversified cultureis the gem of Chengde’s cultural prosperity. It is only a matter of time that lacquer artsettles in Chengde. Lacquer art is a new painting art form that combines painting andcraft techniques together in which many painting skills could be applied. Itsdiversified techniques, great cost of time and exquisite workmanship give itadvantages in abundant visual feeling, distinctive characteristics, as well as along-term storage. The size of lacquer art varies from small carry-ons to big publicdisplays and it could be a single work or in a series. In addition to its room for a welldisplay of both abstract and concrete art, it could also be made stereoscopic with somekind of special material, or even obtain a splendid visual effect with transparent,translucent or reflective materials. But lacquer art, the newly-developed art that couldbe accepted by people of different cultural tastes and social status, has got noprofessionals specializing in it in Chengde, an important geographic joint amongBeijing, Tianjin and three other provinces in north China.The geographic advantage, high-speed development and prospering tourismindustry have laid a solid foundation for the development of artistic creation. Recentyears has witnessed the emergence of excellent artists in different species or evendifferent schools, but talents in lacquer art is the only one missing in this picture ofthe cultural blossom. Except for the historical reason, the major cause of thisphenomenon is the conservative thinking set of the local people. Chengde is indeedlacking an active thought and has not formed a favorable artistic creation atmosphere which would require a long-term interaction between different factors, while diversityin art form plays an important role as the stimulator to artistic creation atmosphere.This atmosphere requires the support from well-established economy, but the vitalityand creativity derive from a diversified artistic creation atmosphere, which ensures themutual development of different art forms.As a cultural heritage and a tourist attraction, Chengde has a large number ofthemes that could be made into the form of lacquer art and a large market for lacquerpaintings. The main parts of Change’s tourism resources, royal gardens and temples,are facing the task of protection and exploration. Lacquering is now the most commonmethod of maintenance in the gardens and temples because a large proportion of theroyal and tributary art-wares are lacquer wares or lacquer paintings and many woodarchitectures, furniture and decorations need lacquering as a kind of protection fromweathering and aging. Now lacquer art might rank first among all the painting formsbecause of its color and artistic expression which makes it an independent art form incompetition and exhibition as well as a decoration and a popular collection in theGreat Hall of the People, China National Museum and China National Art Museum. Itis reasonable to assume that the introduction of lacquer art to Chengde will play apositive role in the protection of cultural relics and historical sites as well as enrichingenormously the local tourist resources. It could also help people to cultivatethemselves and enrich their cultural lives in their free time. Besides, it helps to solvethe problems of entrepreneurship and employment of university leavers.The economic development has laid a solid foundation for cultural developmentand the later infuses the former with vitality. All in all, lacquer painting, a miracle inmodern art, will further its development in China and win more significance in theworld with delicate workmanship and various artistic forms. It is urgent for the laggedregion to seize the chance. The case of lacquer art settling in Chengde discussed inthis paper is of great significance in how to inherit the local culture. Besides, thispaper hopes to find a new path for the renaissance of the regional culture in Chengde.