The gap between China photography and foreign photography.

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Cultural differences between Chinese and Western photography

Photography was born in France in the 193s, and was introduced to China from the West several years later. For a century and a half, photography has grown in the earthen basket of China culture, and many photographers pursue national forms and oriental charm in their photography creation. The nutrition of China's traditional aesthetics makes China's photography deeply rooted. We should not only see that the noumenon feature of photography is documentary, but also the characteristics of its instantaneous persistence and documentary compulsion, which are manifested in the same way that China photographers and western photographers create art. However, it should also be noted that due to the differences in natural geographical environment, historical development process and cultural traditions between China and the West, there are differences in aesthetic consciousness and artistic theory between China and the West. China's traditional philosophy and aesthetic theory have exerted an important influence on China photographers' aesthetic consciousness, artistic expression and aesthetic ideal, thus showing distinctive national characteristics.

1. Due to the differences in understanding between China and the West on the relationship between man and nature, the main photographic subjects in artistic photography are different: human body and scenery?

Today, China's artistic photography has a wide range of subjects. It can be said that almost all subjects of western art photography are photographed by China photographers. However, when we examine the main subjects in the history of Chinese and western photography art, we will be surprised to find that the gap between them is so great. The main content of western photography is shooting people (portrait, human body, documentary). In particular, human photography has its artistic tradition. In the history of western photography, shortly after the invention of photography, Daguerre's silver photos had human subjects. Oscar rejlander, the author of "The Father of Eating Photography" and "Two Roads of Life", is a pioneer in the field of human photography. Although the style and genre of human photography have changed and changed, it has always flourished. [1]

In China, human photography has long been unable to become the subject of photographers' creation. In 193s, there were "Taking the urn" by Luo Bonian and "Meditation" by Lang Jingshan. Since then, the tide of human photography has risen and fallen. The understanding of human body photography in society is certainly related to China's unique cultural background and national traditions, and even more related to the ethos of the times. On the other hand, in China, landscape photography has become the largest and most prominent photography mainstream in artistic photography activities. In contrast, landscape photography has never occupied an important position in the history of western photography. Bao Kun thinks:' ansel adams, who is recognized as a master of landscape photography, probably the most important thing for him in his photography practice is the study of' regional exposure method' and how to use this method to better express his communication with nature. Obsessed with and worshiping the technical characteristics of photography, his art is obviously different from the landscape photography we are talking about now. [2]

The reasons for the great contrast of themes can be explored from social, political, historical and other aspects. But the most fundamental reason is that there are great differences between China and the West on the relationship between man and nature.

in the west, the relationship between man and nature is antagonistic. Westerners believe that man is not only a part of nature, but also a sophisticated product of nature's development to a certain stage. As the cutting edge of nature, man is opposite to the general nature. They emphasize man's dominant position in objective nature. They have developed a national character of conquering nature since ancient times. Reflected in the aesthetic consciousness, it is often that the aesthetic subject and the aesthetic body are in the relationship of division and opposition, and enter the realm of "harmony between man and nature" Therefore, the main object of western art is not nature, but people. Western artists try their best to show the perfect unity of human body and spirit. In the western classical period and Renaissance period, human body art occupied an important position. This tradition must be reflected in artistic photography.

In China, the relationship between man and nature is harmonious and unified. China people tend to be an inseparable part of nature in the relationship between man and nature, and man and nature are integrated. Reflected in the aesthetic consciousness, the aesthetic subject puts into the aesthetic object, and the object melts into the subject, reaching the realm of "harmony between man and nature" where things and I forget each other. Therefore, the main object of China ancient art is landscape. China's landscape poems and paintings matured early, appearing at the turn of the 4th and 5th centuries. In the west, nature is regarded as an independent aesthetic object, which appeared in Dutch painting in the 17th century and was determined in romantic poetry in Britain and Germany in the 18th century. China's cultural tradition, which reflects the beauty of harmony between man and nature, has a great influence so far, inspiring photographers in China to go through the iron shoes to worship famous mountains and rivers and vividly portray the mountains and rivers of the motherland. Li Yuan, a landscape photographer living in the United States, also deeply felt the influence of traditional culture on him, which has always affected his feelings for nature. He said, "In the past 3 years, every time I took my camera to the mountains, lakes and seas, my life seemed to become more fulfilling. Slowly, I began to realize that my feelings for nature are inevitably related to the influence of cultural traditions since childhood. It is precisely because China's cultural tradition pays attention to' man's law and land, land's law and heaven's law, and heaven's law and nature' that Sima Qian will feel that only by' studying the time between man and nature' can we' understand the changes of ancient and modern times and become a unified statement'. Indeed, the inspiration from nature made me fully realize that nature is a teacher and a friend, and the distance between man and nature seems to be getting shorter and shorter because of persistent exploration and pursuit. " [3]

Lin Yutang has a passage on the differences between Chinese and Western artistic objects, which is very interesting and helpful for understanding the differences in photographic subjects. It is recorded as follows: "The impulse of China's art originated from mountains and rivers; The impulse of western art originated from women. " "Westerners know the beauty of human body curves, but not the beauty of natural curves; People in China know the beauty of natural curves, but they don't know the beauty of human curves.

"Westerners think of the shadow of a naked woman when they think of victory, our reason, peace and justice. Why must the gods of victory, freedom, peace and justice be women, not men? China people will never understand; People in China like to draw a strange stone and hang it on the wall, enjoying the natural curves of the mountains and rivers it represents all day long. Westerners will never understand. Westerners ask China people, why do you paint mountains only, just like your wife's face? ""China art, technology is subjective (such as literati painting, drunk pen), but the goal is deification, so that man can control heaven "[4] Western art, technology is different (such as photographic portraits), but the goal is self-control, so that man can control heaven. ""Lin Yutang talked about the fundamental difference between the two lies in the relationship between man and nature, that is, "man dominates the sky" or "man dominates the sky", and also mentioned the difference between Chinese and Western artistic creation methods, that is, China's artistic way is subjective and Western artistic way is objective.

Second, due to the different ways that China and the West reflect the world in art, artistic photography has its own emphasis: realism and freehand brushwork?

Photography is a product of science. Both Chinese and Western photographers use light, shadow and color to create a three-dimensional visual image in a two-dimensional space, which is the same. However, there are indeed differences between Chinese and western photographers in the expression of artistic creation. On Huangshan Mountain, when it is sunny, western photographers carry machines to record the texture of loose mountains and capture the changes of light and shadow, while China photographers rest in hotels. However, when the clouds were gathering and the rain was heavy, western photographers hid in the hotel, while China photographers rushed out to shoot this wonderland.

Photography language is closely combined with philosophy and science. Westerners who want to conquer nature with enterprising spirit must stress science. With the help of science, western plastic arts create images that resemble the real life. Photography itself is the product of science and technology, and the development of science and technology such as optics, chemistry and materials science plays a great role in the birth and development of photography. While composition, chromatics and aesthetics have become important parts of photographic art theory. The composition of western photographers is full of frames, with a single perspective, and Zhou Guangying creates a three-dimensional image, emphasizing texture, shape and color. Li Yuan believes that Adams used big cameras to highlight the worship of industrial precision. Moreover, that precision has gone beyond what we can see with our eyes, but it seems stiff. [5]

And China plastic arts is more about philosophy. The two thoughts of Confucianism, Taoism and Buddhism, entering and leaving the world, affect the artist's life course and artistic course, and also affect the artist's artistic creation method-realism or freehand brushwork. Confucian scholars pursue WTO entry and emphasize realism; However, the bumpy people believe in Buddhism and are detached from the world. When creating art, they don't seek the shape of God, but pursue abstract meaning. The characteristic of "literati painting" is freehand brushwork. China painters broke through the shackles of focus perspective and light and shade modeling with fixed light source, and created the methods of scattered perspective and line drawing to create images. Make bold choices when painting, and keep the image characteristics that can best express my spiritual temperament. There is a big blank in the picture, which forms a wonderful empty inspiration and gives the audience room for imagination and re-creation. Literati painted pine, bamboo, plum and orchid, which showed the noble character of the painter. These traditions have a great influence on photographers in China. Liu Bannong called artistic photography "freehand brushwork photography". Lang Jingshan created a collection photography method with freehand brushwork, and produced such works as Spring Trees, Xiaoji Qingjiang River, and Children's Travel, which were widely appreciated by foreign photographers. Hu Boxiang's Late Return to Shicheng, A Snowstorm on One Shoulder, Wu Zhonghang's Returning to Pasture, etc., and up to the present, the works of Ao Enhong, Chen Fuli, Jian Qingfu and Yuan Lianmin are quite picturesque in China. Photographer Yu Yuntian likes to use a large area of black to set off a little light in his works. He said: "In the painting theory of Chinese painting, white space is left, and photography is just the opposite, with black space to contrast this white space. Pay attention to saving pen in painting, that is, leaving blank space; In photography, saving light means leaving black. " [6] Yuan Lianmin's Huangshan photography often shows ethereal charm. He used the clouds of Huangshan Mountain to "leave blank". Helen snow, an American friend, praised his Yuping Peak as "amazing". She wrote: "Seeing the looming scenery in this fog is like being in the mystery of ancient Taoism." It is with the most realistic cameras and films that Yuan Lianmin created freehand brushwork that expresses his mind.