Main categories, representative works and characteristics of traditional arts and crafts in China.

According to the principles and angles of art classification, there are six main types of art classification:

First, based on the existence of artistic images, art can be divided into time art (music, literature), space art (sculpture, painting) and space-time art (drama, film and television).

Secondly, based on the aesthetic way of artistic image, art can be divided into auditory art (such as music), visual art (such as painting) and audio-visual art (such as drama).

Thirdly, according to the content characteristics of works of art, art can be divided into expressive art (music, dance, architecture, lyric poetry, etc. ) and reproduction art (painting, sculpture, drama, novel, etc.). ).

Fourthly, according to the materialized form of artistic works, art is divided into dynamic art (music, dance, drama, film and television, etc. ) and static art (painting, sculpture, architecture, practical technology, etc. ).

Fifth, the emerging classification in Europe and America divides art into visual art, including painting, sculpture, photography, architecture and technology, as well as modern art design, advertising art, film art and computer three-dimensional animation. Performing arts, including music, dance, drama and musicals popular in developed countries in recent years. The advantage of this classification method is that it adapts to the development trend of modern art and accommodates emerging and popular art categories or styles in time. However, this classification method has just appeared after all, and it has not stood the test of time, especially at present, it has not been widely recognized by the art, academic and educational circles all over the world, even in developed countries. Therefore, this book does not adopt this method for the time being. ?

The scientific art classification method should fully absorb the reasonable factors of the above classification, and at the same time, it must also take into account the aesthetic principles of art classification. As a human aesthetic activity, art essentially conveys human aesthetic experience in a dynamic way. Fundamentally speaking, works of art convey the artist's aesthetic experience and consciousness in a materialistic way. Therefore, the aesthetic principle of art classification should be based on the material existence mode of art form and the content characteristics of aesthetic consciousness. ?

Sixth: From the aesthetic principle of art classification, the whole art can be divided into five categories, namely: practical art (architecture, gardens, arts and crafts and modern design), plastic art (painting, sculpture, photography and calligraphy), expressive art (music and dance), comprehensive art (drama, drama, film art and television art) and language art (poetry and calligraphy). This book adopts this classification method. Of course, due to the limitation of space, this book does not cover all kinds of art, such as acrobatics, folk art, puppets, shadow play and other folk arts. ?

The significance of art classification lies in revealing the characteristics and development law of each art, as well as their different material media and artistic language, so as to deeply understand and master the aesthetic characteristics and essence of each art and further promote the perfection and development of each art?

Any art classification method has only relative significance. There are internal relations and consistency between various arts, and some of the same laws are interrelated. Many aestheticians at home and abroad have pointed out the close relationship between "poetry" and "painting", and some even call music a flowing building, and architecture a solidified music and so on. , fully embodies the extremely close relationship between some art categories. The diversity and unity of art types make the art field of human beings more colorful. Correctly understanding and understanding this diversity and unity, and mastering the basic laws and aesthetic characteristics of various arts will help to improve our artistic appreciation ability and artistic accomplishment.

II. Overview of this chapter

"Practical art" refers to the expressive space art combining practicality and aesthetics, which mainly includes architectural art, garden art, arts and crafts and modern design. The most basic feature of practical art is the combination of practical principles and aesthetic principles, which have both practical and aesthetic values.

(1) Architectural art. Architecture refers to the floorboard of buildings and structures, and it is the place where human beings live and move with material materials. Architecture means "great craft" in Latin, which shows that the technology and art of architecture are inseparable.

The so-called architectural art refers to the use of the unique artistic language of architectural art in accordance with the law of beauty, so that the architectural image has cultural value and aesthetic value, symbolic and formal beauty, reflecting nationality and sense of the times. As early as two thousand years ago, the ancient Roman architect Vitruvius put forward three basic principles of architecture, namely "practicality, firmness and beauty". Any building should be the unity of material function and aesthetic function, practicality and aesthetics, technology and artistry. The "beauty" of modern architecture has been mentioned in an increasingly important position. This is because with the rapid development of modern science and technology, people's material needs are basically met, and higher spiritual needs and higher requirements are put forward for the aesthetics or artistry of architecture. Architectural art should be a "harmonious unity" of "architecture" and "art", so that architectural art can meet people's material needs and use needs, as well as people's spiritual needs and aesthetic needs. Architectural art is a three-dimensional work, which belongs to space plastic arts. The aesthetic characteristics of architecture are mainly manifested in its modeling beauty. When people look at any building, the first feeling is its appearance. For example, the Forbidden City in Beijing, Potala Palace in Tibet, Sun Yat-sen Mausoleum in Nanjing, Notre Dame de Paris, Living Water Villa in America, Sydney Opera House in Australia, etc.

The artistic language and means of expression of architecture are very rich, including space, shape, proportion, balance, rhythm, color, decoration and many other factors, which isomorphically form the plastic beauty of architectural art.

"Space" is the basic element of architecture. Architecture mainly meets people's actual needs by creating various internal and external spaces. Clever handling of space can greatly enhance the expressive force of architectural art.

"Shape" mainly refers to the general outline of the building, which highlights the unique personality and artistic appeal of the building through the different combinations of lines and forms, space and entities, and the harmonious unity of the building and the environment.

"Proportion" mainly refers to skillfully handling the proportional relationship between various parts of the building, the proportion of length, width and height in the building, the proportion of concave and convex, the proportion of reality and so on. , directly affect the beauty of the building.

"Balance" mainly refers to the symmetry of architecture in composition, including the relationship between front and back, left and right, and up and down. Balance and symmetry often give people a sense of seriousness and increase the lofty aesthetic feeling. The most common way to balance is to realize the symmetry of the central axis. For example, the Forbidden City in Beijing, as a complete building complex, is very balanced and symmetrical, in which each building extends from south to north on a central axis, and the center of the whole building complex is the tall Hall of Supreme Harmony, which extends from south to north.

"Rhythm" refers to the orderly repetition of walls, columns, doors and windows of buildings through regular changes and arrangements, resulting in a kind of rhythmic beauty or rhythmic beauty. It is at this point that architecture is similar to music, so people call it "solidified music" and "flowing architecture" respectively. Mr. Liang Sicheng, a famous architect in China, once studied the colonnade of the Forbidden City and found a very obvious sense of rhythm and rhythm. From Tiananmen Gate to Wumen Gate, there is an obvious sense of rhythm, and the columns on both sides are arranged rhythmically to form a continuous spatial sequence.

"Color" often constitutes a unique artistic image of architecture, giving people a unique aesthetic feeling and unforgettable impression. The overall color of the Forbidden City is brilliant, with vermilion walls, white abutments, golden glazed tile roofs, red columns, doors and windows, which make the color of this palace unique.

As an integral part of architecture, "decoration" also plays an important role in creating architecture, which can add luster to architecture. For example, traditional buildings in China attach great importance to the decoration of the roof. They not only make cornices at the corners, but also decorate them with various carvings and paintings. They often add gorgeous and sincere animal decorations to the roofs. Even the doornails arranged on the doors of the Forbidden City have a very strong national cultural connotation as decoration.

In short, it is through the coordination and unity of space, shape, proportion, balance, rhythm, color, decoration and other factors that the unique beauty of space modeling in architectural art is formed. ?

As the embodiment of national culture and the mirror of the spirit of the times, architectural art always reflects a certain social ideology and profound historical and cultural connotation in an intuitive way. Chinese and foreign ancient and modern buildings can be called in various forms. These buildings have a long history, a large number, different styles, national and times characteristics, and high aesthetic and cultural value.

(2) Garden art "Garden" is a beautiful natural environment and recreational environment created in a certain area by means of engineering technology and artistic means, such as transforming the terrain (or further building mountains, stacking rocks and managing water), planting flowers and plants, building and arranging garden roads. Broadly speaking, garden art is also a type of architectural art. The three major garden systems in the world, including oriental gardens (represented by China gardens), European gardens (represented by French gardens) and Arabic gardens, all have high artistry and appreciation. Gardens in China can be divided into two systems: the large royal gardens in the north and the small private gardens in the south of the Yangtze River.

As one of the practical arts, there is no doubt that the basic characteristics of garden art are also the combination of practicality and aesthetics, technology and artistry. But generally speaking, the practical function of gardens is mainly for people to appreciate, and this special function requires gardens to pay more attention to aesthetics and artistry. Especially the traditional garden art in China has become an important part of our national cultural treasure house. In the history of China literature and art, many touching poems and songs in ancient times were often expressed by means of garden scenery; Many paintings handed down to this day also depict the beauty of gardens; Many literary works are inseparable from gardens, such as the Grand View Garden in A Dream of Red Mansions. Even some drama stories took place in the garden, such as the Peony Pavilion, the representative work of Tang Xianzu in the Ming Dynasty. It was in the back garden that the heroine Du Liniang was moved by this scene and felt sad. It can be seen that China's garden art is closely related to China's paintings, China's poems, China's plays and China's literature, and has many cultural, historical, aesthetic and artistic values. To appreciate China gardens, we should not only appreciate its natural beauty and architectural beauty, but also pay attention to its cultural beauty. The latter is the essence and core of China gardens.

The real essence and core of China gardens is its cultural beauty. In particular, China garden art is deeply rooted in the fertile soil of national culture, so it has a strong national style and color. Traditional gardens in China are more attractive because they combine the beauty of scenery, art and culture. In China's garden art, there are very rich aesthetic thoughts. The Summer Palace uses various artistic techniques such as borrowing scenery, dividing scenery and dividing scenery to create a sense of space beauty. The design of the whole garden is distinct, varied, virtual and real, tortuous and implicit, surrounded by mountains and waters, with endless charm, sometimes cheerful and sometimes secluded scenery, like a gradually unfolding picture scroll, which makes people memorable, quite elegant and interesting, and creates infinite artistic conception in a limited environment. ?

(3) Arts and crafts and modern design. Arts and crafts, also known as practical arts and crafts, generally refers to a kind of arts and crafts related to human daily necessities or living environment, which has aesthetic value in shape and appearance. Arts and crafts are directly restricted by materials and production technology, and have distinctive style of the times and national characteristics. It mainly includes three categories: one is practical articles for daily life after artistic treatment, such as exquisite embroidered pillowcases, exquisite quilt covers and exquisite glassware. Most of these items are mainly practical, supplemented by decoration, or have decorative functions on the basis of practicality. The other is folk crafts, such as bamboo weaving, straw weaving, batik, clay sculpture, wood carving, paper cutting and so on. Generally, the raw materials are cheap, the process is simple and the price is cheap, which is both practical and ornamental. The other kind is special handicrafts, such as cloisonne ware, ivory carving, porcelain jade carving and so on. They use precious raw materials, are very elaborate and expensive, and are mainly used for viewing and collecting. These special arts and crafts have no practical value, but mainly aesthetic value and artistic value. ?

Practical craft is one of the oldest arts in human history. As early as the primitive society, human ancestors began to decorate themselves with animal skins, bones, ivory and feathers. Especially in the Neolithic Age, a large number of painted pottery appeared, which was a perfect combination of practicality and artistry. Some unearthed painted pottery still has high aesthetic value.

Practical arts and crafts, as the name implies, should be practical first, and aesthetics should be embedded in practicality. Therefore, when making practical arts and crafts musical instruments, we should consider and design them around the requirements of actual use. From the aspects of material selection, external modeling and color decoration. It is necessary to consider artistic treatment and processing in combination with actual requirements. Even special handicrafts for viewing are no exception, because they also have practical purposes, that is, beautifying people's living environment, so we should consider adapting to the environment and meeting the needs of consumers in the design. Practical arts and crafts should be applicable, economical and beautiful.

The aesthetic characteristics of arts and crafts are similar to architectural art, which is reflected in the beauty of modeling. Therefore, arts and crafts attach great importance to modeling design, and strive to tap the potential of materials and decoration, pay attention to the use of color, lines, modeling and other formal factors, as well as exaggeration, deformation, balance and other artistic techniques to create formal beauty of arts and crafts.

The scope of modern design or industrial design generally includes:

First, product design, from daily necessities such as furniture, tableware and clothing to high-tech products such as automobiles, airplanes and computers, all belong to the category of product design. Its most prominent feature is the combination of plastic arts and industrial products, which makes industrial products artistic. The essence of narrow product design or industrial product design is to pursue the perfect unity of efficacy and aesthetics, function and form, technology and art.

The second is environmental design, that is, human beings transform and organize various natural and artificial environmental factors and design the physical environment in space to meet people's behavioral needs and aesthetic needs. Environmental art is the place where people live artistically. It includes landscape environment dominated by natural scenery and historical sites, spatial sequential environment dominated by urban communities and architectural groups, and daily living environment dominated by furnishings, sketches and artificial greening, thus creating a comfortable and beautiful living environment for human society.

The third is visual design, which refers to the visual image design carried out by people in order to convey information or use signs. Narrow visual design is also called graphic design. Visual design covers a wide range, including binding design, printing design, packaging design, display design, visual image design, advertising design and so on.

"Aesthetic Characteristics of Practical Art"

(1) practicality and aesthetics.

Practicality should pay attention to the following points:

First of all, we should have a broader understanding of practicality. Because the actual activities of human beings are diverse, including productive labor, daily life, social activities, cultural life and many other fields, all practical art categories, even different types in each category, must meet the needs of different actual activities of human beings.

Second, practical art is characterized by the combination of practicality and aesthetics, but for most practical works of art, practicality is the main thing, and aesthetics should obey and serve practicality.

Third, practical art is closely related to production technology, and materials have a direct restriction and influence on practical art.

Fourthly, because practical art often needs to consume a lot of material and physical labor, its practicality should also consider the economic problems such as material, time-consuming, processing and cost of products, try to save labor and materials, reduce costs, and make it have lower consumption and higher use value. ?

Practical art is aesthetic, that is, it meets people's aesthetic and spiritual needs. Because practical art can be seen everywhere in our daily life, it plays an aesthetic role almost every day, every hour and every moment, giving people a beautiful feeling, thus having both aesthetic functions under the premise of practicality and achieving the unity of material and spirit.

In practical art, practicality and aesthetics are organically unified. Practicality is the premise and foundation of aesthetics, and aesthetics can enhance practicality. Therefore, practicality and aesthetics promote each other, which are indispensable and inseparable. They constitute the most basic principles and characteristics of practical art. In particular, with the continuous development of social productive forces and the continuous improvement of people's living standards, aesthetics plays an increasingly important role in practical art, and people's requirements for the beauty of practical art are more extensive and urgent than ever.

(2) Expressiveness and formal beauty. Another important aesthetic feature of practical art is that it pays special attention to expressiveness and formal beauty, and organically combines them in works. As a kind of expressive space art, practical art does not pay attention to imitating the reappearance of objective things, but expresses some vague and abstract artistic conception and significance. Therefore, expressiveness should be an important aesthetic feature of practical art, and it also constitutes the fundamental difference between it and reproduction art such as drama, novel and film. The performance of this practical art makes it pay more attention to formal beauty than other arts.

The so-called formal beauty mainly refers to the regular combination of various formal factors, thus forming some similar characteristics and laws. It includes not only factors such as color, lines and shapes, but also formal rules such as balance and diversity. In the long-term practical activities, human beings have discovered and summarized many formal laws, and created new formal laws without fear, thus greatly improving the creativity of beauty and the expressive power of art. Practical art, as a space art, pays special attention to formal beauty.

In short, in practical art, expressiveness and formal beauty are inseparable. Formal beauty is the external embodiment of expressiveness, and expressiveness is the inner soul of formal beauty. ?

(3) Nationality and time. Practical art has a strong national style and distinctive characteristics of the times. Therefore, practical art also has an important aesthetic feature, that is, the organic unity of nationality and times. In practical arts, including architecture, gardens, arts and crafts, all reflect the national style and characteristics. Practical art has distinct characteristics of the times. The epochal nature of practical art lies in that it always expresses the feelings and ideals of a specific era and society.