Stage set art of the set

In the performance of ancient Greek drama, the door on the "dressing building" and the audience entrance and exit on both sides of the theater already had the role of indicating the location of the event. Ancient drama also appeared in the three-dimensional scenery, such as rocks, altars, etc., which introduced painting into the theater. Ancient Roman theater began to appear the curtain. Roman architect Vitruvius in his "ten books of architecture" mentioned the ancient Greek and Roman theater stage appeared on the "three prisms scene" and classification of scenery.

Medieval European theater sets in the "same stage (scene) multiple scenes" principle is representative of the so-called "same stage (scene) multiple scenes", refers to a performance of the plot requires a number of action locations (known as set points), such as heaven, Hell, as well as the earthly church, the sea, the birthplace of Jesus, limbs off the cross and so on, in a performance place at the same time to lay out, so that the "same stage (field)" juxtaposition. Medieval performances also often used organs and devices, magic and other special effects, including heaven and hell is the most attractive place to the audience. 15 ~ early 16th century, in Italy, a new change in the art of scenery, the prominent symbol is the focus of the law of perspective and a variety of modeling tools on the stage of the comprehensive application. The earliest study of focal point perspective and used in the set is the painter and architect Bramante, the earliest put into practice on the stage is Pei Ugino and Bao Peruzzi. The architect Serio practiced on stage the classification of sets described by the Roman architect Vitruvius: palaces and temples for tragedy, town houses for comedy, and valleys and forests for pastoral opera (idylls). Some of the great artists of the time, such as Leonardo da Vinci and Raphael, took part in the design of the show.

The development of European set art from the late 16th century to the 17th century was closely linked to court opera and dance theater. The mythological themes of the performance and the pursuit of luxury and opulence of the scene, promote the development of stage technology and stage machinery. The ancient three-pronged column scenery was borrowed to solve the problem of changing scenery. Perspective is further applied on the stage and combined with stage technology, resulting in a new style of scenery - the side piece of scenery system. This set system is characterized by side pieces, curtains, back curtains painted on the top of a variety of different images, composed of tree arches, architectural complexes or indoor scenes with ceilings, and so on. The inventor of this set system is the Italian set designer Alleotti, so that it is further improved by many Italian architects and set designers, the most famous of which is the theater architects, set designers, stage mechanic Torelli de Fano. He made good use of stage machinery to change the set pattern, there is a "stage magician" called. 1618 ~ 1619 to adapt to the side piece of the set system in Parma appeared the first permanent frame stage.

Italian set system, widely spread in Europe. Its spreader in England is I. Jones, in Spain is the Italian Cosmo Lotti, in Germany is J. Feldenbach, in Vienna is the Italian Bournacchini, in France is the Italian set designer Torelli and Vigarani and so on.

In the 16th century, just as the Italian set system formation and development of the period, based on folk performances, Spain appeared in the hotel theater, the United Kingdom appeared in the popular theater (commonly known as the Elizabethan theater) performances. This performance does not use or rarely use the set, but the use of theater and stage space structure to help actors perform.

In the 17th century, with the establishment of the monarchy in France, the emergence of the classical principle of theatrical creation, the set is characterized by typology, only the general performance of the "palace", "room" and other environments, in the same set can be any performance. In the same set any tragedy (in the palace) or comedy (in the room) can be performed, so it is called a duty set. The further development of the art of opera puts forward new requirements for the art of scenery. At that time in Europe appeared a lot of set family, the most representative is the Italian Bibbiena family, four generations of grandchildren are engaged in stage art work. They introduced the technique of angular perspective into the art of scenery, and successfully expressed the complex image of Baroque architecture, which pushed the technique of painting scenery to a new height.

In the first half of the 18th century, the prevalence of "on-duty scenery". the second half of the 18th century, Paris, London has abolished the custom of the audience sitting on the stage to watch the play, for the further development of the art of scenery cleared the field. Scenery along closer to life, more national and historical specificity of the direction of development. The influence of Baroque and Rococo styles in scenery was gradually overcome. With the development of the serious genre of theater, adapted to the requirements of performing life on stage, the end of the 18th century in the set appeared in the form of three walls of the interior scenery. Influential stage artists of this period include the French painter Rothberg, who worked in England for a long time, and the English set designer William Carbone.

In the 18th century, theater performances in Asian countries **** the same characteristics is to focus on the use of stage space, for example, in Japan appeared Kabuki dedicated theater and stage. The front of the stage is very large, stretching into the audience, between the stage and the audience hall with a "flower road", the back of the stage is equipped with a movable canopy. Kabuki performances sometimes use illustrative three-dimensional sets such as walls and gardens. The hand-operated turntable was first used in Japanese performances in 1756. At that time, theater performances in China, India, and Indonesia also rarely used sets, and stylistic treatments were limited to masks, faces, makeup, and costumes. The trend of archaeological realism that emerged at the end of the 18th century continued in the first half of the 19th century. in 1823, when King John was performed at the Covingarden Theatre, the French-born set designer, Poulenc, demonstrated his quest for historical authenticity in sets and costumes. in the 1930s, Romantic theatre began to dominate the stage. It emphasized the place where the action took place, seeing it as a "speechless character," a witness to events. Romantic playwrights wrote a large number of hints in their scripts about the requirements of the setting and were personally involved in the rehearsal of their plays, sometimes even drawing designs to illustrate their intentions. Some of the leading painters of the time were also attracted to the theater to participate in the design of performances. In their creations appeared the complex structure of realistic scenery and magnificent costumes. The quest for archaeological authenticity continued in the treatment of set images for historical plays.

In the second half of the nineteenth century, to meet the need for mass-produced "sets on duty", a number of multinational sets supplying workshops were created. These mass-produced sets were bulky, strong and durable, with a high degree of craftsmanship, but with very different styles.

In 1866, the Meiningen Theatre Company was founded in Germany, which incorporated the art of scenery into the conception of performances, characterized by the historical accuracy of the scenery.

Towards the end of the 70's, E. Zola extended the theory of naturalism to the field of drama, and demanded that scenery "accurately reproduce the social environment". This theory was embodied in stage practice by French director A. Antoine, German director O. Brahm, American director David Belasco and so on. Naturalistic sets promoted the development of stage technology, improved the expressive power of realistic sets, and drew a clear line with the real appearance and the commercial impersonal sets of the 19th century, the cheap romantic mood sets, and the sensationalist stunt sets.

The end of the 19th century, a group of famous Russian painters such as В.Д.Polenov, Vasnetsov brothers, etc., were attracted to the theater to work, thus forming the Russian school of set painting. They brought the method of painting composition into the set, and determined the principle that the set design should reveal the content of the drama in an image and in a complete way. at the end of the 19th century and the beginning of the 20th century, the Moscow Art Theatre carried out the innovation of the set, emphasized on the overall image of the performance of the conception of the set for each scene to adapt to the director's ideas, and determined the realism of the stage design and the director's task of searching for the **** the same image language, and created a "stylistic director", and the "stylistic director". "V.A. Simov was called "the forerunner of a new type of stage designer". At the same time, the Russian scenographers K.A. Korovin and A.Y. Golovin, who worked at the Royal Theater, brought about a radical change in the art of setting on the official stage.

Along with the development of scenic art, the stage technology developed accordingly, and in the beginning of the 19th century the method of scroll painting, which utilized the transparent image on the front and back sides of the tulle, began to become popular on the stage. This technique was accompanied by innovations in lighting, and in 1896 the first mechanical turntable was used by Rauterschl?ger in the Munich "Minister's" Theater. The increasing sophistication of the technique led to the frequent opening and closing of the curtain during the intermission of the play.

The 19th century also saw experiments in restoring Shakespeare's plays to their original form and performing them without sets. Carl Inmermann built the Düsseldorf Theater in 1840 and performed A Midsummer Night's Dream in Shakespeare's style in 1843, the Shakespeare Memorial Theater was built in Stratford, England, in 1879, and the Shakespeare Stage in Munich, Germany, in 1889.

The Symbolist theater appeared in France at the end of the 19th century. Symbolist painters such as Degas of France and Munch of Norway made art designs for theatrical performances. Symbolist thinking had a great influence on the performance activities in the early 20th century. The diversification of the forms of theatrical performances at the beginning of the 20th century led to the corresponding development of scenic art. The theories and creative activities of A. Appiah of Switzerland, Gordon Gray of England and S. Wyspiński of Poland had a wide influence on the development of scenic art in this period. They opposed the naturalism in the drama, opposed the stage plane painting, put forward the image of the performance to be simple, generalized, and advocated the use of abstract neutral set image (composed of cubes, bar screen, platforms, steps, and other abstract surfaces and products), in the rendering of the light to create infinite changes, in order to express the imagination of the "world of the future". In terms of their attitudes towards actors, Appiah and Vespiński advocated the prominence of the actor, while Gray advocated the dictatorship of the director and the replacement of the actor with a "super puppet". Their theories and practices, on the one hand, reflected the requirements of symbolist theater performance, opening the way for modernist theater performance; on the other hand, they also put forward new topics for realist theater performance. The "giant stage" envisioned by Vespiansky and the "relief stage" experimented by George Fuchs, the organizer of Munich's Kunsttheater, began to break through the mirror stage, and from 1908 to the early twenties, Jagiyev organized the Russian Ballet Season abroad, which absorbed a large number of Russians. Jagiyev organized a season of Russian ballets abroad, absorbing a large number of Russian painters to design the performances. These painters enriched the stage with their brilliant colors, eye-catching decorations and Russian national styles. M. Reinhardt, who was a great admirer of all the artists of different countries and schools such as Picasso, Braque, Baxter, Benoit, etc., designed the ballet in a diversified form, but lost the Russian national characteristics.

Before and after the First World War, Expressionist sets were first popular in Germany and soon spread to other countries. Expressionist sets, the use of tilted lines, distorted images, strong and varied light color and light and shadow processing, expressing the artist's subjective feelings of the fantasy world. In addition, there were also Cubism (showing different combinations of geometric forms), Constructivism (showing the abstract "skeleton" structure), Futurism (showing the mechanized era of "turbulence", "speed" and "force"). (expressing the "commotion", "speed" and "force" of the mechanized era), and surrealism (taking the expression of dream scenes as its task). These genres of scenery, in the exploration of new forms and the development of performance means and other achievements, but they exclude the ideological nature of artistic creation, the emergence of absolutism and one-sided tendency.

During this period, there was also a diversification in the art of Russian and Soviet scenery; the Moscow Art Theater under the leadership of КС.Stanislavsky and В.I.Nemirovich-Danchenko carried out experiments in different forms of performances, and there appeared such influential scenery designs as The Green Bird, Hamlet, The Brothers Karamazov, and Lysistrata. The design. At the same time, around the artistic activity of the directors V.E. Meyerhod, Teirov, E.B. Vakhtangov and others, there was an exploration of non-realistic forms of performances and scenography. Starting from the adaptation of his biofunctional theory of acting, Meyerhold pursued "hypothetical realism" in performance, conducted extensive experiments with forms and means of acting, and had a great impact. Constructivist scenery was an important aspect of his artistic pursuit. Tayloff experimented with cubist sets. Vakhtangov, on the other hand, experimented with performance forms centered around the requirement to express the thoughts and feelings of the characters with external techniques. His performances of "Dorandotte" are known for their colorful and grotesque forms.

This period saw the rise of stage art in the United States, and after Belasco, R.E. Jones, L. Simonson, N.B. Geddes and others explored various aspects and identified different characteristics of their creations. Jones with his rich imagination to the European continent appeared in a variety of set forms embodied in the United States on the stage; Simonson's creations are included in the West, "selective realism" range; Geddes creations are designed to design the whole play **** with the performance of the three-dimensional space is outstanding.

The epic plays of B. Brecht and the political plays of E. Piscator in Germany raised new issues for the development of scenery. Designers Caspar Neher, Teo Otto and K.von Abenemy accomplished the creation of sets for epic plays from different aspects. They used half-screens (first used in 1926), white lighting, abstract or neutral backgrounds, functional roles of the nature of the set material, together with props with specific details, wall charts, screen projections, etc., to complement and illustrate the environment of the performance, while avoiding the need for a figurative reproduction of the environment. In Piscator's political theater performances, the projection technique is used extensively.

In the 40's and 50's, the realistic form of acting once again dominated the stage, and after the 60's, with the emergence of theater genres such as the absurdist theater, the cruel theater, the "poverty" ("hard work") theater, the theater of opportunity, the environmental theater and so on, the style of the set also appeared, and the style of the set also appeared, and the style of the set also appeared. With the emergence of theater genres such as absurdist theater, cruelty theater, "poverty" ("hard work") theater, opportunity theater, environmental theater and so on, the style of scenery is also changing. These schools of drama also demanded the treatment of stage space and stage form in accordance with the artistic principles consistent with their own aesthetic ideas. But as far as the form of the set is concerned, each school of theater has seldom had its own unique look of the set. According to their own concept of theater, different schools of drama, selective use of technical means, forms and methods, the formation of the ever-changing world of art, the emergence of a new type of "duty set" reflects this development trend: in the abstract form based on the production of batches of set components, to make different combinations, to adapt to the different needs of the performance. In this development, the inherent image of the set to show the role of "environment" has been weakened, and the inherent organization of the set of the practical function of the performance space has been strengthened and highlighted, the artist's subjective ideas and emotions expressed by the set image of the direct expression of the way to imply, allegory. Therefore, the form of the set tends to be abstract.

In this process of historical development, the development of stage technology is clearly shown: ① extensive use of new scientific and technological achievements to test new performance materials, the use of raw materials, texture, performance to create a personalized form of performance. ② The study and utilization of light. Czechoslovakia J. Svoboda created a synthesis of slides, film, television projection, multi-screen, multi-angle projection and other light performance world, has had a wide impact.

The 20th century saw the continuation of experiments in restoring Shakespeare's performance forms, and a number of stages or venues modeled after or close to Shakespeare's plays from the Elizabethan period in England were constructed in England, Canada, the United States, and other countries. This return to ancient forms of performance has been called "Elizabethanization" or "Elizabethan nostalgia".

Japan, while preserving the traditions of classical oriental theater, began to introduce European forms of drama, including stagecraft, to Japan in the early twentieth century, bringing Japanese stagecraft into the international trend of stagecraft development. After the Second World War, Japanese modern stage art with national characteristics was created, and with its unique conception, diverse forms, and colorful modeling materials and forms, it became one of the international stage arts. In the process of its development, a number of stage artists with a wide range of influences, representative of such as Ito Hishaku, Yoshida Kenkichi, Mitsubayashi Ryotaro, Kitagawa Isamu and so on.

In the late 50's and early 60's, Soviet stage art underwent a turning point. As the understanding of socialist realism developed, the artistic exploration of diverse performance forms in the 20s and 30s was reevaluated and further developed.

The stage art of Chinese opera has always had costume, make-up and masonry as its main factors. The modern concept of scenery was developed under foreign influence. Its development proceeded along two lines; ① the development of scenery used in the improved and reformed repertoire of traditional opera; ② the development of drama scenery. Chinese drama sets were produced and formed from 1907 to 1930, and the Negro Appeal to Heaven, performed in Shanghai in 1907, was the first Chinese drama performance to use sets. Later, in the play "The Tragedy on the Lake" performed by the South China Society, the set form of neutral curtain with props was used, which sought to express the scenes of Chinese social life.In the early 1920s, Hong Shen and Lin Huiyin stayed in the U.S. to study stage art, and they were the earliest to receive the professional training of stage art.In 1923, after Hong Shen returned to China, he was the earliest to use a three-wall hard-scene in the performance of "The Fan of the Grandmother" which was designed by his director and guidance, and there were strict floor plans. In 1924, Yu Shangyuan and Zhao Taiqi returned from their studies in the United States, and in 1925, they opened the Department of Drama at the College of Fine Arts of the National University of Beiping and set up a course on stage art, which trained the first batch of stage art talents such as He Mengaxe and Zhang Mingqi for China.

The early 1930s to 1937 was the period when drama took root and developed in China. The performances of the Left-Wing Theater Movement, the experimental performances of the Dingxian Association for the Promotion of Chinese Civilian Education as well as the amateur and professional theater performances in Tianjin and Beiping contributed to the development of the art of scenery in China.

The performance designs of this period showed a certain level of professionalism and exploration of diversified forms. 1932, Hong Shen choreographed and directed the design of Wukuiqiao, which used a three-dimensional stepped-platform structure for the set. 1933's production of Roar, China! (Director: Ying Yunwei, Designer: Zhang Yunqiao), with its large scale, imposing composition and complete set form, reflected the performance and design level of this period. Turntables were also used in No War on the Western Front (design: Xu Xingzhi). In the performance of Chinese Civilian Education Promotion Association in Beibei Ding County, a combination of abstract scenery pieces and real scenery was used. Stage designers such as Xu Qu and Zhao Yue, as well as Zhao Ming, Ji Ning and Zhong Jingzhi began to specialize in stage art during this period.

1937-1949 was a special stage in the development of Chinese scenic art. In the harsh war environment, most of the theater activities were in a mobile performance environment. Performance venues vary, various forms of performance coexist, according to local conditions to solve the performance of modeling treatment is an important feature of the stage art of this period. Reflecting the level of scenic art at that time is the performance environment is a little more stable in Shanghai, Wuhan, Guilin, Chongqing and other places, they perform more, pay more attention to the scenic design and artistic quality. Adapting to the needs of performance practice, Liu Lu's book "Stage Technology Fundamentals" was published in 1948.

After the founding of the People's Republic of China (PRC), a large team of stage artists was formed, who played an important role in the formation and development of professional creations and national-scale theaters (troupes). Since 1950, the higher theater colleges and universities have opened stage art departments, training a large number of stage art professionals. 1981, the beginning of the establishment of the China Stage Art Society.

China's set design follows the principle of realist creation. Design works that can reflect the artistic level of the early period of the founding of the country include Paul Kochajin, (design: Chen Yongxianjing), Longshugou (design: Chen Yongxiang), The White-haired Girl (design: Zhang Yao, etc.), The Russian Question (design: Liu Lu), Roar, China! (design: Sun Haoran, etc.), etc. In the First National Drama Competition in 1956, the designs of Ten Thousand Waters and Thousand Mountains (design: Zhao Forest, etc.) and Westward Looking at Chang'an (design: Lu Yangchun, etc.) won the first prize. The designs of One Servant, Two Masters, The Little Citizen, Lyubav Yarovaya, and The Peach Blossom Fan had a wide impact. As an artistic summary of the styling of the performances of this conference, the book "Stage Art Research" was published.

Post-performance to the early 1960s, began to explore the diversification of the form of performance and set forms, a number of different forms of set design, such as "Cai Wenji" (design: Chen Yongxiang), "Sentry under the Neon Lights" (design: Zhou Luo, etc.), "Paper Tigers", "Catch the Brawler" (design: Zhang Zhengyu, etc.), "Rapids" (design: Cui Kedi, etc.), "Li Shuangshuang" (design: Li Shuangshuang) (design: Cui Kedi, etc.), "The Peach Blossom Fan" (design: Li Shuangshang) (design: Li Shuangshang) (design: Li Shuangshang). Li Shuangshuang" (design: Mao Jinguang, etc.), "Swan Lake" and "Straits" (all designed by Qi Mudong), etc. The exhibition of stage art works held in Beijing in 1963 reflected the creative achievements and level of this period from one aspect.

China's experimentation with slide projection began in 1957 with the performance of The Tempest, and the practice of large-area slide projection succeeded in 1964 with the performance of The East is Red, a great song and dance performance, which became an important means of styling the performance. Since then, China's large-area slide projection technology has been perfected, and gradually attracted the attention of foreign counterparts.

During the "Cultural Revolution", China's theater performances almost stopped due to social unrest. Until 1976, theater art began to revive, the end of 1980 and the beginning of 1981, the first national stage art theory symposium, the first national stage art exhibition in 1982, and the publication of the professional journal "Stage Art and Technology" is a prominent symbol of this stage of development. In terms of creative practice, the ideological constraints and narrow understanding of artistic creation methods formed over the years were broken through, the concept of theater was developed, and the conscious pursuit of diversified performance forms and set styles began. The publication of books such as Anthology of Stage Art and Stage Space Full of Symbols, and the emergence and cultivation of professional historical and theoretical talents reflected the development of theoretical research work on stage art.

In 1986, China officially became a member of the International Center for Stage Art, and began to participate in international academic exchanges. 1987, China participated in the 6th International Quadrennial Exhibition of Stage Art in Prague, and was awarded the prize of "Excellent Combination of Traditional and Modern Stage Art".