Going Back to the Classics
--Contemplation on present art and art education

For well-known reasons, all classics, from traditional Chinese art to western art (which was rare in China previously) were idealized to some extent from the 1960’s to the 1980s. It was hard to talk about simulation and innovation in a pure art sense. If the crooked roads of Chinese art in the past has taught us to contemplate over the essence of art, the two extremes of an artists’ ideas and psychological rectifications afterwards are worth even more than calm retrospect and judgment - on the one hand, some artists who failed to rebound from the turbulent times found it difficult to rectify their values, remaining rigescent and misunderstanding classics in art education and artworks. On the other hand, the reform of the1980’s and the opening up to the outside world has given rise to tolerance of diversity, but the sudden influx of western ideas, in the context of the nearly half-century “time-lag”, has dazzled the Chinese artists while inspired their passion of creation - like a hungry man at an extravagant feast, blindly wolfing down foods. The 1980’s was an era full of enthusiasm which I think people from that time will always recall. Blistering enthusiasm often means a dearth of calmness. People forget about the classics and their significance while taking in buzzwords and fashionable ideas. Fine art circles have become a place of riotous revelry for all kinds of wild thoughts and a paradise for opportunists. Following ideological restriction, this should have been a golden opportunity for retrospect and the curing historical traumas.

 

Ci Hai, a Chinese lexical encyclopaedic dictionary, defines “classics” as “the traditional authoritative works”, and in art, it can be deemed as the best works which have occurred and have been proven by time. If the interpretation does not beget dissent, the title of Going Back to the Classics sounds more or less not to make sense. Nevertheless, when we review the current art creation and education, we find that we are drifting from classics - hordes of artists and so-called artists are playing a game without rules - everybody can be a star, or nothing. The painters speaking a visual language rarely concern themselves about the layout of their pictures, and unrestrained critics transplant ideological arguments and justifications. The reform of art education is often capricious and lacks systematic support. Although everybody calls himself a reformist, a new academic order is not established while overthrowing the old custom, and we feel we are heading nowhere in this desperate exploration. We cry out loudly “Go back to classics!” rather than remain in loss forever.

 

I. Going back to the classics is to break out of the deadlock of post modernism

Historically, it is hard to criticize an artists’ choice during initial stage of the opening up. More attention should begiven to the fact that two decades later there is still a considerable portion of people who are so obsessed in blind following that they just walked into a deadlock of post modernism - it has an immediate impact on present art works and education.

The phrase “post modernism” is prevalent in current China, it first appeared in the area of western architecture in the 1950’s. It was intended to object to authority and singleness, i.e. it was against classics and emphasized individualism, nationality and popularity (it objects to the square structures in architecture). Artistically, it can be translated into objection to elite and classics, and significance to popularity and the non-art properties. Different from modern arts, post modern arts drive to overthrow the classics completely. In another word, to the current post modern artists, the only significance of classics is its existence as an opposite. A point of view accepted by many people: the modern society finds it hard to express contemporary emotions, while post modern art meet this need. It keeps us wondering: have the post modern arts really realized the artistic goals they advocate? What is the significance of classics in the present sense?

An array of arts have emerged in the wake of post modern thoughts, such as Pop Art, [text missing], audio-visual art, multi-media and the even more realistic performance art and land art. However, these art styles have eventually gone too far away from their original purpose. They are neither popular nor realistic, and drift from the classics. If the border between art and reality, was broken or blurred, it would mean a cancellation art itself. The contribution of post modern art to local regimes is very much susceptible, for the point itself does not hold water. It eventually degenerated into a slogan and a phenomenon. Substantially, it is a fear or evasion of classic arts, or even despair.

 

Today, since people show more tolerance to diversities, we are not intended to criticize post modernism, a school of western arts, but it is odd to label everything with post modernism - it is hard to imagine even in its birthplace, when the classics stand out with profound significance. Just like the Chinese ink paintings that are perpetually based on the materials of brush and ink, the key point of innovation lies in the painter’s proactive strokes, not the strong urge to be different. No matter how the times change, neither Chinese ink painting nor western oil painting is able to break away from the classics – the classics themselves have a wealth of self-sufficiency. The classic art styles are just the same in expressing contemporary society, but slightly different from post modern styles, they need more effort and savvy from artists.

 

II. Going back to the classics is a confidence in history

When walking into the Musée du Louvre and the Forbidden City, the exhibits that one is attracted to are those that are regularly referred to by people or in text books, i.e. classic works. They have survived historical judgment and generations of reviews and critics. Each generation has their classics which become the cultural hallmark of that generation - the inclusive Han culture, the unadorned simplicity of the Northern Wei and Northern Zhou dynasties, the elegance of the Nan dynasty, the rich and gorgeous Tang culture, the easy indifference in the Yuan and Ming dynasties are expressed by classic works of their times. The sanctity in Raphael works, the elegance in Da Vinci’s styles, the power of Michelangelo’s works and the vitality of Delacroix’s paintings have been examples of creativity for us. They are perfect examples of the harmony between nature and humans; they bring us a great experience and a fresh atmosphere. Do not hesitate, come back to the classics. They will prove to have innumerable possibilities of creation, which is keen for intelligent minds.

 

III. Going back to the classics is necessary for contemporary academic education

The so-called academic education is substantially an education in the classics. Classics are the backbone of academic education, for they teach students about all the best arts of  the past, present and even in the future, in another word, only those that have withstood the test of time would be written in today’s institutional text books. Only classic and elite cultures are able to carry out the mission. However, none of the other art genres have a foothold in mainstream academic arts, at least, they can not prove themselves. From classicalism to impressionism, to modernism, no matter how fashion changed, it evolved centering on one point - classic art and elite culture have been persistently developing toward the perfection. The foregoing post modernism is not necessary as a teaching content in academic education. It is not a rival of genres. The academy is a place for nurturing talents, while post modernists contend to dissect all rationalistic and civil achievements since the Enlightenment, and scrutinize all works of art and art education experiences. Why would our academies need them? Wouldn’t it be good for self-subversion?

 

IV. Going back to classics is to create more classics

An education in the classics is not a simple repetition of old things, otherwise the classics would just be meaningless. Quite the contrary, the purpose of this education is to serve the real world in order to create new classics. All art revolution and great leap-forward were based on inheritance of traditional classics. Chinese painting was at the forefront during the Tang dynasty. This merit belongs to Tang Taizong (Li Shimin, the famous emperor of Tang) who had advocated and adhered to research and absorption of traditional classic works. He contended “Sweep the Ch’in and Han malady with Yao and Shun ethos, and compose splendid music using grand and celestial sounds” in one of his poems. He was against the profligacy, extravagance and the extreme luxury in Ch'in and Han times, but instead, advocated the healthy, simple and applicable arts and crafts. The eventual build-up of brilliant Tang culture was based on research and integration of different cultures across generations, such as the simple and unconstrained pieces in some of the Ch’in and Han works, as well as the introverted and connotative classics in Wei and Jin Dynasties. Tracing to the source, all of these were inspired by Sui Yang Emperor. Yang Guang, the Sui Yang Emperor himself, had led the composition of Ancient and Contemporary Art Paintings in person, and ordered to construct libraries for the collection. One library was called “Great Calligraphy Podium” which collected calligraphy works since ancient times; another library was called “Precious Painting Podium” which stored a number of famous paintings. These classics had provided research subjects and a benchmark for the scholars in Tang Dynasty and later times. Echoing to Tang’s glory, the Literate Paintings emerging and booming in Song and Yuan dynasties were even better examples of classics inheritance, idea revolution, emotion expression with brush and ink, and the perfect harmony of the nature and humans. Zhao Mengfu’s research in classics had been an outstanding contribution to the painters’ circles by then, and had profound impact on the growth of the four great painters in Yuan Dynasty. The idea of “Converge all previous essences and be creative” by Dong Qichang (in Ming Dynasty) had helped bring out the historic reform of literate paintings. Huang Binhong, a great modern master in study of traditional classics, had pushed the Chinese tradition in art field further forward to another milestone. All these historic experiences disclosed a truth that people may inherit, develop and create classics only when standing on the summit of both history and the modern times.

 

The avoidance from classics does not help establish a new ideology. “Going back to the classics” does not simply mean degradation to any “old time”, but back to the best. As our ancestors said, “Strive for the top, you get the middle; strive for the middle, you get only the bottom”, going back to the classics might be the wisest choice in current ideological turbulence. We need to be more introverted and conservative, and believe in relative eternity, beauty, essence and elites, otherwise how longer we would still have to wander blindly among all these branch roads of art world?