Lun Xun And Western Expressionism Art

For a long time, the scholars have been putting more emphasis on Lu Xun asa thinker. But relatively, they ignore other identity characteristics of Lu Xun. This dissertationintends to look at him from another perspective, especially paying more attention to theidentity of Lu Xun as an art hobbyist. Based on the previous research, this study provides anexhaustive research on the relations between Lu Xun and western expressionist art. From thisnew perspective, the research offers a profound study on the spiritual meeting between LuXun and western expressionist art, and at the same time, shows the deep visual impression ofwestern expressionism on Lu Xun's works from the angle of the art language in the hope ofdeepening the understanding on Lu Xun's works.Lu Xun had read some books on expressionism art and got some influence from thembefore creating the works of his own style. In Lu Xun's spiritual world, he had closecommunication and bilateral dialogues with great artists of expressionism such as Van Gogh,Munch, Rodin, Grosz and so on. While appreciating their picture albums, Lu Xun got aspiritual enjoyment and obtained a great spiritual resource and support in the process ofcommunication.Lu Xun, Van Gogh and Munch were great soldiers in the spiritual world, who foughtagainst so many rivals. During the period of ten-year silence,Lu Xun echoed with Van Goghand Much when studying their life and works, which contributed a lot to the formation of LuXun's individual thought. His great concern for the spiritual belief becomes another nucleusof the thoughts and behaviors of his life. As a seeker for the life belief of modern people, LuXun also gets some inspiring original power from Van Gogh and Munch. Just like Lu Xun,Van Gogh and Munch had been thinking about the spiritual problem not only of themselvesbut also the whole humankind as well, often reaching a religious point where it wasunfathomable. Their works are also embedded with a touch of abstract, and this art form ofnorthern Europe exerts a great influence on the creation of Diary of a Madman and Passser,which indicates Lu Xun got nutrients from Van Gogh and Munch not only in the mind, but increating style. Their spiritual meeting beyond time and space is a breathtaking modernspiritual incident.Both Lu Xun and Rodin expressed the thinking over existence for the people in theworld. The Hell Gate shows the state of untruthfulness for the people in deterioration. "Thewaste land" and "iron house" are the two typical images under his pen for the deterioratingworld. The "I" in the Diary of a Madman is unique compared with the common people. TheVibration of Deteriorating Thread and An Old Prostitute are the verification of "thought"caused by fear. Epigraph gives an indication of sadness that cannot be avoided in the dailylife and in this deteriorating world as well. Rabbit and Cat touches upon a subject onexistence, that is, existence means being forgotten. Rodin expresses existence courage withoutfear of death in the Calais Rebels. In face of death, what the passer thinks is an existence oftruthfulness and he is always in an endless agony of falling into the deterioration again as acombination of so many possibilities. In Lu Xun's old years, he expressed so much about thethinking over existence that the world exists, and the existing world has some connectionswith "me", and living in this world, "I "have not fallen down.Lu Xun and Kollwitz meet each other on three levels. On the level of reality, Kollwitzmeets the need of interests of fighting. The process of Lu Xun's collecting, arranging, andreceiving the woodcuts of Kollwitz is also a struggle process of Kollwitz and his worksparticipating in the reconstructing the cruel reality of China's society. On the level of beautyappreciation, Kollwitz agrees with the view of Lu Xun's beauty appreciation-----the beauty ofpower. Lu Xun has a profound and special feeling about the beauty of nature, society, and art.Kollwitz' portrait of herself shows her manly personality, and her works, the Sewer's Revoltand Farmers' war, are full of a sense of power. And on the level of philosophy, Lu Xun andKollwiz persist in the struggle against despair and they have the same spiritual prototype. LuXun's struggle against despair derives from his mission as a soldier of historical intermedium,while Kollwitz's struggle against despair originates in her deep love of a mother. Lu Xun'slove for Kollwitz indicates that she is a model where Lu Xun attempts to combine personalworld with public space, the appreciation for modern art with the enlightened historicalmission.The spiritual communications between Lu Xun and Van Gogh, Munch, Rodin, Kollwitzgive us a deep visual impression in his spiritual products, namely, all kinds of literary works.The research on the visual effect of the expressionist artists and their works will provide greathelp for the construction of the image of "Artist Lu Xun" in the future research on him.In Lu Xun's works, there exists a strong sense of expressionist woodcut. The beauty ofpower in his works is just like the way of Kollwitz, reaching the climax in the description ofthe madman studying the classical works in the midnight. We can also feel the beauty oftoughness in Lu Xun's works, which has a lot to do with his appreciation of Gauguin. Blackand white constitutes the core of Lu Xun's works. The Vibration of Deteriorating Thread canbe said to be a black and white woodcut, which has great similarities with Kollwitz'ssharpening the Reaping-hook and Munch's Scream. Taking Lu Xun's disposition ofnervousness and his philosophical thought rich in expressionism into consideration, his artinclines to fall into northern European art. The image of skull appears frequently as the deathgod in the works of the great expressionist artists and Lu Xun as well. It is an illusion of thewaste land, which reflects the history and reality of dark society in China. Lu Xun also feels asense of cultural waste land. In addition, he depicts the transcendence and opposition againstthe image of waste land. This is the soldier on the waste land. They create the hope againstdespair, which is the highest level in his spiritual world.Lu Xun's works is also abundant in a sense of expressionist painting. The outline of hisworks is full of power, which finds full expression in the image of "whirlpool". His paintingstyle is very expressive and can be sail to have explosive power, which can be put togetherwith Van Gogh's Starry Night. From here, we can find Lu Xun excels in the appreciation forthe modern art. Good Story belongs to expressionist works in style but Lu Xun tends to put itinto the category of post-expressionism. Through the analysis of Mending the Heaven, it canbe found that there exists the character of obvious opposition between warmness and coldnessin the colors of Lu Xun's works. The two parts struggle against each other, which can findmuch support in Lu Xun's spiritual philosophy against despair. He creates two communitiesof life and death and realizes his ideal of "burning himself in it". From the image, Lu Xun,Van Gogh, Munch express the awareness of life existence and death and meanwhile show thethinking about love as well. Lu Xun also expresses an image of a traveler, just like Rodin,which sublimates the image of life and the transcendence over the image of death.The sense of the caricature of Lu Xun's works has close relations with the art form ofrealism. However he pursues a higher level of realism, namely expressionism, which issimilar to the style of the great caricaturist Goya and Daumier. What Lu Xun understandsabout the exaggeration of caricature is enlarging "not the typical character". The way ofexaggeration makes Lu Xun's works pure and rejoicing, also with a touch of sadness afterlaughing. This art character finds its full expression in the way of imagination. The Moon ofthe Autumn Harvest Time of Bradley and The Picture of Christ's suffering of Gauguin give alot of inspirations and insights for Lu Xun's imagination way. The caricature metaphorintends to use animals as the base and makes them sublimated to the social characters. LuXun's essays make ironical analysis on the China's feudal culture, the life state of the Chinesepeople, and the servility as well. This style gets its climax in the essay writing. Lu Xun,having rich metaphors and symbolic creation, smoothes away the difference between the outerworld and the inner, and shows his mental and physical accordance.The thorough analysis on Lu Xun's works by using the art language, such as lines, brushwork, colors (black and white), visual image shows that his works draw nutrients not onlyfrom the resources of literary, history, thought, but also from the other resources such as art.Lu Xun combines them and makes his own writing style come into being. In the process ofthe interpretation and comparative study on the works of Lu Xun and other great expressionistartists, we also take notice of his modernity and universality.In the study of "Lu Xun and art" and "modern literary and art", we can find other seriesof research topic, future research on Lu Xun will, for sure, bear rich fruits.