The Shaping Of The National Image Of The New China

Influenced by China's special ideology and instructed by the thoughts expressed by Mao Tse-tung in The Speech of Literature and Art Symposium at Yanan, the Art of Painting in 17 years since the Foundation of the People's Republic of China is significant in the history of China's modern art. To explore its historical value and to clean up its objective existence in the perspective of history caught the eyes of the scholars and art workers since 1950s and 1960s. In the present academic research, it was defined by"Conceptualization"and"Formulation", which is partial to some degrees. As an important content of the art of painting in 17 years since the Foundation of the People's Republic of China, the painting themes were changed a lot in the forms of art and topics due to the reform of the social nature, which aroused a series of new problems about the times. In the modern society which emphasizes on the shaping of national image, the art, the language of the nationality and the world, plays an active and irreplaceable part in strengthening and promoting the cultural communication between different countries, establishing the national image and improving the country's soft power in international society. This dissertation begins from the objective historical facts and analyses the painting themes of the Art of Painting in 17 years since the Foundation of the People's Republic of China, tries to find the reason why its social nature was changed guided by the national ideology, how the traditional concept of art development changed to serve the society's seeking for the popular arts, and how the painting themes finally established its relationship with the national image by political narration. Especially in the new century, the rising of China's international status, the national power, the cultural flourishing and the further harmony between China and the international society make it possible for this dissertation, thus make us think and explore more about this spell of history and the art of painting.The structure of the dissertation is the following:The first part of this dissertation is the subjects of the research. The author tries to show the presence of the painting themes of the 17 years since the Foundation of the People's Republic of China by exploring the historical reform of the painting themes in different history spells before and after the foundation of New China, narrates,analyses the different kinds of the painting themes of the 17 years since the Foundation of the People's Republic of China, its main contents and forms, and presents the clear profile of the painting themes of the 17 years since the Foundation of the People's Republic of China in the development history of China's art painting. In the keynote of the themes of reality, the author praises the reality, finds the change of time spirit---the eliminating of individualism and the advocating of the spirit of collectivism, and makes the individual character of the painting themes of the 17 years since the Foundation of the People's Republic of China prominentIn the second part of the dissertation, the author tries to find the basic reasons of the popularization and actualization of the painting themes of the 17 years since the Foundation of the People's Republic of China and its social significance of serving for the society and reality. In this part, the author analyses the special political, economic and cultural background of New China objectively in the macro-prospective view, reveals its social atmosphere of the historical necessity. In the construction of New China's socialism, the art education focused on the education concept of realism and the teaching system of painting realistically, especially the teaching concept and creative method of painting realistically, influenced a lot on the development of art, the transmission of art concepts, the training of art talents, the practical transformation of painting themes of the 17 years since the Foundation of the People's Republic of China. In the method of art education, we can explore the objective facts and art value of the painting themes of the 17 years since the Foundation of the People's Republic of China in the prospective of art feature of thing-in-self. And then narrates the meaning of popularization and the main stream of modernization which were guided by the principles of"The literature and art should serve for the workers, peasants and soldiers"and"Serving for the socialism".By researching the above historical facts we find that the seeking for popularization and actualization of the painting themes of the 17 years since the Foundation of the People's Republic of China and the advocated collective spirit are actually the implementing and embodying of the spirit of The Speech of Literature and Art Symposium at Yanan by Chairman Mao Tse-tung, and it was realized in the guidance of this core requirement. As the guidance of art creation, The Speech of Literature and Art Symposium at Yanan was an important political guiding principle of New China in the 17 years since the Foundation of the People's Republic of China which bestowed the political color to the painting themes of this period. Therefore, by further narration of political nature of the painting art, the political mission of the artists, the political advancement of the painting themes, the special significance of the typical themes, the author concludes that the painting themes of the 17 years since the Foundation of the People's Republic of China is a kind of political narration of national image at that time.Finally, the author sums up in theory that the painting themes of the 17 years since the Foundation of the People's Republic of China is the eliminating of individualism and the advocating of collectivism, it realized the society transition from tradition to reality. In highlighting its function of political narration, it interacted with the shaping of the national image, the one of the New China. The reason is that, as the important tool to shape the national image, the art of painting has to meet the requests of the national interest and social reality.