The Formation And Evolution Of The Modern Concept Of "Fine Arts" In China:The Concept Of "Fine Arts" In 1895-1924

The dissertation focuses on the recent evolution of the modern concept of “Art” in China. The research is based on the Database analysis with the keyword of “Fine Arts”, trying to reveal the transformation of “Fine Arts” to“Art” under the background of intellectual history of China.In ancient, the conception of “Art” means artistic skills, e.g., “Painting”,or ink painting, is one of the examples. Influenced by the westernization movement and Practical Statecraft Ideological Trend in the later Qing Dynasty, transformation from “Painting” into “Graphics” occurred. In 1880,it was the first time that the new vocabulary “Fine arts” translated from Japanese. The Sino-Japanese War during 1894-1895 had an impact of the transformation. At the same time, the word “Fine arts” was spread by printing media. From 1900 to 1915, influenced by two kinds of Ideological trends and the development of modern education, the concept of “Painting”tendency became public. In the trend of constitutionalism at the time being,“Fine arts” meant modern rational spirit and morality. It transformed into popular belief giving birth to another new word “Fine arts pictures”;Affected by nationalism trend, Chinese “Fine arts” formed given western examples. From 1915-1924, the first decade of the New Culture Movement,“Fine arts” was a word of Art Plastique, containing architecture, sculpture,painting, crafts, and Chinese traditional Fine arts. The meaning of “Fine arts” transformed from traditional artistic skills to a more complicated concept, which includes the conventional thought of “Fine arts”. Finally, the gradual replacement of “Fine arts” by “Art” is identical with the formation and transformation of Chinese modern thoughts.