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A Study On The Iconography Of Dengzhou Mirage Painting Of Yangjiabu's Woodblock Prints For Chinese Spring Festival

Posted on:2018-10-12Degree:DoctorType:Dissertation
Country:ChinaCandidate:F H SongFull Text:PDF
GTID:1315330512982466Subject:Aesthetic culture of learning
Abstract/Summary:PDF Full Text Request
The Yangjiabu's Woodblock prints for Chinese spring festival The Best Scenery in the World—Dengzhou Mirage Painting(Abbreviated as The Mirage Painting in the present dissertation)in Weifang in Qing Dynasty is a wood chromatographic Chinese spring festival painting.Its production process reflects the typical characteristics of Yangjiabu's.prints for Chinese spring festival in the late Qing dynasty.Compared with the other contemporary Woodblock prints for Chinese spring festival,there are some difference in painting dimensions,technology,application and obvious characteristics of the content,composition and color of the paiting.It is well known from current literatures that the Mirage Painting is a long horizontal wall inscription of simple appreciative Kang painting.The painting only describes the beauty of Dengzhou mirage.It is regarded in the present dissertation that there are three questions about the painting content,application and connotation in the traditional view for the Mirage Painting.The analysis of the theme,composition,motif of the painting shows that the Mirage Painting reflects the complexity of Chinese traditional folk beliefs,and also the images of story reflect the cultural connotations of Three Eternity Emperors worship and accumulating merits for becoming immortal.Current researchers usually apply FORM method,that is PICTURE method,to study the new year folk picture and to summarize the aesthetic characteristics of several pictures or a kind of picture.Different from the previous research,systematic interpretations for the image connotation,the painting structure and connotation of one picture were carried out on the basis of the iconology interpretation model of " Walburg—Barney Panofsky—Gombrich ",in the present dissertation.The aesthetic characteristics and the ideological connotations of Yangjiabu's Woodcut New Year Paintings during the specific historical period were revealed using "Multum in parvo" and the methodology of folklore and cultural anthropology.Starting from the "mirage" composition and the "Eight Immortals"theme of Mirage Painting,the inherent relationship of "appearance-structure-essence"of the painting was revealed,and the image analyses,the historical and cultural interpretations were carried out.From the perspective of woodblock creation,the logic method of iconography was used to comprehend the related knowledge of fine art,stylistics,folklore,anthropology and field investigation and to propose the iconological research proposition of Mirage Painting.This dissertation is divided into five parts:The research value of Mirage Painting was discussed in the introduction,and the scientificalness of the stylistics and iconological methodology was analyzed.The research achievements of Chinese paintings at home and abroad were summarized and the iconological research framework and research ideas of Mirage Painting was proposed.Firstly,this section introduces the research value of Mirage Painting.The Mirage Painting is regarded as one of folk Woodblock prints for Chinese spring festival with larger size,many contents and rich connotations.The painting uses the combined methods of the traditional character image and Western focus perspective,which processes the rich connotation and special aesthetic value.The Mirage Painting has been collected by the French church and become a research sample of Chinese folk beliefs,which means that there is an important religious value besides the aesthetic value.The content,application and connotation of Mirage Painting in current literatures were defined in the present dissertation,and three questions were raised.Traditional universal about a common knowledge in literature isnot appropriate that the painting only describes the beauty of Dengzhou mirage.Mirage Painting is not a simple appreciative Kang painting besides the aesthetic value,and it has an important ethics function that reflects the thought of "accumulating merits for becoming immortal" based on Taoism Three Eternity Emperors worship.The scientificalness of iconography research was analyzed,and it is suggested that the iconological study is originated from the medieval Christian iconography,so it is especially suitable for the historical,literary and religious background research.After two stages including stylistics and iconography,the foreign iconological theory is becoming mature gradually.In the stage of stylistics,the research emphasis is to analyze the content and meaning of plastic arts,and in the stage of iconology,the art is regarded as the product of ages and society,the connotation and the symbolic significances of the painting are explored,and deep meaning of the artistic works is analyzed,Secondly,the domestic and overseas research status of iconography on Chinese painting was analyzed.And it is pointed out that the current academic iconological research of Chinese traditional art is concentrated more on painting or some primitive totem and symbol image,but rarely on folk Woodblock prints for Chinese spring festival.Through the analysis of "multi view" research method of Riverside Scene at Qingming Festival of Cao Xingyuan,Ye Shuxian's "four arguments method",and Han Congyao's method of image connotation for "image and discourse",the "comprehensive" image research methods with multi view and multi dimension were proposed in the present study.Finally,the image research idea of Mirage Painting was put forward.The study of Mirage Painting is related to two aspects of stylistics and iconological methodology,a comprehensive research framework of presentation,structure and essence of the painting was constituted.Based on the rich research results about the "Eight Immortals" motif,the graphic characteristics of Eight Immortals theme of Woodblock prints for Chinese spring festival nationwide was compared each other.It is thought that the research of Mirage Painting should start from the "mirage" composition and "Eight Immortals" painting,and dialectically apply the iconological theory,as well as carry out the "comprehensive" research on the painting with multi view and multi dimension.The iconography of Yangjiabu's Woodblock prints for Chinese spring festival Mirage Painting was analyzed in the first chapter.According to the image,textual researches on work schema,creation period,preface and postscript text,printmaking craft of the painting presentation,the time,application and features of the painting was clarified and analyzed.Firstly,the textual criticisms and explanations on the painting content based on the iconography was made.The schemata analysis proves that the Mirage Painting is one piece of work including a combination feature of Chinese and Western by combining the Western focus perspective with traditional modeling method.According to the signature name "Yihe Painting Shop" of the work,the collection time by foreign missionaries,paper,paint and other factors of Mirage Painting,the textual criticisms and explanations of the creation age for this work is made to determine that the creation age should be during the period of 1896-1905.The textual classification and interpretation of Mirage Painting dismisses the version as"Republic of China","New Year Painting",and "After the founding of new China" by comparing many simplified and variant characters of image,and believes that Mirage Painting is a typical work of Yangjiabu's prints for Chinese spring festival in the transformation period from woodblock overprint to the simplified print in Qing Dynasty.Secondly,the shape and structure and application of the work was analyzed.According to the work size and the characteristics of Yangjiabu's folk life and the viewing distance in Weifang of Shandong,the academic point of view that the type of Mirage Painting is the painting on Kang was refuted;Moreover,the "sun","moon" elements and area layout characteristics of Shandong traditional residential appearing in painting were analyzed.Based on a large number of demons and ghosts and other content description,it is illustrated that the Mirage Painting is not an indoor appreciation Kang painting,but a decorative painting in public space or a fresco in north courtyard.From the technical analysis of Mirage Painting,it is concluded that Yangjiabu's Woodblock prints for Chinese spring festival uses flat printing technology so as to simplify the color version numbers and to make technical innovation,reduce the printing technology requirements,improve the production efficiency and promote the popular transmission in the country.The prototype of Mirage Painting was analyzed in the second chapter to discuss the character prototype,time and place prototype and story prototype.This chapter is divided into three sections.First,the analysis of character prototype including "mirage" and "Eight Immortals" of Mirage Painting shows that the "mirage"is the story clues,and the "Eight Immortals" is the character clues of the work.It is pointed out that the eight immortals theme is widely used in folk Woodblock prints for Chinese spring festival.The analogies of the eight immortals theme from Wuqiang in Hebei,Taohuawu in Suzhou and Zhu Xianzhen in Henan and other places were made.Second,the time and place prototype of Mirage Painting was analyzed.Through the comprehensive survey on geographical location and surrounding environment of Dengzhou Penglai,it is proved that the Mirage Painting is not the simulation of mirage scenery,but the union of spatial-temporal narrative language of Chinese folk Woodblock prints for Chinese spring festival by borrowing the "mirage" theme as the temporal clues.The analysis of architectural elements shows that the building prototypes of the work are not from local Weixian,but from the Goddess' Palace in Penglai Pavillion.These two symmetrical architectural modeling stages integrate the form of Goddess' Palace in Penglai Pavillion and local Blue Guan Opera.Third,the analysis result of the story prototype considers that the upper half of Mirage Painting is originated from the local Lantern Festival and Three March Temple,and the lower half is originated from the festive Shehuo games.According to the textual criticism about the operas and librettos of "Eight Immortals of five block drama" and "Blue Guan Opera" of eastern Shandong,and tracing back to the source of Shandong Eight Immortals drama from Zhejiang,Fujian,Guangdong and other places,the comparative analyses of the characters of Mirage Painting with "Eight Immortals drama" of three places,it is concluded that the upper story prototype of Mirage Painting comes from"Big Eight Immortals drama" of Jiangnan in Qing Dynasty,the theme is the birthday congratulation for Queen Mother of the West by immortals.Through the analysis of the main object of image using "pot" modeling as the main clue,it is concluded that the"wok soup hell" is the theme of middle story of Mirage Painting,and the prototype is originated from the widely circulated Supreme Master on Heavenly Reward and Retribution of Instructions on Morality of Taoism,"Hunt by Firing in the Field in Spring".The analysis of the Eight Immortals Crossing the Sea Legend of "Blue Guan opera" and Zibo shows that the theme story of the lower half of Mirage Painting is the late scene Patch of The Eight Immortals Crossing the Sea Legend,and the form of the work representation draws lessons from The Eight Immortals Crossing the Sea games of folk Shehuo story.The origins of the prototype of "Eight Immortals" of Yangjiabu's Woodblock prints for Chinese spring festival Mirage Painting was studied in the third chapter.Based on the analysis of themes and prototypes of Mirage Painting,it is found that the "Eight Immortals Celebrating Birthday","Hunt by Firing in the Field in Spring","The Eight Immortals Crossing the Sea",these three folk tales are described in the painting.The "Eight Immortals" is the band for connecting these three stories.First of all,the origin of "Eight Immortals" is textual researched,it is confirmed that the stories,legends and images of the folkloric widely spreading eight Taoism immortals permeate into all levels of religious activities,social life,culture and entertainment.The"Eight Immortals" is one of the main motifs of Chinese myths.The different combinations of eight immortal characters in past dynasties of Han,Tang,Song and Yuan are collected and arranged.Second of all,"The Eastern Han Original Theory of Eight Immortals" is questioned and "Zhong-Lv Yuan Dynasty Theory of Eight Immortals" is denied.Based on the analysis of character's dress of the Eight Immortals Celebrating Birthday Painting,it can be determined that the "Zhong-Lv Eight Immortals" is the earliest motif prototype and can be traced to the end of the Northern Song Dynasty,and the figures of Woodblock prints for Chinese spring festival using"Zhong-Lv Eight Immortals" is a blueprint for the story performance.An aesthetic cultural interpretation of Mirage Painting is made in the fourth chapter.The union of spatial-temporal narrative language method,the folk belief for punishing evil-doers and encouraging people to do good,and containing the moral exhortation and the ideological connotations of "interaction between heaven and mankind" and "accumulating merits for becoming immortal" is interpreted systematically.This section is divided into four sections.The unique narrative method of spatial-temporal integration of Mirage Painting is discovered in first section.By expressing the multidimensional time pattern and the integrated Chinese and Western space form of Mirage Painting,this is a unique narrative method of spatial-temporal integration of Chinese folk paintings.There are three season times on the temple of prototype in the image of Mirage Painting such as fifteenth of January,third of March and eighteenth of April of lunar year.The representing times of three image stories are fifteenth of January,fifteen of July and fifteenth of October of lunar year.And the day-night cycle time is represented by the two groups of "sun" and "moon".The Mirage Painting breaks through the general believes of practical experience of the point and linear cognition of time,and constructs a kind of continuous,interlaced,multi-dimensional spatial-time form.Two different space patterns were appeared on Mirage Painting.The author set up two visual structures of bright and dark,reconciled the contradiction between three-dimensional space resulted from focus perspective and two-dimensional space from traditional Chinese painting by using visual illusion.The folk beliefs in Mirage Painting was interpreted in the second section.It is believed that three stories of "Eight Immortals Congratulate Birthday","Hunt by Setting Fire in the Field in Spring" and "Eight Immortals Crossing the Sea Legend" reflect the Taoist Three Eternity Worship of heaven,earth and water.Three Eternities Worship is transformed from the worship of natural God into moral,and then into the folk immortal worship,and the function of three eternities is transformed from illnesses to the assessment of merits and demerits,and life and death,and finally to Heavenly God blesses,Earth God pardons people's sins,Water God dispels disasters and other functions.The definition of Three Eternities is transformed from the original God into immortal cultivated God,from the Taoist God into a folk God,from single function of God into general moral God,from the moral God into folk god in Ming and Qing Dynasties.The life ideal,ideological basis of Three Eternities Worship,the moral exhortations of interactions between heaven and human,and immortal life pursuit in Mirage Painting is analyzed in the third section.It is believed that the image meaning of Mirage Painting is not the Three Eternities of happiness,position and longevity of folk popular New Year Painting in Qing Dynasty,but Taoist heaven,earth and water.Based on the ideological foundation of Three Eternities Worship,Eight Immortals stories are used to educate people to do good deeds to receive interactions between heaven and human,to communicate with the gods,to standardize people's behavior.Taoism pays attentions to life values of reality,combines the life with the people belief as a unity,convinces that benevolences can live forever,and conveys the Taoist thought of noble life for moral exhortations of the achieved immortality by beneficences and enlightenments via the painting.Finally,Taoism advocating immortal life pursuit was pointed out.There are Taoist cultures of advertisements to convey folk beliefs,such as advocating life pursuit of beneficences making virtues,living forever and never dying,and enlightenments achieving immortality.The three questions of Mirage Painting were responded in the conclusion part.The value of comprehensive research and theoretical significance on Mirage Painting by using iconological research methods is concluded.Through the image analysis,the historical textual research and cultural interpretation as well as the analysis of the schema,creative time,textual content,printmaking process of Mirage Painting,it is shown that the creating time of the work is in Qing Dynasty,which is a Taoist cultural work mainly used for public space,and advertising goodness influence.The character prototype of Mirage Painting is based on Taoist immortals.It reflects the Taoist Three Eternities Worship of heaven,earth and water by describing themes of three stories about the "Eight Immortals Congratulate Birthday","Hunt by Setting Fire in the Field in Spring","Eight Immortals Crossing the Sea Legend".Through the textual research on Eight Immortals Motifs,the differences of ancient characters combination of Eight Immortals,it is believed that the combination of Zhong-Lv immortals is the motif prototype of folk Woodblock prints for Chinese spring festival,which was formed in the end of the Northern Song Dynasty and prevailed in the Ming and Qing Dynasties.The multidimensional interlaced time pattern and the integrated Chinese and Western space form and the unique narrative method of spatial-temporal integration by analyzing of Mirage Painting is interpreted.The ideological foundation of Three Eternities Worship of Mirage Painting,and the interactions between heaven and human,the moral exhortations of accumulating merits for becoming immortal,and immortal life pursuit is summarized.It can be seen that the work reflects the complexity of Chinese traditional folk beliefs,and the study of the painting is beneficial for the analysis of Chinese indigenous folk beliefs.The Mirage Painting is not only a traditional Woodblock prints for Chinese spring festival containing the aesthetic function,but also reflects the culture connotations of Taoist moralities,which is of important values of iconology.This dissertation uses comprehensive research methods of stylistic,iconology,art,folklore and anthropology and etc,interprets connotations of history,folk customs and religious level behind the image.The interpretational method overcomes the abstractness of theoretical research and surface features of Fine Art study,integrates the research methods of stylistics and iconology,combines the knowledge of other disciplines,and explains the work from multi view and multi dimension,which is of important reference values for the further research on Chinese traditional folk arts.
Keywords/Search Tags:Yangjiabu's Woodblock prints for Chinese spring festival, Mirage Painting, Iconography, Eight Immortals, Folk Belief
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