Research On The History Of Ancient Chinese Art Historiography

The historiography of ancient Chinese art history is a discipline that explores the ideas,evolutionary patterns,disciplinary features,and compilation methods of art history.Art history is an important component of Chinese ancient history and is deeply associated and mutually influenced by the politics,society,and culture of different periods.This article focuses on the ancient period of China and examines the interactive relationship between art and society,expounding on the generation of artistic concepts,the evolution of artistic knowledge,the construction of artistic systems,the methods of artistic dissemination,and the compilation of art.By comprehensively examining various categories of art,such as music,fine arts,and calligraphy,this article investigates the common characteristics and historiographical expressions of art in different historical periods.Chinese historiography tends to avoid the study of art history,with the latter field often focusing on modern and contemporary art,thus neglecting ancient Chinese art history.This article aims to explore the development,major characteristics,and representative texts of ancient Chinese art history,with a focus on avoiding the compartmentalization of various art forms such as painting,calligraphy,and music.Adopting a general art studies approach,this article situates ancient Chinese art history within a shared cultural and historical context,in order to provide a comprehensive and nuanced understanding of its evolution.In doing so,this article seeks to present “a microcosmic panorama” of the development of ancient Chinese art history.This article presents a framework for the study of ancient Chinese art history,categorizing it into five distinct stages.The first stage covers the Pre-Qin and Han dynasties,analyzing the historical roots of three major concepts in art history,namely "teacher," "history," and "path." Drawing from historiography,it elaborates on the art historical materials within the contexts of social,intellectual,and political history.The second stage,during the Wei,Jin,Southern and Northern Dynasties,sheds light on the knowledge of art history under two major backgrounds,namely the separation of classics and history,and of literature and history.It elucidates the writing of art history during three stages of politicization,aestheticization,and literaryization,dissecting the knowledge construction of art history from texts authored by politicians,historians,literary figures,and art historians.The third stage,during the Sui,Tang,and Five Dynasties period,examines the triple relationship among the standardization,institutionalization,and systematic organization of art history.It elucidates the historiographical position of art history texts and the paradigmatic construction of art knowledge.The fourth stage,during the Song,Liao,Jin,and Yuan dynasties,explores the historical role and contribution of knowledge communities such as the court group,literati group,local elite group,ethnic Hanization group,and reclusive group in art history.The fifth and final stage,during the Ming and Qing dynasties,analyzes the interaction between art history and Neo-Confucianism,the School of Mind,textual criticism,and Western learning.It dissects the characteristics of art history,such as space,school,compilation,and more,to distill the collective knowledge of art history.From an external perspective,due to the same political background,cultural forms,historiographical trends,and academic ecology,the art history of each period in ancient China exhibits both stage-specific commonalities and differences among various art forms.Therefore,by examining the overall pattern of art history for each period and explaining its major features,and then analyzing the basic laws of the development of art history for each art form based on different texts,the general outline of ancient Chinese art history can be constructed.From an internal logical perspective,ancient Chinese art history has undergone three major transformations: first,in the traditional official histories,art history books such as "Arts and Literature Records," "Classics Records," and "Biographies of Artists" established the historical position of art history;second,in the writing of art history,the basic pattern of art history was constructed by Tang Dynasty literati’s private compilations,comprehensive histories,and chronological histories,while art history monographs such as "Yingzao Fashi," "Xuanhe Huapu," and "Xuanhe Shupu" by Northern Song Dynasty officials established the historical status of ancient Chinese art history;third,in the compilation of large-scale encyclopedias and series of books during the Ming and Qing Dynasties,the classification principles of art knowledge marked the constituent position of art historiography in ancient culture.The continuous and accumulative development of Chinese ancient art history reflects and participates in the construction of ancient social systems,the ideas and concepts of ancient cultures,and the classification and compilation of traditional knowledge.Therefore,it cannot be simply judged according to the Western disciplinary system,which is the focus of this article.