Interpretation With Characteristics Of Contemporary Era Of Discussion On Lifelike Spirit Of Guo Ruoxu

Nowadays,views of “art for art's sake” and “art is supreme” have been raised,leading to the conceptualization of art.In this era of ideological diversification,the deep interpretation of Discussion on Lifelike Spirit by Guo Ruoxu,a scholar in the Northern Song dynasty,helps us understand painting thoughts of ancients,provides an occasion for our rebellious mind to contemplate so that we can paint with concentration.In Guo's Annals of Painting History,he raised a view that lifelike spirit couldn't be acquired by learning,meaning lifelike spirit is an inherent quality,which has posed a great impact on the art circles till now.What deserves more concern is that although ancient,modern and contemporary painting theorists had different views,they all agreed on Guo's thought of lifelike spirit is an inherent quality.Dong Qichang,a painter in the Ming dynasty,expressed similar thought that “the first point of painters' six skills is lively lifelike spirit which is an inherent quality given by heaven and couldn't be acquired by learning”.While talent is emphasized,we should also lay stress on improving cultural accomplishment as Dong also said “learning is also indispensable and we should read and travel as much as possible”.Among modern and contemporary painting theories on Discussion on Lifelike Spirit,Teng Gu's thought is deeply refreshing.Contemporary theorists have turned their focus from whether lifelike spirit could be acquired by learning to the impact on modern paintings posed by the connotation of Discussion on Lifelike Spirit.Contemporary digitalized artistic creation and virtualized artistic works provide favorable media for art development.New painting approaches and new painting materials frequently used in modern painting certainly result from modern people's dynamic inspiration and inexhaustible enthusiasm for receiving new information and acquiring new knowledge.This paper aims to make readers aware of improving their own artistic accomplishment while emphasizing the importance of talent,which has a positive effect on both their own artistic attainments and art development.This paper expounds its thoughts from three aspects: First,in the introduction,there is concept and connotation of the research significance,theoretical basis,research status and research methods are specified to outline this paper for readers;the second aspect is discussing values of Guo's theory,the development process of Guo's thoughts and theconnotation of Discussion on Lifelike Spirit through studying the features of Song dynasty,an era of painting prosperity,the paper presents different understandings of Guo's view that lifelike spirit couldn't be acquired by learning in the ancient,modern and contemporary times respectively through an evolutionary method,thus endowing the theory with a dynamic feature;the third aspect is further demonstrating talent's influence on painting discussed in Discussion on Lifelike Spirit through analyzing the definition of genius,source of inspiration and relationship between talent and inspiration.By decomposing artistic works into elements,the process of artistic creation is deconstructed and the painting creation becomes more concrete,which could be divided into painting element and element shape.Continuous learning is needed for creators if they are going to enrich painting elements and add sense of rhythm to element shape.At the end of this paper,the author raises that though talent is given by heaven,if a genius,blessed with talent,is self-contented and slack off in his study,he will end up in lack of artistic accomplishment and couldn't turn his talent into full play.