Two Types Of 'Shock' In Modern Paintings

As a kind of modern experience,the "shock" experience was first generated from the development of the industrialization in the 19 th century and the subsequent public life of the mass.The crowded and noisy public space and the latest science and technology constantly changed the living situation of human beings and the corresponding perception mode,making the traditional structure of experience heads toward decline inevitably.The "shock" as an aesthetic experience is a reflection of the general situation of human beings living in modern city,and the former originated from the latter.The reflection consists of two aspects--positive and introspective.Three kinds of shock are discussed in this dissertation:(1)The shock as a modern life experience(2)The shock factors in Magritte's works(3)the shock factors in Boccioni's works.Both the latter two types of shock belong to the category of the experience of shock in general modern life,while they are totally opposite in nature.Benjamin's related thoughts can provide an opportunity for us to investigate the shock factors in works of both Magritte and Boccioni.On the one hand,Benjamin has discourses on both surrealism and futurism as well as the experience of modern life;on the other hand,he always keeps concerns about the human condition and the issue of self-redemption in modern world.The second and third parts echo each other and expound respectively the shock factors in both Magritte's and Bocioni's works from three different aspects,namely,"the curvature of linear time and the death of yesterday's space-time","the anthropomorphism of objects and the mechanization of people",and "the sense of fracture of meaning and continuous impressions of power".In the fifth part,the author tries to prove that the shock in Magritte's works could be regarded as a negative response to the shock in Boccioni's works.The differences between them can be seen as the distinctions of "redemption and nothingness" and "looking back and looking forward".Meanwhile,these two antagonisms reveal the ambivalence of human beings when facing the evolutionary prospect of modern society.The shock factors in Boccioni's works comes from the enthusiasm of embracing the technological time of human beings.In the continuous development of technology,the "shock" indicates breaking up with the past and history.While,the shock factors in Magritte's works evoke people's reflection about their own situation and hence forces them to seek for the possibility of redemption in the crisis of the meaning of living.The former refers to the fragmentation of experience,the disappearance of aura and the sense of nothingness;while the latter refers to the restoration of experience,the return of aura,and the acquiring of meaning in the technological time.In magritte's works,"revelation" is implied in everywhere;while in Boccioni's works,the praise of modern world runs through.In the sixth chapter,the author briefly put forward his own opinions and attitudes towards the two types of shock.Facing the expansion of the modern world,suck a kind of ambivalence of human beings is universal.The most important thing we should do may not to keep a balance between two opposite forces,but to reflect the nature of the shock and its relationship with us fundamentally.In any case,as a type of aesthetic experience,the shock is only part of the general experience of exciting,moreover,all the exciting experience is only part of our experience of authentic living.