Xin Tian, Design Art Department of Taiyuan Institute of technology, Taiyuan, China
Xiaodan Liu, School of Arts, Jinzhong University, Jinzhong, China
Cheng Lu, Welsh School of Architecture, Cardiff University, Cardiff, United Kingdom
In today’s wave of globalization, how to perfectly integrate traditional culture into modern aesthetics has become a major challenge in the field of art and design. Pang Xunqin, known as the “Father of Modern Design Education in China”, provides us with a new answer with its unique artistic perspective and innovative practice.
Pang Xunqin’s works are not only the display of art, but also a bridge connecting the past and the future. His series of “Chinese decorative figure collection” reveals the integration of traditional patterns and modern design practices. For example, in the early 1930s, Pang Xunqin, who has just returned from studying in France, created a series of modern urban scenes with Paris and Shanghai as the background. He recalls the intoxication and madness of Paris in “So Paris”, and also outlines the grotesque and misty illusion of Shanghai in “So Shanghai” (Wang, 2020, p. 84).
Fu Lei once described in detail the impression of Paris in Pang’s mind in Xunqin’s Dream: In Paris, dilapidated, clusters of new buildings, ductive witches, variegous races, coffee shops, dancers, salons, Jazz, concert, Cinema, Poule, handsome maid, ominable landlady, college student, labor, Tunnel car, Chimney, Iron Tower, Montparnasse, Halle, City Hall, Old bookshop on the Seine, pipe, beer, Porto, Comoedia…All new, old, ugly, beautiful, watching, listening, the relics of ancient culture, the flame of the new civilization, From Poincare to Josephine Baker, he was in a whirlwind in his mind (Fu, 1932, p. 12).
In this description, we can feel a strong sense of dynamics and a fleeting life. City life is like a flowing picture scroll, and every stroke is changing rapidly. Everyday elements such as “male”, “female”, “body” and “light”, they are not still sculptures, but energetic dancers, “swaying”, “shaking”, “transforming” and “jumping” in constant rhythm. Here, there is no eternal scene, only the continuous “dynamics” and “change”.
Instead of viewing these moments as isolated image fragments, imagine them as a series of rapidly switching silent movie shots. Sometimes they draw our eyes to the streets and apartments flickering in the lights; sometimes they bring our thoughts to the noisy and vibrant cafes. In this perspective, our everyday world becomes a changing drama.
Men, women, bodies, doors and Windows, cards, streetlights and other elements, they are staggered on the stage of time, and then quickly exit. And new things are constantly emerging, like the magician of time, constantly leading our attention to a new focus, creating a flowing, rapidly changing, fragmented visual experience.
Obviously, in Pang Xunqin’s works, we can see the perfect integration of cultural identity and artistic vitality. His works span the historical gap of Chinese decorative arts and inject new vitality into the development of contemporary art and design. This is not only the inheritance of traditional culture, but also the exploration of its innovative development.
This goes with the German art historian Richard Hamann on the essential characteristics of “Impressionism” lifestyle: “acceleration and short-lived, behavioral mania, agitation and change, and the erosion of all established norms and values”. Heimer (2008) agree without prior consultation. That is, “colorful entertainment choices in urban life lead to a pursuit of ‘change of attraction and passive relaxation of consumption pleasure’.
The fast pace of life promotes the ability to respond quickly and boldly to the slight hints and fragments of a phenomenon. This ‘diversity of attraction, relationships and opinions’ constitutes the urban environment” (Friesby, 2013, p. 62).
However, in his artistic creation, Pang Xunqin does not simply pile up various images together, but handles the transparency in the places where they overlap. This method allows the overlapping images to both retain their respective features and permeate each other, creating a sense of visual transparency. This treatment is like watching a movie made up of multiple shots, and the audience can see multiple scenes interwoven at the same point in time, but quite independently.
Through this innovative technique, Pang Xunqin’s works present a dynamic and multi-level visual experience. When the audience appreciates his work, it is like watching a silent film, with each image telling its own story and interacting with other images, together forming a complex and rich visual narrative.
This artistic technique not only shows Pang Xunqin’s profound understanding of modern artistic language, but also reflects his innovative use of traditional cultural elements. His works thus have a unique sense of modernity, while also retaining the essence of traditional culture. In this way, Pang successfully integrates tradition with modern, eastern and western artistic elements, and creates a new form of artistic expression.
So the question is: in a rapidly changing modern society, how can we keep our culture unique while connecting with the world? Perhaps Pang Xunqin’s practice provides us with clues to the answer, but more exploration and thinking are still waiting for us to complete.
WANG, Y. Montage reconstruction of urban fragments – on the modern urban landscape written by Pang Xunqin in the 1930s. Fine Art Grand View. 2020, no. 07, pp. 84-87.
FU, L. Xun’s dream. Art Journal. 1932, no. 3, pp. 12.
HEIMER. Introduction to Daily Life and Cultural Theory. Beijing: The Commercial Press, 2008, pp. 63.
FRIESBY, D. The fragment of modernity. Beijing: The Commercial Press, 2013, pp. 62.
About Xin Tian
Her research interest includes the comparative study of Chinese and Western art, with the main research object being the study of Western modernist painting language and the inheritance and development of traditional Chinese art.
About Xiaodan Liu
Ph.D. from Nanjing University, Professor at Jinzhong University. Director of the Fine Arts Department at Jinzhong College, Director of the Cultural Heritage and Art Innovation Research Center. Vice Chairman of the Jinzhong Artists Association. Main research direction is cultural heritage and cultural studies.
About Cheng Lu
Cheng Lu, Welsh School of Architecture, Cardiff University, Cardiff. Her research interests include human settlement and historic landscape protection.
TIAN, X., LIU, X. and LU, C. Pang Xunqin and the Integration of Chinese Tradition into Modern Aesthetics [online]. SciELO in Perspective: Humanities, 2024 [viewed ]. Available from: https://humanas.blog.scielo.org/en/2024/12/19/pang-xunqin-and-the-integration-of-chinese-tradition-into-modern-aesthetics/
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