Read David Hockney's Hidden Knowledge (2): The West Achieves Unification of the "How to See" Order

At the end of the last article, we talked about the transformation of Cezanne's painting from the early impressionist style to the later period, which directly started the process of the cubism school, which just marked the key intersection of the occurrence of Western modern art: from here, modern artists Return to "naive", return to depiction, return to individual, so as to initiate a revolution in the world of optical machines and science and technology that has rapidly occupied human society. The real and unreal words are reversed from here, opening a new cycle.

Today we will first ask, why does this cycle exist, and where does the impetus for this revolutionary return come from? From the 15th century to the 19th century, oil painting, which relies on optical projection imaging and takes fidelity as the aesthetic criterion, has become the mainstream of Western painting. Why does such a turn suddenly occur?

In addition to the various political, economic, social and cultural changes in Western society at that time, it is well known that Eastern art, especially that of China and Japan, was the greatest source of inspiration for their modern historical transformation. For example, the Impressionist painters, from Van Gogh to Manet, from Cezanne to Matisse, took their greatest inspiration from Chinese painting, Japanese Ukiyo-e, and other Asian and African art, thus breaking the barriers of old art in one fell swoop The fact that it has long been no secret. Since the end of the 19th century, modern Western artists have been striving to break out of the "realistic" oil paintings supported by photographic techniques, rediscovering the real art of painting that can compete with the photography industry, which is increasingly threatening the status of painting, looking for new artistic paradigms, and searching for the inner heart. the truth. Without the impact and inspiration of Chinese and Eastern painting and art traditions, which are completely different from the West, or even completely opposite, this change could not have happened.

During their "treasure hunt" to the east, their first major discovery was that the optical perspective technique that Western painting art regarded as the Bible was completely "missing" in Chinese, Japanese and other Eastern art . This kind of oriental painting, which is full of strangeness, actually reproduces such a strange world "order" that is completely opposite to the world of Western painting. Just waking up from the violent culture shock, Western modern artists exclaimed excitedly: The goddess of inspiration we have been searching for, the goddess of Valkyrie who can challenge the world of scientism, has finally been found!

In this sense, Hockney seizes the perspective of the use of optical perspective lenses to discuss the difference between painting and photography, in order to penetrate directly into the heart of the transformation of Western art history. He got to the heart of the matter. And his research and (re)discovery of Chinese painting can only be said to be a natural and logical thing. Not only that, he is one of the few modern Western artists who can clearly and objectively explain to the world: what are the completely different perspectives and concepts of oriental art represented by China? A series of complex issues such as the relationship between the past and the future of Western art and it.

Hockney was able to do this for the same fundamental reason he was able to write the revolutionary book Hidden Knowledge: He asked the right questions.

The correct question is not "Why Chinese (and Oriental) art has no (absence) perspective", nor "Is Chinese (and Oriental) painting real painting", nor "Can Western art learn from Chinese (and Oriental) to use some fresh ornaments in the art of painting to activate their inspiration"; but "why is the art of Chinese (and oriental) painting so different from the art of Western painting", "this completely different and even opposite How is the way of seeing formed?”—because there is no way of seeing, in ancient and modern China and abroad, that is not related to its cultural environment, social values, and human customs, but only limited to the artistic technique itself—and “this difference will give What kind of enlightenment does it bring to yourself, to the West, and even to the future of painting in the world?"

As he posed in "The Hidden Knowledge", it is not "photography beats painting or painting beats photography", nor is it a simple, The preconceived questions are "in what sense are photography and painting different", "what impact does this difference have on Western art" - "how does it affect our viewing and creation in the past and in the future? and thinking".

As I write this, it's self-evident why I start comparing his book to this film. They are connected end to end and run into a very interesting and quite complete story: for Hockney's own artistic career and personal life course, he is using this way to reflect on his own Western artistic tradition, and he holds up Chinese paintings. , like holding up a huge torch, and ultimately to open up a viable path for the future of Western painting. And when we read his books and watch his films as Chinese, we learned not only about Hockney’s person, his works, and his aspirations, but also gained insight into the entire contemporary art and the role of Chinese art in the contemporary world. A very different and wise perspective on the real situation, insight into the future of Chinese and world art, a perspective of great significance but forgotten, ignored and misunderstood because of the blind spot we stand on.

Hockney once introduced his film to everyone in an interview: "We are moving, so how do we accurately describe it? Of course, the Chinese know how to do it, because their landscape paintings are all moving and changing.  … We made a movie about it: A Day on the Grand Canal with the Emperor of China or: Surface is Illusion but so is Depth ). This film was made twenty-two years ago, but its subject is exactly what I'm going to tell now..."

In this film, he spent a full 50 minutes, taking all the audience to open the scroll little by little, and go in one picture at a time. At the same time, he specially selected a representative work of Western perspective painting (Canaletto). One of the Venetian Architectural Landscapes) is placed against the background for contrast, telling the fundamental difference between the two. Hockney is very excited about his "rediscovery" of Chinese scroll paintings and the "secret" of this painting technique.

Please move to the official website of "Reading the Sun" to continue reading: What is the secret discovered by Hockney? How does the way of viewing relate to Orientalism?

Thanks everyone for reading. See you on our next reading day (4/29)! Happy Readependence Day!

Ambrosia