After half-year of trial, I still can’t get familiar with the mechanism of word press. Thought I know wordpress is a powerful web blog service. So to make my research more effective, I have move my study blog to http://digdugdig.blogspot.com/
You will see more updates on the new blog.
adaptation from:
http://culture.chinatxh.com/artx/huihua/9740.html
艺术就是用一定的手段，表现形象、传达感情。文学和绘画，一门作为语言的艺术，一门作为视觉的艺术，都是来源于一定的社会的现实生活，在反映和表现 现实生 活的形式上，既有共通之处，又存在着差异。从状物和抒情的角度，它们都是通过对形象的塑造而形成彼此共同之处，绘画从其作为一种独立艺术形式产生之初就与 “文学”发生了千丝万缕的联系。绘画与文学的联系，或者说绘画中的“文学性”具体体现在两个方面：1、对文学性叙事题材的青睐。无论东西方，早期绘画多取 材于文学作品。从古希腊神话故事到基督教圣经故事，从《荷马史诗》到但丁、歌德等人的文学作品，画家们从中找到了无尽的素材，即便是表现现实生活社会事件 的作品，也有着很强的情节性。中国早期绘画也多取材于佛教故事、道教传说，渗透了儒家精神的历史人物故事和一些文人墨客的文学作品。这种取材方式无论在中 西方的绘画史上都产生了“诗中有画、画中有诗”的论言，造成了绘画和文学之间不可分割的联系。2、以写实手法为主的绘画形式。传统的写实主义从最初的“追 随自然”到盛期的精确表现自然，都类似于文学中的“叙事状物”。如果着眼于绘画艺术有别于文学的“特殊性”，强调绘画作为一门独立艺术形式的应具有独特的 个性，用“文学性”来形容这种再现的表现形式，不能说没有道理。
这样，“文学性”叙事题材和以再现、摹拟为特征的写实主义表现形式便构成了绘画中“文学性”的主要内容。纵观美术史，文学性叙事题材和写实主义表现手法 这两个因素有着天然的联系，互为依存。写实主义表现手法以文学性题材作为基础，以具体丰富的故事情节作为纽带，借助文学精神塑造形象，其本身也借助叙事题 材而得到极大的发展，在绘画史上显示出不可替代的作用和地位。而叙事的意图由于真实的再现方法则显得明白直观，极具说服力。在整个西方艺术史中我们可以看 到在叙事的意图和写实的图画之间持续存在着这种相互的作用。可以说前期绘画史的发展过程就是绘画中“文学性”的发展过程。而绘画一旦脱离文学性的影响，便 发生了质的转变，走向将绘画作为一门直观的视觉艺术而独立存在。
事实上，在东西方早期美术中除了文学性叙事题材作品之外，还有大量的以肖像、风景、静物、山水、花鸟等为题材的作品。就其题材而论，与文学性并没有多少 直接的联系。历史上大多的肖像、风景、静物画只是达到肖似留影的程度，并不具有“文学性”的叙事性质，但在美术史上，也产生了一些杰出的肖像、风景、静物 作品，它们所具有的意蕴远远超出了题材自身的意义。《蒙娜丽莎》已不再是一幅肖似留影式的画像，单从“人物”肖像来看，达·芬奇是个现实主义者，但当画家 把所有可见之物都置于视界之内时，也展现出了无穷无尽的丰富性。画家通过此画更多的是表达一种人文主义的新意向。画家感到自己已经与一种对一切生命的伟大 之爱融为一体，画家赞颂自然，倾慕人自身之美，无限的诗意般的联想令人回味无穷。风景画家柯罗的作品恬静、明丽、优雅，他很少去表现自然宏伟的一面，而是 着意剖析自然景色寓有诗意的气质，画面那充满诗意的朦胧意境，给人以无限的暇想。如果说早期基督教美术作品如丢勒的版画《忧郁》里的静物有其明确的（指 定）象征意义的话，那么夏尔丹的静物画则显得质朴无华。画面被赋予了一种亲切的生命感，表现出对民市生活的浓厚兴趣，讴歌了平民生活勤俭朴素的美德，具有 一种高雅情操。
文学和绘画，作为两种独立的艺术形式，它们有一个共同的领域：“诗”的领域，也就是抒情的领域。抒情本来就是绘画和文学都具有的特质。这些意味深长的肖 像、静物、风景作品，颇具文学意味。虽然不象叙事性绘画那样从文学作品中借来要描绘的内容，但它直接描绘自然并超越自然，通过对画面的经营使之产生诗意， 产生“文学性”意蕴，其意蕴来源于绘画写实主义的表现手法。所以，这类题材作品与文学没有必然的联系，其所具有的文学性是相较现代艺术而言的。
随着现代艺术的发生，文艺复兴以来确立的关于文艺作品的基本风格以及用艺术的想象来真实地反映自然的信念，受到否定和质疑。“文学性”作为传统绘画的主 流和精髓，遭到现代绘画极力排斥。库尔贝在反对学院派绘画的僵化了的表现程式和弄虚作假的陈腐内容时，提出“绘画只应该去画眼睛直接看到的东西”，从而把 历史画之类绘画体裁事实上也给否定了。画家们开始注重自我感觉的表现，探索绘画自身语言的要义，追求绘画的“自律性”，极力摆脱绘画中“再现”因素。传统 意义上的写实主义绘画系列猛烈的冲击，几近正寝。塞尚主张绘画摆脱文学性和情节性，充分发挥绘画语言表现力，从而推动了欧洲的纯绘画观念的流行和形式主义 绘画的发展。
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艺术是人类精神活动的产物，是人们审美观念的一种体现。远古时期的原始人类，当时文学还没有出现，人类生活的各个方面就通过岩画的方式被记录下来，当时 的岩画按其社会功能可分为：1、传授知识的记事图画。2、表达宗教感情的神灵崇拜图像。3、寄托生活理想的生殖崇拜图画。4、宣泄娱乐精神的舞蹈图画。① 在尚未出现文学的情况下，造型艺术特别是绘画，以其生动的形象性，成为人们交往的有效手段。它记录了原始人类的生活，生产方式，寄托了他们对生殖的崇拜， 对大自然风雨雷电的不解，对疾病、死亡的困惑。在没有文字的时期，它已不可避免地成为了文字的代用品，用绘画的手段，用“形象”完成“叙事”的功能。此时 的绘画本身就具备有绘画和文学的双重性。西方早期绘画的盛期可从公元前5世纪古代希腊美术开始。在那个时期绘画的题材无疑被古代神话故事所占据。《荷马史 诗》究竟是后人杜撰还是一部可资借鉴的史著，尚无定论，但诗中的英雄们却一次又一次成为古希腊绘画、雕塑中的主题。“希腊神话不仅是希腊艺术的武库，而且 是它的土壤”。②古代希腊的诗歌、戏剧、美术无一不取材于希腊神话。克里特岛壁画《戴百合花的国王》，画面上人物形象有等身大小，国王（祭司）头戴饰有百 合花的王冠，脖子上挂着百合花穿起来的项链，束着腰带，着着短裙，走在盛开的百合花花丛中。这幅壁画与其它同时期壁画一样，有着浓厚的宗教气氛，但同时又 因其形象的生动和写实充满了世俗气息，具有特殊的艺术风格。
到了古罗马时期，古罗马的美学思想从朴素的古希腊哲学中摆脱出来，向着新的深度和广度发展，实现了从和谐美向崇高美的转变，古希腊时代艺术被竞相仿效并 得到发展。与富有诗意的古希腊人相比较，罗马人的艺术观显得更写实，更现实，所以罗马人的文艺一般以写实和叙事性为主要特点。古罗马神话中主要神话人物都 是承袭了古希腊神话的形象和传说。如朱庇特即宙斯，弥湿耳瓦即雅典娜，维纳斯即阿芙罗狄特等。庞贝壁画《伊菲革涅亚的献祭》题材就来自希腊神话。画面表现 的是伊菲革涅亚即将以自己的女儿换得女神阿目忒弥斯宽恕的场面。这是这一神话故事中情节最富有戏剧性的一个情节，壁画对人物内心的刻划，尤其是对阿伽门农 和祭司的心理描写，是最精彩的地方。
古希腊罗马的艺术由于中世纪的长期破坏，到了14~16世纪已相当残缺。文艺复兴时期，新兴资产阶级力图复兴古典文化，并通过学习古典的途径创造了新文 化，从古典艺术中领悟到现实主义的表现方法，强调人性崇高与身心的全面完美，创作了真实完美的人物形象和生动丰富的现实情景。在造型艺术方面，以写实传真 为首务，开创了基于科学理论和实际考察的表现技法，如人体解剖和透视法等，从而使它得以达到古典艺术之后一个新的高峰，在风格和技法上它和东方艺术以及一 切近代之前的艺术有本质区别。然而，文艺复兴时期艺术家们的创作都仍然是以宗教神话体裁为永恒的主题，产生了诸如《最后的晚餐》、《创世纪》、《圣母的婚 礼》等一大批杰出的作品，以宗教文学作品为绘画体裁，在欧洲的绘画史中占据了主要的地位。
正是由于取材于宗教神话故事的“文学性”叙事题材的要求，写实手法成了西方前期绘画中主要的绘画形式。写实主义表现手法也传随着西方绘画的进程逐步走向成熟，并于十八、十九世纪在欧洲达到高峰。
公元前23世纪左右，史前人类经过了一万多年的雕琢摸索，终于刻划出诸如《布拉桑普伊的妇人》的雕刻作品，从而创作出人类的第一批艺术杰作。此后经历了 一个漫长的时期，从公元前8世纪到前4世纪，当男性裸体雕刻从传统呆板的形象发展到古希腊雕刻家普拉克西特斯所创作的富有活力的人物时，对人体的认真分析 加上非凡的技艺，使艺术家们实现了写实主义的理想。西方画论的历史，发端于公元前5世纪至前4世纪古希腊艺术的繁荣时期，绘画中的“文学性”在西方则可追 溯到这一阶段。“模仿”论是当时流行的美学思想，诗歌、绘画、雕塑、音乐被称之为“模仿的艺术”。古希腊哲学家赫拉克利特说：“绘画混合白色和黑色、黄色 和红色的颜料，描绘出酷似原物的形象。”至此，第一次提出“艺术模仿自然”的说法，他所使用的“形象”一词，是专指绘画的模仿方式而言的，它具有形似的特 征。随后，苏格拉底第一次把“塑造”一词用于雕刻，提出了“传神”论；柏拉图要求绘画“模仿事物的本质”，提出了“形式美”的概念；亚里士多德则主张绘画 不应按照事物本来的样子去模仿，而要按照事物应有的样子去模仿。众多的古希腊哲学家和美术家对“模仿论”提出了不同层次的见解，由此而奠定了“模仿论”的 坚实架构，对欧洲美术理论以及绘画、雕塑艺术产生了深远的影响。
受到模仿论的影响，人们开始注意到了物象上的明暗光影的存在。1831年，庞贝古城发掘出的著名的镶嵌画《伊苏斯之战》相传是根据公元前四世纪希腊画家 菲罗克西诺斯的同名壁画复制而成的。故事是一幅历史画，在这一历史上有名的战争中，亚历山大帝把大流士三世打败，画面上描绘的是希腊军队在亚历山大指挥下 击败大流士三世和他的军队的场面。画面中亚历山大骑着他心爱的骏马，护胸上戴着他崇拜的太阳神徽章，他刚刚打败大流士军队，正要乘胜追击。大流士则立于战 车之上，一名将官为了掩护他撤退把马横过来阻挡追兵。在千军万马混战之中，这三个人的形象最为突出。突出两军统帅形象，把众多人物重叠式交错安排，这是作 者为了表现景深而采用的方法。马匹身上出现了阴影，光的反射，色彩深浅的变化，尤其是托着长矛和枯树的灰白背景大大加强了场面的纵深感。画面充满了戏剧性 冲突和强烈的战争气氛。此画中，画家用明暗对比和远大近小的方法来加强画面的空间感和立体感，人和马的轮廓、明暗层次都十分明显。由此看来，这时期绘画上 用明暗造型取代了线条造型，以线条为主的装饰风格也让位于以色调为主的绘画风格了。西方古典绘画的独特面貌和表现方法至此已基本具备。古希腊写实技术的萌 起，为绘画开始发挥它独特的作用提供了可能性。“我们看见那些图像所以感到喜悦，就因为我们一面在看，一面在求知，能对每一个事物有所认识，比方说，‘这 就是那事物’”。③14世纪以前的一千年封建社会中，占统治地位的基督教曾一度排斥艺术的存在。但他们为了宣传教义，又不得不利用艺术这种有力的手段，教 皇格利高利一世曾辩护说：“崇拜图像是一回事，从图像这种语言中了解应该崇拜什么，又是一回事。读书人可以根据文字理解教义，不识字的人只能根据图像了解 教义”。④
写实绘画由线描发展到涂绘，由平面发展到纵深，由封闭形式发展到开放形式成为日臻完善的绘画技艺，正是随着人们对光影的认识，以及维泰洛透视学理论的出 现，到了文艺复兴时期，达到了一个高峰。文艺复兴早期，基督教美术还带有明显的中世纪艺术痕迹。意大利画家乔托，准确地抓住事件的本质把细节置于自然的环 境中呈现在我们面前，他注重图画的再现，使得以前没有人能在绘画中描绘的东西呈现在人们眼前，他比任何人都更多地拓展了绘画的表现范围。也就是从乔托开 始，后世的作品中才有了现象世界的人物真实性格主体造型和空间层次。但乔托在他画的形体上只施以淡淡的阴影。他把它们视为妨害图画的偶然的东西，对图画的 意义毫无补益。曾经有一个时期，人们认为在平面上复现真实的空间是不可能的。整个中世纪是这样思考的，它满足于一个仅仅涉及诸物体及他们的相互空间关系的 再现体系，而不奢望与大自然一争高下。⑤乔托的作品，虽然打开了人文主义的通道，但尚不能成功摆脱中世纪的痕迹。最富创新精神的绘画是从马萨乔开始的，从 人物结实的身体看来，他继承了乔托的艺术风格，而且对空间表现出前所未有的关注。他率先突破限制法模仿事物的本来面目。马萨乔画中的光和影是他试图以自我 效果的全部力量描绘本质的实在之方式的根本要素。图画的整个效果变得坚实有力。瓦萨里曾评价说，在马萨乔的画中，人物形象第一次稳固地站立着。如果说马萨 乔的绘画是以“追随自然”为目标的话，那么，达·芬奇的绘画则是以精确地表现自然为手段。他发现了事物外表的绘画性魅力，他向一个物理学家和一个解剖学家 那样去思考，他认为最微弱的光影明暗并不比最基本的任务——即在平面上表现三度空间物体的坚实外观——更有趣味。达·芬奇说，塑造是绘画的灵魂。只要站在 《蒙娜丽莎》一画面前，人们就会领悟到这句话的含义，外表优雅的波形起伏变成了一种个人的体验，人们几乎就象用一只意念之手轻轻托过它们。⑥
十五世纪，西方美术界发生了一件重大的技法革新。画家们开始在帆布上作画，这种绘画传统是提香所奠定的，提香坚实的素描和鲜艳而协调的色调同时表现在画 面上，在提香的画中，颜料不仅仅用来表现物体的固有色，也是用来塑造形体和表现空间关系的手段，写实主义表现手法得到了进一步发展。接下来，从撞开现实主 义大门的卡拉瓦乔到法国的罗可可美术，从浪漫主义美术的先驱戈雅到英国的民族绘画奠基人荷加斯。一代又一代的大师不断发展完善着写实主义的表现手法。卡拉 瓦乔注重画面中戏剧性光线的运用，伦勃朗更是运用不可思议的光线，使画面的主题性内涵大大扩展，在写实主义绘画中迈出了极为辉煌的一步。至此，历经几个世 纪的演变，写实主义表现方法和对情节性叙事题材的经营，使绘画中的“文学性”逐步发达起来，并走向成熟。
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同西方绘画的发展历程一样，中国绘画也经历了一个“文学性”的发展过程。中国远古人类的生活，可以从传统中的三皇五帝开始。苍颉造文字，史皇作图画，这 时也曾画过蚩尤的像,并且把“神荼”、“郁垒”画在桃木板上以御百鬼。这个过程中出现的一些与艺术有关的活动，包括图画和装饰，都不是纯粹的艺术活动，都 是以社会进步、以服务于生活为目的文明创造的一部分。原始绘画、舞蹈既是原始人狩猎、耕牧活动的再现也是巫术祈祷的象征。屈原在赋《天问》之前，就曾见到 过楚先王庙及公卿祠类壁画中“天地山川神灵，琦玮 谲佹及古圣贤怪物行事”的充满幻想的神话图画。长沙出土的《帛画》作为已知的战国时代的第一幅绘画，画面表现的是一个善良美丽的女性，在象征善与和平的凤 鸟同象征恶与灾害的独脚夔进行的斗争中，祈祷凤鸟获得胜利。画面上天上、人间、地下交织在一起，组成了一幅“引魂升天”的奇丽画面。“叙事状物，寄托情 感”无疑是早期美术作品的主要功能，绘画本身就有着“文学性”的一面。
在中国，绘画与文学最紧密结合的另一个重要部分是中国的象形文字。从对早期甲骨文的研究来看，其中有相当一部分是图画文字，这类文字有人和动物之形的， 有单体的，也有表示群体活动的。如金文中军旅的“旅”字，就是表现几个人侧身立于带斿的旗下。这些文字表现出了绘画意识的发展，不仅能抓住对象形体最高特 征的动作和角度，而且企图表现人与人、人与动物，之间的各种活动。这种书、画同体而未分的现象，是后世“书画同源”的起源。
以宗教教义、宗教故事为基本题材的绘画在中国经历了相当长的时期。敦煌壁画中的《萨 那太子舍身饲虎》、《鹿王本生》、《尸毗王本生》等等，都是根据宗教教义绘制出来的佛教故事。在中国，东晋的顾恺之开始，才出现了直接反映人的主题的绘画 作品，而且绘画作品如《洛神赋图》就直接取材于文字作品。但《洛神赋图》仍然以飘忽不定的洛神形象把人的感情寄托在可望而不可及的神的身上。直到唐宋以 后，人们理性主义思想觉醒，才逐渐摆脱了宗教狂热情绪，宗教艺术逐渐走向世俗化，人的艺术开始居于主导地位。张彦远在《历代名画记》中说：“夫画者，成教 化、助人伦”。这时儒家思想在中国社会占主导地位，反映到绘画上，就是要求绘画具有“指鉴贤愚发明治乱”的宣传政治和伦理思想的教育作用。伦理型的中国绘 画和文字之间更是密不可分。
因此，中国前期绘画除了表现宗教教义的故事外，其余多取材于渗透着儒家思想的文学作品中。顾恺之的名作《女史箴图》取材于西晋张华的文学作品《女史 箴》，撰写这篇文章的目的据说是用以讽刺当时放荡而堕落的皇后贾氏，其内容是教育封建宫廷妇女们如何为人，如何自保的一些人生经验和道德箴条。顾恺之的画 可以算作是这篇文章的几段插图，绘画的“文学性”不言而喻。唐代画家阎立本的作品《文成公主降蕃图》则是用绘画作品来直接“叙事”的一幅画作。画面描绘了 唐太宗的公主嫁给藏王这一在汉藏民族的历史关系上有重大意义的政治性题材。画家同类作品还有描写贞观十五年唐太宗李世民会见吐蕃使臣禄东赞场面的《步辇 图》。到了宋代，绘画除了承袭前代“存平鉴戒”的作用外，折射出当时社会现实问题的世俗的美术得到独立的发展。北宋画家张 择端的《清明上河图》是北宋末人物风俗画的代表作品。画作描写清明佳节，汴京城汴河上拥满了游人的热闹风光。画家以不懈的努力和周密的观察，对北宋汴梁城 东门大街和东门汴河上的繁华作了精密祥尽的描写，画家运用富有概括力的手法写情节，以生动的形象表现了生活。
“文学性”在绘画中的体现其一是文学性叙事题材，其二便是写实主义的表现手法。谢赫《古画品录》首先提出绘画的目的是：“明劝戒，著升沉，千载寂寥，披 图可鉴。”这就指出了：通过真实的描写达到教育的效果。明确了绘画的叙事主题之后，谢赫又提出了六法论：一、气韵生动；二、骨法用笔；三、应物象形；四、 随类赋彩；五、经营位置；六、传移模写。气韵生动、骨法用笔指的是作为表现手段的“笔墨”的效果，而应物象形、随类赋彩、经营位置则是对绘画艺术造型基础 形、色、构图的要求，传移模写则指的是学习绘画的方法：临摹。这就表明，中国绘画的前期比较注重绘画中的再现因素即写实主义手法。顾恺之提出“以形写 神”，说出了形和神的关系，也把形的问题放到了重要位置。这二者的理论，奠定了写实主义表现手法在中国前期绘画中的主导地位。对后世绘画产生了深远的影 响。据传北齐画家杨子华所画之马，夜间作各种声音如索水草，他画在绢上的龙，开卷就有云气萦集。人物画更有所谓“吴带当风，曹衣出水”则更充实了古代写实 主义的表现手法。五代画家黄筌花鸟画颇有成就，他曾在殿堂描绘了野雉而使呈贡来的鹰鹘误认为生，足以说明其所绘禽鸟形象的真实感。研究敦煌莫高窟的壁画， 我们也可以发现，在五代时，域外美术的传来，进一步推动了中国写实性绘画的发展。首先是人体解剖的知识因而充实起来。早期佛教画中的人物形象表现极其复杂 多样，多是以裸体为对象进行了观察，描写而获得的，它帮助了古代画家进一步掌握了人物在动作和运动中衣褶的变化。其次域外画中表现立体的晕染画法，也有助 于古代画家对于体积的认识，提高画家了线描、着色的能力。⑦
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19世纪的西方绘画，写实主义表现手法进入它的灿烂时期，名家荟萃，此起彼伏，使写实主义手法日臻成熟，达到了颠峰状态。这个时期描绘人物故事的叙事倾 向仍是占据绘画的主流，古典主义代表人物大卫创作的《荷拉斯三兄第之誓》就是取材于古罗马历史，借用古代英雄题材及其相应的风格样式，发挥其革命的鼓动作 用。⑾浪漫主义者德拉克洛瓦画《但丁与维吉尔》取材于但丁的《神曲》，画家的一系列重要作品多取自历史故事和文学著作，以鲜明的写实主义手法体现了画家强 劲、气魄伟大的性格，奔放的情感，热爱自由的理想。⑿十九世纪中叶，便携的管装颜料的发明，使得一些画家可以在室外创作，他们热衷于阳光下瞬息万变的光色 和对大自然的直接感受，关注画面的主观效果，不再强调绘画的文学性和思想性，使得西方绘画出现了新的面貌，为现代主义绘画的诞生奠定了基础。现实主义者库 尔贝的出现，则标志着绘画取材于文学题材传统的结束。
库尔贝坚持表现当代生活，并往往以社会低层人物为作品主人公并满怀同情地描绘他们的处境，他在反对学院派绘画僵化了的表现程式和弄虚作假的陈腐内容时， 提出绘画应该在画眼睛直接看到的东西，从而把历史画之类绘画体裁事实上也给否定了。西方绘画基于库尔贝的贡献，摆脱了对“文学性”叙事题材的依赖，向现代 绘画迈出了关键的一步，“文学性”之于绘画的关系也即将崩溃。
19世纪后半期，欧洲的写实主义对于写实因素各方面的研究都有了极大的发展，对客观事物真实摹拟程度甚至到了惊人的地步。如门采尔津津有味地描摹一切自 己所及的东西以惊人的耐性在一米见方的画幅上画出数百人姿态各异的宴饮场面，在小拇指大的头像上刻划出德皇的容貌等等，实则实矣，却只能使人叹服他的技 术。⒀一种事物发展到它的顶峰，必然会出现僵化和与之对立的一面，种种现象表明，写实主义已经达到了它的尽头，新的表现形式替代他已是历史发展的必然，印 象主义的出现便是彻底地打破了写实主义一统天下的局面，这对于绘画自身摆脱文学性的束缚有着极其重要的意义。印象主义画家运用不同笔法的意匠经营，突出以 “写”代“描”，竭力捕捉整体气氛，表现自然意境。印象派已经超越了对客观物象的被动摹拟，着重写意，然而印象派画家所迷恋的仍然是光和色。塞尚出现才使 得写实主义绘画彻底瓦解。美术史上以塞尚为一个分水领，有“塞尚以前”和“塞尚以后”的说法，塞尚之前的绘画包括印象主义在内，从根本上说是模仿自然，再 现自然的艺术，而塞尚的出现，则向原有的美学价值提出挑战。他认为美术是艺术的真实，提出“色彩造型”、“艺术变形”、“几何构形”，突破了传统的写实风 格，塞尚在他的作品中，所寻找的真实即绘画的真实，由于他感到他的源泉必须是自然、人和他生活在其中的那个世界，而不是昔日的故事和神话，所以他希望把这 些源泉里出来的东西转换成绘画的新真实。塞尚是第一个从真正意义上用主体意念改变艺术对象的画家，绘画中的文学性也随之完成了自己的发展历程。
中国的绘画也没有沿着写实的画路走下去。从宋开始，文人画成了中国绘画的主流。将诗和绘画联系起来，这个过程开始得很早。真正使绘画全面走入诗的天地 中，将绘画充分的文学化，还是在宋代。诗画一体已经成了这个时代骚人墨客的普遍认识，这是中国绘画史上的一件大事，写实之风使宋画的空间视觉表现上更近于 精微，而诗意之风，又赋于了中国画微妙玲珑的内蕴，赋于它更具有中国作风中国气派的韵味。这两点结合使得宋画在中国绘画史上更具有典范意味，成了中国绘画 发展的高峰。
中国绘画其实自唐末以后人物画的逐渐谈化，情节性的文学性绘画也逐渐被描绘自然景物的题材替代，“文学性”题材在绘画中逐渐消退下去。宋代山水画和花鸟 跃居于人物画之上，并随着朝野的需要而蓬勃发展。中国绘画较早地从情节性的束缚中摆脱出来自此走上了写“心中之丘壑”的意象境地。文人画的基本思想来自相 互渗透的佛教禅宗哲理与儒家正统哲学。它的主要特点是强调自我表现，自我欣赏，强调画家的内在修养。苏东坡语“作画论形似，见与儿童邻”极大地影响了文人 画的发展。文人画“抒情寄兴，状物言态，不完全拘泥于形似格法，多数水墨写意，爱画梅竹，以表现高洁品格。⑨中国绘画由此踏入新的历程。文人学士的绘画， 表现对象一般是崇高的，技法用笔熟练，追求主观意趣，崇尚笔墨、形式的趣味，苏东坡评论王维的作品：“味摩洁诗，诗中有画，观摩洁之画，画中有诗。”此时 的画中诗已不是客观现实的真实再现或是对诗的演绎，如果说其中有诗意，那是绘画自身流露出来的，它有点象诗，但到底是绘画。文人画的兴盛，因写意逐步发 展，形成了中国绘画的主要特征。由写实转向写意是中国绘画史上的一次巨大转变，写意成了中国传统绘画的精髓。作为表现手段的笔墨诸因素被极大发展。绘画艺 术魅力的一个不可忽视的方面被强调起来。将书法入于绘画的笔墨，更提供了另一种微妙的境界，使得个性进入意境之中，从王维到东坡，从黄公望、王蒙到沈周、 徐渭等等，他们大都是些愤世嫉俗的雅士。借写意笔墨去渲泻心中之牢骚。不求形式的自由挥写，表现在图画中是一种高傲的不见人间烟火的脱俗气质。他们玩赏陶 冶性情，甚至做隐士或称居士，或者为了不服异族而出家为僧，他们在图像中追求意境，在笔墨中追求情趣，在创作上重视构思，讲求意在笔先和形象思维，主客观 统一，造型不求表面的肖似，讲求“妙在似与不似之间”和“不似之似”，其形象塑造以能传达出物象的神态情韵和画家的主观情感为要旨，这里笔墨既是状物传情 的技巧，又是对象的载体，同时本身又是有意味的形式，具有独立的审美价值。由于种种原因，中国绘画并没有象西方那样由写意的印象派过渡到现代派，中国绘画 在千百年发展中步法缓慢，从容雅致，总是极好地走在“似与不似”之间，借物抒情。石涛的“一画之法”，凭感受作画，只要能表达出自己的真情实感，用尽万点 恶墨，亦成艺术极品；“八大”“八怪”以奔放简率的笔墨，古怪夸张的造型语言直视抽象。即便如此，也没有完全抛弃物象，而是在抽象的边缘止步了，或许中国 的笔墨还没有找到独立的形式结构，因而还得要借助一定的物象借题发挥。中国绘画正是由于自身独特形成了与西方绘画完全不同的艺术语言，中国绘画未来如何发 展，只能由绘画实践和理论光芒去创造了。
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西方的绘画自古希腊奠定了其伟大的艺术传统以来，人物画尤其是描绘人物故事的叙事性倾向的绘画一直占据着绘画史的主流，它历经文艺复兴、巴洛克时代直至 19世纪古典主义、浪漫主义、写实主义等，把人物画的发展推向了一个高度发展的境地。这些以描绘人物故事为主的情节性绘画，取材不外乎古典神话、圣经故 事、但丁、歌德等人的文学作品，因此造成了绘画与文学之间一种割不断的联系，这种取材方式直至库尔贝的出现才结束。这样，西方人物故事绘画在获得充分发展 之后，以绘画演绎文学的传统题材退出绘画的主流成为历史。和西方传统绘画发展不同的是，中国人物故事画没有得到充分发展，没有占据绘画的主流，在宋以后文 人画开始发展，以山水、花鸟为主成了中国绘画的大宗。
尽管绘画不能象小说或戏剧那样，以时间到空间完整准确地表达一个故事情节，但它还是可以有限度地表现一定的情节故事。古代的大师给我们留下许多辉煌的画 作就充分证明绘画可以以自己的方式产生不朽的创造。一定的“文学性”在大师手里并不是绘画的障碍，反而相得益彰，大师手下的杰作早已超越“文学性”题材本 身的意义，通过视觉语言的创造，这些绘画已具有全新的生命力，演绎出了更多耐人寻味的意义，单纯使用“文学性”已不能概括这些巨著所具有的丰富内涵。
西方写实体系的传统持续了五百年，发展得高度成熟。古希腊的“模仿论”、文艺复兴透视明暗，解剖等体系的建立，卡拉瓦乔的明暗造型……等，每一个时期都 有大师在写实体系中增添新的内容，历经几百年终于积淀成了丰富灿烂的传统，从印象派开始，由于注重写意，画家笔下的艺术形象开始从所描摹的物象本身相对脱 离出来而产生了“意象”。写实主义的传统在塞尚的手上被打破。随着现代艺术在西方的崛起，一反以往极度推崇而变成极度贬低写实主义，否定绘画中“文学性” 而追求抛弃物象的绘画语言自身的独立。但现代主义的出现也并非偶然，文杜里在《走向现代艺术的四步》中说出现代艺术是从历史的母胎中孕育的自然产物，它的 最早源头可追溯到16世纪意大利的乔尔乔内，经17世纪的卡拉瓦乔到19世纪法国的马奈塞尚，都具有现代艺术的某些要素和种子。这些历史的种子基因经历了 长期的历史积淀，最后产生了现代艺术。现代派的出现表明写实主义并不是唯一的表现方式，而是一种有效且有限的表现方式，绘画中的“文学性”是可以而且应该 要超越的。但绘画中“文学性”作为一种历史的存在，曾产生了大量优秀的绘画，而且作为一种艺术形式发展到了极度成熟的境地。它是任何其它的艺术形式所不可 替代的，这些都足以说明其自身巨大的价值和魅力。
如果说前期的绘画史是“文学性”的发展，是绘画和文学在某种意义上的结合的话，那么库尔贝和塞尚的出现则可说是“文学性”在绘画中的结束，是文学与绘画 的分离。这场变革有其历史的必然性，这里既有艺术的原因，也有社会的原因。欧洲写实主义传统历经五百多年，在19世纪后半叶出现僵化，“大凡一种本来有生 命力的艺术，由于技艺过于成熟而又没有新的时代精神引领它往前发展，就会流于相同，外盛内虚，于是它的生命力也要衰竭了。这种现象在艺术史上不止一次地出 现过，例如意大利文艺复兴之后，后辈只在大师的样式里陈袭，精神空泛，出现了所谓的风格主义。我国在宋代院体画发展至极大的时候，苏东坡提出“论画以形 似，见与八童邻”的见解而导致文人画的发展。社会方面随着科学技术的发展，尤其照相术的发明，使绘画的某些功用被照相机所替代。在照相术发明之前，再现形 象实际上是绘画所承担的重要功能，委拉斯凯兹、伦勃朗、哈尔斯等可以说就是当时杰出的人工摄影师。现在，绘画的这一主要功能极大地被摄影师所替代，它的未 来存在和发展，便是摆在画家面前的一个重大问题。摆脱绘画中的必要的“文学性”抛开它不必承担的叙事功能，追求绘画作为一门视觉艺术的独立品格，便是画家 的必然选择了。
“自印象派以来，艺术家的思想不断环绕着艺术手段的自由，特殊规律性及纯结性等问题，它们要其作品从叙述性，思想性、寓意性的一切预先安排好的意义内容 中解脱出来。最后，也从对立的自然界的描述中解脱出来，对于色彩的纯粹画意的使用，摆脱了物质的材料性，把画面从它和立体及透视表现的纠缠中分割出 来……”⒂这种“摆脱”也就是绘画对其自身“文学性”的超越，也就意味着产生新的创造。它需要画中的形式因素诸如形、光、色、线等从依赋于自然物象的状态 中脱离出来，从而产生自身的审美内涵。这就是现代绘画所称之的“自律性”，它们认为“绘画的关系和色彩本身就有独特价值，凡不属于它自身的东西也就不是绘 画所应该具有的，所以想为绘画表现的对象去寻找一个原形，从艺术的形象和造型的相似性中去寻找它的是艺术之外的东西”。⒃
塞尚打破传统三度空间的幻觉摹拟取而代之以平面化，使绘画又回到它原有的三维状态，他追求实在的形体和永恒的视觉，认为光线对绘画本说本质是不存在的。 他认为美术是艺术的真实，“画画–并不意味着去盲目的复制现实，它意味着寻求诸种关系的和谐。”毕加索画《牛》的一系列变化过程恰好能体现自然现象如何 转向艺术形象。从最初自然状态的牛逐步变化最后只是一根线的牛形，此时的一根线已起出画牛本身的变化或者论画的是不是牛已变得不重要了，主要的是这一根线 本身已具有独特的审美意义。有异曲同工之妙的是蒙德里安的《红色的树》。从自然状态的树经过几次变化而成了一幅抽象的树，差异之大，如果不是看到这一变化 过程，谁又能想到绘画中的“自律性”就是隐藏在写实物象的形式结构之中呢？由此可看出绘画中“文学性”和“自律性”之间并不是一条不可逾越的鸿沟。“自律 性”和“文学性”保持着千丝万缕的联系。
现代艺术不仅仅是单纯的美术各流派，它是一种复杂的社会现象，它还在西方社会意识形态中起着很大的作用。十九世纪中叶，工业革命、启蒙运动和现代改良革 命给欧洲带来了根本上的变革，因而艺术家也在自己的艺术创作中感受到了这种变革。从理想主义、虚无主义到达达，从表现主义到抽象表现主义，艺术家以为审美 活动是纯粹理念。没有空间被切割，也没有空间被建立，没有结构，也没有野兽派的破坏；没有纯粹的线条，笔直、细长，也没有痛苦扭曲的线条，变形、局促。纯 粹主义艺术学试图否定自然，并寻求它的图样等同物–一种几何的真实性，但即使欧洲最抽象的画家的意象，象米罗和蒙德里安也是有他可感知的自然世界的基 础。就米罗来说，他创造的幻想，尽可能地超越，总是脱离真实的形象而发展成为一种神话般的朦胧。但我们总是可以通过可见的形象和形状进入他的意象世界。同 样，蒙德里安他的抽象的图案世界，是通过可见的风景，水平线上垂直的几何的等同物建立的，我们被引入这个本来纯粹世界，是通过数学的相似物的描绘，一个 90度的角即是一个可认识的自然形象。⒄
绘画中的“自律性”把探索造型的要素作为艺术的全部意义，现代艺术中的自由性与自由精神在拓宽艺术审美领域，给绘画带来新的活力的同时，也产生了蔑视任何传统–数百年以来得到人类公认的艺术经典的极端主义思潮。
随着社会的迅速发展，科学技术不断取得惊人的发现，西方艺术也进入所谓后现代主义时期。中国油画近二十年发展迅速，样式各异形色咄咄逼人的作品随着新人 的出现大批涌来。如同工业的迅速发展不可避免地会带来工业污染一样，新时期艺术发展在取得瞩目成就的同时也出现了大量粗制滥造的作品，一直被奉若神明的真 善美已无人问及。人们对样式或绘画多样性的追求已经成了评判展览与作品的主要依据了。许多作品从观念到观念，几乎没有令人欣赏的艺术上的种种美感与较高技 艺的体现，更说不上情感的体现。在文学性绘画已成昨日的回忆之后，哲理性绘画常常如打哑谜、猜谜语使得观众绞尽脑汁，人们在迷惑不解的同时也与艺术逐渐疏 远了。毫无疑问，艺术的审美领域的拓展并不意味着原有内容的淘汰。它会使艺术对人类丰富的情感，对真的、善的、美的表现失去职能。无论如何，绘画作为人对 现实生活反映的一种方式，不论是具象、意象或抽象，都会或多或少，这样或那样地折射出生活的印迹，真切的审美感受使艺术家萌发创作的冲动，创作积极主动的 艺术作品，当感情通过作品传达出真实感情时，由于它的可信度，才能打动人心。如果绘画中的“自律性”连这样的反映都加拒绝，必然会走向狭小的天地，失去其 内在的创造力。当一些现代画家在罗浮宫对着古典绘画发出感慨，认为那全是一堆历史垃圾时，他们正是忽视了绘画的文学性价值，当他们对着那些基督教题材绘画 时，他们没有从一个非绘画的观众的角度去看这些画。他们无法体会当一个虔诚的基督徒看到这些画时所感受到的心灵震憾。那种震撼发自心底，不可抗拒。更绝非 那稍懂画技，急于自我张扬的人所能感受到的。那种功利使然的艺术观几乎让他们无法对任何事物动情动性，这就是绘画文学性逐渐迷失的悲剧结果。当然，对于从 事艺术工作的人来说，艺术品还有别的意义，但从事艺术工作的人不能把艺术对于他个人的意义看作艺术品所拥有意义的全部。换言之，艺术不是建立在其他艺术作 品和其他的艺术工作者的基础之上，绘画也不是画给那些也画画的人看的，艺术要回到不从事艺术工作的人们之中，返回到那些人的生活和阅读之中。“自律性”不 应该说是艺术的形式具有一种独立其内容的性质，只是有别于“文学性”的叙事方式而具有更新的视觉创造力，那么“文学性”中的某些合理内核仍将为现代绘画所 值得珍视和借鉴。
宛少军：中央美院博士研究生
Abstract
I am a traditionally trained illustrator. My greatest interest is in figurative art. In searching for my future direction, I found that illustration was dismissive and down graded, especially during the early twentieth century in America (I will further describe this in the later paragraph). Marshall Arisman, an internationally known illustrator and painter, also the chair of MFA degree program, “Illustration as Visual Essay” at the School of Visual Art, N.Y., in his article “Art and Illustration” offer a brief history of the relationship between illustration and figuration, by this hoping that he will reaffirm the value of illustrator, also describe the work of an contemporary artist.
Keywords: Art, Illustration, Figuration, Painter, Twentieth Century, America, Illustration as
Visual Essay, SVA
Art and Illustration
Arisman started the article with a big question: Is illustration dead? This is one of the pessimistic conclusions voiced by a lot of illustrator today in America due to the use of illustration in editorial and advertising has decreased tremendously. The market for illustration and fine art rely highly on the economy and today’s economic uncertainty doesn’t bode well for illustration or fine art. And it results in illustrators hardly get works. After a long discussion, he said that today’s technology- digital cameras, computers, low-cost printing methods, the Internet- and a less defined art environment makes it possible for figurative artist to find many outlets for their works. And the turn of the century in 2001 saw the landscape of art cross-referencing imagery from everywhere. Mechanical reproduction has levelled the playing field for figurative artists. Which he conclude that figurative art and illustration is not dead, but in contradiction, the invention of new technology, especially the game, movie and entertainments industry have broaden the playing field for illustrators today.
I agreed with the saying that editorial illustration is not doing as good as it was during the Golden Age. What was not mention in the article is that this is happening because first, photography has replaced illustration in most editorials; second, painted illustration was once used to decorate and narrate books but now looks out-fashion; the invention of computer make the work of illustrator and designer became blurry[1]; third, this is the age of visual, we watch the monitor or TV screen more than we read a book sometimes.
Arisman disagreed with the pragmatic solutions of art education circles to solve the problem of a shrinking illustration market by encouraging the illustrators to be more flexible in their design skills. He said from his experience, there is only one other career choice for most illustrator and that is figuration in a fine art context whether it is in video, film, painting or sculpture. This claim sounds contradictive because most contemporary use different form to give illustration a newer look. Some combine typography with imagery, some use photo montage, and some combine traditional painting with digital touch up. The job of figurative illustrator is to be creative in ways of narrating, describing and decorating. Illustration students should be given the free-will to choose their area of profession.
History of American Illustration
Later in this article Arisman spent most of the pages offering an overview of the issues of illustration and art from early twentieth century to present day. Thought the chapter was far too short to offer a full history, but he had mentioned some of the key incidents during the early age. First, figurative painting which was once de rigueur for artists during the nineteenth-century was facing a dynamic change. The movement was dismissive of the figure and enamoured of both conceptual and abstract artistic direction. The narrative and descriptive function of figurative painting was questioned by Modernist in Europe. Second, Howard Pyle, the father of illustration America, was convinced that his own Quaker beliefs in the importance of upright morals, good character, solid citizenship, religious upbringing, hard work and patriotic duty-characteristic imbued in the great classics in American literature-could be translated into a new American fine art form. Third, the invention of photoengraving allowed painting to be reproduced easily. The sudden increment of publication printing in year1893-1900 increases the need for illustration and has made Howard Pyle and his students rich. Howard Pyle because of his fame and success believe that his National Art Spirit is the new way of America art. Forth, In 1912 Malevich painted a white square on a white ground, declaring he had destroyed the “subject” forever in painting. In America, Pyle’s new American vision collapses due to the death of illustrated-book market in America. His illustration was replaced by trendier look artist works. This is an important turning point as the illustrative imagery was devalued and fine-art critics started to apply the word “illustration” as a term to down grade figurative art[2]. Fifth, with the rise of American Modernism, art critics declare that figurative art is dead. Illustration in America was severed its connection to fine art. Anything figurative and narrative is claim as illustration. Any artwork done for the purpose to serve the commercial market, its value is automatically down-graded. On one hand, figurative artists continued to serve the consuming market; on the other hand, Jackson Pollock revolutionized American painting with his abstract expressionism works. Sixth, the rise of new Pop Art declared that everyone can be artist and everything is art. There is no high art or low art. Andy Warhol said that “the finest art of all is the business of art.” Artists been freed to create figurative again. Indeed, artists at this time did almost everything. The famous claim “Everyone is an artist” and “Everything is Art” has blurred the line between fine artists, illustrator, audience, art critic and everyman.
Through the reading of the history, I found that standards that early American art critic used to differentiate fine art and illustrations are as below:
First, it’s subject matter. Fine art has no subject or it’s abstract. Illustration is figurative. And the invention of photography has freed panting from its narrative and descriptive function. Whatever arts or artefact that done for the purpose of narrating or description is claims to be illustration.
Secondly, where does it hang? Those that been hang in the gallery are claimed to be fine art. And those that appear on the print are illustration.
Thirdly, it’s intension. Works that created with the intension to serve the commercial world are claimed to be illustration. Fine art is pure self-exploration.
Fourthly, the job of the artist. Fine art artist should create only “fine” and “pure” art, artist who did cross-over project are claimed as illustrator.
Arisman concluded that the work artist to is in an attempt to clarify or illuminate our relationship to the world and whether we create it abstractly, conceptually, or in a narrative form, define us, our philosophy of life and our aesthetic and intellectual preference. And the business of illustration is the business of making strong, effective, discovering your personal vision as a figurative artist and finding outlets for the work that you produce without falling victim to the false-defined or down-graded ever-changing labels. In his opinion, fine art can be in any form as long as the artist expresses his own opinion and do it for himself. Where else an illustrator is a story-teller, with the ability to write increase his value. All artists illustrate (in hopes of clarifying our views), but not all artist are illustrator. His meaning of “illustrate” here is not only referring to the “painting-action”, but also referring to “conceptual visualisation”. There isn’t any low art or high art; there is only good or bad art. And not every figurative artist is an illustrator.
By examining the standards above, some standards are made too timely and too enamoured of both conceptual and abstract art direction. The subject matter was a main argument. It’s impossible that the subject will be disappearing from art forever. If subject has no longer carried any means, then what is the purpose of seeing? Second, the technology has make art reproduction easier and faster. We see photograph of a fine art piece printed on book, and we also see traditionally painted illustration been hang in the gallery. Third, no doubt most illustration works are created with the intension of selling it out, we cannot deny that when a fine artist create an art piece, he also think about who might buy it from the gallery or auction. Fourth, more and more fine artists doing cross-over job. You will find some artist appear in movie, think Liu Xiao Dong; some do painting and photograph, think David Hockney. The jobs of fine artist become indefinable. Artist nowadays almost do everything.
The debate of illustration as fine art was a big issue in the twentieth-century in America because the new America was searching for her own new art movement. Artists were on the cross-road of whether to choose figurative or abstraction. As what was mention in the article, Arisman tried to describe the dilemma situation of artists and illustrator during that time. Interestingly, while the American are struggling between the figurative and abstract, Modernism artists like Pablo Picasso and Henri Matisse continue to expressed themselves through painting and create illustration for commercial books. Terms like “illustration” or “decorative” did not become a taboo credit on their curriculum vitae as a serious and radical artist. The American during that time are too sensitive to be labelled due to the fast-changing movement and “ism”.
Conclusion
After all, it is still hard to define what contemporary “fine” art is. Today, contemporary artists like Lucian Freud in U.K., David Hockney in the United State, Fang Li Juan and Liu Xiao Dong in China continue figurative painting and the value of their works is increasing every year. In last year Sotheby’s auction in Hong Kong, Liu Xiao Dong’s battlefield realism painting: The Eighteen Arhats sells for HK$61,927,500 (US$7,949,014), a record for the artist at auction and also the second highest among China artists. The new China did not face the same realism crisis as what American artists and illustrators faced during the twentieth-century. Arisman article has given us a brief understanding of the challenge of American during those days, but that same situation is not happening in the new China today. I personally think that the reason is because during the early twentieth-century, “Art for art sake”, “Abstraction or figuration” were at its most heated debate. But take a look at today’s Art scene, we hardly define what art is, what form art should be, who the artist is and even who the audience should be. The spirit of post-modern age is “everything goes”.
Personally I think that despise of blurriness and uncertainty, the main function of the illustrator is to represent, interpret, and heighten the meaning of a selected passage of text (in a complementary way) by means of pictures, with the aim of contributing to the reader’s or viewer’s appreciation of the narrative.
This is a timely writing written to fight with the misunderstanding of fine art and illustration. The author tried to use this article to express his point of view about developing personal vision, especially stress on figurative drawing. He ended his article by saying: ‘It is the challenge and the underlying secret to working at something you love for the rest of your life.’
[1] The reason for this blurriness is because the whole complexion in the design field has change in just the past eight to ten years. Back in the earlier days, designers used to sketch out what they wanted. Then the sketches would be handed to a typesetter, who would do the type size and style; and to an illustrator for illustration work. Then the designer would collect all the components and combine them together for layout for printing. However, computers have changed all of this. Designers nowadays usually combine design, illustration and typesetting into one continuous process which they dot hem all by themselves. With the help of the elaborately changing computer programs and technology, visual communications become handy in the internet world, artist are becoming more and more active, thus illustration becomes trendier, more mature and delicate. As a result of all these, artists become illustrators; illustrators become designers; and maybe the other way around.
(Amatterofdesign™. (2006). It’s A Matter Of Illustration. Victionary.)
[2] Illustration as fine art had its decade of fame. Illustrative imagery was devalued by 1910 and fine-art critics applied the word illustration as an all-encompassing, easy, punitive word for any imagery that featured the figure or realistic elements-a practice that continues through today. (Steven Heller, Marshall Arisman, Inside The Business of Illustration, NY: Allworth Communications, Inc.2004, pg 36)
Arisman also commented that the art critic and curator of Drawing Now: Eight Propositions in year 2002 has again devalued and mislead the audience of the definition of illustration. Arisman stand is that illustration was not flowering from 50s to 70s was because of the Zeitgeist but not as what Ms. Hoptman , the curator said:” Any readable imagery implies lack of complexity; illustration is defined as graphically lively, colourful, entertaining, and commercial. And all these are reasons that have banished illustration from fine art discourse.
http://www.fulltable.com/VTS/n/ni/n.htm
notes on
NARRATIVE ILLUSTRATION
John Vernon Lord
The main function of the narrative illustrator is to represent, interpret, and heighten the meaning of a selected passage of text (in a complementary way) by means of pictures, with the aim of contributing to the reader’s appreciation of the narrative. This usually involves consideration of the setting of place and time and the nature and action of the characters who take part in the story. Pictorial narratives may, of course, dispense with words. My talk today will mainly touch on various elements of narrative illustration and what we often have to consider when we are illustrating texts. Below is a list of some of these considerations:
Ideas
How are ideas generated and how do we wish to approach a particular problem when illustrating a narrative? How do we bring to life what has been described in words? What are the special complementary qualities of pictorial expression?
Ideas in illustration may be generated in several ways: ideas are required to solve particular problems; ideas are required in selecting and composing the elements of a picture; ideas can come from inventing a new visual language or by an original use of materials. Ideas may take on the form of the visual clarification of something that cannot be expressed in words or seen in the normal way. Visual ideas may complement words. Pictorial ideas may show what the world is like in the present, what it used to be like in the past, and what it could, should or might be like in the future.Visual ideas may inform, persuade and warn of danger. Pictures can alert people’s consciousness or conscience. They can also celebrate the beauty, or emphasise the ugliness, of something; they can amuse, delight and move people and they can show impossible situations and a world that doesn’t or cannot exist. Illustrations may be `evocative’ of a text rather than aiming to be specific by incorporating the details of its content. Pictures can be seen in sequence and thus have a bearing on each other.
The text
Which individual passages of text shall be selected to illustrate and how do the pictures relate to each other to attain a satisfactory sequence? What pictorial properties should we consider when we are illustrating in series?
The frozen moment
At what precise moment do we choose to stop the action when the events in the narrative take place? Catching the fleeting moment when an event has just happened, or is about to happen, and that will, in the next moment change.
Mood and atmosphere
We need to consider reflecting the tone of a narrative by extracting the appropriate sense of mood and atmosphere from its content. Our intention might be to create a sense of drama or humour, suspense and surprise, or joie de vivre etc.
Nature and action of the characters
The nature and action of the characters who are participating in the narrative have to be considered as well as registering their physical appearance, (features of face) and their momentary gesture and expression – not just what they are doing. Maintaining the likeness of individual characters throughout a story might be something that has to be handled.
Other ‘props’ in a picture
There is the need to identify and select the various components, objects or props (such as clothes and furniture and oddments etc.) that may be included in the illustration, as well as deciding those that may be omitted.
Scene setting
The scene setting or location where the action takes place, has to be thought about. The background setting may be carried out in such a way as to emphasise mood and expression as well as our experiencing a sense of movement in the picture.
Viewpoint
The choice of viewpoint (angle of vision or eye-level)has to be established for each picture.
Time when the event takes place
The period, season and time of day or night may have to be considered. An historical reconstruction may be necessary.
Light source
The light source may be another factor, as well as the kind of weather that is taking place.
Pictorial Composition
One of the most fundamental aspects of making pictures is considering which compositional approach will best serve the idea? Here we need to speculate about the disposition of the various elements in the composition, including their proximity and relationship to one another. Pictorial emphasis or understatement may be important by means of giving weight or light to certain lines and shapes within the composition. Stressing dynamic rhythm (or indeed the lack of it) by bringing about passive qualities, or a sense of repose, may be something that is wanted in the composition. One may have to consider whether to have ’sealed off’ , bled or vignetted illustrations. The independent unity of each individual picture set against its neighbouring pictures is an important consideration. The use of contrast is a vital part of book illustration, when the pictures follow each other in sequence. Compositional variety and contrast is recommended to avoid monotony.
Here are a few headings to think about: tone and colour contrasts; figure and ground possibilities – dark against light and light against dark; contrasts of scale and proportional changes; different perspectival views; opposites – near and far; simplicity against complexity; passive and active; vertical, horizontal and diagonal stresses; curved and angular shapes; using constants (ie the grid) as a means of orchestrating compositional elements;
Other considerations :
Gutter problems; clarity and readability of the image; the viewer has ability to ‘fill in’ what has not been drawn; varying pace in expressing sequences of events; maintaining the likeness of a character throughout a narrative sequence; maintaining consistency of drawing, where appropriate, and a sense of continuity; ability to correct a drawing; physical relationship between image and text.
Compositional devices and physical marks in drawing and painting (tonal and textural effects) naturally have a contributory bearing on how atmosphere can be conveyed. Also we have obviously got to consider how the images are to be rendered in terms of the material and media to be used?
Visual Reference
Visual reference has to be gathered as an aid to creating the illustration -
1. from direct observation;
2. from visual memory and drawing from the imagination;
3. adapting information gleaned from other forms of pictorial material.
A comment about narrative illustration
Illustrations could be said to be an unnecessary distraction to a reader – their very presence tending to freeze out the imaginative mind of the viewer. We must remember that our reading of texts and our viewing of the illustrations are each modified by our experience of the other. The very ease of viewing a picture in a book (in that its very presence can often dominate a page) may cause us to look at it before reading the text and hence – not only pervert our later reading of the words themselves but also narrow the margin for personal visualising.
http://www.chinaart8.com/show_art.asp?art_id=6191
视觉文化不只是视觉艺术，凡是人们可以通过视知觉感受而直接获取信息与解读意义的文化样式都可以纳 入视觉文化的范畴。张舒予教授在《视觉文化概论》一书中对视觉文化的定义为：“将以图像符号为构成元素、以视知觉可以感知的样式为外在表现形态的文化统称 为视觉文化”。1因此，除了传统的绘画、雕塑、建筑、工艺品、戏剧、舞蹈等视觉艺术样式外，摄影、电影、电视、多媒体计算机网络等大众传媒也是视觉文化必 不可少的组成部分。这些都是插画艺术的存在体。正因为此，我想从视觉文化的角度对“插画艺术”作一些初步的探讨，并从视觉文化中的插图教育价值，以及视觉 经验对插画艺术创作的影响等层面上来分析插画艺术对于视觉文化的影响。
从视觉文化的角度看插画艺术
美国文化学者丹尼尔·贝尔(DanielBell)在谈到“视觉文化”时说：“我相信，当代文化是一种视觉文化，而不是一种印刷文化，这是千真 万确的事实。”他还强调“当代倾向的性质”是“渴望行动，追求新奇，贪图轰动”。2视觉文化成为当代文化的主流形态，对人们耳濡目染，影响深刻持久。越来 越多的人开始从视觉文化的角度去阅读，可以看出人们的阅读行为在发生转向：由基于印刷文本的阅读逐渐转变为基于视觉图像的解读，由此引发阅读对象、阅读方 式、阅读性质以及阅读心理和功能价值等多方面的重大嬗变。然而视觉文化新形态与人们传统视觉经验之间存在的鸿沟令人迷惑不解，这不再是个简单的问题，而是 一个事关人们文化素养与生活质量的问题。我们利用插画从传播的角度来解读中国文化，这是探索中国文化流变、重组和演进的一个重要途径，同时也使得媒介与民 族文化传播研究的重要性日益突出。
提到插画，人们往往想到这样的场景：书籍杂志中的图像、户外广告中的图像以及一些快速地绘制出的一个个夸张的符号、卡通人物、变形的各种象征符 号。透过这些表面现象，我们则可以发现插画是一种真正意义上的美学性产物，和诗歌、舞蹈等艺术形式一样，是反映人的内心情感的一种表现形式，是对于生活的 个性化的表白。例如，几米就认为应让“图像”成为另一种清新舒洁的文学语言。在他的作品里营造出流畅诗意的画面，散发出深情迷人的风采。几米的故事引领着 每一位欣赏他作品的人看到并相信世界上的美与善，同时也反映了现代人生活中的点点滴滴，因此每个人都能在他的故事中找到一个映照和寄托，或许这就是几米作 品的迷人之处。又如绘本作者钱海燕，她是近年来崛起的著名青年女漫画家，她的漫画作品幽默、俏皮，蕴含着一种灵秀之气和深沉的人文精神。她观察生活有着一 种独特的视角，于是，在她的笔下，几笔漫画加上几句精练的文字，就折射出了她独到的生活智慧。
由此我们可以看出，从视觉文化的角度去看插画艺术同样能够使得我们获取某个时代或是某个作家所代表的思想及存在状态，而且这种形式更能够让处在当代这种信息化时代里的人去接受、承认。
视觉文化中的插图教育价值
视觉文化有了新的内涵和发展机遇，而信息文化又给自身的发展带来了新的突破，在这样的时代氛围中，视觉文化与信息文化开始高度融合、相互促进， 自然对社会各个层面产生了积极的影响，当代教育也不例外。可以说在课外生活中，视觉文化无处不在，如电视、录像、网络以及各类报刊书籍，在这到处都充满着 视觉图像符号的现实世界中，如何让学生更好地正确理解、接受插图的教育价值并能够借此获取更多的有效信息，这直接关系着学生的发展潜力和教学质量的提高。
课文插图蕴含着丰富的人文内涵，我们在对课文语言的学习的基础上对课文插图进行进一步的思考，对借取课文插图获取信息这一方法给予指导，这对学 生在认知这一方法的基础上理解视觉文化有引导作用。比如说课文插图中的中心主题是如何体现的？从插图的背景中能够获得怎样的信息？如何从插图中的细节处发 现更多的信息？这幅插图是通过什么来打动读者的？在此基础上，通过信息技术手段再拓展到多媒体资源或网络资源进行迁移训练，并通过比较区别“文配图”和 “图配文”之间的不同，把握视觉图像的角色特点。比如有些课文中的插图，除了能够揭示出相应课文语言的所指外，自身还包含着丰富的内涵，这是因为这些插图 不仅仅是作者对课文语言的简单描摹，而是作者对作品的再创作，画面上的线条、明暗、位置经营，都抹上了作者的情绪色彩。
法国的让·拉特利尔在《科学和技术对文化的挑战》一文中就曾提出:“不能低估图像文化，尤其是动态图像文化，由于它们通过图像作用于情感，从而 已经并将继续对表述与价值系统施加的深远影响。”3鲁迅先生也曾说过，“书籍的插图，原意是在装饰书籍，增加读者的兴趣的，但那力量，能补助文字之所不 及。”丰子恺生前曾为《阿Q正传》等9篇小说作过插图，他说：“这些插图，就好比在鲁迅先生的讲话上装上了一个麦克风，使他的声音放大。”的确，在某种意 义上说，插图就是对某些文字语言信息的艺术放大，具有文字所没有的不可替代性。尤其在信息时代面前，在视觉文化的视野下，课文插图有了新的内涵和新的意 义。如何正确认识课文插图的现代教育价值是时代的呼声，也是学生发展的需要。
视觉经验对插画作品创作的影响
插画属于绘画艺术，诉之于视觉。插画作品除了表现其独特的面和线的瞬息造型外，往往还要表现创作者的某种审美取向。创作者要想使读者能够很好地 解读自己的作品，并且使解读者与自己产生感情共鸣，不仅要求创作者自身有丰富的视觉经验，同时还必须能够正确把握读者所具有的视觉心理图式，只有这样，创 作者的作品才会迸发出生命力。当然读者解读作品这种具有内在美感和寓意的视觉物体时，需要一定的视觉经验，因为视觉经验是人类的一种视觉心理图式。我们的 视觉心理不是空白一块，从接触世界开始，各种视觉体验就逐渐在心里积淀，世界与社会的各种视觉冲击经过我们的加工、提炼后在大脑的一些神经元中产生镜像， 成为我们进一步接受新的视觉刺激的前提——心理学上称为心理图式。海德格尔指出：“世界图像……并非意指一幅关于世界的图像，而是指世界被构想和把握为图 像了……世界图像并非从一个以前的中世纪的世界图像演变为一个现代的世界图像；不如说，根本上世界变成图像，这样一回事情标志着现代之本质。”4所以说视 觉经验不仅仅是对于创作即便是生活也需要它的存在和升华。
可以说当今的数码插图也可以理解成插图的一个新品种，相对于数码插图而言，使用常规绘画媒介的插图可以成为“传统插图”了。数码插图和“传统” 插图确有共通的一面。“传统”插图的基础知识如素描、色彩学、透视学、解剖学完全适用于数码插图。我认为如果数码插图离开了视觉经验的支持是不可思议的， 可以说正是数码视觉经验造就了数码插图这一门新艺术。但是对于数码插图来说，仅仅有技术是远远不够的，技术是传达艺术家思维的工具，数码插图的灵魂来自于 它的艺术性和视觉经验。视觉经验只有被艺术家用来创作艺术时，才上升到艺术的范畴。具体地说艺术性就是指数码插图中所传达出艺术家的艺术思维深度、艺术修 养高度和艺术能力的全面。艺术能力是指艺术构思的实现能力，比如说创意能力、造型能力、色彩能力等等，它是艺术家艺术水准的重要体现。视觉经验与艺术性是 数码插图最重要的一部分。
正如威廉·米歇尔所说，“图像表征，正在以前所未有的力度影响着文化的每一个层面，从最为高深精微的思考到大众媒介最为粗俗浅薄的生产制作无一 幸免。”面对这个被视觉文化垄断的时代，插画艺术这门古老的艺术依旧存在并在固守批判现实主义的精英中流行，在他们的图像中，画面的纵深感被不同程度地压 缩，加上大面积单纯色彩的平涂，使得主体图式显著跃现出来，有效地增强了图像的视觉张力和感染力。另外，我们也很难从他们的图像中找出明确的艺术风格，夹 杂在他们图像间的是写实主义或表现主义等等多种艺术样式的变异体。传统的绘画风格已不是他们界定自我艺术样式的标准，而仅仅作为强调艺术个性的形式借鉴及 参照。从图像间流露出的更多是他们作为当下生存的个体对于时代的自我感受。图像中的观念意味在逐步挣脱了传统插画的束缚之后统领了整个艺术过程。尽管他们 的艺术并没有完全逃离出精英意识和社会反映论的范畴，但在社会现实和个体的关系上给当代插画做出了新的描述。
插画艺术从直接的角度看，视觉是最主要的感受、拥有、享受生活的方式；从间接的角度看，视觉则是唯一的感受、拥有、享受生活的方式——在间接感 受、拥有、享受生活中，视觉经验可以涵盖、替代其它一切感觉经验，而其它一切感觉经验都无法涵盖、替代视觉经验。人类对视觉文化需求的最深层的动因，主要 是由视觉经验在人类生活中的基础地位和重要作用所决定的。因此，视觉经验对于插画文化的影响是历史的、深层的。插画艺术是人类社会生活跃迁和面临新情境、 触摸未来的价值表述方式，它开拓出生命的新的感受形式，寄寓了人们生存的新的价值资源，并转呈为图像学的结果而内化为社会个体的伦理期待和生存基点。
所以在此希望中国的插画设计师们也能扩展自己的视野，透过令人迷惑的现状，来发现真正的创意与灵感。对于视觉经验，要在文化背景上来考察，思考它们可能的关联，而不是照抄照搬。
http://zhidao.baidu.com/question/16843675.html?fr=qrl
为企业或产品绘制插图，获得与之相关的报酬，作者放弃对作品的所有权，只保留署名权的商业买卖行为，即为商业插画。
这种行为和我们以前认为的绘画是有本质区别的，艺术绘画作品在没有被个人或机构收藏之前，可以无限制的在各种媒体上刊载或展示，作者得到很小比例 的费用。而商业插画只能为一个商品或客户服务，一旦支付费用，作者便放弃了作品的所有权，而相应得到比例较大的报酬，这和艺术绘画被收藏或拍卖的最终结果 是相同的。
但是，商业插画的使用寿命是短暂的，一个商品或企业在进行更新换代时，此副作品即宣告消亡或终止宣传。从科学定义上来看，似乎商业插画的结局有点 悲壮，但另一方面，商业插画在短暂的时间里迸发的光辉是艺术绘画不能比拟的。因为商业插画是借助广告渠道进行传播，覆盖面很广，社会关注率比艺术绘画高出 许多倍。比如这幅酸奶包装的数码插画（如图），在两年的市场售卖中，因为画面精美，吸引消费者购买的数量超过亿计，设想以下，在下一个产品替代它之前的时 间里，这个数量还会增加。有多少艺术绘画作品能在两年时间里被上亿人看到呢？这样的辉煌是无以伦比的！
商业插画有四个组成部分：
（一）广告商业插画
（二）卡通吉祥物设计
（三）出版物插图
（四）影视游戏美术设定
1. 广告商业插画
为商品服务－必须具有强烈的消费意识
为广告商服务－必须具有灵活的价值观念
为社会服务－必须具有仁厚的群体责任
2. 卡通吉祥物设计
产品吉祥物－了解产品寻找卡通与产品的结合点
企业吉祥物－结合企业的CI规范为企业度身定制
社会吉祥物－分析社会活动特点适时迎合便于延展
3. 出版物插图
文学艺术类－具备良好的艺术修养和文学功底
儿童读物类－拥有健康快乐的童趣和观察体验
自然科普类－扎实的美术功底和超常的想象力
社会人文类－丰富多彩的生活阅历和默写技能
4. 影视游戏美术设定
形象设计类－人格互换形神离合的情感流露
场景设计类－独特视角微观宏观的约减综合
故事脚本类－文学音乐通过美术的手段体现
商业插画有一定的规则，它必须具备以下三个要素：
（一）直接传达消费需求
（二）符合大众审美品位
（三）夸张强化商品特性
想具备这三点，就要看插画师的综合素质了。
表达商品信息要直接，因为消费者不会花时间去理解你绘画的含义。由于人类的消费习惯有相当的持续性，在琳琅满目的购物环境里，如果消费者在一秒中之内没有看到或没有被你的插画所吸引，恐怕他将一年或几年都不会买这个商品了。
假设消费者看到了你的插画，但对画面的颜色构图或形象产生逆反心态，也会导致前面的结果。所以；符合大众审美品位是商业插画师要经过的第二道关。 能具有艺术眼光去消费的人太稀有了！你的作品太艺术，别人看不懂，太低俗，人家瞧不上，做得到这样的火候才算是合格的商业插画师。
在消费者的注目下，你的作品进入第三关，和周遍的产品比较。如果插画没有强化和夸张商品特性，被其他的商品压倒了，那么，也会产生前面的结果！在超市里经常见到挑挑拣拣拿起放下的情景，直到结帐之后，一幅商业插画才算成功通过测试（LSMH 整理）
★★★★★★ 商业插画：一个未来的职业 ★★★★★★
文/吴珊
一个乐观的预言说，商业插画师将在未来的17个热门行业中排第五，与律师、明星、软件工程师、服装设计师等职业一样，成为高收入职业人群
王东晟是一名商业插画师。和他走进咖啡馆之前，路过“M－zone动感地带”的广告牌，走进万圣书园时，他抬头看了看店堂门楣上的蓝色标志物，在 二层的醒客咖啡屋落座后，身着统一图案T恤衫的服务生在我们身边安静地穿梭——这些偶然之间进入视线的卡通图案，都出自王东晟或他的朋友之手。
对于熟知中国插画圈的人来说，王东晟已经是一个站在峰尖上的人物。这位曾经孤独的前行者，用7年的时间构筑了做一名商业插画师所必备的人际网络，现在的他，已经可以用他手中的客户资源，为正在开疆拓土的中国插画师讨一个名分和温饱。
7年之前，王东晟是外企的一名高级美工。月薪近一万的收入，让他能够富足地过中产阶级的生活。“那时骨子里有很多反叛意识。但是外企老板不会容忍 一个听摇滚乐、看艺术电影、习惯夜游的职员担当如此重要的工作。作为一家公司的美工，有很多重复性的工作，而我们这些画画的，最怕的就是单一。”
王东晟说，“那时我就在想，市场上缺什么？我们这些人怎么生存？结论是我发现很多公司都缺美工。”
于是王放弃了这份高薪职业，开始给很多企业出版社打零工。在度过了艰难的4个月之后，他开始成为客户寻找的对象。
到了1999年，王东晟认为形成合力和提出概念的时机已到，“英雄门商业插画工作室”挂牌。这是国内第一次出现商业插画这个概念，王为支撑这个工作室招收了6名弟子，林韬是其中之一。这个工作室，在短短的几年时间里，就发展成为插画爱好者心目中的一块标牌。
一个插画爱好者说：“其实很早就听说过‘英雄门’，到后来见到‘门’里的作品果然吃了一惊。因为觉得能和老外有一比了。”
在这期间，上海的“精英门商业插画工作室”也挂牌成立，而“英雄门”改称“英雄门卡通商业策划有限公司”，并事实上将生产的重点放在了卡通吉祥物这一个门类上。
“收缩是完善的一种方式，因为我们不可能把四种形式都做到最好。”王东晟说。王这样排列商业插画的四种形式：出版物插图、卡通吉祥物、影视与游戏美术设定、广告插画，这种排序也体现了中国插画在这四个领域发展的特殊命运。
王东晟之所以在卡通上集中发力，除了出版物市场没有完全放开之外，卡通自身不可言传的魔力也是他和他的伙伴们投身其中的原因。“卡通不分阶层，是 惟一能够贯通上下男女老幼，包括魔鬼和天使心灵的东西。《迪斯尼传》中说：‘上帝创造了三种艺术：音乐给了莫扎特，绘画给了毕加索，卡通给了我。’卡通是 独立的、没有任何根基的。它是无中生有，断代发展的。”
在成为自由人之后，王东晟用了5～7年的时间，获取作为一个职业插画师所应该具备的软件：道德规范、社会责任感、健康的体魄和神经。他已经告别了他的愤青年代——他喝茶、抽国产烟、听古典音乐。
但金庸和古龙的小说他却一直读了又读，他愿意把自己想象成古龙小说中的陆小凤，而不是李寻欢。
“在古代，一个插画画家很有地位，他是文化层次和阶级统治的代言人；在近代，插画画家很前卫，他是宣扬革命思想和讽刺时弊的风流人物；在现代，插 画画家很高尚，他是美化生活和缓释矛盾的服务员。”王东晟说。在前不久人民大学一次关于插画的宣讲会上，王打出了“快乐而富有的商业插画师”的标题。“插 画师是幕僚或小丑，是大戏换场时的调剂品。而有时，他又是决定战役胜负的举旗人。”
“快乐而富有”，是置身这个行业的少数人生活质量的真实描述，却还远不是这个职业群体普遍的生活状态。“在行业规则还没有形成的时候，你成功了，你就是制定规则的人。”插画行业在中国留下的很多空白，让王东晟和他的同行们的每一次实践都具有开拓意义。
数月之前，王东晟和几个朋友合作策划的“中国插画师联盟”网站开通，这个网站在为插画从业者和爱好者提供一个交流的平台的同时，也将承担为注册插画师和客户建立商业关系的功能。
短短两个月，有200多名画师给网站寄来了他们的档案和作品。“我没想到会有这么多人注册。但注册的200多人中画得好的不到140人。他们大多 出生于上世纪80年代，其中还包括一些没有受过专业训练的爱好者，还有一些在杂志社报社工作却私下接单的非专业插画师。”王东晟说。
王认为，他的个人经验来看，一个插画师必须要会3种以上软件和掌握3种以上的绘画风格才可以生存。而在中国1000万画画的人中，能够胜任商业插画师这一职业的不到15000人。
一个叫ilughoiu的网友在这个虚拟的插画生存社会里写道：“很不幸的是，有相当一部分的插图画师是在一些工作室、非法公司等地方从事盗版加 工。而且他们的水平相当高！我们一般在市面上看到的一些纸制品（信纸、信封、贺卡等）上的图案都是出自他们的手中，当然，绝大部分是抄袭的，有时，翻开的 杂志上，你能看到多少插图画？照片主导一切！乐观一点说，这是好事。因为这表明插画还有很大的发展空间。”
另一位网友albert说：“我认为饿死的将不是商业插画师而是美工！国外的许多出版物用的都是商业插画，好处是有版权。随着中国对版权的强调， 我设想中国对商业插画的需求将会越来越多。商业插画师是一个非常富有并且快乐的职业。因为每画一笔都是同直接的报酬相关联的。”
无论如何，中国的商业插画师，正在某些人的号召和组织下向着一个方向汇聚，而这即将形成的职业群落，将会成为未来中国插画力量的源头。
“2008年和2010年会有插画热，中国需要提前5年做好准备。当外国的插画师进入中国的时候，我们不能把市场拱手相让。”王东晟说。
15年之后插画行业会形成规范，而且会比国外更好。中国人多，有人就是财富，有客户就是财富，我们不能抱着金碗要饭吃。商业插画师将在未来的十大 热门行业中排第五，与律师、明星、软件工程师、服装设计师等职业一样成为高收入职业人群。王东晟最后乐观地预见。（LSMH 整理）
Taiwanese art critic and curator Chien Hui KAO[1] in her book “A Journey to Contemporary Art” questioned about the definition of contemporary art. She used the analogy of chess board game to describe art today. In her opinion, contemporary art is positioned on the boundary river on chess board. Nobody has ever drawn the boundary clearly enough because of its flexibility and always-changing-movement.[2]
It is equally hard to define what contemporary illustration is, and to draw the distinctive difference between illustration, popular art and fine art at this post-modern new age. The reason for this blurriness is because the whole complexion in the design field has change in just the past eight to ten years. Back in the earlier days, designers used to sketch out what they wanted. Then the sketches would be handed to a typesetter, who would do the type size and style; and to an illustrator for illustration work. Then the designer would collect all the components and combine them together for layout for printing. However, computers have changed all of this. Designers nowadays usually combine design, illustration and typesetting into one continuous process which they dot hem all by themselves. With the help of the elaborately changing computer programs and technology, visual communications become handy in the internet world, artist are becoming more and more active, thus illustration becomes trendier, more mature and delicate. As a result of all these, artists become illustrators; illustrators become designers; and maybe the other way around.[3]
When I began formulating my ideas for this article, I was looking for ways to link the identity crisis of contemporary illustrator of Malaysia with the current movement of illustration style in Europe and in the USA. However I thought that it might be pointless to discuss this at the first place if I failed to define the need of identity and style of an illustrator. In Malaysia’s context, illustrators are often been briefed by art director of the style they are looking for. Being given limited freedom and a pre-set style, most illustrators fail to express their own drawing style and with that develop their own visual language. And when this phenomenon has become a common practice in the creative industry, more illustrators has simply become a craftsman.
My goal for this article is to stimulate discussions and not arrive at any conclusion. Is illustration fine art? If there is not much difference between the two, can illustrator create whatever they want to disclose their personal thoughts? Illustrator Benjamin Guedel[4] claimed that ‘only to draw a “nice” picture, for a client that has his own idea is very boring. Under these circumstances it’s only about skills that are brought to the customer. This may turn out good for both sides but such a picture will never become an amazing thing, to draw real good stuff we must have the possibility to give our own view.’[5]
Many art critics and connoisseurs of art claims that the works of illustrators as “minor” arts. This argument is sometime ridiculous. Marshall Arisman[6] said that renting a studio, buying canvas and paint, and painting anything you want does not automatically produce “fine” art. The intent of the artist determines the substance of the work.[7] Like what Otto F. Ege[8] said, no one will challenge Calcar’s draftsmanship by created Versalius Fabrica. The illustrations make a contribution to the total and exact meaning which words alone cannot convey.[9] Why can’t we claim this “illustration” a good example of fine art?
Otto F. Ege said that an artist-painter is more class conscious than an artist-illustrator. What painters concern are the matter of presentation and the audience, while illustrators are concern with mass but not class, reaction. In any illustration the “what” is obviously more important than the “how.” The ability to interpret the text and thereby enrich or increase the perceptibility of the reader is more important than technical skill or the exploitation of current “isms”.[10]
David Smith[11], the sculptor, defined commercial art as “art that meets the minds and needs of other people,’ and fine art as “art that meets the mind and needs of the artist.” Following these definitions, Marshall Arisman comment that many fine artists are “commercial” and some illustrators are “fine”. Andy Warhol said that “the finest art of all is the business of art.[12]
The problem that arises today is that we are in an industry flooded with computer-generated images, photography, the Internet, stock illustration and a lot of ready-made images, and many claims themselves to be artists. In the ocean of design field, sensitivity, intuition and craftsmanship are essential to illustrators and painters alike. I agree with what Steven Heller said the word “illustration” is too limited to be accurate and carries a negative connotation that does not allow it to be viewed as drawing, figurative, or as representational, but rather as commercial, lively entertainment. The phrase “fine art” also needs to be replaced with something that more clearly defines the field and the areas it represent.[13]
[2]Kao, C. H. (2003). A Journey To Contemporary Art. China: BBT Books.pg. 3
[3]AmatterofdesignTM. (2006). It’s A Matter Of Illustration. Victionary.
[4]Benjamin Guedel, a freelance illustrator and comic artist based in Zurich, Switzerland. His bump and grind style is reminiscent of pulp fiction covers and cult film posters of the 1950s with a distinct contemporary, politically incorrect edge. Guedel striking drawings are collected in Blood, Sweat and Tears, a rollicking romp through pop art portraits, pin-ups, pirates and more.
[5]AmatterofdesignTM. (2006). It’s A Matter Of Illustration. Victionary.
[6]Marshall Arisman is an internationally known illustrator and painter. He is the chair of the MFA degree program, “Illustration as Visual Essay” at School of Visual Arts.
[7]Steven Heller and Marshall Arisman. (2004). Inside The Business of Illustration. New York: Allworth Press.pg. 51
[8]Otto F. Ege (1888-1951) was Dean of the Cleveland Institute of Art and Lecturer on the History of the Book at the School of Library Science at Western Reserve University, Cleveland, Ohio.
[9]Ege, O. F. (Autumn, 1949). Illustration as a Fine Art. College Art Journal , 3-11.
[10]Ibid.
[11]David Smith was an American Abstract Expressionist sculptor best known for creating large steel abstract geometric sculptures.
[12]Steven Heller and Marshall Arisman. (2000). The Education of an Illustrator. New York: Allworth Press.pg. 3
[13]Steven Heller and Marshall Arisman. (2004). Inside The Business of Illustration. New York: Allworth Press.pg. 49
Check out István Orosz, Hungary graphic artist who has done fantastic illusion works.
http://web.axelero.hu/utisz/page.htm
http://www.gallery-diabolus.com/gallery/artist.php?language=english&id=utisz&page=133/
Abstract
Water is undeniable an essential element of life. There is a Chinese phrase which says that “water carries the boat and floods the boat.” Water’s intervention in our life is widespread.
Before mirror was invented, reflection of water serve as a “tool” to reflected oneself, both externally and internally. The word “reflection” has different meaning. It can be the illusion of an image produced by mirror or water, and it also means self-examination.
The notion of this pictorial book is through a series of drawing related to water, reflection and our daily-life, to remind the readers/audiences to reflect the relationship between water and our daily-life.
Introduction of work
My creation is to separate the book into two parts, top and bottom. The top part shows the subject (the real image) and the bottom part shows the reflection. The visual shows a combination of the real subject and the reflection, which form a “dualistic” yet “united” world. Both divided but yet connected one another.
When the surface of water is polluted, the beautiful reflection vanishes. The world been torn apart.
Inspiration
I study the work of both Canadian painter of “magic realism” Rob Gonsalves and Dutch graphic artist M.C. Escher. They have created great optical illusion painting. Japanese photographer Palla’s works also gave me a lot of inspiration.
In one of M.C. Escher’s lecturer, he said:
Execution
One of my concerns is the composition and structure of my image. I am interested to know how image illusion affects our visual perception. I am also interested in creating image symmetrically. Placing symmetrical objects among asymmetrical objects or vise versa create a harmonious composition. When you look at the artwork, you will experience that there are essentially 3 images (1 real image, 1 reflection, 1 overall composition).
In order to get the “right” reflection, I have tried reflecting the image by mirror and flipping it directly in Photoshop to see how the image changes. I also established a grip system on paper and tried to get the reflection by drawing it reverse way.
While I was doing my research on water reflection, I found 2 fantastic artist who have venture into this interesting way of seeing. Both Canadian painter of “magic realism” Rob Gonsalves and Dutch graphic artist M.C. Escher has created great optical illusion painting.
Below are print work by M.C. Escher. He explored on reflections in water which leads the audience to view the realistic world through a reflected surface.
M.C. Escher has also done a lot of experiments and artworks on symmetrical format.
Above are photograph done by Palla, Japanese photographer. http://www.pallalink.net/
I am interested in creating image symmetrically. Placing symmetrical objects among asymmetrical objects create a harmonious composition.
Project: Water
Project Title: Book of reflection
Abstract: The word “reflection” has different meaning. It can be the illusion of an image produced by mirror or water, and it also mean self-examination.
Notion: The notion of this small pictorial book is through a series of drawing related to water, reflection and our daily-life, remind the readers/audiences to reflect the relationship between water and our daily-life.
My creation is to seperate the book into two parts, top and bottom. The top part shows the subject and the bottom part shows the reflection. The visual shows a combination of the real subject and the reflection, which form a “dualistic” yet “united” world.
But when the surface of water is covered with rubbish, the beautiful reflection vanish. The world being torned apart.
Ten Things I Have Learned
Part of AIGA Talk in London
November 22, 2001
1 YOU CAN ONLY WORK FOR PEOPLE THAT YOU LIKE.
This is a curious rule and it took me a long time to learn because in fact at the beginning of my practice I felt the opposite. Professionalism required that you didn’t particularly like the people that you worked for or at least maintained an arms length relationship to them, which meant that I never had lunch with a client or saw them socially. Then some years ago I realised that the opposite was true. I discovered that all the work I had done that was meaningful and significant came out of an affectionate relationship with a client. And I am not talking about professionalism; I am talking about affection. I am talking about a client and you sharing some common ground. That in fact your view of life is someway congruent with the client, otherwise it is a bitter and hopeless struggle.
2 IF YOU HAVE A CHOICE NEVER HAVE A JOB.
One night I was sitting in my car outside Columbia University where my wife Shirley was studying Anthropology. While I was waiting I was listening to the radio and heard an interviewer ask ‘Now that you have reached 75 have you any advice for our audience about how to prepare for your old age?’ An irritated voice said ‘Why is everyone asking me about old age these days?’ I recognised the voice as John Cage. I am sure that many of you know who he was – the composer and philosopher who influenced people like Jasper Johns and Merce Cunningham as well as the music world in general. I knew him slightly and admired his contribution to our times. ‘You know, I do know how to prepare for old age’ he said. ‘Never have a job, because if you have a job someday someone will take it away from you and then you will be unprepared for your old age. For me, it has always been the same every since the age of 12. I wake up in the morning and I try to figure out how am I going to put bread on the table today? It is the same at 75, I wake up every morning and I think how am I going to put bread on the table today? I am exceedingly well prepared for my old age’ he said.
3 SOME PEOPLE ARE TOXIC AVOID THEM.
This is a subtext of number one. There was in the sixties a man named Fritz Perls who was a gestalt therapist. Gestalt therapy derives from art history, it proposes you must understand the ‘whole’ before you can understand the details. What you have to look at is the entire culture, the entire family and community and so on. Perls proposed that in all relationships people could be either toxic or nourishing towards one another. It is not necessarily true that the same person will be toxic or nourishing in every relationship, but the combination of any two people in a relationship produces toxic or nourishing consequences. And the important thing that I can tell you is that there is a test to determine whether someone is toxic or nourishing in your relationship with them. Here is the test: You have spent some time with this person, either you have a drink or go for dinner or you go to a ball game. It doesn’t matter very much but at the end of that time you observe whether you are more energised or less energised. Whether you are tired or whether you are exhilarated. If you are more tired then you have been poisoned. If you have more energy you have been nourished. The test is almost infallible and I suggest that you use it for the rest of your life.
4 PROFESSIONALISM IS NOT ENOUGH or THE GOOD IS THE ENEMY OF THE GREAT.
Early in my career I wanted to be professional, that was my complete aspiration in my early life because professionals seemed to know everything – not to mention they got paid for it. Later I discovered after working for a while that professionalism itself was a limitation. After all, what professionalism means in most cases is diminishing risks. So if you want to get your car fixed you go to a mechanic who knows how to deal with transmission problems in the same way each time. I suppose if you needed brain surgery you wouldn’t want the doctor to fool around and invent a new way of connecting your nerve endings. Please do it in the way that has worked in the past.
Unfortunately in our field, in the so-called creative – I hate that word because it is misused so often. I also hate the fact that it is used as a noun. Can you imagine calling someone a creative? Anyhow, when you are doing something in a recurring way to diminish risk or doing it in the same way as you have done it before, it is clear why professionalism is not enough. After all, what is required in our field, more than anything else, is the continuous transgression. Professionalism does not allow for that because transgression has to encompass the possibility of failure and if you are professional your instinct is not to fail, it is to repeat success. So professionalism as a lifetime aspiration is a limited goal.
5 LESS IS NOT NECESSARILY MORE.
Being a child of modernism I have heard this mantra all my life. Less is more. One morning upon awakening I realised that it was total nonsense, it is an absurd proposition and also fairly meaningless. But it sounds great because it contains within it a paradox that is resistant to understanding. But it simply does not obtain when you think about the visual of the history of the world. If you look at a Persian rug, you cannot say that less is more because you realise that every part of that rug, every change of colour, every shift in form is absolutely essential for its aesthetic success. You cannot prove to me that a solid blue rug is in any way superior. That also goes for the work of Gaudi, Persian miniatures, art nouveau and everything else. However, I have an alternative to the proposition that I believe is more appropriate. ‘Just enough is more.’
6 STYLE IS NOT TO BE TRUSTED.
I think this idea first occurred to me when I was looking at a marvellous etching of a bull by Picasso. It was an illustration for a story by Balzac called The Hidden Masterpiece. I am sure that you all know it. It is a bull that is expressed in 12 different styles going from very naturalistic version of a bull to an absolutely reductive single line abstraction and everything else along the way. What is clear just from looking at this single print is that style is irrelevant. In every one of these cases, from extreme abstraction to acute naturalism they are extraordinary regardless of the style. It’s absurd to be loyal to a style. It does not deserve your loyalty. I must say that for old design professionals it is a problem because the field is driven by economic consideration more than anything else. Style change is usually linked to economic factors, as all of you know who have read Marx. Also fatigue occurs when people see too much of the same thing too often. So every ten years or so there is a stylistic shift and things are made to look different. Typefaces go in and out of style and the visual system shifts a little bit. If you are around for a long time as a designer, you have an essential problem of what to do. I mean, after all, you have developed a vocabulary, a form that is your own. It is one of the ways that you distinguish yourself from your peers, and establish your identity in the field. How you maintain your own belief system and preferences becomes a real balancing act. The question of whether you pursue change or whether you maintain your own distinct form becomes difficult. We have all seen the work of illustrious practitioners that suddenly look old-fashioned or, more precisely, belonging to another moment in time. And there are sad stories such as the one about Cassandre, arguably the greatest graphic designer of the twentieth century, who couldn’t make a living at the end of his life and committed suicide.
But the point is that anybody who is in this for the long haul has to decide how to respond to change in the zeitgeist. What is it that people now expect that they formerly didn’t want? And how to respond to that desire in a way that doesn’t change your sense of integrity and purpose.
7 HOW YOU LIVE CHANGES YOUR BRAIN.
The brain is the most responsive organ of the body. Actually it is the organ that is most susceptible to change and regeneration of all the organs in the body. I have a friend named Gerald Edelman who was a great scholar of brain studies and he says that the analogy of the brain to a computer is pathetic. The brain is actually more like an overgrown garden that is constantly growing and throwing off seeds, regenerating and so on. And he believes that the brain is susceptible, in a way that we are not fully conscious of, to almost every experience of our life and every encounter we have. I was fascinated by a story in a newspaper a few years ago about the search for perfect pitch. A group of scientists decided that they were going to find out why certain people have perfect pitch. You know certain people hear a note precisely and are able to replicate it at exactly the right pitch. Some people have relevant pitch; perfect pitch is rare even among musicians. The scientists discovered – I don’t know how – that among people with perfect pitch the brain was different. Certain lobes of the brain had undergone some change or deformation that was always present with those who had perfect pitch. This was interesting enough in itself. But then they discovered something even more fascinating. If you took a bunch of kids and taught them to play the violin at the age of 4 or 5 after a couple of years some of them developed perfect pitch, and in all of those cases their brain structure had changed. Well what could that mean for the rest of us? We tend to believe that the mind affects the body and the body affects the mind, although we do not generally believe that everything we do affects the brain. I am convinced that if someone was to yell at me from across the street my brain could be affected and my life might changed. That is why your mother always said, ‘Don’t hang out with those bad kids.’ Mama was right. Thought changes our life and our behaviour. I also believe that drawing works in the same way. I am a great advocate of drawing, not in order to become an illustrator, but because I believe drawing changes the brain in the same way as the search to create the right note changes the brain of a violinist. Drawing also makes you attentive. It makes you pay attention to what you are looking at, which is not so easy.
8 DOUBT IS BETTER THAN CERTAINTY.
Everyone always talks about confidence in believing what you do. I remember once going to a class in yoga where the teacher said that, spirituality speaking, if you believed that you had achieved enlightenment you have merely arrived at your limitation. I think that is also true in a practical sense. Deeply held beliefs of any kind prevent you from being open to experience, which is why I find all firmly held ideological positions questionable. It makes me nervous when someone believes too deeply or too much. I think that being sceptical and questioning all deeply held beliefs is essential. Of course we must know the difference between scepticism and cynicism because cynicism is as much a restriction of one’s openness to the world as passionate belief is. They are sort of twins. And then in a very real way, solving any problem is more important than being right. There is a significant sense of self-righteousness in both the art and design world. Perhaps it begins at school. Art school often begins with the Ayn Rand model of the single personality resisting the ideas of the surrounding culture. The theory of the avant garde is that as an individual you can transform the world, which is true up to a point. One of the signs of a damaged ego is absolute certainty.
Schools encourage the idea of not compromising and defending your work at all costs. Well, the issue at work is usually all about the nature of compromise. You just have to know what to compromise. Blind pursuit of your own ends which excludes the possibility that others may be right does not allow for the fact that in design we are always dealing with a triad – the client, the audience and you.
Ideally, making everyone win through acts of accommodation is desirable. But self-righteousness is often the enemy. Self-righteousness and narcissism generally come out of some sort of childhood trauma, which we do not have to go into. It is a consistently difficult thing in human affairs. Some years ago I read a most remarkable thing about love, that also applies to the nature of co-existing with others. It was a quotation from Iris Murdoch in her obituary. It read ‘ Love is the extremely difficult realisation that something other than oneself is real.’ Isn’t that fantastic! The best insight on the subject of love that one can imagine.
9 ON AGING.
Last year someone gave me a charming book by Roger Rosenblatt called ‘Ageing Gracefully’ I got it on my birthday. I did not appreciate the title at the time but it contains a series of rules for ageing gracefully. The first rule is the best. Rule number one is that ‘it doesn’t matter.’ ‘It doesn’t matter that what you think. Follow this rule and it will add decades to your life. It does not matter if you are late or early, if you are here or there, if you said it or didn’t say it, if you are clever or if you were stupid. If you were having a bad hair day or a no hair day or if your boss looks at you cockeyed or your boyfriend or girlfriend looks at you cockeyed, if you are cockeyed. If you don’t get that promotion or prize or house or if you do – it doesn’t matter.’ Wisdom at last. Then I heard a marvellous joke that seemed related to rule number 10. A butcher was opening his market one morning and as he did a rabbit popped his head through the door. The butcher was surprised when the rabbit inquired ‘Got any cabbage?’ The butcher said ‘This is a meat market – we sell meat, not vegetables.’ The rabbit hopped off. The next day the butcher is opening the shop and sure enough the rabbit pops his head round and says ‘You got any cabbage?’ The butcher now irritated says ‘Listen you little rodent I told you yesterday we sell meat, we do not sell vegetables and the next time you come here I am going to grab you by the throat and nail those floppy ears to the floor.’ The rabbit disappeared hastily and nothing happened for a week. Then one morning the rabbit popped his head around the corner and said ‘Got any nails?’ The butcher said ‘No.’ The rabbit said ‘Ok. Got any cabbage?’
10 TELL THE TRUTH.
The rabbit joke is relevant because it occurred to me that looking for a cabbage in a butcher’s shop might be like looking for ethics in the design field. It may not be the most obvious place to find either. It’s interesting to observe that in the new AIGA’s code of ethics there is a significant amount of useful information about appropriate behaviour towards clients and other designers, but not a word about a designer’s relationship to the public. We expect a butcher to sell us eatable meat and that he doesn’t misrepresent his wares. I remember reading that during the Stalin years in Russia that everything labelled veal was actually chicken. I can’t imagine what everything labelled chicken was. We can accept certain kinds of misrepresentation, such as fudging about the amount of fat in his hamburger but once a butcher knowingly sells us spoiled meat we go elsewhere. As a designer, do we have less responsibility to our public than a butcher? Everyone interested in licensing our field might note that the reason licensing has been invented is to protect the public not designers or clients. ‘Do no harm’ is an admonition to doctors concerning their relationship to their patients, not to their fellow practitioners or the drug companies. If we were licensed, telling the truth might become more central to what we do.
Express Yourself:
its later than you think
If you’re confused about Postmodernism, that may mean you understand it
http://www.bradholland.net/beta/articles/index.html
by Brad Holland
More than a quarter century ago the painter Ad Reinhardt declared that his new black-on-black canvases were the “last pictures which anyone can make.” The critics raved, and many agreed with the “Black Monk” that his masterpieces would be history’s “ultimate” paintings. Unfortunately, other artists refused to hand in their brushes, so art continued. Ever since, modern art has resembled a doomsday cult on the day after the deadline for the end of the world. The true believers awoke one day to find that the sun had risen, the mad prophet had disappeared, and they all had to find something to do with the rest of their lives.
This predicament is now called Postmodernism, and if you’re confused about it, that’s probably because you’re beginning to understand it. If you’re an artist, what follows will be old hat. But as a service to the layman I can define a few of the basic terms.
Modern Art: In the future “modern art” will mean “the kind of art they did in the twentieth century.” Like “Baroque”or “Romanesque,” “modern” will be a term used to date something.
Cubism:
A movement started by Picasso and Braque to distinguish their work from what Cézanne had already done. Critics named it Cubism. In modern art, naming your art movement is a must. Cubism is still the most important modern-art movement, for the same reason that John D. is still the most important Rockefeller. All the other movements are like downtown Rockefellers, and you can forget about them unless you expect to encounter an art category on Jeopardy.
Futurism:
This was a movement of intellectuals who wanted to replace tradition with the modern world of machinery, speed, violence, and public relations. It proves that we should be careful what intellectuals wish for, because we might get it.
Dada:
Dada artists were ironists. Duchamp was their star, and his masterpiece was a urinal. He ended his life playing chess. He claimed he was making an art statement. My grandfather was a prankster too, and he ended his life playing chess. But since he did it to keep from being bored, no one thought it proved anything. This suggests that Dada artists are exempt from the general rule that ironists are the biggest victims of their own irony.
Surrealism:
An archaic term. Formerly an art movement, no longer distinguishable from everyday life.
Abstract Expressionism:
After the Second World War the United States emerged as the world’s superpower. American companies like Cities Service and Esso, which had once been regional businesses, became international corporations. They adopted abstract names like Citgo and Exxon to give themselves world-class status. Since multinational giants couldn’t have little pictures of red barns or weeping clowns in the lobbies of their Bauhaus buildings, Abstract Expressionism emerged as the world’s most prized form of interior decoration.
Pop Art:
In aristocratic societies rich people used to commission exquisite paintings for their walls. Years later cheap imitations would filter down to calendars in gas stations. In our democratic society this works backward. Here art begins as the kind of picture you’d find on a matchbook cover. Then in a few years expensive imitations of it wind up on the walls of plastic surgeons and Hollywood agents.
New Wave Art:
Modern art as it would have been done by the Big Bopper, the Del-Vikings, or Sam the Sham and the Pharaohs. New Wave art was the rage of the eighties. Now it’s exhibited in oldies-but-goodies museums, usually in black-and-pink frames.
Graffiti Art:
Many people decorate their homes with designer graffiti, even though most of them would probably have real graffiti scoured off the walls of their buildings. Personally, I think that graffiti artists should go to the homes of their patrons with spray cans and make their living rooms look like subway cars. This would separate serious lovers of graffiti from uptowners spelunking for art thrills.
Realism:
Currently, realistic paintings are valued for their craftsmanship. In the next century, when art will be packaged as virtual-reality software, realistic paintings will sell the way Shaker furniture does now. Shaker furniture will sell the way Van Gogh paintings do. Pop-It Beads owned by Jackie Onassis will come to market only occasionally.
Commercial Art:
Anything done by an artist with a cash register by the door. Commercial art is traditionally delivered to a client in a brown-paper bag with an invoice stapled to the outside.
Fine Art:
With commercial art you find out how much they’re going to pay you, and you do the work. With fine art it’s the other way around.
“That’s Not Art, That’s Illustration”:
Almost everybody is an artist these days. Rock-and-roll singers are artists. So are movie directors, performance artists, makeup artists, tattoo artists, con artists, and rap artists. Movie stars are artists. Madonna is an artist because she explores her own sexuality. Snoop Doggy Dogg is an artist because he explores other people’s sexuality. Victims who express their pain are artists. So are guys in prison who express themselves on shirt cardboard. Even consumers are artists when they express themselves in their selection of commodities. The only people left in America who seem not to be artists are illustrators.
Love Me, Love My Art:
Norman Rockwell used to say if a picture is going badly, put a dog in it. If it is going really badly, put a bandage on the dog’s paw. This is the basic principle behind victim art.
Tattoo Art:
I’ve never liked tattoos, although I think they improve some people–especially the kind of people who hang around tattoo parlors.
Kitsch:
In my lifetime kitsch has progressed from the cynical sentimentality of Maxfield Parrish calendars to the sentimental cynicism of Batman movies.
Style:
Style is the most valuable asset of the modern artist. That’s probably why so many styles are reported lost or stolen each year.
Tradition:
There are still some traditionalists, mostly employed by art schools, who continue to paint like members of the Ash Can School, with earnest First World War realism. For years it has pleased the avant-garde to keep these Amish around to portray the art establishment. But for generations the real art establishment has been made up of earth sculptors, body piercers, and topless cello players. It’s been a long time since a painter of the Ash Can School has even had a prayer.
The Avant-garde:
More than a hundred years ago some French bohemians decreed that the purpose of art was to shock the middle classes. It may have been a great idea back then. But these days the middle classes aren’t paying attention. They’re all on Jerry Springer or Ricki Lake, talking about their cross-dressing experiences or sex with the baby-sitter. Cutting-edge artists have to watch this stuff in despair and complain about the state of American culture even as they demand more grant money to do their cutting-edge art. In the future this spectacle of the middle classes shocking the avant-garde will probably become the textbook definition of Postmodernism.
“Sometimes You Gotta Break the Rules”:
One of the things not enough people appreciate about modern art is that its philosophy can be summed up as a Burger King commercial.
Craftsmanship:
Traditional craftsmen worked within certain conventions. Occasionally those conventions would be redefined by acts of genius. In modern art, though, everybody has to redefine art all the time. This might have made our era another Renaissance, if only there had been a sudden explosion of geniuses in the world. But since ego is more common than genius, Postmodern art is destined to be more narcissistic than heroic.
Art Theory:
The typical modern artist produces a small body of work wrapped in a theory. Some even dispense with the work itself and exhibit only their theories, typed up. To me this seems a sensible economy of style. If the purpose of art is to redefine art, then words should do the trick. There’s no use cluttering up the world with redundant examples.
Self-expression:
The crowbar used by artists to pry open the Pandora’s box of self-indulgence for everybody else in society. Thirty years ago it was the dream of every bohemian artist to be seen getting out of a limousine wearing blue jeans and sneakers. Today it’s the dream of probably half the people in the country.
The Miracle of Authenticity:
The faith that if we’re all authentic and express ourselves, society will benefit. A charming ideal, but it overlooks the obvious. There are a lot of authentic jerks and idiots in the world. Encouraging them to express themselves will never do anybody much good, much less society.
Instinct:
Back in the prehistoric jungle all the animals who trusted other animals got eaten. The only ones who survived to reproduce were the ones who instinctively feared everybody and bit their heads off. This explains why so many people who, like artists, trust their instincts behave like crocodiles.
Consciousness-Raising Art:
An all-purpose excuse for the artist to cast himself as a pearl before the swine of democracy. Whenever I know that an artist is trying to raise my consciousness, I have flashbacks of Jane Fonda, Sissy Spacek, and Jessica Lange lecturing Congress about the realities of farm life.
Forever Jung:
Postmodernists believe that truth is myth and myth truth. This equation has its roots in pop psychology. The same people also believe that emotions are a form of reality. There used to be another name for this state of mind. It was calledpsychosis.
Multiculturalism:
I’ve never understood why artists, who so often condescend to the clichés of their own culture, are so eager to embrace the clichés of cultures they know nothing about.
Waiting for Van Gogh:
In the world in which most of us have grown up, popular art has inherited and exploded all the forms of art that came before it. Everything from the primitive art of tribal societies to the fine art of aristocratic ones has been thrown into the cement mixer of modern culture, along with its juxtapositions of celebrity and anonymity, poverty and sudden wealth, and the continuous swooning of the popular media over trends and fads. The truth about Postmodernism is that we haven’t really figured out yet how artists will thrive in modern mass societies. We’re all experiments.
Brad Holland: We’ll never make it (let’s keep going)
Written by Administrator
Thursday, 01 April 2004
b.1943
From a self taught start, through little bits of tattooing and some time at Hallmark cards in the 1960s, Brad has become one of America’s leading illustrators and is still at the top of the tree through the constant evolving and developing of his work. He first came to mainstream public notice through the creation of a whole genre of scratchy pen and ink editorial illustration in the 1970s, creating powerful images for the New York Times’ OpEd page in particular, before turning to paint and colour, at first still in a figurative manner but later in a more formalised way, with just as much success. By refusing to stand still he has maintained one of the highest profiles in the world of illustration.
A lot of people say art is dead. But a lot of people say Elvis is alive. There are a lot of people in this world who aren’t worth listening to. The world is always going through a time of change and change tends to frighten people who are easily frightened. It’s hard to have hope for the future when you don’t know what the future will be. But the truth is, if you’re an artist you don’t need hope. Making art is an act of faith. Let me tell you a story.
One day ten years ago, my wife and I were driving from Wappingers Falls, New York to Poughkeepsie. We were taking a package to Federal Express. Fed Ex was supposed to close at five-thirty. But bad traffic and bad weather delayed us, and by five-thirty we were still twenty minutes away.
“We’ll never make it,” I kept grumbling.
“Should we go back?” my wife asked.
“No,” I kept saying, “let’s keep going.”
So we plugged on.
It was six o’clock when we finally got to the Federal Express office but the doors were still open. I raced in and (to my surprise) they took the package. It seems there had been a major screw-up of some sort that day and they couldn’t get the doors shut in time. So everything worked out fine. Now, whenever I hear grim predictions about the future of art, the voice of reason in my head says, “We’ll never make it.” But in the back of my head, there’s another voice that says, “Let’s keep going.” If life has taught me anything it’s this: The future is never what people say it will be and life is less efficient than Federal Express. My guess is that before the future everybody fears can arrive, there’ll be a major screw-up of some sort and everything will work out just fine.
Last Updated ( Sunday, 23 October 2005 )
Primary Research
Secondary Research
Identity and visual language of contemporary Malaysia illustrator
[identity] who are we?
[visual language] shared memory of Malaysian. theme, colour, events, pictures, memory,
[contemporary] 1986 – 2008 digital age, history.
[Malaysia] nationality, geographical identity
[illustrator] illustrator or fine art artist? types of illustrator, nature of the profession.
After rounds of battle within, I have finalise my research direction. I finally came to the conclusion that in order to continue my journey as an artist, the foremost important agenda is to know my identity.
Historically, Malaysia is a new country and “Malaysia” was a new invented word. A common question being asked among Malaysian is that how “Malaysia” we are? Or what is “Malaysia-ness”? Art has been regarded as being able to become a channel of reality representation, and even an instrument of identity construction. Of course, when speaking about representation, we cannot deny the rise of another question, which or whose Malaysia that the artist represent?
The rapid growth of globalisation has shape the look of Malaysian artist. What can we use to represent Malaysia? Is there anything we can regard as “Malaysia Style”? In the field of commercial illustration, is there a need to create a style?
I am excited to dig it out!
