Modern Japanese literature and aesthetic works, published in 1925, by Hiroshi Kuroda.
Introduction to Art first discusses the essence of art, and holds that there are three aspects of human spiritual activities: rationality, will and emotion. Science and philosophy are the discoveries of reason, morality is the discovery of will and art is the discovery of emotion. This feeling must be beautiful, that is, the feeling caused by beautiful materials, forms and contents. Material feeling is a feeling born of sensory materials such as shape, color and sound; The sense of form is the feeling born from the contrast, proportion and gradient layer of materials; Content emotion is the emotion caused by all the states and activities of nature and life. There are many conditions for the artistic expression of beauty. First, there should be objectivity, that is, personal beauty should arouse others' sense of * * *; Second, it must be artificial creation rather than reality; Third, there must be no worries, that is, to get rid of interests and abandon utilitarian heart; In addition, it should also have artistic personality, showing the spirit of the times and national character.
"Introduction to Art" then analyzes the material, form and content of art in detail. Materials mainly analyze sensory materials, that is, the feelings and objects of materials used as aesthetics in artistic creation and appreciation. Feeling, as the substance of beauty, is mainly vision and hearing, and its objects are shape, color and sound. Other senses only play an auxiliary role in aesthetics. Material is only the means of expression in art, and content is the main body of expression. The content of art is also called theme, including natural beauty, life beauty and supernatural beauty. Art forms have formal rules and principles. There are several formal rules, such as repetition, gradual progress, symmetry, balance, harmony, contrast, proportion, rhythm, unity and simplicity. Among these laws, there is a formal principle, that is, "diversity and unity." Every rule is just a concrete application of this principle.
Introduction to Art puts forward the theory of "desire for beauty" about the origin of art, and the desire for beauty is the desire for beauty, which needs the satisfaction of vision and hearing. Therefore, the objects of the desire for beauty are art, imitation, expression and games. As an artistic impulse, decoration comes from the desire for beauty, so only the desire for beauty can explain the origin of art.
An Introduction to Art analyzes the process of artistic creation in detail. The feeling of beauty begins in the artist's heart, becomes an artistic impulse because of the desire for beauty, and becomes an objective work of art after discovery. In this process, artists have both present experience and past experience, among which the past experience is very important, because the quality of artists as human beings is formed through past life experience. But the present and the past are not completely separated, but often mixed together, and the motivation of artistic creation is mostly because of the * * * nature of the present experience. In this process, artists have to process these materials to make them conform to some ideal. Inspiration plays an important role in this creative process. Artists produce beautiful feelings from materials, and the focus of this feeling is inspiration. There are two States of inspiration, one is quiet and dreamy, and the other is passionate. When feelings rise, inspiration gushes out, materials are imagined, and "inner art" is formed in the artist's mind. After processing and deliberation, "internal works of art" were concretized into external works of art, thus completing the creative process.
Introduction to Art also talks about art appreciation activities, arguing that art appreciation is different from artistic creation from the inside out, but from the outside in, from feeling to feeling. Then, people's feelings are moved into works of art and become works of art's feelings. The combination of the two can achieve the highest level of appreciation.
At last, Introduction to Art discusses the effect of art, and holds that art has "knowledge effect, moral effect and emotional effect", which combine to produce affinity, make people happy and upward, and finally realize their ideals.
Introduction to Art is a book that studies aesthetics with art as the object. It integrates and absorbs many viewpoints of western aesthetics and literature and art, and establishes an artistic aesthetic system. This book and its author had little influence in Japan, but in the late 1920s, Mr. Feng Zikai compiled this book, which was used as an art theory textbook of the Western Painting Department of Lida Academy, and had a certain influence on the art theory and artistic creation in China.