OrientationstotheTimes_Society_MultiplicityandSpirit.doc

Orientations to the Times, Society, Multiplicity and Spirit ——About Zhu Xuanxian’s Traditional Chinese Painting Art and Miscellaneous By Zhu Cheng Art works are a kind of spiritual product. The thoughts, feelings, knowledge, resorts, exploration and appealing of an artist, and his works and achievements therefrom are usually closely related to certain times, social circumstance, cultural background, national background and geographical location where he lives. In The Philosophy of Art by Taine, a famous French historian, philosopher and literary theorist in the 19th century, he has made detailed analysis on this, and he even mentioned further on the factors including religion and climate etc. When we are studying the works of Zhu Xuanxian （朱宣咸）, we cannot neglect the certain times, social background, cultural environment and artistic language he once experienced. From the first half of the 20th century till the beginning of the 21st century, experiencing the different times from old to new for more than half a century, from Zhejiang to Shanghai and then to Chongqing (Chungking), Zhu Xuanxian has created plenty of art works full of the sense of society and times and incorporating feelings and momentum. Before the liberation in 1949, he made some stagger-like shocking works based on his experiences of dropping out of school, being without employment and being imprisoned, which revealed from various angles the dark society, the people’s misery and the fighting against the society at that time. After the establishment of the P.R.C and the opening-up, the political, economic and mental activities of the society have also left clear and vivid traces in his works, which are like grand symphony and stream-like lyrics and in which he praised the new China and new society as well as the pure and beautiful nature, with his wholehearted enthusiasm. From these vivid historical paintings, we can clearly understand the emotional experiences of Zhu Xuanxian in artistic wor