The Aesthetics of Qiyun and Genius

Xiaoyan Hu

doi:10.5771/9781793641571

Summary

In The Aesthetics of Qiyun and Genius: Spirit Consonance in Chinese Landscape Painting and Some Kantian Echoes, Xiaoyan Hu provides an interpretation of the notion of qiyun, or spirit consonance, in Chinese painting, and considers why creating a painting—especially a landscape painting—replete with qiyun is regarded as an art of genius, where genius is an innate mental talent. Through a comparison of the role of this innate mental disposition in the aesthetics of qiyun and Kant’s account of artistic genius, the book addresses an important feature of the Chinese aesthetic tradition, one that evades the aesthetic universality assumed by a Kantian lens.

Drawing on the views of influential sixth to fourteenth-century theorists and art historians and connoisseurs, the first part explains and discusses qiyun and its conceptual development from a notion mainly applied to figure painting to one that also plays an enduring role in the aesthetics of landscape painting. In the light of Kant’s account of genius, the second part examines a range of issues regarding the role of the mind in creating a painting replete with qiyun and the impossibility of teaching qiyun. Through this comparison with Kant, Hu demystifies the uniqueness of qiyun aesthetics and also illuminates some limitations in Kant’s aesthetics.

The publication of this work was supported by the Fundamental Research Funds for the Central Universities (project no: 3213042202A1).

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Bibliographic data

Copyright year: 2021
ISBN-Print: 978-1-7936-4156-4
ISBN-Online: 978-1-7936-4157-1
Publisher: Lexington, Lanham
Language: English
Pages: 300
Product type: Book Titles

1. Dedication No access
2. Contents No access
3. List of Illustrations No access
4. Preface No access
5. Acknowledgments No access
6. Chronology No access
1. Notes No access
1. 1. Introduction No access
  2. 1.1 Various Translations of qiyun shengdong No access
  3. 1.2 Qi No access
  4. 1.3 Yun No access
  5. 1.4 Shengdong No access
  6. 1.5 Qiyun in Xie He’s First Law and Zhang Yanyuan’s Echo No access
  7. Interim Conclusion No access
  8. Notes No access
2. 1. Introduction No access
  2. 2.1 Jing Hao’s Application of Qiyun in Landscape Painting No access
  3. 2.2. Guo Ruoxu’s Emphasis on Mental Disposition in Relation to Qiyun No access
  4. 2.3 Tang Hou’s Valuing of Qiyun in Art Connoisseurship No access
  5. 2.4 A Synthesis of the Notion of Qiyun No access
  6. Interim Conclusion No access
  7. Notes No access
1. 1. Introduction No access
  2. 3.1 The Idea-Giving of Genius in the Qiyun-Focused Context No access
  3. 3.2 Problems with Projecting Kant’s View of Genius into the Qiyun-Oriented Context No access
  4. Interim Conclusion No access
  5. Notes No access
2. 1. Introduction No access
  2. 4.1 The Rule of No Rule or the Rule of Nature No access
  3. 4.2 The Intention of No Intention: The Valuing of Unselfconsciousness No access
  4. 4.3 Unteachable Spontaneity and Somatic Training of Genius No access
  5. Interim Conclusion No access
  6. Notes No access
3. 1. Introduction No access
  2. 5.1 Yipin, Qiyun, and the Mental Disposition of Yi No access
  3. 5.2 The Craze of Yipin, and the Impossibility of Imitating Qiyun No access
  4. Interim Conclusion No access
  5. Notes No access
4. 1. Introduction No access
  2. 6.1 The Purification of the Mind through Meditation No access
  3. 6.2 A City-Recluse-Artist’s Satisfaction: Heart in Tune with Forest and Stream No access
  4. 6.3 A Balanced Human Nature Fulfilled through Art in a Qiyun-Focused Context and in Schiller No access
  5. Interim Conclusion No access
  6. Notes No access
5. 1. Introduction No access
  2. 7.1 Qiyun, Spiritual Kinship, and Sincere Will No access
  3. 7.2 The Reconciliation of Aesthetic Autonomy and Moral Relevance No access
  4. Interim Conclusion No access
  5. Notes No access
6. 1. Notes No access
1. Works in English or German or French No access
2. Works in Chinese No access
Index No access Pages 267 - 298
About the Author No access Pages 299 - 300