Lu Xun (1881-1936) was a well-known writer, thinker, and educator during China's enlightenment and development period. Moreover, Lu Xun is not only made achievements in the field of literature but also left a distinctive footprint in the field of desi...
Lu Xun (1881-1936) was a well-known writer, thinker, and educator during China's enlightenment and development period. Moreover, Lu Xun is not only made achievements in the field of literature but also left a distinctive footprint in the field of design, which significantly impacted the history of Chinese art. When Lu Xun was studying in Japan, he realized that the problem of Chinese people was not physical fitness but the lack of independent personality. Therefore, he started his literary enlightenment after returning to China. After experiencing the Revolution of 1911, the New Culture Movement, and the May 4th Movement, which were revolutionary events in the old and new cultures alternated sharply, Lu Xun gradually found his ideological values. These thoughts and values formed the future enlightenment thought, the thought of equality, the thought of individual self-reliance, and the thought of integrating Eastern and Western cultures. He tried to help the Chinese people to build themselves and establish correct values.
While absorbing advanced Western ideas, Lu Xun also noticed the critical revolutionary consciousness of enlightenment and resistance brought by the creation of prints in the West. Thus, he introduced western prints into China and launched a modern woodcut movement. He founded China's first woodcut workshop in Shanghai in 1931, a symbolic starting point for China's modern woodcut movement. Through the continuation of traditional Chinese woodcut and the absorption of the advantages of Western woodcut, He formed a modern woodcut movement with Chinese characteristics. Under the promotion of Lu Xun, the emerging woodcut quickly formed an artistic revolutionary front in China. In developing the modern woodcut movement, Lu Xun used his ideas and ideas to beautify the aesthetic characteristics. He differentiated the modern woodcut from traditional Chinese woodcut and Western-created woodcut. Emphasizing the reality and integrity of woodcut leads to an art form that serves the public as its core group. As China's education was hindered by war and social factors, the number of illiterates in China increased sharply, and the enlightenment of literature was no longer the only way for China's reform. Coupled with the influence of Cai Yuanpei's aesthetic education thought, Lu Xun began to find the answer to China's development in art. Later, when he came into contact with Kaysik Lewitz and Soviet prints, Lu Xun discovered that new woodblock prints could shoulder the task of enlightening the Chinese public on a large scale, thereby promoting the democratization of art.
Moreover, his modeling concept advocates the sublimation of personality through art, enlightening the public to establish correct values. Modern woodcut, as the new media needed by China, also confirmed Lu Xun's design concept of emphasizing the utilitarian nature of art.
In the process of globalization, Chinese design had fallen behind. In the development of modern China, the modern woodcut movement led by Lu Xun successfully integrated Eastern and Western art to form an inherent Chinese art medium. Therefore, his design concept in the modern woodcut movement has a high research value. Today, the study of Lu Xun's literary field is still very active. However, the exploration of his design concept has yet to receive a due evaluation. This research evaluates the modern woodcut through the background of Lu Xun's growth, the ideological changes brought about by the eastern and western social environments during his activities, and his communication with modern woodcut artists in the modern woodcut movement.
In addition, based on Lu Xun's artistic evaluation and related references to Kathe Kollwitz and Soviet prints, combined with Lu Xun's thoughts and the characteristics of modern woodcut as a new mass media, this research summarizes two inherent design concepts. One is the popularization of art, and the other is the essence of Chinese design. Popularization of art includes art enlightenment, art democratization, and the common interests of art. The essence of Chinese design involves establishing Chinese identity, modernizing traditional Chinese elements, and improving the irrationality of social structures.
As an important symbol of Chinese society in the process of China's modernization, Lu Xun devoted his whole life to advancing Chinese public thought. The modern woodcut movement also reflects that he was a figure who emphasized the integration of Eastern and Western art and culture and led the diversification of literature and art. Although China's modern design lagged in internationalization, modernization vitalized the world's modern design concepts. Lu Xun's design concept is the thought that leads the world trend. Therefore, through the multi-faceted analysis of his design concept, we can understand the spiritual origin of the modern Chinese design concept.