Common features of Henri Matisse's painting concept and Ancient Chinese pictorial thought

Lun xingyang PhD in Art History Postgraduate, Department of Semiotics and General Art Theory, Lomonosov Moscow State University 119991, Russia, Moscow, Leninskie Gory str., 1 longxingyang@mail.ru Other publications by this author

Matisse's career developed in parallel with the growth of modernist thinking in European painting, starting in the XIX century. In the exchange between East and West, the influence of Oriental painting was evident in French Impressionism in the second half of the 19th century and even more noticeable in the post-Impressionist period. Traditional Chinese painting has played an unprecedented role in the transformation of Western art and in changing the concepts of artists who began to emphasize the need to express subjective emotions, self-perception and personal feelings of the author, as well as the use of subjective feelings of the author to change objective objects. This concept is a clear departure from the long-standing Western tradition of imitating nature and reproducing the objective world and an approximation to the traditional concept of painting that has existed since Ancient China. Impressionist artists Van Gogh and Gauguin, as well as Pierre Bonnard from the Nabi art group, were influenced by the ideas and spirit of oriental painting, which they absorbed and keenly felt the ornamentation of planes and the simplicity of color in Japanese ukiyo-e engravings and Chinese Dunhuang frescoes. Their concepts of painting contributed to the transition from realism to realism in European painting, and all of them directly or indirectly influenced the transformation and development of Matisse's painting style.

The development of modern Western painting at the beginning of the 20th century followed the opposite path of traditional Western realistic art: from reproduction to image, from realism to imagery. Artists have moved from imitation and reproduction of natural objects to a more subjective expression. The development of photography also led to a crisis of traditional realistic painting in the West, which sought to achieve realistic effects on objective subjects, and modern artists who sought to rebel against traditional Western painting turned to brush, line, color, light and shadow as a means of expressing emotions and mood. Matisse was a representative of this practice and achieved great success, "creating a style that influenced the course of art in the 20th century with a vitality rare in the history of painting." ^[1,265c]The similarity between the concept of Matisse's painting and the traditional Chinese theory of painting is mainly manifested in the realistic concept of "accuracy is not truth", looking at the surrounding objects and oneself, "striving for liberation from the shackles of the real world"

(1) Views on the concepts of "accuracy is not truth" and "similarity and impropriety"In 1948, Matisse wrote a short essay for the catalog of the exhibition of his major retrospective of painting in Philadelphia entitled "Accuracy is not truth", in which he detailed his view of reality, stating that "in painting and drawing, even in portrait, the power of impression does not depend not on the exact reproduction of natural forms, but on from the deep feeling of the artist when confronted with the object he has chosen, from the attention and penetration into his spiritual essence that the artist has collected on it" ^[2,183c].

In his view, everything in the world has not only an external appearance, but also an internal spirit, and this spirit is an internal reality, the only reality that makes sense to him. Take, for example, four self-portraits created by him, in which, in his opinion, the same person is depicted and the same sequence of approach is observed. However, if you superimpose these four works on top of each other, you will find that the figures have the same upper part, while the lower part is noticeably different. Despite the external differences, they have a common mood inside. In different facial expressions, they have the same determined look and the same wary expression, which speaks of the same personality and character, and even the same strict approach to life. According to Matisse, "Anatomical inaccuracy does not prevent revealing the main core of the character and personality of the person depicted, on the contrary, it helps to reveal this core more sharply." ^[3,156c] The inner core here refers specifically to the reality of the inner spirit.

Matisse often emphasized this inner reality through exaggeration and distortion of the objects depicted by him. They say about him: "This magician uses his magic with gusto to create some kind of monster" ^[4,126c]. Someone once told Matisse: "I've never seen a woman like the one you're painting," to which Matisse politely replied: "If I met such a woman in my life, I would run away in fear. Ultimately, I do not create women, but paintings" ^[5,126c]. These are two different views of reality, the first focuses on visual external reality, the second on spiritual internal reality. For Matisse, the image of inner reality was the ultimate goal, the image of the human body was only a means of painting, a means that must be subordinated to the goal and can be changed. If we assume that Matisse used an absolutely realistic approach to women in his works, they would have lost their most infectious qualities. According to Matisse, an exaggerated and distorted woman could be more realistic and better interpret his understanding of the real.

Although Matisse exaggerated and distorted the figures to express the inner truth, he did not stray too far from the external truth of the figures, saying: "Those who prefer to imitate nature or deliberately avoid it are too far from the truth" ^[6,45c]. This view of truth cannot be formed without the influence of Chinese pictorial thought, and it is very similar to the view of truth in Chinese painting. "This is an important aesthetic proposal in the field of Chinese painting, the general meaning of which is that the picture should be realistic, and that drawing something unlike something is a deception for the viewer. However, the artist should not be bound by the external appearance of the object, but should capture its inner nature and include the artist's own feelings, either emphasizing or exaggerating it to reflect its internal properties that distinguish it from others. It is similar and at the same time not similar, leaving the viewer a wide scope for imagination. Many Chinese artists have expressed this point of view, for example, the Qing Dynasty artist Shi Tao emphasized that "dissimilarity is similarity." Huang Binhong and Qi Baishi, known as "Southern Huang and Northern Qi", also expressed their views. Huang Binhong believed that "similarity of dissimilarity is true similarity," and Qi Baishi suggested that "the beauty of painting lies between similarity and dissimilarity; too much similarity flatters the vulgar, and dissimilarity deceives the world."

Qi Baishi's theory is a legacy of Shi Tao's theory of "dissimilarity is similarity" and more clearly defines the concepts of "similarity and dissimilarity". Qi Baishi believes that "likeness" refers to the inner spirit and emotions. "The shrimps under his brush became less and less like shrimps in a scientific sense, but the transformed shrimps became more transparent and more spiritual, and their artistry increased significantly. This is a reflection of the process of transition from "unlike" to "similar", using "unlike" as a means, and "similar" as an end in itself. "Dissimilarity" is used as a means, and "similarity" is used as a goal, and "dissimilarity" in form is used to emphasize "similarity" in rhyme. In the case of his shrimps, for example, art, whether eastern or Western, must come from life and at the same time be above it. This is also reflected in the Chinese use of color, which is not limited to realistic depictions of natural colors, but is more subjective and bold, as in the world of Chinese painting, where everything can be expressed in ink without feeling monotonous, because the spiritual interest of the artist already exists in the painting. This is especially true of Matisse, who, admiring the magnificent costumes in his paintings with their bright colors, never imagined that the models in his paintings at that time were dressed in black. "Matisse's wife was dressed in black and posed for Matisse for a painting, but he painted some of his most striking portraits" ^[7,12c]. It is obvious that Matisse did not just depict the colors he saw, but perhaps in his imagination the model was dressed in a richly colored coat, a true reflection of his mind and what he considered "the only reality".

(2) The concept of integration of the "self" and surrounding objectsArt historian Sullivan in his work "The Exchange of Eastern and Western Fine Art" mentions: "If the Impressionists experienced a strong influence of Oriental art to the limited extent to which they solved purely formal and purely visual tasks, then it is reasonable to assume that the influence exerted by Oriental art on the development of modern Western art was even stronger, and not only in terms of technology, but also in terms of philosophical thought, which clearly perceived Eastern influences"^[8,282c].

The Chinese idea of the compatibility of subject and object and the integration of the self and surrounding objects has interested the West for centuries, and the Chinese have combined this idea in painting to achieve calm and balance as an artistic method capable of fully expressing inner emotions and reason.

Chinese painting is a kind of mood that is taken from the scene, but also expresses the artist's state of mind. The technique of combining emotions and scenes is an expression of the Chinese idea of "the unity of heaven and man", where nature is not just an object for the artist, but a continuation of the artist's spiritual expression, and that is why Chinese painting often includes emotions in the scene, finding the commonality of art in accordance with the heart and emotions, and completing the integration of nature and man. Chinese painting often associates the style of painting with the personality, quality of painting and character of a person, considering that any work in which the artistic mood and personality of the author do not coincide cannot be considered the highest art. This supreme art naturally follows from the character and temperament of a person and should be determined by the supreme personality of the author, which requires the artist to feel and observe the rhythm of nature with a rhythm in his chest, and then transform the rhythm of nature into his own rhythm. The phrase "an artist should consider nature as his mentor, connect with inner feelings" belongs to the famous ink artist Zhang Zao, who was well versed in painting on pine and stone. Although this work ceased to exist in later times, the phrase mentioned in it "to learn from the outside, to connect with inner feelings" has survived to this day. He believed that an artist should be imbued with nature in order to inspire works that have real value and meaning. Zhang Zao's theory had a profound influence on subsequent pictorial thought, as the artist realized that art is taken from nature and reality, but nature does not become a source of art by itself, it requires the artist to recreate it. This re-creation is actually a process of merging subject and object, reaching a state where "the body and the object become one, and the object follows me."

Starting with the post-Impressionists, Western artists began to awaken their sense of subjectivity, breaking away from traditional forms of painting and focusing more on expressing their own mind, trying to break through the barriers of visual reality to find spiritual reality. Contemporary art, in particular, is considered a "matter of the heart". Matisse, the artist-representative of the Fauvists in Europe, also felt this artistic mood in the images of Oriental painting.

In a letter to a friend, Matisse writes: "An artist must own creativity, he must be in tune with its rhythm, and this can only be achieved through serious efforts that will allow him to master the skill. This will allow him to subsequently express himself in his own language"^[9,188-189c]. He believed that the integration of self and nature, the connection between "creation" and "heart" has a beneficial effect on the development of the artist. And it's really useful. One day he said: "There is an old Chinese saying: "When you draw a tree, you should feel that you are gradually growing with it" ^[10,149c]. His embodiment of the merging of object and subject is the essence of the Chinese philosophy "the body and the object become one, and the object and the self follow each other."

In Matisse's paintings, subjects such as Dance are always repeated in order to use the same subject to express different states of mind, repetition in Matisse is a sure defense of the transmission of emotions, likening the painting to the heart, and in each composition he expands his sense of painting, wanting to develop forms expressing "more essential characteristics" of things. At the same time, such forms of creativity have become his way of interpreting reality in a timeless way. Speaking about his art of decoupage, he once said: "One day I made a little parrot out of colored paper, and so I became a little parrot and found myself in work. The Chinese say that it is necessary to "grow together with trees," and I think that nothing could be more correct" ^[11,143c].

The same theory is mentioned in his writings, where he says in The Art of Balance: "I believe that the anger and abilities of an artist can be judged by whether he receives direct impressions from dramatic scenes of nature and at the same time whether he is able to organize his various feelings.^[12,57c]».Matisse's emphasis on nature, and even more on the fact that the artist should draw from nature, and not copy or reproduce it, is an expression of the artist's personality and thinking. In Matisse's paintings, there is a constant search for joint cooperation between the object and itself. It seems that in Matisse's artistic conception and practice, nature is no longer seen as a simple object of expression, but the "I" merges with the object, reaching the sphere of expression where subject and object are one.

(3) Philosophy of peace and tranquilityTraditional Chinese painting by literary artists always evokes a sense of purity and transcendence in people, and is also deeply influenced by traditional Chinese philosophy, especially the Taoist culture of "purity" and "balance".

Literary artists, being at court, in the field or in the mountains, inevitably experienced a feeling of loneliness. They wrote about nature with brush and ink, expressing their feelings through the landscape and releasing their emotions with thoughts, achieving a kind of purity and balance in creativity and spirituality. Matisse, like Chinese literary artists, spent his whole life striving for this purity and balance, which were his cherished dream. As he mentions in his "Artist's Notes": "I strive for art that is balanced, pure, serene, without exciting or fascinating subjects. This is an art for every intellectual worker, for a careerist, as well as for a writer, relaxation and rest after mental work, something like a comfortable comfortable chair in which you can sit and relax to regain strength after physical fatigue." ^[13,41c]

To some extent, this search is what Chinese Taoist philosophy implies. Taoist teaching promotes withdrawal from the world, "quiet disappearance in the mountains, the desire for self-liberation, "adaptation of oneself to one's will", as well as "enjoyment of one's temperament and intoxication with oneself" ^[14,109c]. In times of calamity and confusion, we strive to gain a sense of purity, to get away from the selfish desires of the spiritual world and the distractions of the material world and return to our natural essence, without paying attention to either, this is precisely the desire of traditional Chinese literary painting. The traditional Chinese philosophy of painting by writers of Taoist skill of "calm knowledge" and "blurring the boundaries between the inner and outer world" is also present in the works of Matisse ^[15,111c]. In "Pastoral" he returned to the riot of Impressionist colors, the sinuous lines of figures and trees, the unique artistic language of the artist, creating a decorative world of tranquility, purity and transcendence. Then in the great "Joy of Life" he combined the various experiments he was conducting to complete one of his best landscapes with figures. ^[16,90c]. Perhaps he has never read books on Chinese philosophy or theory of painting, but he is able to be inspired by traditional Chinese painting and comprehend its ideas. This special ability may be the one that resonates with artists from the depths of the soul.

In his life, Matisse experienced a lot of suffering, much less than the happiness and peace in his paintings. War, illness and family hardships were familiar to his heart, but, oddly enough, there is almost no pain in his works, which shows how transcendent he was in the face of adversity. Matisse's inner refuge nourished his art, and even when he was suffering from illness, he did not stop creating his calm, peaceful world of art, singing the beauty of life in his unique art form and providing spiritual support to those who were in trouble, hoping that people would find solace in his works. Art is Matisse's paradise, a world of clarity and peace.

ConclusionInspired by oriental art, Matisse developed his own style of modern expressive painting and became an artist with great fame, who had a huge influence on the development of painting in the twentieth century.

In search of the essential meaning of artistic expression, ancient Chinese ink painting with its figurative qualities is of great research value, and the development of Western modern painting began with an uprising against traditions. Matisse destroyed the boundaries between the Eastern and Western traditions of painting, and now, under the brush of Matisse, they are moving towards a common desire for the artistic language of painting. Art knows no borders, and the language of painting is partly eastern, partly Western, the common language of mankind. We live in a time when it is no longer possible to hold on to traditions, and the spirit of change in Matisse's painting has inspired many generations of artists.