MINISTRY OF EDUCATION AND TRAINING MINISTRY OF CULTURE, SPORTS AND TOURISM VIETNAM NATIONAL INSTITUTE OF CULTURE AND ARTS STUDIES ------------------------ Pham Van Tuyen ARTISTIC INSPIRATION IN PAINTING Major: Theory and History of Fine Arts Code: 62 21 01 01 SUMMARY OF PHD DISSERTATION IN THEORY AND HISTORY OF FINE ARTS Hanoi - 2015 The study has been completed at VIETNAM NATONAL INSTITUTE OF CULTURE AND ARTS STUDIES MINISTRY OF CULTURE, SPORTS AND TOURISM Scientific supervisor: Assoc. Prof. Dr. Le Van Suu Dr. Nguyen Nghia Phuong External Examiner 1: Assoc. Prof. Dr. Le Ba Dung Hanoi University of Culture External Examiner 2: Assoc. Prof. Dr. Nguyen Xuan Tien Ho Chi Minh City University of Fine Arts External Examiner 3: Assoc. Prof. Dr. Nguyen Quoc Hung Vietnam National Institute of Culture and Arts Studies The dissertation will be defended before the Institute-level Examining Committee VIETNAM NATIONAL INSTITUTE OF CULTURE AND ARTS STUDIES 32 Hao Nam, O Cho Dua, Dong Da, Hanoi At .............................................. (hhddmmyyyy) The dissertation could be looked up at: - Vietnam National Library - Library of Vietnam National Institute of Culture and Arts Studies 1 INTRODUCTION 1. Rationale Painting creation is a creative process that manifests the personality of the creator. An artwork delivers the artist’s message to viewers through the expression of painting language. Depending on each viewer’s feeling, the message would imply different meaning and it is difficult to explain why. Therefore questions have been raised that why a painting with fairly eye-catching figurative depiction could be worthless in terms of transferring messages and artistic value, and conversely, why many artworks with several irrational points could have strong attraction to viewers? Why famous artists still have unsuccessful works? And why to the same artwork, each viewer may have different feelings? These typical issues lead to the crypticity in painting, making them difficult to interpret in terms of theory. Therefore, it becomes necessary to view painting from science’s perspective to have more thorough understanding. I understand that knowledge is the fundamental of science, whereas feeling is the basis of art, which varies in each individual. In doing a painting, along with thinking, finding ideas and establishing style, inspiration plays an important role. To achieve success in art creation, besides knowledge from study and society, whether there is strong motivation of psychological forms of artistic creation? This question has me think of the fact that a painting can be created in a higher level of efficiency when there is inspiration that triggers creativity of the painter. This state of inspiration is a known form of artistic inspiration, which however has rarely been discussed so far. In the field of theory and criticism of fine arts in Vietnam, at a certain point, it is necessary to use the multi-disciplinary as a new approach. In practice, a number of practitioners are falling short of fully realizing their own styles and ideas in creating art, as they may suffer from the lack of theoretical bases. 2 Therefore, the practice of theory and criticism of fine arts is of particular importance in orienting social artistic tastes, contributing to artists’ creation progress and also revealing the falsity of some minor groups that run under the name of “art” but actually mislead the society about the creativity value of painting creation. I have recognized that the theory of painting in Vietnam usually focuses on fine arts history, or fine arts studies based on figurative languages and figuration. None of the documents has mentioned about inspiration in painting creation and its impacts on the performance of artistic language in a painting. It again raises another question that whether it is highly necessary for the theory of painting in Vietnam to have basic theory researches? From the issues above, a research about the inspiration of artists has become crucial for theory of painting in particular and for theory of fine arts in general. There must be a new approach to have better understanding about artists and their works. This has motivated me to do the dissertation titled: Artistic Inspiration in Painting Creation. 2. Aims and Objectives of the study With the help of scientific theories of inspiration, artistic inspiration and artistic inspiration in painting creation with theory of painting, through artists and artworks, I aim to find out the existence, expression and efficiency of artistic inspiration in painting creation. Hence, a multi-disciplinary approach for theory of painting research is formed. 3. Objects and scope of the study 3.1 Object of the study Objectives of the dissertation are artistic inspiration, spiritual factors of the artists, their inner feelings when doing a painting, the forming process and final performance of languages and artistic styles in the painting. 3 3.2 Scope and content of the study The study area is Vietnam modern painting, especially after the time of the government’s implementation of “Doi Moi” policy. Main investigated objectives are artists who are living and working in Hanoi. These participants are considered the representatives for artists’ generations and styles. Specifically, those artists who were awarded arts prizes or young artists who have distinguishing art styles will be focused. 4. Hypothesis of the study During painting creation process, the artists often experience a special psychological state, which is called artistic inspiration. This form of inspiration is caused by either external factors (outer context) or internal factors (artists’ inner feeling), and it usually manifests on the artworks. Hence inspiration is a vital factor that has significant influence on the success of an artwork. 5. Methods of the study This paper aggregates, collects scientific arguments in fine arts research (Mỹ thuật học) and other fields related to the topic; uses multidisciplinary method to analyze and compare to link other scientific evidences to theory of fine arts; picks up fieldwork method, studies artists and their works; uses methods of sociological investigation and method of argument and proving. 6. The scientific and practical significance of the study The dissertation - Is the first research project in Vietnam specifically focusing on artistic inspiration in painting creation, addressing the issue of theory of painting in the light of multi-disciplinary approach. - Contributes to establish a basic theory of painting for evaluating the value of artworks and artists’ efforts, lists all forms of artistic inspiration and its impacts on artists during the painting process, and proves the efficiency of artistic inspiration in artworks. 4 - Provides evidences to factors that influence artistic inspiration in painting to have a strong base to evaluate artworks. 7. Literature review 7.1. Literature from different disciplines There are studies in philosophy, aesthetics, art research (Nghệ thuật học) that also mention AI, such as studies of Kant, Hegel, Belinski, Pospelov, Vygotsky, Chu Quang Tiem, etc. The physiological studies have researched about inspiration, emotion of human in artistic activities, such as those of Freud, Gardner. In the field of literacy theory, there are studies of inspiration and its role in composing process, such as those of Xaytlin, Arnaudov, Kravchenko, etc. 7.2. Literature from fine arts discipline In the light of theory of painting, this dissertation shares some ideas with Kandinsky’s 1912 text Concerning the spiritual in art. Other studies on inspiration are only based on fine arts research (Mỹ thuật học), not seen from several perspectives as in this paper. 7.3. Some conclusions In view of theory and perception, philosophical art theories have unveiled the mystery of the essence of art creation with the help of examining and analyzing methods. Former studies have referred to inspiration or pathos as it has effects on the ideas of artworks. However, these studies have not examined inspiration’s role in the inner feelings of artists, especially the unconsciousness. From the perspective of methodology, studies on psychology of creativity and art have enhanced my understanding about mental factors that impact artists’ creation of art, relationships between inspiration and several factors: inner life, the subconscious, level of education as well as spiritual strength, instinct and talent. There have not been any document studying theories of painting through artistic inspiration. From the viewpoint of identifying and classifying types of artistic inspiration in painting, in fact, inspiration in art has been categorized in some 5 ways. Hence, classification of inspiration based on the process of art creation is first seen in this dissertation. 8. Design of the study Apart from the introduction (19 pages), conclusion (4 pages), bibliography (11 pages) and appendix (53 pages), the main content is divided into 4 chapters: - Chapter 1: Rationale for artistic inspiration in painting creation (32 pages) - Chapter 2: Agents of inspiration in panting creation (27 pages) - Chapter 3: Artistic inspiration in painting creation (34 pages) - Chapter 4: Effects of artistic inspiration in painting creation (26 pages) CONTENT Chapter 1: RATIONALE FOR ARTISTIC INSPIRATION IN PAINTING CREATION 1.1 Notion of artistic inspiration 1.1.1 Definition of artistic inspiration I have defined inspiration by using dictionaries from different fields such as philosophy, Vietnamese language, culture