SOBRE REPRESENTAÇÃO MIMÉTICA E QIXIANG :DISCRIMINANDO AS ARTES PICTÓRICAS CHINESAS關於模仿論與氣象:如何分別中國的繪畫藝術

The article discusses how to think about the specificity of Chinese painting without reducing it to categories produced by the European aesthetic tradition. Starting from the centrality of the concept of mimesis in the West—especially in the readings of Plato and Aristotle—the author argues that suc...

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Published in:Review of Culture
Main Author: Giorgio Sinedino
Format: Articles
Published: Instituto Cultural de Macau 2016
Subjects:
Online Access:https://www.icm.gov.mo/rc/viewer/pdfViewerParts/40051/2250
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author Giorgio Sinedino
author_autocomplete Giorgio Sinedino
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container_title Review of Culture
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description The article discusses how to think about the specificity of Chinese painting without reducing it to categories produced by the European aesthetic tradition. Starting from the centrality of the concept of mimesis in the West—especially in the readings of Plato and Aristotle—the author argues that such a framework tends to transform Chinese art into mere “representation” and, therefore, into an object of evaluation according to a Western historical-philosophical schema. In contrast, it is proposed that the decisive conceptual distinction for interpreting certain Chinese pictorial practices lies in the opposition between mimetic imitation and the notion of *qixiang* (“climate/atmosphere,” as a mode of the world’s presence), understood as a principle of aesthetic configuration and correlative apprehension among work, observer, and vital process. Methodologically, the text operates a comparative historical-conceptual reading: it revisits classical debates on representation, identifies implications of this framework for the reception of Chinese art, and reconstructs the place of *qixiang* as an explanatory category. It concludes that properly discriminating Chinese pictorial arts requires shifting the focus from the reproduction of appearances to the articulation of a meaningful “atmosphere,” thereby reducing both Orientalism and simplifier universalism.
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spelling SOBRE REPRESENTAÇÃO MIMÉTICA E QIXIANG :DISCRIMINANDO AS ARTES PICTÓRICAS CHINESAS關於模仿論與氣象:如何分別中國的繪畫藝術
The article discusses how to think about the specificity of Chinese painting without reducing it to categories produced by the European aesthetic tradition. Starting from the centrality of the concept of mimesis in the West—especially in the readings of Plato and Aristotle—the author argues that such a framework tends to transform Chinese art into mere “representation” and, therefore, into an object of evaluation according to a Western historical-philosophical schema. In contrast, it is proposed that the decisive conceptual distinction for interpreting certain Chinese pictorial practices lies in the opposition between mimetic imitation and the notion of *qixiang* (“climate/atmosphere,” as a mode of the world’s presence), understood as a principle of aesthetic configuration and correlative apprehension among work, observer, and vital process. Methodologically, the text operates a comparative historical-conceptual reading: it revisits classical debates on representation, identifies implications of this framework for the reception of Chinese art, and reconstructs the place of *qixiang* as an explanatory category. It concludes that properly discriminating Chinese pictorial arts requires shifting the focus from the reproduction of appearances to the articulation of a meaningful “atmosphere,” thereby reducing both Orientalism and simplifier universalism.
Instituto Cultural de Macau
Macau
Review of Culture
Articles
2016
Giorgio Sinedino
spellingShingle SOBRE REPRESENTAÇÃO MIMÉTICA E QIXIANG :DISCRIMINANDO AS ARTES PICTÓRICAS CHINESAS關於模仿論與氣象:如何分別中國的繪畫藝術
Giorgio Sinedino
title SOBRE REPRESENTAÇÃO MIMÉTICA E QIXIANG :DISCRIMINANDO AS ARTES PICTÓRICAS CHINESAS關於模仿論與氣象:如何分別中國的繪畫藝術
title_autocomplete SOBRE REPRESENTAÇÃO MIMÉTICA E QIXIANG :DISCRIMINANDO AS ARTES PICTÓRICAS CHINESAS關於模仿論與氣象:如何分別中國的繪畫藝術
title_full SOBRE REPRESENTAÇÃO MIMÉTICA E QIXIANG :DISCRIMINANDO AS ARTES PICTÓRICAS CHINESAS關於模仿論與氣象:如何分別中國的繪畫藝術
title_fullStr SOBRE REPRESENTAÇÃO MIMÉTICA E QIXIANG :DISCRIMINANDO AS ARTES PICTÓRICAS CHINESAS關於模仿論與氣象:如何分別中國的繪畫藝術
title_full_unstemmed SOBRE REPRESENTAÇÃO MIMÉTICA E QIXIANG :DISCRIMINANDO AS ARTES PICTÓRICAS CHINESAS關於模仿論與氣象:如何分別中國的繪畫藝術
title_short SOBRE REPRESENTAÇÃO MIMÉTICA E QIXIANG :DISCRIMINANDO AS ARTES PICTÓRICAS CHINESAS關於模仿論與氣象:如何分別中國的繪畫藝術
title_sort sobre representação mimética e qixiang :discriminando as artes pictóricas chinesas關於模仿論與氣象:如何分別中國的繪畫藝術
url https://www.icm.gov.mo/rc/viewer/pdfViewerParts/40051/2250
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