Semiosphere and Solitary World
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Lian Duan
Lian Duan (b. 1960) is a senior lecturer and coordinator in Chinese, at the Department of Modern Languages, Concordia University, Montreal, Canada. His research interests include art history, visual culture, semiotics, and narratology. His publications include
Visual culture: A semiotic approach to art history and contemporary art (2018), a translation of Mieke Bal’s workSemiotics of narrative: Essays in visual analysis (2017), andSemiotics for visual art and visual culture (2015).
Abstract
Literati landscape painting was the mainstream of Chinese art in the Yuan dynasty; its keynote is the idea of yi, literally, escaping for freedom, which is represented by the notion of reclusiveness at the conceptual level and the notion of spontaneity at the formal level. Based on an analytical interpretation of the development of Yuan literati landscape painting at the two levels, this essay intends to make a point that, under the Mongol rule, reclusiveness and spontaneity became the artistic pursuit of Chinese artists in the period from late 13th to late 14th century. Employing Yuri Lotman’s theory of “semiosphere” in this study, I argue that the blueprint for the solitary world is designed by the early Yuan literati artist Zhao Mengfu, and this world is constructed by the later Yuan literati artists Huang Gongwang and Ni Zan, among others. I further describe the structure of this world as having two levels and three concentric circles, with reclusiveness as the signified central idea and spontaneous brushwork as its signifier. I then conclude that the interaction of the reclusive idea and spontaneous style semioticizes the structure, and completes the construction of the unique artistic world of Yuan literati landscape painting.
About the author
Lian Duan (b. 1960) is a senior lecturer and coordinator in Chinese, at the Department of Modern Languages, Concordia University, Montreal, Canada. His research interests include art history, visual culture, semiotics, and narratology. His publications include Visual culture: A semiotic approach to art history and contemporary art (2018), a translation of Mieke Bal’s work Semiotics of narrative: Essays in visual analysis (2017), and Semiotics for visual art and visual culture (2015).
References
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© 2018 Walter de Gruyter GmbH, Berlin/Boston
Artikel in diesem Heft
- Frontmatter
- In Memoriam: Eliseo Fernández
- Cultural Signs and Sign Theories
- A Semiotic Interpretation of Online Selfie Culture
- Japanese Semiotic Studies in China
- Semiosphere and Solitary World
- Creating Society in Orwell’s 1984
- Analysis of the Buddhist Conversion of Great Sage
- The Rise of Semio-Narratology
- Book Reviews
- Semiotics: Principles and problems
- Bir Yazınsal Göstergebilim Okuması: Kuyucaklı Yusuf
Artikel in diesem Heft
- Frontmatter
- In Memoriam: Eliseo Fernández
- Cultural Signs and Sign Theories
- A Semiotic Interpretation of Online Selfie Culture
- Japanese Semiotic Studies in China
- Semiosphere and Solitary World
- Creating Society in Orwell’s 1984
- Analysis of the Buddhist Conversion of Great Sage
- The Rise of Semio-Narratology
- Book Reviews
- Semiotics: Principles and problems
- Bir Yazınsal Göstergebilim Okuması: Kuyucaklı Yusuf
