Dai Leng 戴崚: The Practicality of Fine Art 美術底實用

Art is the antithesis of the practical. The artistic is dependent on one’s refinement (wen), while the practical is dependent on raw substance (zhi). Why should I advocate the practicality of fine art? There is a reason for this. I will write it out below for your consideration.

美術和實用這兩個是對待的名詞，美術主文的，實用主質的，為什麼我要主張美術的實用呢？這也有個緣故，我且寫在下面，請大家評論。

The range of fine art is extremely wide, and its main forms are painting and handicrafts. Nowadays, educators use pragmatism when teaching painting and handicrafts. That is to say: no matter what kind of picture the students draw or what kind of handicraft they do, it should be practical. Although I fully agree with this approach, it would be good if teachers were able to make choices in their teaching materials and if students’ artworks had more of an artistic nature.[2] Recently, educational outposts everywhere are gradually holding more and more exhibitions of paintings and handicrafts. I have visited many such exhibitions and most of the artworks tend to be of a practical nature; most of the patterns are uncreative and unrefined. Among the handicrafts, there are hand-made straw shoes or brooms, but all the objects are very rough and lack any fine art quality. These kinds of handicrafts and paintings seem to be practical on the surface, but in fact they do not follow the standards of fine art.[3] Therefore, they cannot really count as practical.

美術的範圍是很廣的，其最著的就是圖畫，手工。現在一般教育家對於教授圖畫，手工，採用實用主義，就是無論畫什麼圖畫，做什麼手工，都要切於實用。這種主義我也很贊成，但是教員的教材都要有選擇，學生的成績都要能美觀才好。現在各處的教育會，漸漸兒舉行圖畫手工成績展覽會，我曾經參觀了許多，所陳列的成績趨向於實用方面居多，其中圖案大都是非創造的、非精美的。手工有做草鞋的，有扎掃帚的，都做得非常粗笨，那美術二字，更不必談了。這種兒圖畫手工成績，從表面上看下來，似乎實用，但是不合於倫理的。既不合於倫理的，那就不能算真正的實用。

Patterning plays an important role for the industry. We should be creative and come up with many different patterns for cloth, silk and many other goods to promote our Chinese industry. At first glance, it might seem practical to make straw shoes and brooms. However, when given more careful consideration, is it suitable for students to manually work on such handicrafts? Do the students’ families expect their children to work these kinds of jobs in the future? There are many kinds of very practical handicrafts, such as carpentry, metal work or even the meticulous creation of buttons, so why make the students work on straw shoes and brooms!

圖案畫在工業上很有大用的，我們應該本我們的創造力，繪成各種圖樣應用於布匹綢緞及其它種種起居上，振興我們中國的工業，做草鞋，扎掃帚，表面上似乎切於實用，細細的想下來，學生做這等的手工究竟合不合呢？學生的家庭將來是否肯使子弟做這等職業呢？我以為手工的種類很多，如木工，金工，紐扣細工等，皆非常切於實用，何必做草鞋扎掃帚呢！

Let’s take for example teacups, objects that every household today needs to have. Consumers will not purchase these if their design and pattern are not good. What is the reason behind this? It is because every ordinary person has a sense of aesthetics. No matter how practical an object is, people will not be willing to purchase something that does not meet their aesthetic requirements. That is why I believe, regardless of what practical drawing one does or what practical handicraft one creates, one needs to maintain the concept of fine art. Equipped with this concept a practical object will be used more often and gain in popularity—Haha! And it is exactly this I call the practicality of fine art!

今就貯茶的茶杯說說，茶杯是家家必用的，假如花樣不美觀，人是不願買的。這是什麼緣故？因為凡人都有審美的感情，不能惹起人審美的感情，就是切於實用，人都厭棄的，所以我說無論畫什麼實用的圖畫做什麼實用的手工都要含有美術的意思，有了美術的意思，這實用的物件更加實用，更加風行，哈哈，這才是美術的實用！