From shensi to jingjie : the method of artistic imagination and the highest aesthetic realm

Sernelj, Tea (author)

The article examines the content and meaning of the Chinese aesthetic concept of shensi and its relation to the notion of the highest aesthetic realm (jingjie). Spiritual contemplation or artistic imagination (shensi) was thoroughly explored by Liu Xie (465 – 522) in his theoretical work on literary writing The Literary Mind and the Carving of Dragons in the 6th century. This work is the first systematic theory of artistic production in classical Chinese aesthetics. The aesthetic theory of jingjie, however, was first explored by Wang Changling (698 – 756) in the Tang Dynasty, but further developed by Wang Guowei (1877 – 1927) on the threshold of the 20th century, which is considered the beginning of the modernisation of Chinese aesthetics. The article explores both concepts in detail and argues that shensi is actually the aesthetic method that leads to the attainment of the highest aesthetic realm (jingjie) when successfully applied and manifested in the artistic process and in the artwork itself.

• Language: English
• Keywords: Chinese aesthetics, shensi, jingjie, Liu Xie, Wang Changling, Wang Guowei
• Work type: Article
• Typology: 1.01 - Original Scientific Article
• Organization: FF - Faculty of Arts
• Publication status: Published
• Publication version: Version of Record
• Publication date: 01.01.2021
• Year: 2021
• Number of pages: Str. [313]-332
• Numbering: Vol. 36, No. 2
• PID: 20.500.12556/RUL-142883
• UDC: 111.852(510)(045)
• ISSN on article: 1848-2317
• DOI: 10.21464/sp36204
• COBISS.SI-ID: 115847683
• Publication date in RUL: 30.11.2022

Record is a part of a journal

• Title: Synthesis philosophica
• Shortened title: Synth. philos.
• Publisher: Hrvatsko filozofsko društvo
• ISSN: 1848-2317
• COBISS.SI-ID: 57386594

Licences

• License: CC BY-NC 4.0, Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International
• Link: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/
• Description: A creative commons license that bans commercial use, but the users don’t have to license their derivative works on the same terms.
• Licensing start date: 15.10.2021

Projects

• Funder: ARRS - Slovenian Research Agency
• Project number: P6-0243
• Name: Azijski jeziki in kulture

• Funder: ARRS - Slovenian Research Agency
• Project number: N6-0161
• Name: Humanizem v medkulturni perspektivi: Evropa in Kitajska