At the 100th anniversary of Central Academy of Fine Arts, President Xi Jinping replied the letter of CAFA’s senior professors. In the letter, he spoke highly of the devotion of the old generation of art masters and educators in art creation and education, pointed out that art education is an important component of aesthetic education, raised the idea that we should further strengthen the aesthetic educational spirit, and indicated the direction for art education in the new era.
The road of CAFA in the past century, as well as the road of Chinese art education and creation, is also a century-old road of aesthetic education. In the radically changing 20th century Chinese society, the ideal of beauty, creation of beauty, dissemination of beauty and acceptance of beauty always carry the cultural mission of Chinese artists and aesthetic expectations of the people, embody Chinese people’s yearning for things of beauty, life of beauty and state of beauty, and become the representation of the artworks’ social function and artistic value.
In 1918, the founding of the former CAFA - the National Beiping Art College - marks the birth of modern art education, and brewed the environment for aesthetic education and its promotion; in 1938 the Lu Xun Academy in Yan’an was founded. The revolutionary art opened a new route of art serving the people, which led to the further development of aesthetic education. From that time to today, CAFA has seen a great number of art masters, who have created plenty of excellent artworks. Generations of teachers and students’ art creation not only has pushed Chinese art forward in the past century, but also provided nourishment for the mind for the society, and played an important role of influencing and encouraging people.
The Reform and Opening-up has opened a new bridge that connects Chinese art to the world. As CAFA is a significant platform for the exchange of Chinese and international art, its teachers and students have always had a broad horizon and dynamic ideas. They stand in the forefront of the academic world while adhering to rational research, carry on promoting the excellent Chinese cultural tradition and spirit of Chinese aesthetic education, positively explore new art languages and new aesthetic space, and show creative vigor of the fine art academy with new creative concepts and methods.
As the Socialism with Chinese Characteristics has now entered a new era, the development of society is expecting more of aesthetics. CAFA has taken the opportunity to adjust its majors, form new disciplinary structure, make the four disciplines plastic arts, design, architecture and humanities mutually complementary, and bring their advantage into full play in terms of serving the development of economy and society. From the creation of works with grand themes, to the representation of life of the times, from urban design to architecture design, from visual communication design to public product design, from the study of aesthetic history to the construction of art theories, there are constantly new achievements, as well as new contributions in the dissemination of beautiful art.
In the past century, many works created by CAFA teachers and students, especially the grand masters, have become the classic art of modern China, collected by museums and galleries, exhibited in the public space, and are playing a positive role in building social and cultural atmosphere, meeting people's cultural needs and raising the public's aesthetic level. It is proved that only in the people’s appreciation that an excellent artwork could last long.
Looking back on art practice’s social benefits and cultural value from the perspective of aesthetic education, we stand even more firmly about the direction of Chinese art and art education in new era. Like what President Xi has said in his reply: We should carry forward the good tradition of loving the country and serving the people, upholding virtue and appreciating art, to educate the students with a heart of big love, and create works with the art of grand beauty, to keep in step with the times, to focus on the people, to serve the people with great works, to lead the trend with enlightened ideas and moral deeds, and to make new contribution to the development of aesthetic education in China with the cultivation of art talents and the creation of art.
Fan Di'an, President of CAFA
August 2019
At the 100th anniversary of Central Academy of Fine Arts, President Xi Jinping replied the letter of CAFA’s senior professors. In the letter, he spoke highly of the devotion of the old generation of art masters and educators in art creation and education, pointed out that art education is an important component of aesthetic education, raised the idea that we should further strengthen the aesthetic educational spirit, and indicated the direction for art education in the new era.
The road of CAFA in the past century, as well as the road of Chinese art education and creation, is also a century-old road of aesthetic education. In the radically changing 20th century Chinese society, the ideal of beauty, creation of beauty, dissemination of beauty and acceptance of beauty always carry the cultural mission of Chinese artists and aesthetic expectations of the people, embody Chinese people’s yearning for things of beauty, life of beauty and state of beauty, and become the representation of the artworks’ social function and artistic value.
In 1918, the founding of the former CAFA - the National Beiping Art College - marks the birth of modern art education, and brewed the environment for aesthetic education and its promotion; in 1938 the Lu Xun Academy in Yan’an was founded. The revolutionary art opened a new route of art serving the people, which led to the further development of aesthetic education. From that time to today, CAFA has seen a great number of art masters, who have created plenty of excellent artworks. Generations of teachers and students’ art creation not only has pushed Chinese art forward in the past century, but also provided nourishment for the mind for the society, and played an important role of influencing and encouraging people.
The Reform and Opening-up has opened a new bridge that connects Chinese art to the world. As CAFA is a significant platform for the exchange of Chinese and international art, its teachers and students have always had a broad horizon and dynamic ideas. They stand in the forefront of the academic world while adhering to rational research, carry on promoting the excellent Chinese cultural tradition and spirit of Chinese aesthetic education, positively explore new art languages and new aesthetic space, and show creative vigor of the fine art academy with new creative concepts and methods.
As the Socialism with Chinese Characteristics has now entered a new era, the development of society is expecting more of aesthetics. CAFA has taken the opportunity to adjust its majors, form new disciplinary structure, make the four disciplines plastic arts, design, architecture and humanities mutually complementary, and bring their advantage into full play in terms of serving the development of economy and society. From the creation of works with grand themes, to the representation of life of the times, from urban design to architecture design, from visual communication design to public product design, from the study of aesthetic history to the construction of art theories, there are constantly new achievements, as well as new contributions in the dissemination of beautiful art.
In the past century, many works created by CAFA teachers and students, especially the grand masters, have become the classic art of modern China, collected by museums and galleries, exhibited in the public space, and are playing a positive role in building social and cultural atmosphere, meeting people's cultural needs and raising the public's aesthetic level. It is proved that only in the people’s appreciation that an excellent artwork could last long.
Looking back on art practice’s social benefits and cultural value from the perspective of aesthetic education, we stand even more firmly about the direction of Chinese art and art education in new era. Like what President Xi has said in his reply: We should carry forward the good tradition of loving the country and serving the people, upholding virtue and appreciating art, to educate the students with a heart of big love, and create works with the art of grand beauty, to keep in step with the times, to focus on the people, to serve the people with great works, to lead the trend with enlightened ideas and moral deeds, and to make new contribution to the development of aesthetic education in China with the cultivation of art talents and the creation of art.
Fan Di'an, President of CAFA
August 2019
2019-08-30
