Abstract: The first principle in Xie He's “Six Techniques of Painting” named “qi yun sheng dong” is introduced to the western world in the late 19th century. This concept evolves itself to a meaningful chain in terms of translation, elucidation and paraphrase, meanwhile, it develops synchronously with the Sinological art theories, and becomes part of the construction of formalist aesthetics during the western modernist movement. This paper illustrates the historical background and transition of the English translation of the term “qi yun sheng dong”, a core principle of Chinese classical aesthetics, followed by its subtle changes when it comes to the real usage and meaning derivation in the western formalist aesthetics caused by the interpretations of sinologists and aestheticians such as Herbert Giles, Okakura Kakuzo, Laurence Binyon and Roger Fry. Hence, with the demonstration of such a typical example of the introduction of Chinese culture to the west, the remarkable cross-cultural influence of Chinese art aesthetics on the 20th century European and American Modernist movement is addressed. Moreover, the formalist aestheticians have altered the cultural particularity of this specific concept to a pure aesthetic form notion in essence, leading to certain degree of semantic deviation, misreading and obscuration.

Key words: “qi yun sheng dong”, Burlington Magazine, Laurence Binyon, Roger Fry, formalist aesthetics

摘要： 谢赫“六法”之首法“气韵生动”,自19世纪后期传入西方后形成了翻译、阐发、化用的意义链条,与汉学中的艺术学研究同步发展,参与了西方现代主义形式美学的建构。本文分析了“气韵生动”这一中国古典美学的核心法则进入西方的历史背景、英译变迁,及其经由翟理斯、冈仓天心、宾庸、弗莱等汉学家与美学家的阐释进入西方形式美学后在运用范畴与意义衍生等方面产生的微妙改变,由此以一个中学西传的典型实例,揭示了中华艺术美学对20世纪欧美现代主义运动的影响及其与时俱进的跨文化阐释力。同时也指出:形式美学家们抽空了这一概念生成的文化特殊性,将其转化为纯粹形式审美的观念,无疑也会损失很多东西而导致误读与遮蔽。

关键词: “气韵生动”, 《伯灵顿杂志》, 劳伦斯·宾庸, 罗杰·弗莱, 形式美学