Summary

Today, the rise of the classical is a reality in the art world, and the phenomenon is increasingly visible in contemporary painting. The classical reappears in very different ways from one work to another. Thus, what is at stake through this research is to observe how the classical distinguishes itself as it moves through the history of modern art which leads to the hypothesis of a “filter” of modernity. For that matter, the results are analyzed upon a set field framing the research, and leading to the painted work which for the circumstance is called “the pictured plane”.

These various process of the recurrence of the images are observed through their migration, regardless of their transformation and metamorphosis over time. Then, the research focuses on the ways the recurrence of these precedents (gathered in a present vivid time) places them again at the heart of the international art scene. Finally, this memory is studied through various settings according to history and geography.

The thesis is organized around six chapters.

The first one aims at defining the framework of our research which is conceptually built upon literary ideas. Then, the concrete observation is based upon paintings, some of them famous, whether classical, modern or contemporary.

The second chapter presents three study cases with paintings by Gérard Garouste, David Hockney and Martial Raysse. These three painters have all claimed a relation towards classicism.

Introduction

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"The second photograph was taken on a Sunday afternoon, in the centre of town, along the Yangzi Jiang river. The light is a little heavy in an atmosphere both sunny and grey, the uninterrupted traffic of boats animating the surface of the water. However, these movements are hardly visible from the banks so large is the river and immense the panorama. In the distance a few buoys, they are swimmers. One of them returns to the shore, where a child and two adults are standing, probably the parents. Again, I was impressed by this Chinese dimension, in which the very tall and the individual collide, solitary or in small groups, and hardly standing ou in this excess, that we feel is such because it is so different from our usual scale. Yet, there again, simultaneously and to my astonishment, I had a feeling of belonging by sliding among the townspeople who had come to enjoy this moment of peace very strongly perceptible. I therefore decided to shoot a few pictures. And the one illustrating my point in this article can evoke this View of Delft by Vermeer that I had presented a few days ago to the Chinese students of an architecture school in that same city of Wuhan."

Preface

Looking back on the School of Architecture’s Experiment in Joint Teaching

Every year at the beginning of the fall semester, the School of Architecture holds in Arts Education Internship. During this period, second year students throw their easels on their backs and follow the instructor to a place of magnificent scenery and begin to capture the word in their art. 2010 was a little different than usual, as we invited Professor Philippe Guérin…

… After the course, I took the opportunity to take a survey and found that the vast majority of both students and teachers felt Professor Guérin’s reaching was quite interesting, different from their usual way of doing things, and brought many opportunities for imagination and speculation. In my mind, this is the virtue of joint teaching: the coming together and communication between different cultures bring new horizons to our education content, and exposure to a new education method gives our instructors new inspiration...

... Most importantly, thanks to all the students who took part in the activity, since it was their active participation that made the fruit of this activity able to be published in this form for the enjoyments of its readers!

Gong Kai, Professor, and Vice President of the School of Architecture, SEU, 2011 march 18th

Introduction

Participating in this European contribution, to which you invited us and in which we still believe, represents a gesture of accomplishment and inner conviction which you, Chinese teachers and young students, will be able to put to good use in the future as a "breeding ground" in order to recreate links with your own culture - a culture that has unfortunately been mistreated at the end of the nineteenth and during the twentieth century. This "transplantation" will perhaps also be beneficial to us, all the more so as we will strive to achieve it with a little bit of knowledge and perfect honesty. The hybridisation of cultures has prevailed throughout history. in my opinion this fusion was the most important part of our project, and I firmly believed that we would manage to speak a common language. That common language is what allowed for dialogue and for our exchanges to be so interesting, despite the fact that our points of view on our own situations in China and Europe sometimes diverge. On the contrary, Thes différences of opinions can bring additional précisions and pertinence to our present exchanges, and maybe even help have a clear view of the issues that will drive us in the future.

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