The Figurative Mechanism of Illusion: A Comparative Study of Wu Bin and Max Ernst from the Perspective of Global Art History
Abstract
(c.1568 1610) and surrealist artist Max Ernst (1891 1976) together as mere formal parallels of stylistic distortion. Breaking away from
this superficial formal comparison mindset, this paper digs into the inherent image producing logic behind their deformed visuals on the
basis of David Summers' Real Spaces. Rooted in China's long standing painting tradition, Wu Bin's distorted imagery grows out of Chan
inspired contemplation, literati rock appreciation aesthetics and ancient Chinese cosmology of the harmony between human and heaven.
By contrast, Max Ernst's disruptive visual language rose from the collapse of rational faith triggered by the trauma of the First World War
and surrealist automatic writing derived psychic automatism. This paper sorts out their differences across three core dimensions including
artistic medium, pictorial space and figurative logic. It further unpacks the culturally rooted epistemology behind their divergent creation
modes, and puts forward a practicable cross cultural comparative path for global art history research which prioritizes deep seated structural discrepancies rather than shallow formal similarities.
Keywords
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DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.70711/rcha.v4i8.10177
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