Cai Yuanpei once said: “University is a place where profound knowledge is studied”, and he took “free thinking and all-embracing” as the fundamental spirit and school-running philosophy of university education. While advocating academic freedom and scientific democracy, he also proposed aesthetic education, hoping to replace religion with aesthetic education and promote military citizenshipeducation (junguomin jiaoyu),and civilian education, materialistic education, public morality education, andworldview education. It can be seen that modern university education is based on the foundation and goal of academic research, spiritual independence, scientific methods, quality education, and the concept of “education for all”. IHowever, in the early 20th century, Lu Xun, Xu Beihong, Lin Fengmian, and others strongly advocated establishing art galleries and museums in China. Their expectations for the significance of art museums, in addition to the conservation and research of human civilization, laid more emphasis on the relationship between national quality education and the development of national strength. In fact, modern university education and museums and art galleries share a lofty idea, that is, to carry forward the spirit of humanism, enforce the research and dissemination of humanities, and improve the humanistic ideals of the society and the cultural quality of citizens. Therefore, knowledge, ideology, spirit, education, and quality have become the common concepts and responsibilities of the “university” and “art museum”.
In 2001, I wrote in the inaugural statement on the first issue of the journal “Art Museum”: “the nature of ‘art museum’ contains the capacity for culture, the attitude towards history, as well as the stance and approach of an open society. With its rich collection that witnessed the history, the art museum embodies the profound connotation and development process of culture; in an attitude responsible for history, it reflects and constructs diverse cultures, and respects and preserveshistory.[a1] as well as therespect for, and thepreservationof the history.respect and preserve history.The most fundamental is to connect such embodiment, reflection and construction with an open social space, form an interactive relationship, and make static things become the dynamic culture, thus becoming an organic part of current social culture.” In today’s society, education is the major as well as the future mission of a country. Universities, art galleries, and museums, as the organism of social culture, shall take the responsibility of protecting, developing and promoting history, culture, spirit, and ideology.
In most of the major comprehensive universities in the world, there are independent departments of art history, which not only study various kinds of knowledge inunique arts and history, and other disciplinesbut also carry out specific and abundant art and history education in all other majors, strengthening the general education of the university. However, so far, China’s comprehensive universities still lack proper understanding in the education and function of art and art history, and the so-called top-class universities often do not include art history research and education in their development plans. At this point, we bring up it again that university spirit and art (history) studies are moves that should not be ignored in developing Chinese higher education. Education without aesthetictraining is incomplete; while the education of art history and art appreciation work asis both the real concrete aesthetic education and the manifestation of the humanistic spirit of the university. It can be said that China’s comprehensive universities and colleges should put the decision of establishing art history department into their educational strategy, as art history studies is an organic component of the overall university organizational system and academic research plan, and the new era has raised this historical requirement to the thriving Chinese university education.
The art museum is the product of the development of civilization system, which isanda reflection of human passion and attention to their own cultural creations. Therefore, the art museum aims to collect, conserve, research, display, inherit, and disseminate these cultural creations, making them a spiritual civilization shared by humans. The modern art museum has become the symbol of culture and civilization; because of theart museum’s function and characteristics asof academic researcher, it has become a key point of developing university’s own academic status in its education system. Around the world, major universities usually have their own art gallery, museum, and collection, accumulating many significant cultural creations from different aspects; they undertake the responsibility of academic study, public education, and cultural protection, and form a global art museum world together with both the public and private art museumsof the society.
At present, in addition to the construction of various kinds of public art museums and art colleges, comprehensive universities have also begun to build and develop art museums. Although China’s art academies of art have had anexhibition galleriesyfor displaying works for a long time, the establishment of art museums, in a strict sense, hasjusthas taken place in recent years[a2] , and the construction of art museums in comprehensive universities isalso a new phenomenon and issue for discussion. Given this, it is necessary to put more efforts to research on the development of university art museums and toexplore their functions, characteristics, collection, display, academic field, public art education, funding solutions, publication, communication, interaction with university education and other topics from multiple perspectives.
Based on this starting point, we produced such a professional academic journal as “University & Art Museum”, hoping to introduce internationally mature and useful knowledge, experience, and promote domestic construction and development as well as academic research, so as to make art museums become an essential, interactive part of modern higher education, and also an import organism in the modern civilized society.
The aim of the publication of “University & Art Museum”, on the one hand, hopes to center on art museums to discuss and study their inner structure and dynamic factors, and also explore the relationships between art museums andmodern contemporarysociety, moderneducation system, moderncultural communication and dissemination, and so on, from cultural principle, collection features, public expectations, education method, andmanagement and operation mode, and other aspects. On the other hand, from the point of view of university and modern cultural education, we expect to place art museums in a broad social background and cultural context with modern cultural ideas, cultural and educational vision, academic and scientific methods as well as new knowledge structure, so as to exploit the broadpossibility of the openart museum.
From the pattern and status quo of the development of international art museums, China is still in its infancy phrase, and even ill-prepared at a certain level, such as in its ideologyunderstanding, funding, and social attention. Therefore, the construction of the university art museum is related to the strategic planning of university education, the overall academic distribution, and even the revived humanistic spirit.
Central Academy of Fine Arts has built an internationally world-class art museum, which has attracted wide attention at home and abroad. Being an art museum thathas brought CAFA a glory with its architectural landscape., Hhow toit develops and becomes an important research field of art (history), how toit promotes public art education, and how toit combines university education and participate in the contemporary artistic practice, have become the missionand responsibilities of CAFA Art Museum in its strategic developmentas well as its own responsibilities.
For this purpose, the publication of “University & Art Museum” is dedicated to such cultural mission and academic objective., Llet us work together in this direction and contribute our strength and wisdom.
Written in 2010, Chinese Mid-Autumn Festival
Wang Huangsheng
