Continuation and Transmutation: Research on Modern Landscape Aesthetics Based on the Historical Image and Text Materials of the Pictorial Young Companion (1926–1945)

The third turning point in the development process of Chinese gardens occurred in modern times. The research on modern landscape aesthetics characteristics and the social dynamic mechanism thereof has positive significance for an in-depth understanding of the modernization process of landscape aesthetics. Based on the pictorial Young Companion, this research establishes a library of historical image and text materials for modern landscape from such aspects as reporting genre and landscape type. It summarizes the continuation and evolution of modern landscape in terms of aesthetic subject, aesthetic expression and aesthetic object. Specifically, in terms of aesthetic subject, pictorials are typically prepared by a group of elites following the purpose of education and culture, thus promoting the development and popularization of modern landscape aesthetics; in terms of aesthetic expression, the expression of artistic conception combining poetry and painting is still an essential way of expression for pictorials, but due to the influence of Western ideas and new technologies, objective and rational images and texts are adopted for landscape reporting, thus stimulating the rationalization trend of landscape aesthetics; in terms of aesthetic object, pictorials still pay great attention to traditional culture, but in the process of modernization, the objects of landscape aesthetics become increasingly diverse and are endowed with meanings of education, health and national consciousness. The excavation of the modern landscape aesthetic characteristics can help deepen the understanding of modern landscape construction ideas, and provide a reference for identifying and conserving modern landscape resources and heritage.