A Study of Deng Shi’s “New Historiography” Thought on Fine Arts

Modern Chinese “new historiography” has both maintained close ties with the fine arts and exerted a significant influence on their development. Currently, there is a lack of specific case studies on the relationship between modern Chinese history and art. Additionally, research and reflection on the ideas and problems arising from the interaction between modern history and art still have room for improvement. This paper focuses on modern historian Deng Shi. Through an analysis of his activities in the field of fine arts, the paper expounds on his views on history and fine arts and discusses how his ideas on fine arts were formed in the context of the new historiography movement. It reflects on the relationship between modern history and fine arts and analyzes the logic behind the formation of modern Chinese art history. In this regard, this paper adopts an interdisciplinary research methodology to examine the evolution of modern art history and artistic production through the lens of modern historiography, while also incorporating the perspectives and conceptual contributions of art scholars. Concurrently, employing a dual approach of historical text interpretation and close reading methods, this paper offers an interpretation of the historical texts of modern scholars, thereby restoring the historical context and examining Deng Shi's academic views on art and their underlying internal causes. This paper argues that: the combination of modern history and fine arts has not only deepened the connotation of fine arts and promoted the updating of the research methodology of fine arts history, but has also led to a certain extent to the deviation of the value orientation of fine arts research, but on the whole, the combination of history and fine arts has far-reaching significance for the development of modern Chinese fine arts history.