论民国月份牌广告画中女性形象的演变

On the changes of female images in calendar posters in the Republic of China(1912-1949)

民国月份牌广告画藉由商业美术设计策略汇流到现代文明的商品体系中,进而参与了当时乌托邦语境的建构。文章将20世纪30年代作为月份牌广告画发展中的分水岭,以其中的女性题材类型为基础,分别围绕服饰、发式及商品符号版式中的女性形象演变进行现象梳理和背景成因分析。研究表明:画中女性服饰历经衫袄裙装(裤装)配布鞋(高跟鞋)到改良旗袍或其他新式服装配高跟鞋的演变,女性发式由前刘海式与束发结簪逐步更替为短发和烫发;在商品符号版式方面呈现出女性和商品符号由分离到逐步融合的过程。基于民国月份牌美女广告画的商业功能和消费主义本质,上述女性形象的变化受到服饰裁剪技术、社会意识形态和社会运动等多方因素的影响,既是对时尚潮流的回应,也是借鉴相关艺术类型并藉由商业美术设计策略呈现消费文化环境、勾勒所谓现代生活乌托邦的结果。

The earliest recorded modern calendar poster appeared in the 15^(th) year of the Guangxu period of the Qing Dynasty.As is specifically written in Collection Selection edited by Shanghai Library,up to now,this is the earliest modern calendar poster that can be found and it was printed by Shenpao Building.The calendar posters experienced the process of the weakening of folklore and the strengthening of commerciality,and the function of advertising commodity information and advertising posters is increasingly prominent.From the beginning of the Republic of China to the 1940s,the most popular figures on the calendar posters were innocent female students and modern girls who greatly showed the new style of the times and modern citizens aesthetic style.On the basis of feminine subject type,the paper combs out the characteristics,evolution and background factors of female images in terms of clothing,hairstyle and commodity symbols,which is aimed to reveal the consumerism essence of Shanghai calendar posters and consider the enlightenment for today’s commercial advertising design from aspects of fashion culture communication,female images,commodity symbols and layout,etc.This article applies the design sociology,analyzes from the design phenomenon to the three elements of human,nature and society and adopts the method of subject types including data statistics,comparison and qualitative analysis,conducting an in-depth,systematic research on the evolution of the female image and its background causes.Two significant conclusions are drawn:i)The increasing female figures in the calendar posters who were dressed in clothing convenient for movements and easy to show their body in the Republic of China era,and a growing amount of female figures with neat short hair and fashionable perm,as well as the increasing format integrating commodity information and female images all expressed their commercial function in promoting products,company image,urban upstart life taste and stimulating the consumption desire.Thus,merchants employed fashionable beauties of all times to endorse products,attract audiences,and put up the advertisement all over the coastal cities and surrounding market towns,so as to enhance the effectiveness of commodity publicity and provide audiences with an imagination of modern life.On the other hand,the audience captured the popular information of the times from the consumerism field composed of commodities and beauties,realizing the imagination of modern life in their minds and achieving the transformation of consumption from objects to images.The essence of consumerism contained in the calendar posters with beauties outlined the aesthetic picture of the modern Chinese society about modernity imagination,which determined that what it presented was not a comprehensive and real scene of urban life,but a real illusion in the floating world.ii)The creative approach which was aimed at giving play to the commercial value and satisfying the secular aesthetic also laid hidden dangers for the later development of the calendar posters in the Republic of China.From the late 1930s to the 1940s,the frequent appearance of kitsch and pornography directly led to the gradual loss of healthy spirits and eventual decline of the calendar posters with beauties.The rise and fall of calendar posters with beauties in the Republic of China has provided certain enlightenment for today’s commercial advertisement design:How to formulate appropriate subjects and character images according to the characteristics of the commodity to stimulate consumption and spread a healthy aesthetic;how to coordinate the composition relationship between product information and figures in the poster,so as to create the field of fashion consumption and outline the beautiful life vision for the audience at the same time.All of these questions should be further explored in today’s design world.The paper conducts a sample selection and subject classification of calendar posters with beauties from the beginning of the Republic of China to the 1940s,and the characteristics and changes of female images are analyzed by means of data column and comparison.From the perspective of commercial symbol layout design,this paper explores the characteristics of female image and the commercial art design strategy behind the changes and reveals the consumerism essence in the calendar posters in the Republic of China.The study of the evolution of the female images in the Chinese calendar posters and their rise and decline can further inspire the current commercial advertising design field to balance relations between stimulating consumption and spread healthy aesthetic and between creating the field of fashion consumption and outlining the vision of a better life.