Product Code Database
Chinese painting () is one of the oldest continuous artistic traditions in the world. Painting in the traditional style is known today in Chinese as , meaning "national painting" or "native painting", as opposed to Western styles of art which became popular in China in the 20th century. It is also called danqing (hp=dān qīng). Traditional painting involves essentially the same techniques as calligraphy and is done with a brush dipped in black ink or Chinese pigment; oils are not used. As with calligraphy, the most popular materials on which paintings are made are paper and silk. The finished work can be mounted on scrolls, such as or . Traditional painting can also be done on album sheets, walls, lacquerware, , and other media.
The two main techniques in Chinese painting are:
Landscape painting was regarded as the highest form of Chinese painting, and generally still is.Rawson, 112 The time from the Five Dynasties period to the Northern Song period (907–1127) is known as the "Great age of Chinese landscape". In the north, artists such as Jing Hao, Li Cheng, Fan Kuan, and Guo Xi painted pictures of towering mountains, using strong black lines, ink wash, and sharp, dotted brushstrokes to suggest rough stone. In the south, Dong Yuan, Juran, and other artists painted the rolling hills and rivers of their native countryside in peaceful scenes done with softer, rubbed brushwork. These two kinds of scenes and techniques became the classical styles of Chinese landscape painting.
Artists from the Han dynasty (206 BC – 220 AD) to the Tang dynasty (618–906) dynasties mainly painted the human figure. Much of what we know of early Chinese figure painting comes from burial sites, where paintings were preserved on silk banners, lacquered objects, and tomb walls. Many early tomb paintings were meant to protect the dead or help their souls to get to paradise. Others illustrated the teachings of the Chinese philosopher Confucius or showed scenes of daily life.
During the Six Dynasties period (220–589), people began to appreciate painting for its own beauty and to write about art. From this time we begin to learn about individual artists, such as Gu Kaizhi. Even when these artists illustrated Confucian moral themes – such as the proper behavior of a wife to her husband or of children to their parents – they tried to make the figures graceful.
.
The "Six principles of Chinese painting" were established by Xie He, a writer, art historian and critic in 5th century China, in "Six points to consider when judging a painting" (繪畫六法, Pinyin: Huìhuà Liùfǎ), taken from the preface to his book "The Record of the Classification of Old Painters" (古畫品錄; Pinyin: Gǔhuà Pǐnlù). Keep in mind that this was written circa 550 CE and refers to "old" and "ancient" practices. The six elements that define a painting are:
Most of the Tang artists outlined figures with fine black lines and used brilliant color and elaborate detail. However, one Tang artist, the master Wu Daozi, used only black ink and freely painted brushstrokes to create ink paintings that were so exciting that crowds gathered to watch him work. From his time on, ink paintings were no longer thought to be preliminary sketches or outlines to be filled in with color. Instead, they were valued as finished works of art.
Beginning in the Tang dynasty, many paintings were Landscape art, often Shan shui (山水, "mountain water") paintings. In these landscapes, monochrome and sparse (a style that is collectively called shuimohua), the purpose was not to reproduce the appearance of nature exactly (realism) but rather to grasp an emotion or atmosphere, as if catching the "rhythm" of nature.
A considerable amount of literary and documentary information about Tang painting has survived, but very few works, especially of the highest quality. A walled-up cave in the Mogao Caves complex at Dunhuang was discovered by Sir Aurel Stein, which contained a vast haul, mostly of Buddhist writings, but also some banners and paintings, making much the largest group of paintings on silk to survive. These are now in the British Museum and elsewhere. They are not of court quality, but show a variety of styles, including those with influences from further west. As with sculpture, other survivals showing Tang style are in Japan, though the most important, at Nara, was very largely destroyed in a fire in 1949. The rock-cut cave complexes and royal tombs also contain many wall-paintings. Court painting mostly survives in what are certainly or arguably copies from much later.
There was a significant difference in painting trends between the Northern Song period (960–1127) and Southern Song period (1127–1279). The paintings of Northern Song officials were influenced by their political ideals of bringing order to the world and tackling the largest issues affecting the whole of society; their paintings often depicted huge, sweeping landscapes.Ebrey, Cambridge Illustrated History of China, 163. During the Northern Song, landscape paintings had political significance and were used by the court to emphasize its strength and authority with the symbolism of grand landscapes. The Northern Song court commissioned enormous landscapes which it used in support of its rites.
Southern Song officials were more interested in reforming society from the bottom up and on a much smaller scale, a method they believed had a better chance for eventual success; their paintings often focused on smaller, visually closer, and more intimate scenes, while the background was often depicted as bereft of detail as a realm without concern for the artist or viewer. This change in attitude from one era to the next stemmed largely from the rising influence of Neo-Confucianism philosophy. Adherents to Neo-Confucianism focused on reforming society from the bottom up, not the top down, which can be seen in their efforts to promote small private academies during the Southern Song instead of the large state-controlled academies seen in the Northern Song era.Walton, 199.
Ever since the Southern and Northern dynasties (420–589), painting had become an art of high sophistication that was associated with the gentry class as one of their main artistic pastimes, the others being calligraphy and poetry.Ebrey, 81–83. During the Song dynasty there were avid art collectors that would often meet in groups to discuss their own paintings, as well as rate those of their colleagues and friends. The poet and statesman Su Shi (1037–1101) and his accomplice Mi Fu (1051–1107) often partook in these affairs, borrowing art pieces to study and copy, or if they really admired a piece then an exchange was often proposed.Ebrey, 163. They created a new kind of art based upon the three perfections in which they used their skills in calligraphy (the art of beautiful writing) to make ink paintings. From their time onward, many painters strove to freely express their feelings and to capture the inner spirit of their subject instead of describing its outward appearance. The small round paintings popular in the Southern Song were often collected into albums as poets would write poems along the side to match the theme and mood of the painting.
Although they were avid art collectors, some Song scholars did not readily appreciate artworks commissioned by those painters found at shops or common marketplaces, and some of the scholars even criticized artists from renowned schools and academies. Anthony J. Barbieri-Low, a professor of early Chinese history at the University of California, Santa Barbara, points out that Song scholars' appreciation of art created by their peers was not extended to those who made a living simply as professional artists:Barbieri-Low (2007), 39–40.
During the Northern Song (960–1126 CE), a new class of scholar-artists emerged who did not possess the tromp l'œil skills of the academy painters nor even the proficiency of common marketplace painters. The literati's painting was simpler and at times quite unschooled, yet they would criticize these other two groups as mere professionals, since they relied on paid commissions for their livelihood and did not paint merely for enjoyment or self-expression. The scholar-artists considered that painters who concentrated on realistic depictions, who employed a colorful palette, or, worst of all, who accepted monetary payment for their work were no better than butchers or tinkers in the marketplace. They were not to be considered real artists.
However, during the Song period, there were many acclaimed court painters and they were highly esteemed by emperors and the royal family. One of the greatest landscape painters given patronage by the Song court was Zhang Zeduan (1085–1145), who painted the original Along the River During the Qingming Festival scroll, one of the most well-known masterpieces of Chinese visual art. Emperor Gaozong of Song (1127–1162) once commissioned an art project of numerous paintings for the Eighteen Songs of a Nomad Flute, based on the woman poet Cai Wenji (177–250 AD) of the earlier Han dynasty. Yi Yuanji achieved a high degree of realism painting animals, in particular and .Robert van Gulik, "Gibbon in China. An essay in Chinese Animal Lore". The Hague, 1967. During the Southern Song period (1127–1279), court painters such as Ma Yuan and Xia Gui used strong black brushstrokes to sketch trees and rocks and pale washes to suggest misty space.
During the Mongol Yuan dynasty (1271–1368), painters joined the arts of painting, poetry, and calligraphy by inscribing poems on their paintings. These three arts worked together to express the artist's feelings more completely than one art could do alone. Yuan emperor Tugh Temur (r. 1328, 1329–1332) was fond of Chinese painting and became a creditable painter himself.
File:Three Friends of Winter by Zhao Mengjian.jpg|Three Friends of Winter depicting plum, pine and bamboo, still used for decoration during new year's by countries in the sinosphere
File:Guo Zhongshu-Traveling on the River in Snow.jpg| Traveling on the River in Snow. Extremely intricate details give historians insight into medieval Chinese shipbuilding.
File:北宋 徽宗 竹禽圖 卷-Finches and bamboo MET DP151504.jpg|Emperor Huizong of Song was a prolific painter
File:Li Anzhong's Bird on a Branch.gif|Li Anzhong's Bird on a Branch; it has a circular shape because this was initially painted for a Tuanshan.
File:名绘集珍册 9 宋 李迪 春潮带雨.jpg| The Spring Tide Brings Rain by Li Di
File:Ma Lin Guests.jpg|Tuanshan painting by Ma Lin
File:Ma Yuan-Banquet by Lantern Light.jpg|Ma Yuan's Banquet by the Lanterns
File:雪景图轴.传宋.马远.画.纸本设色.台北故宫博物院藏.jpg| Snowscape by Ma Yuan
File:Ma Yuan - Dancing and Singing- Peasants Returning from Work.jpg| Dancing and Singing Peasants Returning from Work
File:Ma Yuan - Dancing and Singing- Peasants Returning from Work - Detail 1.jpg|Architectural details of the previous work
File:Li Di-Shrike on a Winter Tree.jpg| Shrike on a tree in winter; 1187 AD.
File:Cui Bai - Wintry Sparrows.jpg| Wintry Sparrows by Cui Bai
File:One Hundred Children Playing in the Spring.jpg|"One Hundred Children Playing in the Spring" by Su Hanchen((1094–1172))
File:The Knickknack Peddler.jpg|The Knickknack Peddler by Su Hanchen; depictions of common life became a popular motif during the prosperous years of the Song dynasty
The first books illustrated with colored woodcuts appeared around this time; as color-printing techniques were perfected, illustrated manuals on the art of painting began to be published. Jieziyuan Huazhuan (Manual of the Mustard Seed Garden), a five-volume work first published in 1679, has been in use as a technical textbook for artists and students ever since.
Some painters of the Ming dynasty (1368–1644) continued the traditions of the Yuan scholar-painters. This group of painters, known as the Wu School, was led by the artist Shen Zhou. Another group of painters, known as the Zhe School, revived and transformed the styles of the Song court.
During the early Qing dynasty (1644–1911), painters known as Individualists rebelled against many of the traditional rules of painting and found ways to express themselves more directly through free brushwork. In the 18th and 19th centuries, great commercial cities such as Yangzhou and Shanghai became art centers where wealthy merchant-patrons encouraged artists to produce bold new works. However, similar to the phenomenon of key lineages producing, many well-known artists came from established artistic families. Such families were concentrated in the Jiangnan region and produced painters such as Ma Quan, Jiang Tingxi, and Yun Zhu.
It was also during this period when Chinese trade painters emerged. Taking advantage of British and other European traders in popular port cities such as Canton, these artists created works in the Western style particularly for Western traders. Known as Chinese export paintings, the trade thrived throughout the Qing dynasty.
In the late 19th and 20th centuries, Chinese painters were increasingly exposed to Western art. Some artists who studied in Europe rejected Chinese painting; others tried to combine the best of both traditions. Among the most beloved modern painters was Qi Baishi, who began life as a poor peasant and became a great master. His best-known works depict flowers and small animals.
In the early years of the PRC, artists were encouraged to employ socialist realism. Some Soviet Union socialist realism was imported without modification, and painters were assigned subjects and expected to mass-produce paintings. Following the model of the Soviet Union, the early PRC endorsed historical oil painting and the state commissioned many artistic works in this style to represent the new nation by depicting major battles and other events leading the country's proclamation. In this period, critics took a negative stance towards the guohua painting style.
This regimen was considerably relaxed in 1953, and after the Hundred Flowers Campaign of 1956–57, traditional Chinese painting experienced a significant revival. By the mid-1950s, relations between China and the Soviet Union were deteriorating, and Mao Zedong was increasingly eager for China to establish its own national path. Propaganda campaigns began to promote the re-adoption of traditional art styles as suitable for depicting modern social relations. The New Guohua Campaign asked painters to modernize the traditional style (which had historically been exclusive to China's ruling class) to portray the PRC's landscape. The traditional landscape form and techniques were largely retained, but new elements like the increased use of the color red and the incorporation of modern vehicles and cable lines were intended to convey socialist modernity.
Along with these developments in professional art circles, there was a proliferation of peasant art depicting everyday life in the rural areas on wall murals and in open-air painting exhibitions. During the Great Leap Forward, authorities promoted the Peasant Painting Movement, from which hundreds of thousands of new artists emerged. As part of this Movement, peasant artists decorated village walls with Great Leap Forward-themed murals. The Great Leap Forward also prompted a second wave of the New Guohua Campaign in which the state commissioned landscape artists to paint new production projects; select paintings of the campaign were taught in schools, published widely as propaganda posters, exhibited in museums, and used as the backdrops of state events.
During the Cultural Revolution, art schools were closed, and publication of art journals and major art exhibitions ceased. Major destruction was also carried out as part of the elimination of Four Olds campaign. During the Cultural Revolution, the spread of peasant paintings in rural China became one of the newborn things celebrated in a socialist society.
After Chinese economic reform, more and more artists boldly conducted innovations in Chinese painting. The innovations include: development of new brushing skill such as vertical direction splash water and ink, with representative artist Tiancheng Xie, creation of new style by integration traditional Chinese and Western painting techniques such as Heaven Style painting, with representative artist Shaoqiang Chen, and new styles that express contemporary theme and typical nature scene of certain regions such as Lijiang Painting Style, with representative artist Gesheng Huang. A 2008 set of paintings by Cai Jin, most well known for her use of psychedelic art colors, showed influences of both Western and traditional Chinese sources, though the paintings were organic abstractions.
A Thousand Miles of Rivers and Mountains by Wang Ximeng, celebrates the imperial patronage and builds up a bridge that ties the later emperors, Huizong, Shenzong with their ancestors, Taizu and Taizong. The water mill in this painting, unlike that is painted in previous Shanghai scroll to be solid and weighted, it is painted to be ambiguous and vague to match up with the court taste of that time. The painting reflects a slow pace and peaceful idyllic style of living. Located deeply in a village, the water mill is driven by the force of a huge, vertical waterwheel which is powered by a sluice gate. The artist seems to be ignorance towards hydraulic engineering since he only roughly drew out the mechanism of the whole process. A Thousand Miles of Rivers and Mountainspainted by Wang Ximeng, a court artist taught directly by Huizong himself. Thus, the artwork A Thousand Miles of Rivers and Mountainsshould directly review the taste of the imperial taste of the landscape painting. Combining richness bright blue and turquoise pigments heritage from Tang dynasty with the vastness and solemn space and mountains from Northern Song, the scroll is a perfect representation of imperial power and aesthetic taste of the aristocrats.
Emperor Huizong personally painted a painting called Birds in a blossom wax-plum tree, features with two "hoary headed birds," "Baitou weng" resting on a tree branch together. "Baitou" in Chinese culture is allusion to faithful love and marriage. In a well-known love poem, it wrote: "I wish for a lover in whose heart I alone exist, unseparated even our heads turn hoary." During Huizong's rule, literati rebus is embedded in court painting academy and became part of the test routine to enter the imperial court. During Song dynasty, the connection between painters and literati, paintings and poem is closer.
The donkey rider in the painting Travelers in a wintry forest by Li Cheng is assumed to be a portrait painting of Meng Haoran, "a tall and lanky man dressed in a scholar plain robe, riding on a small horse followed by a young servant." Except Meng Haoran, other famous people for example, Ruan Ji, one of the seven sages of the Bamboo Grove and Du Fu, a younger contemporary of Meng are also depicted as donkey rider. Tang dynasty poets Jia Dao and Li He and early Song dynasty elites Pan Lang, Wang Anshi appears on the paintings as donkey rider. North Song poets Lin Bu and Su Shi are lately depicted as donkey rider. In this specific painting Travelers in a wintry forest, the potential candidates for the donkey rider are dismissed and the character can only be Meng Haoran. Meng Haoran has made more than two hundred poems in his life but none of them is related with donkey ride. Depicting him as a donkey rider is a historical invention and Meng represents a general persona than an individual character. Ruan Ji was depicted as donkey rider since he decided to escape the office life and went back to the wilderness. The donkey he was riding is representing his poverty and eccentricity. Du Fu was portrayed as the rider to emphasis his failure in office achievement and also his poor living condition. Meng Haoran, similar to those two figures, disinterested in office career and acted as a pure scholar in the field of poem by writing real poems with real experience and real emotional attachment with the landscape. The donkey rider is said to travel through time and space. The audience are able to connect with the scholars and poets in the past by walking on the same route as those superior ancestors have gone on. Besides the donkey rider, there is always a bridge for the donkey to across. The bridge is interpreted to have symbolic meaning that represents the road which hermits depart from capital city and their official careers and go back to the natural world.
The main walls of the government office, also called walls of the "Jade Hall," meaning the residence of the immortals in Taoism are decorated by decorative murals. Most educated and respected scholars were selected and given the title xueshi. They were divided into groups in helping the Instituted of Literature and were described as descending from the immortals. Xueshi are receiving high social status and doing carefree jobs. Lately, the xueshi yuan, the place where xueshi lives, became the permanent government institution that helped the emperor to make imperial decrees.
During Tang dynasty reign of Emperor Xianzong (805–820), the west wall of the xueshi yuan was covered by murals depicting dragon-like mountain scene. In 820–822, immortal animals like Mount Ao, flying cranes, and , a kind of immortal birds were added to the murals. Those immortal symbols all indicate that the xueshi yuan as eternal existing government office.
During Song dynasty, the xueshi yuan was modified and moved with the dynasty to the new capital Hangzhou in 1127. The mural painted by Song artist Dong yu, closely followed the tradition of the Tang dynasty in depicting the misty sea surrounding the immortal mountains. The scenery on the walls of the Jade Hall which full of mist clouds and mysterious land is closely related to Taoism tradition. When Yan Su, a painter followed the style of Li Cheng, was invited to paint the screen behind the seat of the emperor, he included elaborated constructed pavilions, mist clouds and mountain landscape painting in his work. The theme of his painting is suggesting the immortal realm which accord with the entire theme of the Jade Hall provides to its viewer the feeling of otherworldliness. Another painter, Guo Xi made another screen painting for emperor Shenzong, depicting mountains in spring in a harmonized atmosphere. The image also includes immortal elements Mount Tianlao which is one of the realms of the immortals. In his painting, Early Spring, the strong branches of the trees reflects the life force of the living creatures and implying the emperor's benevolent rule.
During the Tang dynasty, artists slowly began to appreciate the beauty of a woman's body (shinu). Artist Zhang Xuan produced a painting named palace women listening to music that captured women's elegance and pretty faces. However, women were still being depicted as submissive and ideal within the male system.
During the Song dynasty, as the love poem emerged, the images associated with those love stories were made as attractive as possible to meet the taste of the male viewers.
During the Han dynasty, the mountains appeared in the design of the artworks shows the prevalence role of mountain in Han society. The emperor would climb on to the mountain to sacrifice and religion practice because mountains are thought to have connection between earth and heaven and can link human with spirits and immortals. And sometimes, mountains are depicted as mystical mountains" (shenshan), where sages and legendary animals settled. Hence, landscape painting is used as an object for Taoism practice which provide visualize form for religious ritual. During the Six Dynasties period, the landscape painting experienced a stylistic change which myth and poem depiction were introduced into the painting. For example, in Ku Kai-chih's "Nymph of the river" scroll and "The Admonitions of the Court Preceptress", audience are able to read narrative description and text accompanied by visualized images.
Furthermore, in Buddhism, the mountain also has an important role in religious practice. From an iconographical point of view, a Buddha's image is used in helping a believer to practice meditation. For instance, Buddha's reflection image, or shadow, is assimilated with the image of a mountain, Lushan. This assimilation is also recorded in a poem by poet from the Six Dynasties period who pointed out that the beauty and numinosity of the mountain can elevate the spiritual connection between human being and the spirits. Thus, the landscape painting come into display Buddha's image in people's everyday ritual practice. Hui-yuan described in his poem that "Lushan seems to mirror the divine appearance" which unifies the two images—the true image and the reflection of Buddha. Moreover, spiritual elevation can be achieved by contemplating in front of landscape painting which depict the same mountain and path those old sages have been to. The painting contains both the spiritual force (ling) and the truth (li) of Buddha and also the objects that no longer physically presence. Hui-Yuan's famous image is closely relation with its landscape scene indicating the trend of transformation from Buddha image to landscape painting as a religious practice.
Landscape painting evolved under the influence of Taoist who fled from civil turbulence and prosecution of the government and went back to the wilderness. However, the development of Taoism was hindered by Han dynasty. During Han dynasty, the empire expanded and enlarged its political and economic influence. Hence, the Taoism's anti-social belief was disfavored by the imperial government. Han rulers only favored portrait painting which enabled their image to be perpetuate and their civilians to see and to memorize their great leaders or generals. Landscape at that time only focus on the trees for literary or talismanic value. The usage of landscape painting as ornament is suspects to be borrowed from other societies outside Han empire during its expansion to the Near East. Landscape and animal scene began to appear on the jars, but the decoration has little to do with connection with the natural world. Also, there is evidence showing that the emerging of landscape painting is not derived from map-making.
During the Three Kingdoms and Six Dynasties, landscape painting began to have connection with literati and the production of poems. Taoism influence on people's appreciation of landscaping deceased and nature worshipping superseded. However, Taoist still used landscape painting in their meditation just as Confucius uses portrait painting in their ritual practice. (Ku Kai Chih's admonitions) During this time period, the landscape painting is more coherence with variation trees, rocks and branches. Moreover, the painting is more elaborated and organized. The evolution in landscape painting during the Six Dynasties is that artists harmonized sprit with the nature. (Wu Tao-tzu) Buddhism might also contribute in affecting changes in landscape painting. The artists began to show space and depth in their works where they showed mountain mass, distanced hills and clouds. The emptiness of the space is helping the believers meditating to enter the space of emptiness and nothingness.
The most important development in landscape painting is that people came to recognize the infinity variation of the nature world, so they tended to make each tree individualized. Every landscape painting is restricted by storytelling and is dependent on artists memory.
The two examples in this case:
The Changjiang Wan Li Tu, although the date and the authorship are not clear, the painting is believed to be made in Song dynasty by examining the place names recorded on the painting. Only based on the name of this painting, it is hard to distinguish whether this painting is painted as a landscape painting or as a map.
The Shu Chuan Shenggai was once thought as the product done by North Song artist Li Gonglin, however, later evidence disapproved this thought and proposed the date should be changed to the end of South Song and artist remains unknown.
Both those paintings, aiming to enhance viewers appreciation on the beauty and majesty of landscape painting, focusing on the light condition and conveying certain attitude, are characterized as masterpiece of art rather than map.
|
|
