| Transcript |
- perfections: poetry, calligraphy and painting, it should be difficult to differentiate which of the three is most important.
Chinese painting is an art of painting on silk or paper, mounted on rollers and forming ver�tical or horizontal scrolls. The vertical or hang�ing scrolls (zhou) unroll from top to bottom, while the horizontal scrolls or hand scrolls (shou chuan), which are sometimes several metres long, unroll from right to left, section by section. The latter was never meant to be hung, it was usually rolled up and stored away to be brought out only when friends deemed worthy of appre�ciating it were gathered together. As they are unrolled, just several centimetres at a time, they slowly lead the viewer through an ever-changing panoramic landscape.
A Chinese artist may also decide to paint a small album picture which can be circular, square or fan-shaped.
Chinese painting became, for the most part, the preserve of an aloof and independent class, that of the scholar-gentlemen or literati (wen ren) who from childhood were taught and trained with a masterly dexterity of the brush.
Because they came from wealthy families, they had the immense advantage of having a long and arduous training which was necessary to master both calligraphy and painting. These literati painters liked to use their paintings as a vehicle to unburden their moments of depres�sion and as a means of expressing their thoughts and emotions. They did not confine their self- expression to painting but sought outlets also in music, poetry and calligraphy.
Chinese painting has had a prolonged period of historical evolution. In ancient times, images were painted on ceramics and on walls. The earliest paintings on silk so far discovered date to the fifth-third centuries B.C. As the art developed, silk became the most favoured mate�rial, though paper had also been in use since the Han dynasty (206 B.C. - A.D. 220). During the Han, painting came under official sponsor�ship.
The Six Dynasties period (222-589) marked the birth of Chinese landscape painting. Land�scape painting was further developed under the Tang dynasty (618-907), and by the Song dynasty (960-1279), it reached its full flowering.
During the Song, two schools evolved. There was the Northern school of landscape painting, which was characterized by dramatic boldness, using heavy sharp strokes and contrasting light
and dark shades, and the Southern school, which stressed serenity, delicacy and harmony.
The strong lyrical rhythm of the painting of this period was almost like a piece of music which invited the spectator to roam through the misty landscape and experience it with the artist. The styles and forms of Song landscape paint�ing multiplied, and colour inside outlines gave way to ink-wash painting, which means applying colours without drawing the ink outlines. This type of painting shows more life and vividness, for nature itself does not have an outline.
Many art historians feel that painting of the Song period reached a level of perfection that was not to be surpassed in the succeeding dynas�ties. In later periods, the stylistic and theoretical equipment was constantly elaborated and en�riched, but when examined closely, the paintings show that the fundamental attitude of the Song still remained unaltered.
Some of the most outstanding Song painters were Li Cheng, Fan Kuan, Guo Xi, Dong Yuan, Ju Ran, Li Gonglin [ 1 ], Ma Yuan and Xia Gui.
The magnificent development of Song paint�ing owes much to imperial patronage, particu�larly to the establishment of the Academy of Painting, which laid the essential foundation for later Academican or Court traditions in Chinese painting. Following the takeover of the Mongol Yuan dynasty (1271-1368), this type of imperial patronage became much less. With the upper ranks of society failing to promote art, it fell to scholars and thoughtful people to keep the flame alive. Therefore, it was not surprising that the scholar-amateur or literati painting tradition flourished and came to the forefront. It became a real liberation from the traditional Court style, and from that time onward it was the most exciting and innovative painting tradition in China.
Amongst the greatest painters of the Yuan dynasty were Huang Gongwang, Wang Meng, Ni Zan, Wu Zhen, Zhao Mengfu [2] and Qian Xuan.
After the lean years of the Yuan dynasty, the new rulers of the Ming dynasty (1368-1644) tried to restore traditional values and institu�tions, which also meant the re-establishment of the practice of summoning painters to serve at court. These court painters came to be known as the Zhe school. They sought inspiration from the classic landscape painters of the Southern Song period with their misty distances and angular brushstrokes. They were considered pro�
|
|---|
