Chinese Paintings
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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'' (). Traditional painting involves essentially the same techniques as
calligraphy Calligraphy () is a visual art related to writing. It is the design and execution of lettering with a pen, ink brush, or other writing instruments. Contemporary calligraphic practice can be defined as "the art of giving form to signs in an e ...
and is done with a brush dipped in black ink or coloured pigments; 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
hanging scroll A hanging scroll is one of the many traditional ways to display and exhibit East Asian painting and calligraphy. They are different from handscrolls, which are narrower and designed to be viewed flat on a table. Hanging scrolls are generally i ...
s or
handscroll The handscroll is a long, narrow, horizontal scroll format in East Asia used for calligraphy or paintings. A handscroll usually measures up to several meters in length and around 25–40 cm in height. Handscrolls are generally viewed startin ...
s. Traditional painting can also be done on album sheets, walls,
lacquerware Lacquerware are objects decoratively covered with lacquer. Lacquerware includes small or large containers, tableware, a variety of small objects carried by people, and larger objects such as furniture and even coffins painted with lacquer. Before ...
,
folding screen A folding screen, also known as pingfeng (), is a type of free-standing furniture consisting of several frames or panels, which are often connected by hinges or by other means. They have practical and decorative uses, and can be made in a variet ...
s, and other media. The two main techniques in Chinese painting are: *
Gongbi ''Gongbi'' () is a careful realist technique in Chinese painting, the opposite of the interpretive and freely expressive '' xieyi'' (寫意 'sketching thoughts') style. The name is from the Chinese ''gong jin'' meaning 'tidy' (meticulous brush ...
(工筆), meaning "meticulous", uses highly detailed brushstrokes that delimit details very precisely. It is often highly colored and usually depicts figural or narrative subjects. It is often practiced by artists working for the royal court or in independent workshops. *
Ink and wash painting Ink wash painting ( zh, t=水墨畫, s=水墨画, p=shuǐmòhuà) is a type of Chinese ink brush painting which uses washes of black ink, such as that used in East Asian calligraphy, in different concentrations. It emerged during the Tang dynas ...
, in Chinese ''shuǐ-mò'' (水墨, "water and ink") also loosely termed watercolor or brush painting, and also known as "literati painting", as it was one of the "
four arts The four arts (), or the four arts of the Chinese scholar, were the four main academic and artistic talents required of the aristocratic ancient Chinese scholar-gentleman. They were the mastery of the ''qin'' (the guqin, a stringed instrument, ...
" of the Chinese
Scholar-official The scholar-officials, also known as literati, scholar-gentlemen or scholar-bureaucrats (), were government officials and prestigious scholars in Chinese society, forming a distinct social class. Scholar-officials were politicians and governmen ...
class. In theory this was an art practiced by gentlemen, a distinction that begins to be made in writings on art from the
Song dynasty The Song dynasty ( ) was an Dynasties of China, imperial dynasty of China that ruled from 960 to 1279. The dynasty was founded by Emperor Taizu of Song, who usurped the throne of the Later Zhou dynasty and went on to conquer the rest of the Fiv ...
, though in fact the careers of leading exponents could benefit considerably. This style is also referred to as "xieyi" (寫意) or freehand style.
Landscape painting Landscape painting, also known as landscape art, is the depiction in painting of natural scenery such as mountains, valleys, rivers, trees, and forests, especially where the main subject is a wide view—with its elements arranged into a cohe ...
was regarded as the highest form of Chinese painting, and generally still is. 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 Fan Zhongzheng (c. 960 – c. 1030), courtesy name Zhongli, better known by his pseudonym Fan Kuan (), was a Chinese landscape painter of the Song dynasty. He was both a Daoist and a Neo-Confucianist. ''Travelers among Mountains and Streams'', ...
, 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 Dong Yuan (, Gan: dung3 ngion4; c. 934 – c. 962) was a Chinese painter. He was born in Zhongling (钟陵; present-day Jinxian County, Jiangxi Province).Cihai: Page 599. Dong Yuan was active in the Southern Tang Kingdom of the Five Dynast ...
, 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.


Specifics and study

Chinese painting and calligraphy distinguish themselves from other cultures' arts by emphasis on motion and change with dynamic life. The practice is traditionally first learned by rote, in which the master shows the "right way" to draw items. The apprentice must copy these items strictly and continuously until the movements become instinctive. In contemporary times, debate emerged on the limits of this copyist tradition within modern art scenes where innovation is the rule. Changing lifestyles, tools, and colors are also influencing new waves of masters.


Early periods

The earliest paintings were not representational but ornamental; they consisted of patterns or designs rather than pictures. Early pottery was painted with spirals, zigzags, dots, or animals. It was only during the
Eastern Zhou The Eastern Zhou (256 BCE) is a period in Chinese history comprising the latter two-thirds of the Zhou dynasty. The period follows the Western Zhou era and is named due to the Zhou royal court relocating the capital eastward from Fenghao ...
(770–256 BC) that artists began to represent the world around them. In imperial times (beginning with the
Eastern Jin dynasty Eastern or Easterns may refer to: Transportation Airlines *China Eastern Airlines, a current Chinese airline based in Shanghai * Eastern Air, former name of Zambia Skyways *Eastern Air Lines, a defunct American airline that operated from 192 ...
), painting and
calligraphy Calligraphy () is a visual art related to writing. It is the design and execution of lettering with a pen, ink brush, or other writing instruments. Contemporary calligraphic practice can be defined as "the art of giving form to signs in an e ...
in China were among the most highly appreciated arts in the court and they were often practiced by amateurs—aristocrats and scholar-officials—who had the leisure time necessary to perfect the technique and sensibility necessary for great brushwork. Calligraphy and painting were thought to be the purest forms of art. The implements were the
brush pen A , also known as a brush pen, is a cartridge-based writing implement used in East Asian calligraphy; it is, in essence, a cross between an ink brush and a fountain pen.black ink India ink (British English: Indian ink; also Chinese ink) is a simple black or coloured ink once widely used for writing and printing and now more commonly used for drawing and outlining, especially when inking comic books and comic strips. I ...
s made from pine soot and
animal glue Animal glue is an adhesive that is created by prolonged boiling of animal connective tissue in a process called Rendering (animal products), rendering. In addition to being used as an adhesive, it is used for coating and sizing, in decorative co ...
. In ancient times, writing, as well as painting, was done on
silk Silk is a natural fiber, natural protein fiber, some forms of which can be weaving, woven into textiles. The protein fiber of silk is composed mainly of fibroin and is most commonly produced by certain insect larvae to form cocoon (silk), c ...
. However, after the invention of paper in the 1st century AD, silk was gradually replaced by the new and cheaper material. Original writings by famous calligraphers have been greatly valued throughout China's history and are mounted on scrolls and hung on walls in the same way that paintings are. Artists from the Han (206 BC – 220 AD) to the Tang (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 Confucius (; pinyin: ; ; ), born Kong Qiu (), was a Chinese philosopher of the Spring and Autumn period who is traditionally considered the paragon of Chinese sages. Much of the shared cultural heritage of the Sinosphere originates in the phil ...
or showed scenes of daily life. During the
Six Dynasties Six Dynasties (; 220–589 or 222–589) is a collective term for six Han-ruled Chinese dynasties that existed from the early 3rd century AD to the late 6th century AD, between the end of the Eastern Han dynasty and the beginning of the Sui ...
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 Gu Kaizhi (; c. 344–406), courtesy name Changkang (), was a Chinese painter and politician during the Eastern Jin dynasty (317–420). He was a celebrated painter of ancient China.Cihai: Page 1846. He was born in Wuxi and first painted at Nan ...
. 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. . File:Confucius, fresco from a Western Han tomb of Dongping County, Shandong province, China.jpg, Fresco of Confucius from the Western Han (202 BC – 9 AD) File:Mujeres Sabias y Benevolentes (detalle) por Ku K'ai-chih - Duque Yi de Wey.jpg, Close-up on another scroll by Gu Kaizhi. File:Dahuting tomb banquet scene with jugglers, Eastern Han Dynasty, mural.jpg, Wall painting from Dahuting tomb, c.2nd century AD File:Funerary panels, from the tomb of Sima Jinlong, 484 CE. Datong, Shanxi Province.jpg, Lacquer screens from the tomb of Sima Jinlong (420–484) File:Mural Worshipping Bodhisattva.jpg, Mural from the
Mogao caves The Mogao Caves, also known as the Thousand Buddha Grottoes or Caves of the Thousand Buddhas, form a system of 500 temples southeast of the center of Dunhuang, an oasis located at a religious and cultural crossroads on the Silk Road, in Gansu p ...
,
Western Wei Wei (), known in historiography as the Western Wei (), was an imperial dynasty of China that followed the disintegration of the Northern Wei. One of the Northern dynasties during the era of the Northern and Southern dynasties, it ruled the weste ...
, (535–556 A.D.) File:Dunhuang mural flying apsarasa.jpg,
Dunhuang Dunhuang () is a county-level city in northwestern Gansu Province, Western China. According to the 2010 Chinese census, the city has a population of 186,027, though 2019 estimates put the city's population at about 191,800. Sachu (Dunhuang) was ...
mural, mid-6th century


Six principles

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 Hanyu Pinyin, or simply pinyin, officially the Chinese Phonetic Alphabet, is the most common romanization system for Standard Chinese. ''Hanyu'' () literally means 'Han Chinese, Han language'—that is, the Chinese language—while ''pinyin' ...
: Huìhuà Liùfǎ), taken from the preface to his book "The Record of the Classification of Old Painters" (古畫品錄;
Pinyin Hanyu Pinyin, or simply pinyin, officially the Chinese Phonetic Alphabet, is the most common romanization system for Standard Chinese. ''Hanyu'' () literally means 'Han Chinese, Han language'—that is, the Chinese language—while ''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: # "Spirit Resonance", or vitality, which refers to the flow of energy that encompasses theme, work, and artist. Xie He said that without Spirit Resonance, there was no need to look further. # "Bone Method", or the way of using the brush, refers not only to texture and brush stroke, but to the close link between handwriting and personality. In his day, the art of calligraphy was inseparable from painting. # "Correspondence to the Object", or the depicting of form, which would include shape and line. # "Suitability to Type", or the application of color, including layers, value, and tone. # "Division and Planning", or placing and arrangement, corresponding to composition, space, and depth. # "Transmission by Copying", or the copying of models, not from life only but also from the works of antiquity.


Sui, Tang and Five dynasties (581–979)

During the
Tang dynasty The Tang dynasty (, ; zh, c=唐朝), or the Tang Empire, was an Dynasties of China, imperial dynasty of China that ruled from 618 to 907, with an Wu Zhou, interregnum between 690 and 705. It was preceded by the Sui dynasty and followed ...
, figure painting flourished at the royal court. Artists such as Zhou Fang depicted the splendor of court life in paintings of emperors, palace ladies, and imperial horses. Figure painting reached the height of elegant realism in the art of the court of Southern Tang (937–975). 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 A landscape is the visible features of an area of land, its landforms, and how they integrate with natural or human-made features, often considered in terms of their aesthetic appeal.''New Oxford American Dictionary''. A landscape includes th ...
s, often '' shanshui'' (山水, "mountain water") paintings. In these landscapes,
monochromatic A monochrome or monochromatic image, object or palette is composed of one color (or values of one color). Images using only shades of grey are called grayscale (typically digital) or black-and-white (typically analog). In physics, mon ...
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 The Mogao Caves, also known as the Thousand Buddha Grottoes or Caves of the Thousand Buddhas, form a system of 500 temples southeast of the center of Dunhuang, an oasis located at a religious and cultural crossroads on the Silk Road, in Gansu p ...
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 Japan is an island country in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean off the northeast coast of the Asia, Asian mainland, it is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan and extends from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea ...
, 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.


Song, Liao, Jin and Yuan dynasties (907–1368)

Painting during the Song dynasty (960–1279) reached a further development of landscape painting; immeasurable distances were conveyed through the use of blurred outlines, mountain contours disappearing into the mist, and impressionistic treatment of natural phenomena. The ''
shan shui ''Shan shui'' (; pronounced ) refers to a style of traditional Chinese painting that involves or depicts scenery or natural landscapes, using a brush and ink rather than more conventional paints. Mountains, rivers and waterfalls are comm ...
'' style painting—"shan" meaning mountain, and "shui" meaning river—became prominent in Chinese landscape art. The emphasis laid upon landscape was grounded in
Chinese philosophy Chinese philosophy (Simplified Chinese characters, simplified Chinese: 中国哲学; Traditional Chinese characters, traditional Chinese: 中國哲學) refers to the philosophical traditions that originated and developed within the historical ...
;
Taoism Taoism or Daoism (, ) is a diverse philosophical and religious tradition indigenous to China, emphasizing harmony with the Tao ( zh, p=dào, w=tao4). With a range of meaning in Chinese philosophy, translations of Tao include 'way', 'road', ' ...
stressed that humans were but tiny specks in the vast and greater cosmos, while Neo-Confucianist writers often pursued the discovery of patterns and principles that they believed caused all social and natural phenomena.Ebrey, ''Cambridge Illustrated History of China'', 162. The painting of portraits and closely viewed objects like birds on branches were held in high esteem, but landscape painting was paramount.Morton, 104. By the beginning of the Song dynasty a distinctive landscape style had emerged. Artists mastered the formula of intricate and realistic scenes placed in the foreground, while the background retained qualities of vast and infinite space. Distant mountain peaks rise out of high clouds and mist, while streaming rivers run from afar into the foreground.Morton, 105. 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-Confucian Neo-Confucianism (, often shortened to ''lǐxué'' 理學, literally "School of Principle") is a Morality, moral, Ethics, ethical, and metaphysics, metaphysical Chinese philosophy influenced by Confucianism, which originated with Han Yu (768 ...
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. Ever since the
Southern and Northern dynasties The Northern and Southern dynasties () was a period of political division in the history of China that lasted from 420 to 589, following the tumultuous era of the Sixteen Kingdoms and the Eastern Jin dynasty. It is sometimes considered as ...
(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 Su Shi ( zh, t=, s=苏轼, p=Sū Shì; 8 January 1037 – 24 August 1101), courtesy name Zizhan (), art name Dongpo (), was a Chinese poet, essayist, calligrapher, painter, scholar-official, literatus, artist, pharmacologist, and gastronome wh ...
(1037–1101) and his accomplice
Mi Fu Mi Fu (Chinese language, Chinese: 米芾; 1051–1107)Barnhart: 373. He was born with the name 米黻, also pronounced Mi Fu. His courtesy name was Yuanzhang (元章) with several sobriquets: Nangong (南宮), Lumen Jushi (鹿門居士), Xiang ...
(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 The three perfections () is a term referring to Chinese , , and understood and practiced as related endeavors. The earliest recorded mention known of "the three perfections" is found in The New Book of Tang, where the term is used to describe the ...
in which they used their skills in
calligraphy Calligraphy () is a visual art related to writing. It is the design and execution of lettering with a pen, ink brush, or other writing instruments. Contemporary calligraphic practice can be defined as "the art of giving form to signs in an e ...
(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 The University of California, Santa Barbara (UC Santa Barbara or UCSB) is a Public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Santa Barbara County, California, United States. Tracing its roots back to 1891 as an ...
, 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 A royal family is the immediate family of monarchs and sometimes their extended family. The term imperial family appropriately describes the family of an emperor or empress, and the term papal family describes the family of a pope, while th ...
. One of the greatest landscape painters given patronage by the Song court was
Zhang Zeduan Zhang Zeduan (; 1085–1145), courtesy name Zhengdao (), was a Chinese painter of the Song dynasty. He lived during the transitional period from the Northern Song to the Southern Song, and was instrumental in the early history of the Chinese la ...
(1085–1145), who painted the original ''
Along the River During the Qingming Festival ''Along the River During the Qingming Festival'' () is a handscroll painting by the Song dynasty painter Zhang Zeduan (1085–1145) and copied or recreated many times in the following centuries. It captures the daily life of people and the lan ...
'' scroll, one of the most well-known masterpieces of Chinese visual art.
Emperor Gaozong of Song } Emperor Gaozong of Song (12 June 11079 November 1187), personal name Zhao Gou, courtesy name Deji, was the tenth emperor of the Chinese Song dynasty and the first of the Southern Song dynasty, ruling between 1127 and 1162 and retaining power a ...
(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 Cai Yan ( 178 – post 206; or 170–215; or died  249), courtesy name Wenji, was a Chinese composer, poet, and writer who lived during the late Eastern Han dynasty of China. She was a daughter of Cai Yong. Her courtesy name was originall ...
(177–250 AD) of the earlier
Han dynasty The Han dynasty was an Dynasties of China, imperial dynasty of China (202 BC9 AD, 25–220 AD) established by Liu Bang and ruled by the House of Liu. The dynasty was preceded by the short-lived Qin dynasty (221–206 BC ...
. Yi Yuanji achieved a high degree of realism painting animals, in particular
monkey Monkey is a common name that may refer to most mammals of the infraorder Simiiformes, also known as simians. Traditionally, all animals in the group now known as simians are counted as monkeys except the apes. Thus monkeys, in that sense, co ...
s and
gibbon Gibbons () are apes in the family Hylobatidae (). The family historically contained one genus, but now is split into four extant genera and 20 species. Gibbons live in subtropical and tropical forests from eastern Bangladesh and Northeast Indi ...
s. During the Southern Song period (1127–1279), court painters such as
Ma Yuan Ma Yuan may refer to: * Ma Yuan (Han dynasty) (馬援; 14 BC – 49 AD), general of the Han dynasty * Ma Yuan (painter) (馬遠; 1160–1225), painter of the Song dynasty * Ma Yuan (judge) (:zh:馬原 (政治人物), 馬原; born 1930), a former V ...
and
Xia Gui Xia Gui (; fl. 1195–1224), courtesy name Yuyu (禹玉), was a Chinese landscape painter of the Song dynasty. Very little is known about his life, and only a few of his works survive, but he is generally considered one of China's greatest ...
used strong black brushstrokes to sketch trees and rocks and pale washes to suggest misty space. During the
Mongol Mongols are an East Asian ethnic group native to Mongolia, China (Inner Mongolia and other 11 autonomous territories), as well as the republics of Buryatia and Kalmykia in Russia. The Mongols are the principal member of the large family of M ...
Yuan dynasty The Yuan dynasty ( ; zh, c=元朝, p=Yuáncháo), officially the Great Yuan (; Mongolian language, Mongolian: , , literally 'Great Yuan State'), was a Mongol-led imperial dynasty of China and a successor state to the Mongol Empire after Div ...
(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 The Three Friends of Winter is an art motif that comprises the pine, bamboo, and plum. The Chinese celebrated the pine (松), bamboo (竹) and Chinese flowering plum (梅) together, for they observed that unlike many other plants these plants ...
depicting plum, pine and bamboo, still used for decoration during new year's by countries in the
sinosphere The Sinosphere, also known as the Chinese cultural sphere, East Asian cultural sphere, or the Sinic world, encompasses multiple countries in East Asia and Southeast Asia that were historically heavily influenced by Chinese culture. The Sinosph ...
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 Emperor Huizong of Song (7 June 1082 – 4 June 1135), personal name Zhao Ji, was the eighth emperor of the Song dynasty of China and the penultimate emperor of the Northern Song dynasty. He was also a very well-known painter, poet and calli ...
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 circular fan. 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, Circular-fan painting by Ma Lin File:Ma Yuan-Banquet by Lantern Light.jpg,
Ma Yuan Ma Yuan may refer to: * Ma Yuan (Han dynasty) (馬援; 14 BC – 49 AD), general of the Han dynasty * Ma Yuan (painter) (馬遠; 1160–1225), painter of the Song dynasty * Ma Yuan (judge) (:zh:馬原 (政治人物), 馬原; born 1930), a former V ...
'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


Late imperial China (1368–1895)

Beginning in the 13th century, the tradition of painting simple subjects—a branch with fruit, a few flowers, or one or two horses—developed. Narrative painting, with a wider color range and a much busier composition than Song paintings, was immensely popular during the Ming period (1368–1644). 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 Wu or Wumen School () is a group of painters of the Southern School during the Ming period of Chinese history. It was not an academy or educational institution, but rather a group united largely by the artistic theories of its members. Often cla ...
, was led by the artist
Shen Zhou Shen Zhou (, 1427–1509), courtesy names Qinan () and Shitian (), was a Chinese painting, Chinese painter in the Ming dynasty. He lived during the post-transition period of the Yuan conquest of the Ming. His family worked closely with the gove ...
. Another group of painters, known as the Zhe School, revived and transformed the styles of the Song court. During the early
Qing dynasty The Qing dynasty ( ), officially the Great Qing, was a Manchu-led Dynasties of China, imperial dynasty of China and an early modern empire in East Asia. The last imperial dynasty in Chinese history, the Qing dynasty was preceded by the ...
(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 Yangzhou is a prefecture-level city in central Jiangsu Province, East China. Sitting on the north bank of the Yangtze, it borders the provincial capital Nanjing to the southwest, Huai'an to the north, Yancheng to the northeast, Taizhou, Jiangsu, ...
and
Shanghai Shanghai, Shanghainese: , Standard Chinese pronunciation: is a direct-administered municipality and the most populous urban area in China. The city is located on the Chinese shoreline on the southern estuary of the Yangtze River, with the ...
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 Jiangnan is a geographic area in China referring to lands immediately to the south of the lower reaches of the Yangtze River, including the southern part of its delta. The region encompasses the city of Shanghai, the southern part of Jiangsu ...
region and produced painters such as Ma Quan,
Jiang Tingxi Jiang Tingxi (, 1669–1732Barnhart: Page 379.), courtesy name Yangsun (), was a Chinese painter, and an editor of the encyclopedia ''Complete Classics Collection of Ancient China''. Jiang was born in Changshu, Jiangsu. Besides the name Yang ...
, 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 The art of Europe, also known as Western art, encompasses the history of visual art in Europe. European prehistoric art started as mobile Upper Paleolithic rock and cave painting and petroglyph art and was characteristic of the period bet ...
. 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 Qi Baishi (1 January 1864 – 16 September 1957) was a Chinese painting, Chinese painter, noted for the whimsical, often playful style of his works. Born to a peasant family from Xiangtan, Hunan, Qi taught himself to paint, sparked by the Ma ...
, who began life as a poor peasant and became a great master. His best-known works depict flowers and small animals.


Modern painting

Beginning with the
New Culture Movement The New Culture Movement was a progressivism, progressive sociopolitical movement in China during the 1910s and 1920s. Participants criticized many aspects of traditional Chinese society, in favor of new formulations of Chinese culture inform ...
, Chinese artists started to adopt using Western techniques. Prominent Chinese artists who studied Western painting include Li Tiefu,
Yan Wenliang Yan Wenliang ( zh, t=顏文樑; 20 July 1893 – 1 May 1988) was a Chinese painter and educator, who is regarded as one of the fathers of Chinese oil painting and an important art educator of his time. Born in Suzhou, Jiangsu province, Yan began ...
,
Xu Beihong Xu Beihong (; 19 July 1895 – 26 September 1953), also known as Ju Péon, was a Chinese painter. He was primarily known for his Ink wash painting, Chinese ink paintings of horses and birds and was one of the first Chinese artists to articulat ...
,
Lin Fengmian Lin Fengmian (; November 22, 1900 – August 12, 1991), originally Lin Fengming (), was a Chinese painter and is considered a pioneer of modern Chinese painting for blending Chinese and Western styles, he was one of the earliest Chinese painter ...
,
Fang Ganmin Fang Ganmin ( zh, s=方干民, t=方幹民; 15 February 1906 - January 1984) was a Chinese French-trained painter, sculptor and educator, who was educated in Paris and spent most of his adult life in China. Regarded as one of the pioneers of Ch ...
and
Liu Haisu Liu Haisu (; 16 March 1896 – 7 August 1994) was a prominent twentieth-century Chinese painter and a noted art educator. He excelled in Chinese painting and oil painting. He was one of the four pioneers of Chinese modern art who earned the titl ...
.


Early PRC

After the founding of the People's Republic of China, the Communist Party's Propaganda Department organized networks of cultural workers' associations which were headed by the
China Federation of Literary and Art Circles The China Federation of Literary and Art Circles (CFLAC), established in July 1949, is a Chinese people's organization composed of nationwide associations of writers and artists. CFLAC is one of the founders of CPPCC (Chinese People's Political ...
. The state incorporated existing cultural enterprises into the state apparatus, which provided stable income and working environments for artists. In the early years of the PRC, artists were encouraged to employ socialist realism. Some
Soviet Union The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR), commonly known as the Soviet Union, was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 until Dissolution of the Soviet ...
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 Mao Zedong pronounced ; traditionally Romanization of Chinese, romanised as Mao Tse-tung. (26December 18939September 1976) was a Chinese politician, revolutionary, and political theorist who founded the People's Republic of China (PRC) in ...
was increasingly eager for China to establish its own national path.
Propaganda Propaganda is communication that is primarily used to influence or persuade an audience to further an agenda, which may not be objective and may be selectively presenting facts to encourage a particular synthesis or perception, or using loaded l ...
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 The Great Leap Forward was an industrialization campaign within China from 1958 to 1962, led by the Chinese Communist Party (CCP). Party Chairman Mao Zedong launched the campaign to transform the country from an agrarian society into an indu ...
, 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 The Cultural Revolution, formally known as the Great Proletarian Cultural Revolution, was a Social movement, sociopolitical movement in the China, People's Republic of China (PRC). It was launched by Mao Zedong in 1966 and lasted until his de ...
, 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 The Four Olds () refer to categories used by the Red Guards during the Cultural Revolution to characterize elements of Chinese culture prior to the Chinese Communist Revolution that they were attempting to destroy. The Four Olds were 'old ideas ...
campaign. During the Cultural Revolution, the spread of peasant paintings in rural China became one of the newborn things celebrated in a socialist society.


Since 1978

Following the Cultural Revolution, art schools and professional organizations were reinstated. Exchanges were set up with groups of foreign artists, and Chinese artists began to experiment with new subjects and techniques. One particular case of freehand style (xieyi hua) may be noted in the work of the child prodigy Wang Yani (born 1975) who started painting at age 3 and has since considerably contributed to the exercise of the style in contemporary artwork. 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 Psychedelics are a subclass of hallucinogenic drugs whose primary effect is to trigger non-ordinary mental states (known as psychedelic experiences or "trips") and a perceived "expansion of consciousness". Also referred to as classic halluci ...
colors, showed influences of both Western and traditional Chinese sources, though the paintings were organic abstractions.


Contemporary Chinese art

Chinese painting continues to play an essential role in Chinese cultural expression. Starting in the mid-twentieth century, artists begin to combine traditional Chinese painting techniques with Western art styles, leading to the style of new contemporary Chinese art. One of the representative artists is Wei Dong who drew inspirations from eastern and western sources to express national pride and arrive at personal actualization. Another key figure is Liu Dan, known for his ink painting.


Iconography in Chinese painting


Water Mill

As the landscape painting rose and became the dominant style in North Song dynasty, artists began to shift their attention from
jiehua ''Jiehua'' (Simplified Chinese characters, simplified Chinese: 界画; Traditional Chinese characters, traditional Chinese: 界畫) painting, sometimes translated as “border painting,” “boundary painting,” or “ruled-line painting,” is ...
painting, which indicates paintings of Chinese architectural objects such as buildings, boats, wheels and vehicles, towards landscape paintings. Intertwining with the imperial landscape painting, water mill, an element of
jiehua ''Jiehua'' (Simplified Chinese characters, simplified Chinese: 界画; Traditional Chinese characters, traditional Chinese: 界畫) painting, sometimes translated as “border painting,” “boundary painting,” or “ruled-line painting,” is ...
painting, though, is still used as an imperial symbol. Water mill depicted in the ''Water Mill'' is a representation for the revolution of technology, economy, science, mechanical engineering and transportation in Song dynasty. It represents the government directly participate in the milling industry which can influence commercial activities. Another evidence that shows the government interfered with the commercial is a wineshop that appears beside the water mill. The water mill in ''Shanghai Scroll'' reflects the development in engineering and growing knowledge in hydrology. Furthermore, a water mill can also be used to identify a painting and used as a literature metaphor. Lately, the water mill transform into a symbolic form representing the imperial court. ''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 Mountains''painted by Wang Ximeng, a court artist taught directly by Huizong himself. Thus, the artwork ''A Thousand Miles of Rivers and Mountains''should 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.


Image as Word: Rebus

There is a long tradition of having hidden meaning behind certain objects in Chinese paintings. A fan painting by an unknown artist from North Song period depicts three gibbons capturing baby egrets and scaring the parents away. The rebus behind this scene is interpreted as celebrating the examination success. Since another painting which has similar subjects—gibbons and egrets, is given the title of San yuan de lu三猿得鹭, or Three gibbons catching egrets. As the rebus, the sound of the title can also be written as 三元得路, meaning "a triple first gains nepower." 元represents "first" replaces its homophonous 猿, and 路means road, replaces 鹭. Sanyuan is firstly recorded as a term referring to people getting triple first place in an exam in Qingsuo gaoyi by a Liu Fu, and the usage of this new term gradually spread across the country where the scenery of gibbons and egrets is widely accepted. Lately, other scenery derived from the original paintings, including deer in the scene because in Chinese, deer, lu is also a homophonous of egrets. Moreover, the number of gibbons depicted in the painting can be flexible, not only limited to three, sanyuan. Since the positions in Song courts are held by elites who achieved jinshi degree, the paintings with gibbons, egrets or deer are used for praising those elites in general. 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

"The country is broken; mountains and rivers remain." The poem by Du Fu (712–770) reflects the major principle in Chinese culture: the dynasty might change, but the landscape is eternal. This timelessness theme evolved from Six Dynasties period and early Northern Song. A donkey rider travelling through the mountains, rivers and villages is studied as an important iconographical character in developing of landscape painting. 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.


Realm of the Immortals

During Song dynasty, paintings with themes ranging from animals, flower, landscape and classical stories, are used as ornaments in imperial palace, government office and elites' residence for multiple purposes. The theme of the art in display is carefully picked to reflect not only a personal taste, but also his social status and political achievement. In emperor Zhezong's lecture hall, a painting depicting stories form Zhou dynasty was hanging on the wall to remind Zhezong how to be a good ruler of the empire. The painting also serves the purpose of expressing his determination to his court officers that he is an enlightened emperor. 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.


Images of women

Female characters are almost excluded from traditional Chinese painting under the influence of
Confucianism Confucianism, also known as Ruism or Ru classicism, is a system of thought and behavior originating in ancient China, and is variously described as a tradition, philosophy, Religious Confucianism, religion, theory of government, or way of li ...
. Dong Zhongshu, an influential Confucian scholar in the
Han dynasty The Han dynasty was an Dynasties of China, imperial dynasty of China (202 BC9 AD, 25–220 AD) established by Liu Bang and ruled by the House of Liu. The dynasty was preceded by the short-lived Qin dynasty (221–206 BC ...
, proposed the three-bond theory saying that: "the ruler is Yang and the subject is Yin, father is Yang and son is Yin…The husband is Yang, and the wife is Yin," which places females in a subordinate position to that of males. Under the three-bond theory, women are depicted as housewives who need to obey to their husbands and fathers in literature. Similarly, in the portrait paintings, female characters are also depicted as exemplary women to elevate the rule of males. A hand roll ''Exemplary Women''by Ku Kai Zhi, a six Dynasty artist, depicted woman characters who may be a wife, a daughter or a widow. During the
Tang dynasty The Tang dynasty (, ; zh, c=唐朝), or the Tang Empire, was an Dynasties of China, imperial dynasty of China that ruled from 618 to 907, with an Wu Zhou, interregnum between 690 and 705. It was preceded by the Sui dynasty and followed ...
, 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 The Song dynasty ( ) was an Dynasties of China, imperial dynasty of China that ruled from 960 to 1279. The dynasty was founded by Emperor Taizu of Song, who usurped the throne of the Later Zhou dynasty and went on to conquer the rest of the Fiv ...
, 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.


Landscape painting


Paradigm shift in representation

Northern Song landscape painting differs from Southern Song painting because of its paradigm shift in representation. If Southern Song period landscape painting is said to be looking inward, Northern Song painting is reaching outward. During the Northern Song period, the rulers' goal is to consolidate and extend the elites value across the society. Whereas Southern Song painters decided to focus on personal expression. Northern Song landscapes are regarded as "real landscape", since the court appreciated the representation relationship between art and the external world, rather than the relationship between art and the artists inner voice. The painting, ''A Thousand Miles of Rivers and Mountains'' is horizontally displayed and there are four mountain ranges arranged from left to right. Similar to another early Southern Song painter, Zhou Boju, both artists glorified their patrons by presenting the gigantic empire images in blue and green landscape painting. The only difference is that in Zhou's painting, there are five mountain ranges arranged from right to left. The scenes in the Southern Song paintings are about north landscape that echo the memory of their lost north territory. However, ironically, some scholars suggested that Wang Ximeng's ''A Thousand Miles of Rivers and Mountains'' depicts the scenes of the south not the north.


Buddhist and Taoist influences

The Chinese landscape painting are believed to be affected by the intertwining Chinese traditional religious beliefs, for example, "the Taoist love of nature", and "Buddhist principle of emptiness," and can represent the diversification of artists attitudes and thoughts from previous period. The Taoist love of nature is not always present in Chinese landscape painting but gradually developed from Six Dynasties period when Taoists Lao-tzu, Chuang-tzu, the Pao-p'u tzu's thoughts are reflected in literature documents. Apart from the contemporary Confucian tradition of insisting on human cultivation and learning to be more educated and build up social framework, Taoist persist on going back to human's origin, which is to be ignorant. Taoists believe that if one discard wise, the robbery will stop. If people abandon expensive jewelry, thieves will not exist. From the Han dynasty, the practice of Taoism was associated with alchemical and medicine made. To better pursuit Taoism belief, Taoist need to go on pilgrim into specific mountains to connect themselves with the spirits and immortals that lived in those mountains. In the third and fourth century, the practice of escaping society and going back to nature mediating in the countryside is further enhanced by a group called Seven Sages of the Bamboo Grove who would like to escape from the civil unrest. The wise men fleet the world and wonder in the countryside and enjoy the tranquil landscape and forgot to return. The Taoism ideology of forgetfulness, self-cultivation, harmonizing with nature world, and purifying soul by entering the isolated mountains to mediate and seek medicine herbs create the scene of landscape painting. 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 Meditation is a practice in which an individual uses a technique to train attention and awareness and detach from reflexive, "discursive thinking", achieving a mentally clear and emotionally calm and stable state, while not judging the meditat ...
. For instance, Buddha's reflection image, or shadow, is assimilated with the image of a mountain,
Lushan Mount Lu or Lushan ( zh, s=庐山, t=, p=Lúshān, Gan: Lu-san) is a mountain situated in Jiujiang, China. It was also known as Kuanglu () in ancient times. The mountain and its immediate area are officially designated as the Lushan National Pa ...
. 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.


Early landscape painting

In Chinese society, there is a long-time appreciation of natural beauty. The early themes of poems, artworks are associated with agriculture and everyday life associates with fields, animals. On the other hand, later Chinese painting pursuits majesty and grand. Thus, mountain scenery become the most popular subject to paint because it's high which represent human eminence. Also, mountain is stable and permanent suggests the eminent of the imperial power. Furthermore, mountain is difficult to climb showing the difficulties human will face through their lives. 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.


Dyads

Chinese landscape painting, "shanshui hua" means the painting of mountains, rivers, and cliffs which are the two major components that represents the essence of the nature. Shanshui in Chinese tradition is given rich meaning, for example mountain represents Yang and river indicates Yin. According to Yin Yang theory, Yin embodies Yang and Yang involved in Yin, thus, mountain and river is inseparable and is treated as a whole in a painting. In the ''Mountains and rivers without end,'' for example, "the dyad of the mountain uplift, subduction, and erosion and the planetary water cycle" is consistent with the dyad of Buddhism iconography, both representing austerity and generous loving spirit.


Art as cartography

"Arts in maps, arts as maps, maps in arts, and maps as arts," are the four relationships between art and map. Making a distinction between map and art is difficult because there are cartographic elements in both paintings. Early Chinese map making considered earth surface as flat, so artists would not take projection into consideration. Moreover, map makers did not have the idea of map scale. Chinese people from Song dynasty called paintings, maps and other pictorial images as tu, so it's impossible to distinguish the types of each painting by name. Artists who paint landscape as an artwork focus mainly on the natural beauty rather on the accuracy and realistic representation of the object. Map on the other hand should be depicted in a precise manner which more focus on the distance and important geographic features. 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.


See also

*
Bird-and-flower painting Bird-and-flower painting, called () in chinese language, Chinese, is a kind of Chinese painting with a long tradition in China and is considered one of the treasures of Chinese culture. The was named after its subject matter. It originated in t ...
*
Chinese art Chinese art is visual art that originated in or is practiced in China, Greater China or by Chinese artists. Art created by Chinese residing outside of China can also be considered a part of Chinese art when it is based on or draws on Chine ...
* Chinese Piling paintings * Danqing *
Eastern art history The history of Asian art includes a vast range of arts from various cultures, regions, and religions across the continent of Asia. The major regions of Asia include East, Southeast, South, Central, and West Asia. In many ways, the history of ...
* Eight Eccentrics of Yangzhou * Eight Views of Xiaoxiang *
Gongbi ''Gongbi'' () is a careful realist technique in Chinese painting, the opposite of the interpretive and freely expressive '' xieyi'' (寫意 'sketching thoughts') style. The name is from the Chinese ''gong jin'' meaning 'tidy' (meticulous brush ...
*
History of Asian art The history of Asian art includes a vast range of arts from various cultures, regions, and religions across the continent of Asia. The major regions of Asia include East, Southeast, South, Central, and West Asia. In many ways, the history of ...
*
History of painting The history of painting reaches back in time to artifacts and artwork created by pre-historic artists, and spans all cultures. It represents a continuous, though periodically disrupted, tradition from Antiquity. Across cultures, continents, and ...
*
Japanese painting is one of the oldest and most highly refined of the Japanese visual arts, encompassing a wide variety of genres and styles. As with the history of Japanese arts in general, the long history of Japanese painting exhibits synthesis and competiti ...
*
Korean painting Korean painting () includes paintings made in Korea or by overseas Koreans on all surfaces. The earliest surviving Korean paintings are murals in the Goguryeo tombs, of which considerable numbers survive, the oldest from some 2,000 years ago (mo ...
* Lingnan School (also called Cantonese School) *
The Four Great Academy Presidents The Four Great Academy Presidents (or The Four Great Art Academy Presidents) is the title earned by four pioneers of Chinese modern art: Yan Wenliang, Lin Fengmian, Xu Beihong and Liu Haisu. These artists were revered in the early Republican Era ...
*
Three perfections The three perfections () is a term referring to Chinese , , and understood and practiced as related endeavors. The earliest recorded mention known of "the three perfections" is found in The New Book of Tang, where the term is used to describe the ...
– integration of calligraphy, poetry and painting * Shuilu ritual paintings * Wǔ Xíng painting * List of Chinese painters * List of Chinese women artists


Notes


References

* * Rawson, Jessica (ed). ''The British Museum Book of Chinese Art'', 2007 (2nd edn), British Museum Press, * *Sickman, Laurence, in: Sickman L & Soper A, "The Art and Architecture of China", Pelican History of Art, 3rd ed 1971, Penguin (now Yale History of Art), LOC 70-125675 *


Further reading

* Barnhart, Richard, et al., ed. ''Three Thousand Years of Chinese Painting''. New Haven: Yale University Press, 2002. * Cahill, James. ''Chinese Painting''. Geneva: Albert Skira, 1960. * Fully online from the MMA *


External links


Chinese Painting
at China Online Museum
Famous Chinese painters and their galleriesChinese painting
Technique and styles
Cuiqixuan – Inside painting snuff bottlesBetween two cultures : late-nineteenth- and twentieth-century Chinese paintings from the Robert H. Ellsworth collection in The Metropolitan Museum of Art
Fully online from the MMA
A Pure and Remote View: Visualizing Early Chinese Landscape Painting
a series of more than 20 video lectures by James Cahill.
Gazing Into The Past – Scenes From Later Chinese & Japanese Painting
a series of video lecture by James Cahill. {{DEFAULTSORT:Chinese Painting
Painting Painting is a Visual arts, visual art, which is characterized by the practice of applying paint, pigment, color or other medium to a solid surface (called "matrix" or "Support (art), support"). The medium is commonly applied to the base with ...
Arts in China