Mogu () is a

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 ...

skill or technique in traditional

Chinese painting 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 b ...

. It literally means "boneless". In these paintings, forms are made by

ink Ink is a gel, sol, or solution that contains at least one colorant, such as a dye or pigment, and is used to color a surface to produce an image, text, or design. Ink is used for drawing or writing with a pen, brush, reed pen, or quill. ...

and color washes rather than by outlines.

Etymology

There are mainly two derivatives: * ''Mogu-Hua'' (Traditional Chinese: 沒骨畫, or 沒骨畵; Simplified Chinese: 没骨画; Pinyin: Mògǔ Huà; "''Huà''" means "''to paint''"), mainly mentions the painting or work has such

style Style, or styles may refer to: Film and television * ''Style'' (2001 film), a Hindi film starring Sharman Joshi, Riya Sen, Sahil Khan and Shilpi Mudgal * ''Style'' (2002 film), a Tamil drama film * ''Style'' (2004 film), a Burmese film * '' ...

or created by such technique. * ''Mogu-Fa'' (Traditional Chinese: 沒骨法; Simplified Chinese: 没骨法; Pinyin: Mògǔ Fǎ; "''Fǎ''" means method or technique) emphasizes the technique.

History

According to some ancient records, the technique was first created and theorized by Zhang Sengyou of the

Liang dynasty The Liang dynasty (), alternatively known as the Southern Liang () or Xiao Liang () in historiography, was an imperial dynasty of China and the third of the four Southern dynasties during the Northern and Southern dynasties period. It was pre ...

in 557 during the

Southern 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 ...

period. During the period of the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms period, a painter named Huang Quan (黄筌) from

Former Shu Great Shu ( zh, c=大蜀, p=Dàshǔ), known in historiography as the Former Shu ( zh, c=前蜀, p=Qiánshǔ, links=no) or occasionally Wang Shu (王蜀), was a dynastic state of China and one of the Ten Kingdoms during the Five Dynasties and ...

significantly developed the techniques in

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 ...

, especially in painting trees and flowers, and his painting was called as the fine-sounding name ''Mogu Huazhi'' (沒骨花枝). 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 ...

, notable painters mastered this technique includes Yang Sheng (楊升). Xu Chongsi (徐崇嗣) during the

Northern Song dynasty The Song dynasty ( ) was an 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 Ten Kingdoms, endin ...

continued developing the technique from Huang, and his paintings were named ''Mogu-Tu'' (沒骨圖). Xu started applying this technique in

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 ...

painting. The technique gained popularity during the Late-

Ming dynasty The Ming dynasty, officially the Great Ming, was an Dynasties of China, imperial dynasty of China that ruled from 1368 to 1644, following the collapse of the Mongol Empire, Mongol-led Yuan dynasty. The Ming was the last imperial dynasty of ...

and

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 ...

, and the most famous master would be

Yun Shouping Yun Shouping (; 1633 – 1690), also known as Nantian (), was a Chinese calligrapher and painter. He was a major artist of the early Chinese Qing dynasty. Along with the Four Wangs and Wú Lì, he was regarded as one of the " Six Masters" of th ...

Technique

The method mainly is a

staining Staining is a technique used to enhance contrast in samples, generally at the Microscope, microscopic level. Stains and dyes are frequently used in histology (microscopic study of biological tissue (biology), tissues), in cytology (microscopic ...

and dying one, by using

ink brush A Chinese writing brush () is a paintbrush used as a writing tool in Chinese calligraphy as well as in Japanese, Korean, and Vietnamese which all have roots in Chinese calligraphy. They are also used in Chinese painting and other brush pain ...

pens. Less or absolutely no sketch or

drawing Drawing is a Visual arts, visual art that uses an instrument to mark paper or another two-dimensional surface, or a digital representation of such. Traditionally, the instruments used to make a drawing include pencils, crayons, and ink pens, some ...

, so people can hardly observe solid lines or curves in the painting. There are basically three ''Mogu'' staining methods: the staining by smearing (渲染; Xuàn-Rǎn), the staining by dotting (点染; Diǎn-Rǎn), and the staining by just filling

colour Color (or colour in Commonwealth English; see spelling differences) is the visual perception based on the electromagnetic spectrum. Though color is not an inherent property of matter, color perception is related to an object's light absorp ...

s (填染; Tián-Rǎn).

References

{{Reflist Chinese painting Chinese art Painting techniques

Etymology

History

Technique

See also

References