CHN331 History of Chinese Art S1 2019

Background

Chinese artist education was originated from ancient times. The relationship between art and life is old, and in different periods, various scholars and artists have provided beautiful masterpieces. As compared to an ancient civilization, Chinese writing is survived for more than 5000 years. The different periods provide evidence of different education, signs, marks and painting structure. For instance, the prehistoric period is 7000 years ago that focused on ‘FUXI’, a mythological figure represented in the form of octograms that originated signs and marks. Over 4500 years ago, the yellow emperor ‘Changjie’ evolved different characters by taking inspiration from natural living things (Chen, T. and Ren, L., 2003).

The Neolithic period is characterized by rock paintings found by Jiangsu, Qing Hai and Mongol. It was all about surface ornaments. The 1600 BC time witnessed Xia dynasty in Shangdong, where carving discovered that originally belonged to Yangshao culture. Different kinds of turtle shells and oracle bones were used for fortune telling till 1045BC. Musical education about painting is older than writing. For instance, rock painting was started 15000 years ago; that was the Paleolithic period end. During this time period, decorative patterns and calligraphy were appeared (Li, W., 2009).

Influential components in Chinese Art

Zhang Yanyuan initiated aesthetic theory in artistic education that was primarily about nature. The Chinese Daoism philosophy supported painting in its attempt to unify binaries, ink, and brush and mountain aspects. The use of motifs and different themes in art & music adopted multiple changes, and through innovative culture, Chinese painters adopted traditional perspectives. In the form of clerical script, calligraphy was introduced. Han Jiantang provided that it is a development into Han dynasty that will bring together ancient and modern writing. This clerical script offered unique expressions and achieved aesthetic as well as abstraction values.

The Round and Square strokes are seen in the clerical script, and it led the foundation of the standard writing for the preservation of Chinese writings. Later, this education developed into beauty-centric, romanticism and Jin dynasties. In the era of classical Chinese painting, the landscape painting bears significance (Silbergeld, J., 1997). The initiation of literati taste was mixed up with ink painting with water. This gave rise to different colourless ink tones. The literati painting were composed of five features that were divided into four perfections, i.e. painting, calligraphy, poetry, and seal carving. The elements void, Hume, and Verlaine were based on different themes and represented aesthetics (Chen, T. and Ren, L., 2003).

The artworks of Ding Yanyong from 1902-1978 under literati art gives rise to the four perfections, as mentioned earlier. The concept of polite arts under social gathering was developed, and painting presented social surge. Chinese scholar highlighted the understanding of aesthetic beauty, personal values and the artistic reflections apparent from the style. In calligraphy, the matter of model is shown through the characters which highlight the moral qualities

This is a painting by Miaozi Huang under Chinese calligraphy.

Chinese artists were known for their famous calligraphic styles, i.e. Chen-Chi’ng, Wang-Wei and Tao-Hsuan. The Chinese art history in terms of calligraphy is full of the writers, scholars, statesman, calligraphers and moral perfections (Chen, T. and Ren, L., 2003).

The painting styles in Chinese artistic framework united different elements of nature and human life. The painting aspects by Chinese artists included brushes, ink themes, and pigments. The materials used in brushes were mainly wild hair, made stiffed and wax was used to make it harder. Fluid pigments were used in the painting to make extension in the linear movement and implement shore movements. Several physical aspects of Chinese arts included base or surface, from which surface or support of painting was formed (Sze, M.-Mai and Wang, G., 1963). The more celebrated stylistic highlights were used to add through lacquer paintings and with the use of ceramics (Silbergeld, J., 1997). Clay wall and wall painting ranged from smaller to more large bricks to offer smoother surface on a unified design were employed in Chinese painting. This inscription is apparent from the Tang period tomb.

A Song Dynasty Landscape Painting by Guo Xi

The element of poetry in painting provides a relationship between painting, calligraphy and poetry. This is according to the literary concepts of ‘picture idea’ that is about the verbal and visual description of poets. The aristocratic elements were used to represent social grace, elegance and swaggering. The poets of Sung and T’ang dynasty were used to provide realistic expressions and poets used this practice to reflect Taoist meditative contemplation. Through poetry, Chinese artists represented recollections of places, beauty, and used skilful words to describe the sensation and feelings.  For instance, ‘Jonathan Chaves’ in ‘Chinese Painter as Poet’ used elements of painting and poetry as the integration of Yuan dynasty and through the combination of two artworks, the unique qualities of art were described through poetry.

Ornament and patterns painted on pottery surface using a Chinese brush

Seal carving in Chinese art is represented as Zhuanke, a traditional form of culture that was started in China. The sea craving or seal engraving is served in conventional way on the active surface of a matter that was typically used for stamping. The official and non official stamps are the products of seal carving of ancient Chinese art. The seal carving was mainly used as the symbol of creativity and power to denote the commercial proof of trading.

References

Chen, T. and Ren, L., 2003. Chinese calligraphy. Beijing: China Intercontinental Press.

Li, W., 2009. Chinese writing and calligraphy. Honolulu: Univ. of Hawaii Press.

Silbergeld, J., 1997. Chinese painting style: media, methods, and principles of form. Seattle, WA: University of Washington Press.

Sze, M.-mai and Wang, G., 1963. The tao of painting. New York: Pantheon Books.

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