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Wen Tong (1018-79). Bamboo, Song period, c. 1070. Chinese
artists of the Song period made use of a particular conventional brushstroke to
paint plants. |
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Xia Gui (active c 1200-40),
A Fisherman's Abode
after Rain,
Southern Song dynasty
end of 12th century.
Museum of Fine Arts, Boston
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Xia Gui (active c 1200-40),
Swinging Gibbon,
late 1100s- 1st quarter 1200s.
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The Golden Age of Chinese Art
Wall-painting
from a royal tomb,
Da Horinger. Inner
Mongolia, Han
period. The
depiction of horses,
a common theme at
this time, indicates
the social rank of the
dead man. It follows
a trend that has
a precedent in
the tomb of
Qin Shihuang
(220-210BC)
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Much information about the pictorial art of the Han period comes
from the painted decorations on lacquer and pottery, and from
sculpted stone figures. Few silk paintings have survived, but some
tombs have revealed wall-paintings indicating that Han artists
excelled in figure painting. Landscape was merely the background for
the narration of human and mythical events: the notion that it might
constitute a subject in its own right did not enter into the
cultural considerations of the time. The introduction of Buddhism
into China in the first century ad opened up new artistic
possibilities and perspectives. The rich icono-graphic tradition and
compositional techniques of Buddhist painting were fused with those
of the purer Chnese prototypes. Narrative painting developed during
the Eastern Han dynasty (ad25-221) and the successive period of the
Six Dynasties, also known as the Three Kingdoms (AD220-280).
Wall-paintings and handscroll paintings became favourite modes of
expression. The narrative of the horizontal scrolls was read from
right to left, while the walls of temples, tombs, and palaces were
adorned with processional scenes of figures drawn with flowing
outlines and bright colours. The palette was richer than that
previously used - when red, yellow, and black predominated - and was
perhaps inspired by lacquer painting. The Six Dynasties ushered in a
period of stark political instability for several centuries, during
which China was split between north and south and ruled by various
dynasties. From ad386 to 557, the Chinese-assimilated proto-Turkish
population of the Tuoba-Wei dominated the north. They played a
fundamental role in the diffusion of Buddhist teachings. This was
the era of the great cave temples. The oldest site. founded in the
fourth century by itinerant monks, was that of Dunhuang in Gansu
province, which consisted of hundreds of caves decorated with
sculptures and frescos. In ad440, the Wei conquered Dunhuang, and
many important works of art were produced under their patronage.
With splendid frescos in bright colours portraying traditional
Buddhist scenes, the depiction of landscape became increasingly
important from about the sixth century onwards. A school of court
painting developed alongside the collective tradition of itinerant
artists. In the capital of the southern Jin, near present-day
Nanjing, worked the artist Gu Kaizhi (ad344-406). Two important
paintings (though not in their original form but in later copies)
are attributed to him: Advice of the Governess to the Court
Ladies and The Nymph of the Lo River. In these balanced
compositions, the elegant, softly outlined figures of women and
dignitaries, coloured in ink on silk, are still more prominent than
the landscape, which is confined to essentials and indicated with
lines of uniform thickness and light shading. The Sui (ad581-618)
reunified China, and the following Tang dynasty (ad618-907)
reorganized the empire and gave a fresh impetus to the arts. The
desire to create new rules of conduct after a long period of
disorder and fragmentation was reflected in the arts, with a
codification of standards and techniques. This period saw the birth
of landscape painting, due principally to developments in the use of
colour. Li Sixun (ad653-718) and Li Zhaodao (ad670-730) brought life
to a decorative style associated with the court environment. It was
characterized by an increased emphasis on the linear element, but
was also enriched by the use of bright colours - clearly the
influence of the great wall-paintings of Buddhist temples. The
predominant tones were cobalt blue and green (produced from copper),
with light touches of gold. Court painting was also the province of
Yan Liben (ad600-73), to whom The Scroll of the Thirteen Emperors
is attributed. His imposing figures represent the image of the
sovereign according to Confucian convention. In the eighth century,
the poet and painter Wang Wei (ad699-759) initiated a new style of
landscape painting. He introduced the ink-splash technique, using
black Indian ink. The style relied less on the importance of the
line and more on the gradations of the monochrome ink, representing
the infinite variations of landscape. This allusive, poetic style of
painting, impressionistic in effect and defined as "poetry without
words", was particularly appreciated by intellectuals in later
periods. Through suggestion rather than description, it could create
a magical atmosphere that expressed the contemplative spirit of the
scholar. The work of the artist Wu Daozi (ad689-758), a contemporary
of Wang Wei, was highly acclaimed by generations of critics. He
produced handscroll paintings and wall-paintings for temples and
palaces. His powerful, expressive line and almost calligraphic
brushstroke evoked the admiration of his contemporaries, feeding the
legend that he was capable of infusing his figures with life. During
the period of the Five Dynasties (ad907-60), landscape painting
reached a new peak. Jing Hao (c.ad870-940) set the generic standards
with his Bifagi ("Essay on the Use of the Brush"). This
exhorted the painter to pursue absolute truth, not in the sense of
outer appearances but in correspondence with the principles of
nature. Through the humble observation of natural forms, the artist
could discover their eternal and essential characteristics; by
concentrating on these, he would be able to formulate the language
to translate it into a powerful, visual experience of the universe.
A tendency towards realism derived from this process of
contemplation is evident in the work of the painters of the Song
dynasty (ad960-1279). This was partly stimulated by
neo-Confucianism, which spread with the arrival of the dynasty and
nurtured faith in man's ability to understand the world by means of
attentive and thorough observation of natural phenomena. This is not
a matter of scientific investigation in the Western sense of the
term but of a search for the li - the principle or essence of
every phenomenon. It was believed that it was possible through deep
concentration to approach knowledge of single phenomena and, at a
higher level, to gain intuition of the universe in its totality.
This would reveal a synthetic rather than analytical vision of the
world. Similarly, the artist was to paint that which he knew to
exist in a particular place, not that which could be perceived from
a single viewpoint. A landscape, therefore, should not be seen from
one particular angle, as in Western art, but from an abstract
viewpoint that would embrace the whole scene. Chinese perspective is
mobile: it does not restrict the spectator to one fixed position but
shifts around to create a series of different viewpoints, as
experienced by a traveller.
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