Chinese Painting

Compiled by Dr. V. RamirezFor educational use only

Chinese painting• developed from a relatively fragmentary set of images on a scroll toward a more coherent, structured composition that took full advantage of the scroll form of most paintings. • Before the 12th century there was great interest in realism. This link will take you to photographs of famous Chinese mountain landscapes that are typical landscape subjects for painters. • However, later the Chinese painting style became more stylized, following set conventions or rules of form. • The scroll form of books and paintings in China had distinctive effects on the visual images placed on these surfaces.

• Chinese paintings do not have single point, linear perspective of the kind typical of Euro-American art. Instead, the perspective points shift as the viewer's eye moves through the landscape, unrolling, perhaps, a section of the scroll at a time.

• The scene may include a lake shore, above which tower mountains; yet both the lake and the mountaintop pavilion will seem to be at eye level. Pathways are created in the composition to lead the viewer from one level to the next.

The Six Principles of Chinese PaintingHsieh Ho about 500AD:

First Principle: Painting should have life and vitality.i.e. the beliefs and thoughts of the painter will bring life to his painting.

Second Principle: Use brush in a controlled manner.

Third Principle: Subject of Painting shall be recognisable.This means the image the painter is projecting should be recognisable to the viewer. However, it does not mean that the painter should try to replicate the subject in his painting, which is not customary in Chinese painting.

 

Fifth Principle: Plan placing of picture on paper thoughtfully.As discussed before, space is an important element in Chinese painting and an integral part of the composition. As a rule, two-third of the picture should not be painted on. Normally more space is left at the top than at the bottom of the painting. The unpainted space at the top represents heaven, the space at the bottom represents earth, and the painting itself is said to join heaven and earth together.

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Fourth Principle: Colour, including different tones and shades of black, should be used with care.

• Sixth Principle: Practice and Improvement is achieved through copying.In the Western art world, originality, creativity and non-conformity are characteristics expected of an artist. In Chinese art, no stigma is attached to copying. The Chinese believe that by copying other great paintings, the artist will learn and improve his skills. They also believe that each artist's spirituality will show through his work. Therefore, even if an artist does an excellent copy of a painting by another artist, his painting will bring out different feelings to that he has copied

Confucian Painting

Northern Qi Scholars Collating Classic Texts (detail) • Traditionally attributed to Yan Liben, Active 7th century, died 673 • Northern Song dynasty, 11th century Handscroll; ink and color on silk • Denman Waldo Ross Collection, 1931 31.123

© Museum of Fine Arts, Boston

• Learning from the past was one of the primary values of Chinese culture. In 556 Emperor Wenxuan invited leading Confucian scholars to compile classic texts for the education of the crown prince. This lively handscroll represents various aspects of this project. In the scene shown here, four scholars are gathered on a wooden couch, supplied with food and drink, as well as writing implements, and tended by maidservants. One scholar's imminent departure seems to have upset his companions.

The Thirteen Emperors • Tang dynasty, second half of the 7th century • Handscroll; ink and color on silk; Denman Waldo Ross Collection, 1931 31.643 • Attributed to Yan Liben: Active 7th century, died 673 Museum of Fine Arts, Boston

• Emperor Taizong, patron of the artist Yan Liben, wrote a set of "Imperial Admonitions"for his son so that the crown prince could learn from the virtues and mistakes of past rulers, as the philosopher Confucius advised. This scroll was created in a similar spirit, with vigorous characterizations of emperors stretching back to the Han dynasty. The painting of the robust figures, with strong, wiry outlines, vivid facial expressions, and forms rounded by shading, reflects the influence of Buddhist images arriving from Central Asia.

Hawk on Pine • Yuan dynasty, second half of the 14th century • Hanging scroll; ink & light color on silk • Marshall H. Gould Fund, Frederick L. Jack Fund, and Asiatic Curator's

Fund, 1996 1996.2 © Museum of Fine Arts, Boston

• This imperious hawk seems to ignore the pheasant below, readily available prey. A poem appearing on a similar hawk painting alludes to scholar-officials of the Yuan period who refused to serve the foreign Mongol rulers, rejecting the opportunity to make an easy living. The representation of the hawk in ink monochrome rather than color increases the likelihood that it symbolizes the integrity of a principled Confucian scholar.

Daoist Painting

•Li Cheng "A Solitary Temple Amid Clearing Peaks"

Northern Song Dynasty Hanging scroll; ink and slight color on silk44 x 22 in.The Nelson-Atkins MuseumKansas City, Missouri

Winter Landscape with Temples and Travelers •Attributed to Fan Kuan: Active late 10th-early 11th centuries •Northern Song dynasty, 11th century •Hanging scroll; ink and light color on silk •Chinese and Japanese Special Fund, 1914 14.52 © Museum of Fine Arts, Boston

• One of the great masters of Chinese landscape painting, Fan Kuan was acclaimed for a unique style reflecting the mountainous scenery of his native province.

• Daoist thought achieved its fullest artistic expression in such monumental landscapes for the founder of Daoism, Laozi, had preached that the True Way, or Dao, was manifest in the changing forms and eternal laws of nature.

• The Dao was achieved through the balance of opposing yet complementary forces, such as mountain (shan) and water (shui), the two words that form the Chinese term for landscape. Landscapes such as this one became the classic models to which later Chinese landscape painters would constantly return.

Nine Dragons •Attributed to Chen Rong: Active first half of the 13th century •Southern Song dynasty, dated 1244 •Handscroll; ink and touches of red on paper •Francis Gardner Curtis Fund, 1917 17.1697 © Museum of Fine Arts, Boston

• In the poem on this scroll, Chen Rong writes that he painted it in an intoxicated state. Meditation and other mind-altering experiences have long been associated with Daoist transcendental practices.

• The dragon is one of the most ancient and powerful images in Chinese culture, representing creative forces of the cosmos. Here, the nine dragons' varied expressions and movements are manifestations of the Dao, the Way of Nature.

• The contrast of solid rock and fluid, ever-changing waves and clouds accords with the fundamental Daoist concept of life as the interaction of two forces: yin and yang.

The Daoist Immortal Lü Dongbin Crossing Lake Dongting •Southern Song dynasty, mid-13th century •Round fan mounted as album leaf; ink and light color on silk

The rivalry between Buddhism and Daoism sometimes led to one religion adopting the myths of the other. According to legend, Bodhidharma, the founder of Chan Buddhism (known in Japan and the West as Zen Buddhism), crossed the Yangzi River on a reed. In the story shown here, the Daoist immortal Lu Dongbin surpassed this feat, crossing a vast lake with no support at all.

Buddhist Painting

Guanyin (Avalokitesvara Bodhisattva) as Savior from Perils (Northern Song dynasty 975) •Hanging scroll mounted as panel; ink and color on silk •Maria Antoinette Evans Fund, 1927

• Avalokitesvara, the Bodhisattva of Compassion, is known as Guanyin in China and has been the most worshiped Buddhist deity there.

• A believer who calls upon Guanyin will be delivered from such dangers as falling from a cliff or being engulfed by fire or water, perils shown in small scenes around the central figure here. In front of Guanyin is an offering table; the young men at right and left, identified as "virtuous boy"and "evil boy,"probably represent Sakyamuni, the Indian prince who became the Buddha, and his wicked brother.

• The inscription indicates that the Buddhist nuns kneeling in the foreground are the donors who commissioned the painting.

Lohans Bestowing Alms on Suffering Human Beings •Southern Song dynasty, about 1178 •Hanging scroll mounted as panel; ink and color on silk •General Fund, 1895 95.4 © Museum of Fine Arts, Boston

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•Lohan Manifesting Himself as an Eleven-Headed Guanyin •Southern Song dynasty, about 1178 •Hanging scroll mounted as panel; ink and color on silk •Denman Waldo Ross Collection, 1906 06.289 © Museum of Fine Arts, Boston

• A Lohan is a disciple of the Buddha who becomes a sage and seeks to help other believers attain the reward of Enlightenment. Lohan worship flourished in China, with the original group of sixteen Lohans ultimately expanding to five hundred.

• These two paintings come from one of the earliest sets to represent this vast number, one hundred paintings preserved in the renowned Zen temple Daitoku-ji in Kyoto, Japan. Created by professional painters from the trading port of Ningbo, these dramatic and brightly colored images were designed to attract and impress large groups of worshippers. Ten are displayed in the exhibition.

• In the group at lower left of the painting Lohan Manifesting Himself as an Eleven-Headed Guanyin, the man in yellow examining a sketch is probably the donor of the paintings. Standing next to him is the artist, holding a brush, with Yishao, the abbot of the temple for whom the paintings were first commissioned, standing behind.

Guanyin with Fish Basket •Yuan dynasty, late 13th-early 14th century •Hanging scroll; ink and color on silk •Chinese and Japanese Special Fund, 1905 05.199 © Museum of Fine Arts, Boston

• The Bodhisattva of Compassion, traditionally shown in male form in India, became the female deity Guanyin in China during the Song dynasty.

• In one legend, Guanyin appeared in a river village as a beautiful young woman with a basket of fish, offering herself in marriage to anyone who could memorize the sutra that would free him from the damnation of lust.

• The cult of the "fish basket Guanyin"spread throughout China, reaching Korea and Japan in the fourteenth century.

[Zhao MengFu][Chao Meng-fu] (1254-1322)

References

• http://www.mfa.org/exhibitions/dragons/north3.htm

• http://www.pitt.edu/~asian/week-10/week-10.2.html

http://www.china-interface.co.uk/introzh.htm#Painting