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| Chinese Traditional Painting |
A Brief Introduction to Chinese Traditional Painting
Chinese traditional painting dates back to the Neolithic
Period about six thousand years ago. The coloured pottery
with painted animals, fish, deer, and frogs excavated
in the 1920s indicate that during the Neolithic Period
the Chinese had already started to use brushes to paint.
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Chinese traditional painting is highly regarded throughout
the world for its theory, expression, and techniques.
According to the means of expression, Chinese painting
can be divided into two categories: the xieyi
school and the gongbi school. The xieyi
school is marked by exaggerated forms and freehand brush
work. The gongbi school is characterized by
close attention to detail and fine brush work.
Xieyi, however, is the fundamental approach
to Chinese painting. It constitues an aesthetic theory
which, above all, emphasizes the sentiments. Even in
ancient times, Chinese artists were unwilling to be
restrained by reality. A famous artist of the Jin Dynasty
Gu Kaizhi (c. 345-406) was the first to put forward
the theory of "making the form show the spirit".
In his opinion a painting should serve as a means to
convey not only the appearance of an object, but express
how the artist looks at it. Gu's views were followed
by theories such as "likeness in spirit resides
in unlikeness" and "a painting should be something
between likeness and unlikeness". Guided by these
theories, Chinese artists disregard the limitations
of proportion, perspective, and light. Take Qi Baishi,
the modern painter, for example. He does not paint shrimps,
insects, birds, and flowers as they are in nature; only
their essence has shown as a result of the artist's
long-term observation and profound understanding of
the subjects. (TOP)
Different from Western paintings, a Chinese painting
is not restricted by the focal point in its perspective.
The artist may paint on a long and narrow piece of paper
or silk all the scenes along the Yangtse River. The
picture "Mulan Returns Home" provides an example.
It is based on an old story in which Mulan, disguised
as a boy, joined the army in her father's stead and
returned home after the war was won. In the picture
one can see what people are doing both outside and inside
the courtyard and the house. It can be said that the
adoption of shifting perspective is one of the characteristics
of Chinese painting. Why do the Chinese artists emphasize
the shifting perspective? They want to break away from
the restrictions of time and space and to include in
their pictures both things which are far and things
which are near. Also, the artists find that in life
people view their surroundings from a mobile focal point.
As one walks along a river or in a garden, one sees
everything on the way. The shifting perspective enables
the artist to express freely what he wants.
Chinese calligraphy and Chinese painting are closely
related because lines are used in both. Chinese people
have turned simple lines into a highly-developed form
of art. Lines are used not only to draw contours but
to express the artist's concepts and feelings. For different
subjects and different purposes a variety of lines are
used. They may be straight or curved, hard or soft,
thick or thin, pale or dark, and the ink may be dry
or running. The use of lines and strokes is one of the
elements that give Chinese painting its unique qualities.
Traditional Chinese painting is a combination in the
same picture of the arts of poetry, calligraphy, painting,
and seal engraving. In ancient times most artists were
poets and calligraphers. Su Dongpo (1037-1101), Ni Yunlin
(1306-1374), and Dong Qichang (1555-1636) were such
artists. To the Chinese, "painting in poetry and
poetry in painting" has been one of the criteria
for excellent works of art. Inscriptions and seal impressions
help to explain the painter's ideas and sentiments and
also add decorative beauty to the painting. Ancient
artists liked to paint pines, bamboo, and plum blossoms.
When inscriptions like "Exemplary conduct and nobility
of character" were made, those plants were meant
to embody the qualities of people who were upright and
were ready to help each other under hard conditions.
For Chinese graphic art, poetry, calligraphy, painting,
and seal engraving are necessary parts, which supplement
and enrich one another.
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Bada Shanren's Strange Pictures
In the early days of the Qing Dynasty there was a famous
painter named Zhu Da, but he was known as Bada Shanren
because he signed most of his pictures with this name.
A descendant of zhu Yuanzhang, founder of the Ming Dynasty
(1368-1644), he grew up in Nanchang, Jiangsu Province.
Bada learned poetry and art while he was only a little
boy. His peaceful life ended when the Ming Dynasty was
overthrown by the Manchu northerners in 1644. The Qing
army took over Nanchang the next year and the nineteen-year-old
Bada and his family were forced to flee and hide in
the mountains.
A series of misfortunes followed. Bada's father, wife,
and son died. Under such heavy blows, then twenty-three,
changed his name and became a monk. He studied Dhyanna
(Zen), the teachings of a Buddhist sect in ancient China
that asserted that enlightment could be attained through
meditation and self-contemplation rather than through
the scriptures. In his thirties Bada became interested
in Daoist teachings. He often went to Qingyunpu, a Daoist
temple near Nanchang, to study Daoist scriptures. One
day, in his mid-fifties, when he heard that some of
his poems had been used by an official to flatter the
rulers of the Qing Dynasty, he went mad. He wandered
through the streets of Nanchang, wailing and laughing
alternately. When he was 62, he decided to return to
a secular life and earned his living by painting and
teaching. At this time he started to use the name Bada
Shanren for many of his works. Although he was poor,
he refused to paint for officials and rich people. He
died in 1705 at the age of eighty. (TOP)
Bada Shanren's paintings look strange to the public
and even to many artists. The birds and fish in his
pictures always hold their heads high. Their eyes were
drawn big and even square to show the painter's feelings.
His bitter experiences in those years of social turmoil
and his hatred for the Qing rulers helped to shape his
distinctive style. In his "Picture of Peacocks",
two peacocks squat on a strangely-shaped and unsteady
stone. They are very ugly and have strange big eyes.
Each has three tail plumes which look like the symbols
of rank worn on the hats of Qing officials. The poem
written on the painting provides the viewer with some
idea of the meaning of the picture. The plumes on the
peacocks were used to ridicule Qing officials; the strangely
shaped and unsteady stone symbolized that the Qing Dynasty
was not built on a firm foundation and would eventually
be overthrown. When Zheng Banqiao, a later painter,
commented on Bada Shanren's works, he said Bada's paintings
contained more tears than brush strokes done with Chinese
ink.
Bada's method of expression was based on his mastery
of traditional Chinese painting techniques. However,
he did not follow tradition blindly; he tried new trails
and sought new ways of expression. He excelled at painting
landscapes, flowers, and birds. What characterized his
works was simple composition, brief and precise brush
strokes, exaggeration, strange images, and the human
expressions and attitudes displayed by his subjects.
Bada Shanren's style exerted a great influence on later
artists. The Eight Eccentrics of Yangzhou in the Qing
Dynasty and such well-known modern artists as Qi Baishi,
Xu Beihong, Wu Changshuo, and Li Kuchan all followed
Bada Shanren's example and succeeded in forming their
own styles.
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Qi Baishi - the Great Artist
Qi Baishi (1863-1957) is one of the most celebrated
contemporary Chinese artists. His life shows he achieved
success by combining talent with hard work. He was born
in a peasant family in Xiangtan County, Hunan Province.
At the age of eight he went to school, but a year later,
he quit because of illness. At home he helped with herding
cattle, cutting firewood, and doing odd jobs on the
farm. At age eleven he was sent to leatn carpentry.
Under the guidance of his master he made dowry furniture
and carved decorative woodwork. Through his work he
got to know some local scholars. One of them, Hu Shenyuan,
offered to teach his painting and poetry. During this
period he earned his living by painting portraits and
selling his works. Gradually he developed a reputation
as an artist as well as a carpenter. At age thirty,
together with several young men, he founded the Longshan
Poetry Society.
In those years he devoted himself to poetry, calligraphy,
and seal carving. Although he admitted he was a versatile
artist, his own criteria of his success placed poetry
first, seal-carving second, calligraphy third, and painting
last.
From 1902 to 1916, Qi toured the country five times,
and he left his footmarks in Beijing, Guilin, Guangzhou,
Hainan Island, Hongkong, Shanghai, Suzhou, and Nanjing.
The trips broadened his vision and modified his style.
In 1917 he settled down in Beijing. There he met many
artists and scholars, and made friends with Chen Shizeng
(1876-1923). Chen advised him not to imitate early masters
and to form his own style. Qi took this advice and decided
to reform his approach. He integrated his own creativity
with the painting techniques of famous artists of the
Ming and Qing dynasties such as Xu Wei, Zhu Da and Shi
Tao, and the expressive skills used in folk art. (TOP)
Through long years of practice, Qi Baishi evolved a
distinctive, personal style. The subjects of his painting
were wide and various, and the flowers, birds, fish,
prawns, and insects he painted are most admired by his
public. In order to improve hsi technique of painting
prawns, he raised some at home and frequently observed
their movements. He wrote in his diary about how he
had changed his method of painting prawns: "At
first my prawns bore a reasonalbe similarity, then they
became even more realistic, and finally light and dark
colours became properly contrasted. These are the three
changes." Qi Baishi was able to portray the same
object in either the xieyi or the gongbi
style. When he painted a dragonfly in a detailed manner,
he even drew the veins in its wings. When he adopted
a bold, free style, he used only a few dry, expressive
strokes to form it. Dragonflies done in either method
are realistic and lively. What is fascinating about
his work is that in some pictures both methods are used.
For example, insects done in the gongbi style
and flowers in the xieyi style appear in the
same picture, and there is perfect harmony between them.
Qi Baishi was a man of noble character. Once, while
China was still under the rule of the Qing Dynasty,
he declined an offer to serve Empress Dowager Ci Xi.
He did paintings and wrote poems mocking corrupt officials,
greedy merchants, and shameful traitors. During the
Anti-Japanese War he refused to sell his works to officers
of the Japanese army of occupation.
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New Year Pictures
In China, when the Spring Festival comes around, people,
especially in rural areas, decorate the doors, windows,
and walls of their houses with brightly coloured pictures.
They hope the pictures will bring their families good
luck and prosperity. To many, it would not be a "happy"
New Year without the New Year pictures. No other Chinese
art form has enjoyed such wide-spread populaity.
New Year pictures have a long history and can be traced
back to the Eastern Han Dynasty (25-220). Originally,
people painted menshen (door gods) on their
doors with ink and colous to protect their families
from devils. During the Tang Dynasty (618-907), pictures
of door gods were gradually replaced by those of people
from real life. In the Song Dynasty (960-1279) woodlock
printed New Year pictures were traded among the ordinary
people. New Year pictures were gradually popularized
and developed into an independent art form. In the seventeenth
century, during the period of great prosperity of the
Qing Dynasty (1644-1911), New Year pictures flourished
along with other handicrafts.
In China, there are three major kinds of traditional
New Year pictures: the Yangliuqing in Tianjin, the Taohuawu
in Jiangsu Province, and the Yangjiabu in Shandong Province.
Of these three kinds, New Year paintings made by the
peasants of Yangjiabu seem to be not only the most primitive
but also the most original. Yangliuqing New Year pictures
feature a combination of classical and folk art techniques.
Taohuawu pictures carry on the traditions of previous
dynasties and also adopt Western perspectives and shadings.
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In spite of the differences between the three schools,
all the New Year pictures have some common characteristics.
The people portrayed in New Year pictures look healthy
and happy and usually have complete bodies. Heads are
usually a bit larger than natural so that the face,
which is the most expressive part of a person, is emphasized.
New Year pictures portray various topics from history
to daily life. Originally, door gods or kitchen gods
dominated the pictures. During the Ming and Qing dynasties,
New Year pictures started to draw their themes from
the peole's lives and also from history, folklore, mythology,
novels, and operas. The most impressive of the pictures
are those from fairy tales and stories. Heroes in Chinese
classics such as Zhuge Liang, Guan Yunchang, Zhang Fei,
and Cao Cao in Romance of the Three Kingdoms,
Wu Song, Li Kui, and Song Jiang in Outlaws of the
Marsh are commonly pictured in New Year paintings.
Figures in well-known folk tales like "The White
Snake" and "Romance of the Butterflies"
are also portrayed.
Another characteristic of New Year pictures is the
use of symbolism. For example, a chubby, happy baby
is often shown embracing a big fish, with a lotus flower
at its side. The word "fish" in Chinese is
yu, which sounds like another word meaning
"affluence", and the word "lotus"
in Chinese is lian, which is a homonym of another
word meaning "in succession". These symbols
express people's hopes for consecutive good harvests.
Many other objects used in New Year pictures also have
symbolic meanings. The peony represents wealth and honour;
the peach symbolizes longevity, and the pomegranate
and red plum reflect a large number of children.
People, however, are no longer satisfied merely with
healthy babies or more grain and money. They like pictures
that are associated with building socialism, modern
science, and technology. In one of the most popular
pictures, a man is travelling in a spaceship. In another,
which is entitled "The Carp Leaps the Dragon Gate",
the term "Four Modernizations" is painted
on the gate, expressing the people's determination and
wishes for the new year and the future.
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