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Chinese Paintings |
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Overview of Traditional Chinese Paintings
An important part of Chinese cultural heritage, the traditional Chinese painting is distinguished from Western art in that it is executed on xuan paper (or silk) with the Chinese brush, Chinese ink and mineral and vegetable pigments.To attain proficiency in this branch of art calls for assiduous exercise, a good control of the brush, and a feel and knowledge of the qualities of xuan paper and Chinese ink.For Chinese artists the choice of whether to use paper or silk, color pigments or ink alone was as important as theme and painting style.
Chinese paintings are divided into two major categories: free hand brushwork (xieyi) and detailed brushwork (gongbi) . The former is characterized by simple and bold strokes intended to represent the exaggerated likenesses of the objects, while the latter by fine brushwork and close attention to detail. Employing different techniques , the two schools try to achieve the same end, the creation of beauty.
Before setting a brush to paper, the painter must conceive a well-composed draft in his mind, drawing on his imagination and store of experience, Once he starts to paint, he will normally have to complete the work at one go, denied the possibility of any alteration of wrong strokes.
Xuan paper is most suitable for Chinese painting. It is of the right texture to allow the writing brush wet with Chinese ink and held in a trained hand, to move freely on it, making strokes varying from dark to light, from solid to hollow. These soon turn out to be human figures, plants and flowers, birds, fish and insects, full of interest and life.
Many a Chinese painter is at the same time a poet and calligrapher. He will often add a poem in his own hand on the painting, which invariably carries an impression of his seal. The resulting piece of work is usually an integrated whole of four branches of Chinese art-- poetry, calligraphy, painting and seal-cutting.
Chinese paintings are presented mostly either in handscroll or hanging scroll. By large, hanging scroll is most common one.
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Classification of Chinese Paintings
Based on the elements and objects of Chinese paintings, they are flower-and-bird paintings, animal paintings, landscape paintings, figure paintings. Flower-and-bird paintings are for orchid, plum blossoms, bamboo, chrysanthemum, Peony, and birds.
Landscape paintings are mainly for mountains, rocks, water, rivers, trees.
Figure paintings cover maiden, religion, folklore.
Animal paintings include fish, horses, tigers, and many more.
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Understanding Chinese Paintings
Fish in Chinese paintings
Bamboo in Chinese paintings
Crane in Chinese paintings
Horse in Chinese paintings
Lotus in Chinese paintings
Peony in Chinese paintings
Buddhism in Chinese paintings
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Basic Genres of Chinese Paintings
The technique of traditional Chinese painting is divided into two major styles: meticulous (gongbi) and freehand (xieyi) . Meticulous style requires great care and grace; the strict composition has fine elaboration. The effect is highly decorative. Freehand style generalizes shapes and displays rich brushwork and ink technique.
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Materials for Chinese Paintings
brushes
ink
inkstones
paper
silk
pigments
inscriptions
seal or chop
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Formats for Chinese Paintings
There are four main forms of in Chinese paintings.
hanging scroll: Hanging scrolls provide the artist with a vertical format for an image. The painting surface of paper or silk is mounted with decorative silk borders. A wooden rod is attached at the bottom to give the scroll the necessary weight to hang smoothly on a wall, as well as a means of being rolled up for storage. A thin wooden strip with a cord is attached at the top for hanging the scroll. The composition of a hanging scroll usually places the foreground at the bottom of the scroll with the middle and far distances moving upward toward the top of the scroll. Hanging scrolls are displayed only for short periods of time and are then rolled up from bottom to top and secured with ties for storage.
Handscroll: Handscrolls provide the painter or calligrapher with a continuous horizontal surface of silk or paper on which to develop a composition. Though often displayed in their entirety in museums, handscrolls are meant to be viewed by only one or two people and unrolled from right to left two or three feet at a time. In this way, the viewer may "travel" through a story or landscape that conveys a progression of time. Separate papers containing titles or colophons may also be attached and the complete scroll mounted with silk boards. A wooden dowel is attached on the left end of the scroll and a semicircular rod at the other end. After viewing, the scroll is rolled up around the dowel from left to right and secured with ties.
Album: Albums consist of small square or rectangular paintings, calligraphies, or artist's sketches on silk or paper that are mounted onto individual pages and assembled in an accordian book-like structure. Fans, removed from their frames, are also mounted onto album leaves. Often albums are created around a single theme or story, and are not necessarily devoted to a single artist.
fan: There are two types of fans used in Chinese painting. The first type is of silk mounted on a rigid frame in a small round or oval shape. The second type, the folding fan, is made of paper pressed into folds with thin sticks of bamboo inserted for support. The folding fan was first introduced to China from Japan and Korea and became a format for painting during the Ming dynasty (1368-1644).
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Chinese Brush Painting
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