Chinese Culture >> Chinese Art Gallery
Discover Traditional Chinese Paintings
While visiting China, you will have the opportunity to learn traditional
Chinese Painting as well as
Chinese calligraphy. While touring the ancient city of Lijiang, the paradise scenic city of Guilin, or visiting the noted mountain
Huangshan, You will find here the most popular thing to buy is scroll of
Chinese Painting. You will also find it is extremely interesting and intriguing to paint
with soft brushes. If you are a Chinese art lover, don't forget to take some of
these stuffs back home.
Chinese painting is also called traditional Chinese painting. Just as its name
implied, Chinese painting is painted with traditional Chinese painting tools in
accordance with Chinese aesthetic standard. Chinese Painting has developed a
unique style.
Chinese painting is painted on rice paper or thin silk with brushes, Chinese ink
and Chinese painting dye. In terms of topics, Chinese painting can be classified
into three branches: human figures; Landscapes; flowers and birds. So the
painting of ladies, the painting of mountains and the painting of insects and
fish belong to the three branches respectively.
On painting techniques, one is traditional Chinese realistic painting
characterized by fine brushwork and close attention to detail, the other is
freehand brushwork.
The Legend of
Chinese Painting:
In 1949, the earliest work was unearthed from a tomb of the Warring States
Period (475-221 B.C). The work was a painting on silk of human figures, dragons
and phoenixes. This is the earliest work on silk ever discovered in China, it
measures about 30cm long by 20cm wide.
From this and other early paintings on silk, it may be easily seen that the
ancients were already familiar with the art of the writing or painting, brush,
for the strokes show vigor or elegance whichever was desired. Paintings of this
period are strongly religious or mythological in themes.
Paintings on paper appeared much later than those on silk for the simple reason
that the invention of silk preceded that of paper by a long historical period.
In 1964, when a tomb dating to the Jin Dynasty (265-420 A.D) was excavated at
Astana in Tinpan, Xinjiang, a colored painting on paper was discovered. It
shows, on top, the sun, the moon and the Big Dipper and, below, the owner of the
tomb sitting cross-legged on a couch and leisurely holding a fan in his hand. A
portrayal in vivid lines of the life of a feudal land-owner, measuring 106.5cm
long by 47cm high, it is the only known painting on paper of such antiquity in
China.
The Classification of
Chinese Painting:
Chinese Figure Painting: The style for paintings that illustrates human figures.
"Figure" in short, is a major genre in the Chinese Paintings. Chinese Figure
Painting is generally divided into Taoist-and-Buddhist Painting, Female Images,
Portrait, Genre Painting, and History-story painting, etc. Figure Painting
strives for precise and lifelike depiction of the character's personality, both
outlook and spirit. In the contemporary age, Figure Painting stresses more on
"learn from the nature", assimilates the western techniques, and has made
progresses in both modeling and coloring.
Chinese Landscape Painting: regularly features mountains, water or mist which
are symbolic. Water and mist donate happiness and good fortune with the
mountains represents long life. Some artists who like to include people, animals
and homes into the painting are trying to convey a feeling of a fortunate long
and happy life with the unison of soul and nature coming together.
Chinese Flower-and- Bird Painting: Flowers and birds, being the leading figures
since Neolithic ceramists painted their works, have conveyed the metaphors and
images of artists for more than a thousand years. For example, the pine trees
represent the uprightness and immortality. Together with the bamboo and prunes,
the pine trees are known as the three friends of winter. The orchid, a modest
flower, is often used to describe the virtuous artists and scholars. Another
much depicted group of flowers are the flowers of the four seasons. They are the
peony-standing for the riches and honors; the lotus-coming out of the mire
without being smeared and meaning for purity; the chrysanthemum-meaning for
elegance, righteousness and longevity; and the prunes-meaning for bravery and
the messenger of spring.
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