Chinese
Painting
The roots of Chinese
painting can be traced back to paintings of Neolithic pottery, such as figures
of fish, frogs, deer, birds, flowers, tree leaves and dances, 6,000-7,000 years
old.
The earliest Chinese characters were pictographs. Since similar
tools and lines were used for the earliest painting and writing, painting is
said to have the same origin as calligraphy. Thus, Chinese painting has an
outstanding characteristic, that is to say, poetry or calligraphy are inscribed
on paintings sot hat the three are integrated, giving people a keener enjoyment
of beauty.
Many
ancient paintings were executed on walls or decorative screens. Today,
murals can be seen in the tombs of the Han, Tang, and other dynasties. Gu
Kaizhi, a famous painter of the Jin Dynasty, was good a presenting historical
themes. His painting The Nymph of the Luo River portrayed poet Cao
Zhi's meeting with the goddess. The Tang and Song Dynasties were the
golden age of Chinese painting. The Tang painter Wu Daozi, called the
"Sage Painter," was an expert at figure and landscape painting.
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Riverside
Scenes at the Qingming Festival, a genre painting of significant historical
value done by the Northern Song Dynasty painter Zhang Zeduan, depicts the
bustling scene in the then capital during the festival. The Tang painters
Li Sixun and Li Zhaodao, who were father and son, used mineral substances as
pigment to paint landscape paintings, which were called "magnificent
landscapes." Wang Wei practiced watercolor painting with vigorous
strokes depicting floating clouds and flowing water. Flower-and-bird
painting is also an important traditional Chinese painting genre.
Contemporary
painters have specialties. Some only paint figures of ladies and some only
paint animals, or ever one kind of animal, such as cats ,donkeys, or
horses. As a result, the more they paint, the better their painting
become.
The
Chinese painting world is very active. The China Art Gallery and other art
galleries hold individual or joint exhibitions year in, year out. Also,
exhibitions of traditional Chinese paintings have been held in Japan, the
Republic of Korea, Singapore, the U.S., Canada and Europe. Different from
Western oil paintings, traditional Chinese painting attracts foreign virtuosos
and collectors with its Eastern artistic beauty.
China
has also made great progress in Western-style painting, such as oil painting,
woodcut, and water colors. Many Chinese painters have created works that
combine traditional Chinese painting techniques with those of the West, adding
splendor to Chinese painting.
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