Chinese Painting - History
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Early Imperial China (221 BC-AD 220)
In imperial times (beginning with the Eastern Jin Dynasty), painting and calligraphy in China were the most highly appreciated arts in
court circles and were produced
almost exclusively by amateurs--
aristocrats and scholar-officials--
who had the leisure time
necessary to perfect the
technique and sensibility
necessary for great brushwork.
Calligraphy was thought to be
the highest and purest form of
painting. The implements were the brush pen, made of animal hair, and black inks made from pine soot and animal glue. In ancient times, writing, as well as painting, was done on silk. However, after the invention of paper in the 1st century AD, silk was gradually replaced by the new and cheaper material. Original writings by famous calligraphers have been greatly valued throughout China's history and are mounted on scrolls and hung on walls in the same way that paintings are.
Period of division (220-581)
During the Six Dynasties period (220-589), people began to appreciate painting for its own beauty and to write about art. From this time we begin to know about individual artists, such as Gu Kaizhi. Even when these artists illustrated Confucian moral themes - such as the proper behavior of a wife to her husband or of children to their parents - they tried to make the figures graceful.
Sui and Tang dynasties (581-907)
During the Tang Dynasty, figure
painting flourished at the royal court.
Artists such as Zhou Fang showed
the splendor of court life in paintings
of emperors, palace ladies, and
imperial horses. Figure painting
reached the height of elegant
realism in the art of the court of
Southern Tang (937-975). Most of
the Tang artists outlined figures with fine black lines and used brilliant color and elaborate detail. However, one Tang artist, the master Wu Daozi, used only black ink and freely painted brushstrokes to create ink paintings that were so exciting that crowds gathered to watch him work. From his time on, ink paintings were no longer thought to be preliminary sketches or outlines to be filled in with color. Instead they were valued as finished works of art. Beginning in the Tang Dynasty, many paintings were landscapes, often shanshui (山水, "mountain water") paintings. In these landscapes, monochromatic and sparse (a style that is collectively called shuimohua), the purpose was not to reproduce exactly the appearance of nature (realism) but rather to grasp an emotion or atmosphere so as to catch the "rhythm" of nature.
Song and Yuan dynasties (960-1368)
