Reviving the Unconstrained Color and Seeking for the Blue-green Painting (original) (raw)

On the Meaning of the "Blue-and-Green Manner" in Chinese Landscape Painting

In Perspectives on the Heritage of the Brush, Lawrence: Spencer Museum of Art, 1998, pp. 65-77.

rrravelers among Streams and Mountains by the scholar-amateur painter Wan Shanglin 1. (1739-1813), a large hanging scroll dated 1808 now in the collection of Roy and Marilyn Papp [fig. 22], depicts a party of upper-class riders on muleback and servants on foot ascending a path up a wooded mountainside. The deciduous trees are bright with foliage and flowers in blue and white. In the upper reaches of the landscape, in a setting of pines, water falls and mist, a man in a white robe welcomes another by gesturing toward his habitation. Is this painting to be read, then, as a depiction of an actual journey taken in the artist's own time? Several factors would preclude such a reading. The costumes are traditional, not the contem porary Manchu dress seen in such paintings as the Southern Inspection Tour scroll by Wang Hui , which is also in the Papps' collection. I The subject matter, travelers riding through a park-like landscape, is a venerable theme, and the composition of the landscape fonns intentionally makes art-historical reference to the classic compositional types of Northern Song (960-1127) landscape painting. Certainly the most arresting aspect of the painting, the one that most immediately removes it from the realm of the here-and-now, is its artificially brilliant color.

Ecological culture in Chinese traditional Mountain and Water painting

shanshui magazine, 2022

As a developing discipline, ecological aesthetics came into being in combination with traditional aesthetics under the increasingly serious global ecological crisis. Analyzed from a theoretical level, ecological aesthetics studies aesthetic issues from an ecological perspective, and also pays attention to ecological issues from an aesthetic perspective. It returns to the origin of life and the foundation of survival, rebuilds the mode of coexistence and connection between humans and nature, advocates the establishment of the concept of "affinity" between them, emphasizes being close to, respecting and adapting to nature, The art of Chinese Mountain and Water painting (shanshui hua 山水画 ) and its theories contain aesthetic thoughts of harmony, symbiosis and co-prosperity. Mountain and Water painting began to sprout during the Wei and Jin Dynasties and began to move towards independence. During this time, many painting theories appeared, all of which contained rich ecological wisdom. By analyzing the texts and paintings of two fundamental Chinese traditional artists, Zong Bing’s Introduction to Mountain and Water Painting, Hua shanshui xu, 《画山水叙》and Guo Xi’s Essay on Mountain and Water Painting, Linquan gaozhi 《林 泉高致》, we see how the realization of a mountain and water painting is not only an artistic practice delivering aesthetic pleasure, but it is also an experience of self-cultivation and spiritual improvement, thanks precisely to a life in harmony with nature. The aesthetic thought of the ancients is full of ecological consciousness, and it embodies the ancients' desire for the ideal living condition of harmonious coexistence between humans, humans and nature, and humans and society. The environmental thinking is an important part of the main currents of the Chinese traditional philosophical thinking we find in Confucianism, Chan Buddhism (Zen) and naturally in Daoism. Zong Bing’s (375-443) text is one earliest treatise on Mountain and Water painting. He himself was a hermit at Mount Lu Lushan 庐山, who was devoted to Buddhism, a disciple of Hui Yuan 慧远 (334-416), and a great master of the Chinese Buddhist traditions who also founded the White Lotus society Bailian she 白莲社on Mount Lu. In the Introduction to Mountain and Water Painting it is also possible to find Daoist conceptions on the relationship between human and nature. And Guo Xi (ca. 1000-1090), is one of the most important figures in the history of Chinese painting, he is a creator of works of the highest level, his Essay on Mountain and Water Painting is a fundamental text for the theoretical structuring of mountain and water painting, which from the perspective of Confucianism, also presents an extremely rich concept of ecological aesthetics. He constructed an art world with natural ecology as the aesthetic object, so that literati and intellectuals can retire from the burdens of the human society. In Chinese landscape painting, the vector perspective is not included, as it is an element that limits the representation of a grandiose subject like the mountain environment. Instead it is represented with a combination of multiple points of view, as in this way the observer will not be able to see the work in a single glance, but the observer’s gaze must travel within the painting, as if he was actually in the mountains experiencing closeness with nature and receiving the aesthetic benefits along the way.

Blue mountains, empty waters: the evolution of Chinese landscape painting under the influence of Chan Buddhism

The Boolean Journal, 2015

In this paper I will describe the evolution of Chinese landscape painting throughout the period which led from the awareness of a primordial aesthetics to the emergence of Chan Buddhism. In fact, since the Chan tradition had a pervasive and profound impact on the Far Eastern cultures, it should be analysed in a more rigorous manner than it was in the past. In particular, my thesis is that the Chan Buddhism consistently influenced the aesthetic canons and artistic themes of the epoch, expressing through the artworks original concepts and relevant philosophical ideas.

Heaven, Earth and Humans: Color Harmony in Chinese Culture

Heaven and Earth and Humans, 2012

The Five-Elements-Theory (also called phases, essences or stages) is an important doctrine of ancient China: merging the wisdom and life experience of our ancestors, it is a reflection of Chinese culture that certainly has practical value and completeness. The Five-Elements-Theory discusses the harmonious relations and interactions of heaven, earth and humans, which provide considerable research value not only in a cultural connotation, but also in the field of natural sciences.

Philosophical Origins of Absence of Color in Chinese Painting

Eastern aesthetic experience, which is best represented by the brush-ink Chinese painting. Influenced by the Taoist and Confucian philosophical doctrines, it reflects the traditional principles of loneliness, poverty, and simplicity. Visualizing the Chinese traditional dualism, the black and white system goes beyond an artistic style and resembles a state of contemplation which invites to complete unity with nature. The final goal is selfannihilation in the light of the principle of non-expression.

The Hegemony of Colour: Its Genetics, Politics, Psychology and Anthropological Concepts Special Reference to East-West Folklore Art

In the contemporary milieu, the purpose, meaning and definition of colour is exclusively different. Without understanding its socio-cultural-anthropological relevance and peculiarities, it normally or profoundly used in diverse level with various perspectives. Thus, it degenerated merely as an element of pleasing by considering its extraneous beauty. Actually, most of the animals have not the abilities to identify colours; with some exceptions that they were only identifies red and black colours. Colours also bear some incredibly mysterious believes. While evaluating the colours in primordial art forms, its significances related with primitive man " s straight attempt to comprehend the universe, environment and his race itself. On a wider level, the colours of environment affect behaviour a nd mood. Nature with its colours makes a person as livelier. The colours of the interior environment wherein a person live or work influence in just the same way as those in the natural world always did. The colour concepts of Kerala are visible in the face, body paintings of performers in folklore-rituals and mural paintings. In Kerala Folklore-rituals the face painting is termed as Mukhathezhuthu. The paper is an attempt to explore the genetics and politics of colours. There will also be an effort to examine the psychological concepts of colour and the paper also focuses the colour concepts in Western folklore rituals and in Eastern Kerala folklore-rituals special reference with Face colouring or " Mukhathezhuthu'.