Chinese Painting

2 min read

Chinese painting varies from ink-and-wash painting to Western oil painting.Here we will focus on the traditional Chinese painting，namely the Ink-and-wash Painting.The traditional Chinese painting is distinguished from Western art in that it is drawn on Xuan Paper with Chinese brushes，using Chinese ink and mineral and vegetable pigments.

Traditional Chinese paintings can be classified into different categories based on different criteria.Ink-and-wash Painting and Watercolor Painting are two genres based on the color of the painting.The former type employs only the brushes and ink for composing.It is said that this type of painting originated in the Tang Dynasty，became prevalent in the Yuan，and further developed during the period of Ming and Qing.The latter type of painting employs pigmentsmade from minerals，animals，and vegetables.The most commonly used colors are red and cyan，and that’s why this type of painting is called Dan Qing in Chinese，meaning red and cyan.

According to the painting techniques，traditional Chinese paintings can be divided into detailed brushwork and free hand brushwork.The former，called Gong Bi in Chinese，is characterized by fine brushwork and close attention to the details of objects.The latter，called Xie Yi in Chinese，features bold and rough strokes，reflecting the essence of objects.

Traditional Chinese paintings can be sorted into three major types by theme:Figure Painting，Landscape Painting，and Flower-and-bird Painting.Figure Painting，as its name indicates，describes people.This type of painting appeared earlier than the other two types.

Landscape Painting，also called Mountain-and-water Painting，mainly depicts the natural scenery of mountains and rivers.Flower-and-bird Painting depicts all the dynamic and static objects，ranging from animals and insects to melons and fruits.In early times，Flower-and-bird Painting usually showed a vast panorama，reflecting the harmony of nature.4 From the period of Ming and Qing，parts of the objects were drawn to reflect the whole.The small and exquisite paintings became popular.

Chinese paintings can also be classified into Literati Painting，Court Painting，and Folk Painting. Literati paintings are those drawn by the intellectuals.The major themes are landscape，flowers and birds.Court paintings are those drawn by imperial court painters to satisfy the emperors.These paintings are concerned with landscape，flowers，birds，court life and religions.They are characterized by technical fineness and close observation.

Being classified by forms，traditional Chinese paintings are labeled as the Hanging Scroll，Long Horizontal Scroll，Album，and Fan Painting. Hanging scroll paintings are usually hung on the wall.Long horizontal scroll paintings are very long paintings usually less than 50 centimeters high but maybe up to 100 meters long.Album paintings are a number of paintings bound into an album for convenience of storage.Fan paintings are drawn on the surface of fans.