The Development of Three Kinds of Chinese Painting

The infancy of Chinese painting predated the appearance of writen characters.The pre-historical culture and the whole Chinese cultural development had a close relation with it.The techniques used in figure painting had reached maturity during the periods from the later Zhou to the Han，Wei and the Six Dynasties.Landscape and flower-and-bird paintings had become an independent category in the Sui and Tang dynasties.

There were many schools of wash and landscape painting artists in the Five Dynasties and the Northern and Southern Song and landscape painting became a major sector.

Figure Painting

of all types of the traditional Chinese paintings，figure painting has the most cognitive value and instructive significance.It covers various aspects of the feudal society such as morality and human relationships，ethics and rites，historical stories，legends and fairy tales，social customs，religion，Buddhist monks and Taoist priests，beautiful ladies and portraits，and has an apparent didactic function.It reflects to a great degree such aesthetic and artistic thinking of Conftucian scholars as being refined and cultivated，and being above vulgarism，all of which were propagated in the highly harmonious form of art so as to rectify one’s mind and make people abstain from their desires.

Observed carefully，a strong national sentiment can beperceived in most of the traditional Chinese paintings.The painters used their superior painting techniques and rich imaginative qualities to depict the material and spiritual life of the people of all ranks.

Flower and Bird Painting

In the flower and bird painting，both expressing the external life and expressing the inner sentiments are stressed.（Expressing the external life means expressing the vitality and characteristics of the animal or the plant.

Expressing the inner sentiments means expressing the sentiments of the painter like a poet expressing his sentiments.）The painter expresses through the landscape and the flowers-and-birds in his painting his own sentiments derived from his experiences in social life.Therefore，although the painter depicts mainly the natural obiects，yet his work has a subtle relation with society and life.

This is an important characteristic of the Chinese landscape painting and flower-and-bird painting.

Landscape painting

Beginning in the Tang Dynasty，the landscape painting came to the fore.The purpose was not to reproduce exactly the appearance of nature，but to grasp an emotion or atmosphere in such a way as to catch the“rhythm”of nature.In the Song Dynasty，landscapes of more subtle expression appeared.Emphasis was placed on the spiritual qualities of the painting and on the ability of the artist to reveal the inner harmony between man and nature.

hancheng

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