Contemporary Art Painting

Traditional Background East-Asian traditional painting has a rich history as an enduring art form and is well known throughout the world. Traditionally, this kind of painting is done on rice paper or thin silk, using a variety of brushes, ink and dye. Traditional painting covers a variety of subjects: portrait, landscape, flowers, birds, animals, and insects.

Traditional Background (China) Traditional Chinese painting is known as “guo hua (国画)”. Like calligraphy, the painting is done using a brush dipped in black or colored ink, usually on paper or silk. The finished work can be mounted on scrolls and hung. Traditional painting has also been done on walls, porcelain and lacquer ware. There are two main techniques in Chinese painting: "Gong-bi (工笔)" or meticulous attention to detail, referring mainly to portraits, and "xie yi (写意)" or freehand, referring mainly to landscapes.

Four Treasures of the Study        Four Treasures of the Study (文房四宝 wenfang sibao) is an expression used to refer to the ink, brush, inkstone and paper used in Chinese calligraphy and painting. Brushes (bi) and ink (mo) are two of the legendary “Four Treasures of the Study” tools of Chinese calligraphers, painters and poets over thousands of years. The other vital elements of culture are the rice paper (zhi), and the inkstone (yan) .

Chinese brush (bi). First, there is the Chinese brush (bi). Though similar to the brush used for watercolor painting in the West, it has a finer tip suitable for dealing with a wide range of subjects and for producing the variations in line required by different styles. Since the materials used for calligraphy and painting are essentially the same, developments in calligraphic styles and techniques can also be used in painting.

Chinese Ink (mo) Second, there is the ink.  Ink has been used in calligraphy and painting for over two thousand years.  When the ink cake is ground on the painter's stone slab with fresh water, ink of various consistencies can be prepared depending on the amount of water used.  Thick ink is very deep and glossy when applied to paper or silk.  Thin ink appears lively and translucent.  As a result, in ink-and-wash paintings it is possible to use ink alone to create a rhythmic balance between brightness and darkness, and density and lightness, and to create an impression of the subject's texture, weight and coloring.

The Brushes

The Inkstone

The Ink

Chinese Paper The original paper(around 100 AD.)was made from many different materials including pulp, old fishing nets and bark, rice.  The paper is very absorbent and the amount of size in it will dictate the quantity of ink used for strokes on the paper. Different paper produce different results; some are rough and absorb ink quickly like a sponge, others have a smooth surface which resists ink. 

Chinese Silk Before painting on silk, the silk should be treated with alum and glue before use.  This method  makes silk less absorbent than paper. Brushstroke is best shown on paper. Because of this reason and the paper's variety of texture, paper quickly became favored by artists and calligraphers

Ma Lin. "Listening to the wind in the pines“ (13c.)

Chinese Colors Fourth, there are the colors.  There are differences in the use of color between Chinese painting and modern western painting.  Chinese painting aim is to express the characteristics of the different subjects. For example, the adding of traces of brown or green to rocks, trees, leaves, grass and moss in a painting is used to reinforce the feeling of a particular season or state of the weather.

Composition and Space Fifth, there are composition and space. The painter has complete freedom in terms of artistic conception, structural composition and method of expression. To give prominence to the main subject, it is quite permissible to omit the background entirely and simply leave it blank. At the same time, since the sizes and shapes of the spaces in the painting are different, the very absence of content can itself create rhythm and variety.

Go Si (1020-1090). Autumn in the valley of the Yellow River

The meaning The composition and the plot need to be deciphered. The scroll should be read as a hieroglyphic letter, element by element. Plants and animals are endowed with different qualities Homonyms are widеly used Quotation and use of images of classical literature

Four noble plants Four noble plants: bamboo, orchid, chrysanthemum, plum symbolized the best human qualities: perseverance, nobility, fidelity, dignity

Orchid and wild plum

The chrysanthemum The chrysanthemum is beautiful, chaste, pure. It is the symbol of early autumn. This flower is also the symbol of sublime solitude.

The Homonyms Genre "flowers - birds." A hieroglyph with favorable meaning was connected with the appropriate plant or animal. Reed or wild goose - homonym to the words "elderly" / "calm", i.e. “Calm old age”. Quail and chrysanthemum - "live safely"

The Homonyms Pen Sangbock, 17c "Cats and sparrows” "Cat" is homonymous to the Chinese expression "70-year-old man", the sparrow - «the official“. The meaning: "live to old age, make a career"

The 20th and early 21st centuries. Painting in China, as with all the arts of China since 1912, has reflected the effects of modernization, the impact of Western art, and the political, military, and economic struggles of the period, including the war with Japan (1937–45), the civil war that ended in the establishment in 1949 of the People’s Republic of China, and the rapid economic changes of the late 20th and early 21st centuries.

Qi Baishi (齊白石, 1864–1957) One of the most well-known contemporary Chinese painters. Baishi (“white stone”) is one of his pseudonyms. The subjects of his paintings include almost everything, commonly animals, scenery, figures, vegetables, and so on.

Qi Baishi Qi's paintings carry a strong sense of modernity and unique originality. His swift, sure, spontaneous brush strokes usually perfected only at an old age, turned Qi into China's most celebrated modern artist and indeed one of the worlds greatest painters. Qi Baishi is the Picasso of China.

The shrimps

Qi Baishi

Qi Baishi

Motes of Sleeps

Lin Fengmian (林風眠, 1900-1991)         He integrated the emotive qualities of European masters such as Henri Matisse, Pablo Picasso. These influences led him to create paintings—set against a monochromatic background of ink wash-and-line drawing—that were deftly furnished with gorgeous colors set in forceful motion. Lin Fengmian (林風眠, 1900-1991) is a Chinese painter and art educator who sought to blend the best of both Eastern and Western art.

Lin Fengmian, “Lady in blue”

Mountain forest

Fishing boat

 Li Keran (李可染, 1907-1989)        Li Keran (李可染, 1907-1989) was a painter and art educator, who was a prominent figure in 20th-century Chinese art. He developed a personal style of landscape painting that was based upon the emulation of both ancient and contemporary masters.

Li Keran

Xu Beihong's Galloping Horse Gallery (1895-1953) Xu Beihong is widely recognized as the father of modern Chinese painting, both for his innovative ink works that did much to revitalize the traditional Chinese form and for his willingness to embrace Western techniques, particularly French Realism.

Xu Beihong

Fang Zhaolin (方召麐, 1914–2006) She developed a distinctive style of her own in both figure paintings and in her landscapes which, from the 1970s, often combine calligraphic lines and forms to illustrate mountains and rocks instead of using the traditional method of ink strokes.

Fang Zhaolin

Hung Liu (1948)

The Autumn

Hung Liu

The weaver

Cynical Realism Cynical Realism takes a critical look at contemporary Chinese society, but its use of humour and satire tends to soften the criticism. Indeed, Cynical Realist painters often adopt a self-mocking attitude. As well as borrowing stylistic elements from the Socialist Realist movement, they have their own devices - clown-like figures and make-up, as well as symbolism and surrealism imagery - through which to convey their message

Yue Minjun

Ai Weiwei A cultural figure of international renown, Ai Weiwei is an activist, architect, curator, filmmaker, and China’s most famous artist. Open in his criticism of the Chinese government, Ai was famously detained for months in 2011, then released to house arrest.