Chinese Painting Blog » art

Chinese Modern Paintings

CNArtGallery — Tue, 26 Nov 2013 16:32:11 +0000

Beginning with the New Culture Movement, Chinese artists started to adopt using Western techniques. It also was during this time that oil painting was introduced to China.

In the early years of the People's Republic of China, Chinese artists were encouraged to employ socialist realism. Some Soviet Union socialist realism was imported without modification, and painters were assigned subjects and expected to mass-produce paintings. This regimen was considerably relaxed in 1953, and after the Hundred Flowers Campaign of 1956-57, traditional Chinese painting experienced a significant revival. Along with these developments in professional art circles, there was a proliferation of peasant art depicting everyday life in the rural areas on wall murals and in open-air painting exhibitions.

During the Cultural Revolution, art schools were closed, and publication of art journals and major art exhibitions ceased with major destructions done as part of the elimination of Four Olds campaign.

Following the Cultural Revolution, art schools and professional organizations were reinstated. Exchanges were set up with groups of foreign artists. Chinese artists began to experiment with new subjects and techniques in their attempt to bring Chinese painting to a new height.

Father-Chinese Oil Painting

Tang Yin a Great Masters of Landscapes

CNArtGallery — Fri, 08 Nov 2013 04:03:12 +0000

Tang Yin, better known by his courtesy name Tang Bohu, was a Chinese scholar, painter, calligrapher, and poet of the Ming Dynasty whose life story has become a part of popular lore.

Tang Yin also assimilated the techniques of scholar landscape painting from the Four Great Masters of the Yuan, thus creating a distinct personal painting style. Tang Yin is regarded as one of the painting elite - “the Four Masters of Ming”, which also includes Shen Zhou, Wen Zhengming, and Qiu Ying.

Tang Yin painting

Wall Paintings on Buddhist and Daoist Themes by Han Gan

CNArtGallery — Wed, 06 Nov 2013 03:52:23 +0000

Han Gan was a Tang Dynasty painter, who, though recorded as having done wall paintings on Buddhist and Daoist themes, is best remembered for his horse paintings.

Han emphasized the strength and nobility of the horses of the Tang Empire by using a tautly controlled line and compositions of great clarity. The horse as a subject of Chinese painting was continued by Li Gonglin in the Song Dynasty (960–1279) and by Zhao Mengfu in the Yuan Dynasty (1271–1368), among others.

Han Gan paintings

Waterfall in Chinese Landscapes

CNArtGallery — Thu, 24 Oct 2013 06:49:57 +0000

Many critics consider landscape to be the highest form of Chinese painting. By the late Tang Dynasty (618-907), landscape painting had evolved into an independent genre that embodied the universal longing of cultivated men to escape their quotidian world to commune with nature. As the Tang Dynasty disintegrated, the concept of withdrawal into the natural world became a major thematic focus of poets and painters. Faced with the failure of the human order, learned men sought permanence within the natural world, retreating into the mountains to find a sanctuary from the chaos of dynastic collapse.

In Chinese culture, water symbolizes wealth, and the waterfall represents profits pouring in from all sides. Therefore, Chinese waterfall painting is a well-received theme for Chinese painting.

Mountains and waterfall - Chinese Painting

The Differences between Chinese Landscapes and Western Landscapes

CNArtGallery — Wed, 16 Oct 2013 08:40:35 +0000

Landscape painting is the major theme of Chinese paintings in china, it origins from the Eastern Jin Dynasty, which is 1600 years ago. In china, landscape painting is called “Shan Shui”, which means mountain and river (Shaw 1988). Usually the purpose of Chinese landscape painting is not only represent the exact appearance of nature, but also reflects the painter’s feelings and emotions to the landscape and his philosophy of life.

In contrast, western painting originated from ancient Greece and Rome and its development was contemporaneous with other art forms such as music, dance and sculpture. The contents that western paintings portrayed were closely associated with people’s daily life.

Mountains, water - Chinese Painting

Chinese landscape painting is created using ink brush, ink stick, ink stone and Xuan paper. Oil painting is the main type of western painting. Painters usually draw contents on cloth, board, canvas or thick paper with oily pigments. The characteristic of oil painting is the rich of colour that has a strong artistic expression and can express the realistic sense of the objects.

A River 1899

Mysterious Animal Dragon in Chinese Paintings

CNArtGallery — Mon, 30 Sep 2013 14:44:17 +0000

Dragon is a mysterious and high-ranking animal in China. It represents the icon of emperor. The dragons of China and Japan are almost exclusively benevolent mythological creatures in Chinese paintings. In fact they are so different in nature from Western Dragons that it may be more reasonable to consider them as dissimilar creatures, rather than as the same creature interpreted differently.

Chen Rong was a renowned painter in the Sung Dynasty who specialized in painting dragons. Throughout the history of China, there were some renowned painters of dragons such as Tsao Bu-Xing of the Three Kingdoms Period and Zhang Seng-You of the Southern Dynasties according to Zhang Yan-Yuan's Record of Famous Paintings of Successive Dynasties, however, none of their Chinese dragon paintings exists today.

Dragon - Chinese Painting

Horse in Chinese Painting

CNArtGallery — Fri, 27 Sep 2013 16:16:18 +0000

Horse is always known as the clever, faithful, brave animal that is able to endure hard work for its characteristic. The ancients of China regard the horse as the symbol of honor, auspiciousness and authority. They often compare horse to talented person in Chinese painting as well.

Eight Noble Horses Painting: All of them are running. This Chinese horse painting has implied that there is a splendid assemblage advance (talented persons together) bravely and successfully. It is suitable for company, office and study, especially fit for boss.

Horse - Chinese Painting

Chinese Chicken Paintings

CNArtGallery — Wed, 25 Sep 2013 14:34:23 +0000

The chicken has been the symbol of valiancy in Chinese paintings since ancient times for it eats five poisonous creatures: centipede, poisonous snake, scorpion, toad, and spider as well as eliminate plague and drive away evil spirit. The Chinese also attribute five virtues to the cock or rooster.

The chicken is a common subject in Chinese painting, belonging to the category of flower-and-bird painting. The Chinese character for the Chicken is a homophone of auspicious, thus making it particularly popular among Chinese artists.

Chicken - Chinese Painting

Who is the Master in Shrimp Chinese Paintings?

CNArtGallery — Mon, 23 Sep 2013 11:28:58 +0000

Shrimp live in both fresh water and salt water. Shrimp is one of delicious food all over the world. Their appearances, features of vivid, transparent, and energetic, are beautiful but not easy to be captured in Chinese paintings. In China, lobster is literally “dragon shrimp”. It represents energy and spirit, and regeneration, resoluteness.

Shrimp Chinese paintings can be the difficult subject for artists. But Master Qi Baishi was extremely good at shrimps. His shrimps are real in appearance and sprit Without a single brush or ink, he also expresses the water surrounding the shrimp. The subjects of his paintings include almost everything, commonly painting animals, scenery, figures, vegetables, and so on. In his later years, many of his works depict mice, shrimps, or birds. Qi Baishi is particularly known for painting shrimps.

Shrimp - Chinese Painting

Tips for Oil Painting Collection

CNArtGallery — Wed, 18 Sep 2013 10:38:15 +0000

Oil painting is enduring in the world, which is accepted by more and more countries. In Chinese paintings market has gradually become matured. A large number of well-educated art lovers with the new concept become the collectors. The following article is about the painting collection:

Firstly, before you buy a painting you should know how the painter’s techniques are. You can see the painter’s attitude, skill as well as his love for the painting. Generally you can also experience the feeling when he creates it. The drawing of good works must be impeccable.

Secondly, the good works should have the independent discourse right, independent creation style and expression methods. The work itself can give you more information, and not depend on the introduction or the background to set off. The painting with clever expression does not impose more ideas to the vision.

Thirdly, good work will communicate to you more sense of cultural origin with their more cultural elements and not obey the rule that the art is subject to the business and the custom, because the culture can not be imitated. Too many style elements dependent on the foreign countries and compromise in business are very difficult to last for long.

Fourth, the artist must be calm, persistent, brilliant and serious. He needs to firmly adhere to the inner heart and the art. In the face of collectors and external public opinion he should have his own ideas.

Fifth, the good works will build a good connection with your inner heart and shock your vision. A work which can move you and others is the great work that you have found. Oil painting collection need the keen appreciation, I believe you will find your beloved masterpiece.

Landscape with river - Mounted - Chinese Painting