Chinese Aesthetis
Since traditional Chinese philosophy has an ideal of attaining harmony between human beings and heaven, and as humans are part of nature, it is appropriate for the Chinese people to pay great attention to the harmony between their own creations and nature. Therefore, the main road Chinese art has followed is basically simplicity. So, Chinese aesthetics see recovering one’s original purity and simplicity as the highest state of beauty. Only if, before creating a work of art, the artist gathers imagination and inspiration, understands all the phenomena on the earth from the standpoint of simplicity, and tastes the multicolored nature of purity, can he claim to possess the spirit of beauty. As long as it is simple, plain, sincere, and full of imagination, it will be appreciated by the Chinese people. Recovering and maintaining one’s original purity and simplicity, while upholding nature, vividness of presentation, balance and harmony are the essentials of Chinese art.
Chinese works of art, especially literature and drama, pay a great deal of attention to moral evaluation. China’s works of art squarely face reality and make life-like portrayals; they are also replete with colorful imagination. The artists always maintain a sense of detachment from their creations, being at once inside the art and also outside the art. This sense of distance is one of the unique aspects of Chinese art. Chinese artwork very much emphasizes stirring the imagination of the audience. The artists try their best to immerse the audience and make them participate in their creations.
Chinese Painting
Traditional Chinese painting has a history of about 6,000 years. It bears its own characteristics and has formed a unique style. Traditional Chinese painting is highly regarded throughout the world for its theory, expression, and techniques. Different from Western paintings, a Chinese painting is not restricted by the focal point in its perspective. The picture Riverside Scene at Qingming Festival, painted by one of the Song Dynasty’s greatest artists, Zhang Zeduan about 980 years ago, provides an example. In the picture the artist painted all the scenes along the river at the day of Pure Brightness Festival on a long and narrow piece of paper. One can see what people are doing both outside and inside the courtyard and the house. It can be said that the adoption of shifting perspective is one of the characteristics of Chinese painting.
Why do the Chinese artists emphasize the shifting perspective? They want to break away from the restriction of time and space and to include in their pictures both things which are far and things which are near. Also, the artists find that in life people view their surroundings from a mobile focal point. As one walks along a river or in a garden, one sees everything on the way. The shifting perspective enables the artist to express freely what he wants.
According to the means of expression, Chinese painting can be divided into two categories: the Xieyi school and the Gongbi school. The Xieyi school is marked by exaggerated forms and freehand brush work. The Gongbi school is characterized by close attention to details and fine brush work.
Xieyi, however, is the fundamental approach to Chinese painting. It constitutes an aesthetic theory which, above all, emphasizes the feelings. Even in ancient times, Chinese artists were unwilling to be restrained by reality. A famous artist of the Jin Dynasty named Gu Kaizhi was the first to put forward the theory of “making the form show the spirit”. In his opinion, a painting should serve as a means to express not only the appearance of an object, but also how the artist looks at it. Gu’s views were followed by theories such as “likeness in spirit resides in unlikeness”. And “a painting should be something between likeness and unlikeness”.Guided by these theories, Chinese artists disregard the limitations of proportion, perspective, and light.
Chinese calligraphy and Chinese painting are closely related because lines are used in both. Chinese people have turned simple lines into a highly-developed form of art. Lines are not only to draw contours but to convey the artist’s concepts and feelings. So the use of lines and strokes is one of the elements that give Chinese painting its unique qualities.
