Among the earliest prehistoric painting materials in China, the largest number are all kinds of painted patterns on pottery, including realistic figures, birds, fish frogs and so on, as well as abstract geometric patterns. Judging from the tools and materials used, China's pen and ink painting was the first. For example, the "crocodile, stone axe and pottery jar" unearthed in Yancun, Linru, Henan Province, is a trench-style art treasure of Yangshao Cultural Temple about 5,000 years ago. The picture is 37 cm high and 44 cm wide, accounting for nearly half of the cylinder belly area. In the picture above, a stork with big eyes and a long beak is facing an upright axe and holding a big fish high. Painted pottery unearthed in Banpo, Xi, during Yangshao culture sometimes shows human faces and fish patterns. Some people have squints tattooed on their faces, noses in the shape of the Yangtze River Delta, sharp ornaments on their heads, and small fish painted across their ears, which is vivid and funny. The representative image of fish pattern is that the head is big and the tail is small, and the shape is natural. Fish scales are represented by grid patterns, and fish eyes are vividly portrayed, like looking back when swimming.
Although these prehistoric painting materials are of high artistic level, they still have their original traces. According to the general law of cultural development, China's paintings should also make continuous progress with the development of society, which is recorded in many ancient books. However, due to the limitation of the shape and quality of the carrier, there are few painting materials found in the past, which is a pity. In recent decades, silk paintings in the Warring States, Qin and Han Dynasties have been discovered many times in southern China, which gives us a more intuitive understanding of the development of Chinese painting. The most famous silk paintings in this period are the Dragon and Phoenix Picture and the Dragon Picture.
Dragon and phoenix figure 1949 unearthed from Chu tomb in chenjiadashan, Changsha, Hunan. In the painting, a woman with wide sleeves and thin waist stands sideways with her hands crossed, which looks like a senior woman in Chu State. Above it, there is a phoenix spreading its wings and cocking its tail, and there is also a dragon with lifted feet, vigorous posture and curly tail. The black and white contrast of the whole picture is sharp, the point, line and surface are harmonious, and the lines of pen and ink are smooth and rhythmic, which shows the progress of Chinese painting from primitive to mature. "Dragon King Map" was published at Chu Tomb in Changsha, Hunan Province 1973, with a slightly larger opening than the previous work. There is a middle-aged man with a high crown and robe in the painting, holding a sword in one hand and pulling the reins in the other, driving the dragon to the immortal. Compared with the above picture, this kind of painting pen is thicker and more flexible, and consciously strengthens the lines of some costumes to show the direction and speed of progress.
In the traditional art form of our country, painting has never lost its elegant image in people's minds, so it has attracted a large number of intellectuals to join in it very early, whether professional or amateur, leaving not only more paintings than other nationalities in the world, but also countless painters who have left history. Gu Kaizhi in Jin Dynasty, Yan and Wu Daozi in Tang Dynasty. , are recognized as outstanding figures. Limited by space, we can't cover this aspect. However, compared with the music and dance mentioned above, there is a phenomenon worthy of attention in the development of Chinese painting, that is, it seems that there is less communication with other ethnic groups, or less influence from foreign ethnic groups. This makes China's painting keep its traditional aesthetic taste from beginning to end, and also keep its usual creative methods and theories for a long time. For example, scattered perspective, freehand brushwork, the pursuit of specious, pay attention to the first craftsman, vivid charm and so on. We will also talk about these issues in the next section, and we will omit them here.