Basic knowledge of traditional Chinese painting
The term traditional Chinese painting originated in the Han Dynasty. People in the Han Dynasty believed that China resided in the heaven and the earth, so they called it China, and Chinese paintings were called "Chinese paintings". , referred to as "Chinese painting". Below is the basic knowledge of Chinese painting that I shared, let’s take a look.
Chinese painting, referred to as "Chinese painting", uses brushes, inks and Chinese paints to paint on special rice paper or silk. The main themes include figures, landscapes, flowers and birds, and the techniques can be It is divided into two types: Gongbi and freehand brushwork, which are full of traditional characteristics. Traditional Chinese painting can be divided into three types: figure painting, landscape painting, and flower-and-bird painting.
1. Figure painting
(1) The historical process of figure painting:
Figure painting in our country has a long history. According to records, there were already murals in the Shang and Zhou dynasties. During the Eastern Jin Dynasty, Gu Kaizhi specialized in figure painting and was the first person in the history of Chinese painting to clearly put forward the idea of ??"writing the spirit with form". Yan Liben of the Tang Dynasty was also good at figure painting. There are also Wu Daozi, Han Wei, etc. All made outstanding contributions to figure painting. After the Tang Dynasty, there were more painters who painted figures, and they existed in all dynasties.
(2) Drawing and expression methods of figure painting:
To draw good figure paintings, in addition to inheriting the tradition, you must also understand and study the basic shape, proportion and anatomy of the human body. The structure, as well as the changing rules of human body movement, can accurately shape and express the shape and spirit of the characters. There are several expression methods for painting figures, each with its own advantages, such as: line drawing, hook and fill, splash ink, and hook dyeing.
2. Landscape painting
(1) The historical process of landscape painting:
Landscape painting (commonly known as landscape painting, scenery painting or color and ink painting) is a specialized art discipline , has a long history. Since the Tang Dynasty, there have been famous painters in every period who specialized in the creation of landscape paintings. Although their life experiences, literacy, schools of thought, methods, etc. are different; however, they are all able to use pen, ink, color, and skills to operate flexibly and carefully depict the beauty of natural scenery, which is joyfully expressed on paper. Qingyi.
(2) The composition of landscape painting:
The composition of landscape painting includes: mountains, water, stones, trees, houses, buildings, terraces, boats and carriages, bridges, wind, rain, overcast, Sunny, snow, sun, cloud, fog and spring, summer, autumn and winter climate characteristics, etc.
3. Flower-and-bird painting
(1) Introduction to flower-and-bird painting:
Chinese flower and bird paintings are colorful and fascinating. It is listed as a specialized discipline of Chinese painting art along with landscape and figure painting. Broadly speaking, flower and bird paintings should include flowers and birds, animals, insects, fish, etc.
(2) The painting methods and themes of flower and bird paintings:
The painting methods of flower and bird paintings can be roughly divided into two categories:
(1) Meticulous painting of flowers and birds ;
(2) Freehand flowers and birds;
Insects are also divided into freehand and freehand paintings. The methods of expression include: line drawing (also known as double hook), outline, hook and fill, boneless, splash ink, etc. Like mountains and rivers, it has a long history. The steps for learning flower and bird painting are nothing more than copying, sketching, and creating. The themes represented include: bamboo, orchid, plum, chrysanthemum, peony, lotus, etc.; birds include: chickens, geese, ducks, cranes, cuckoos, kingfishers, magpies, eagles; insects include: parrots, butterflies, phoenixes, dragonflies, Cicadas and miscellaneous insects include: grasshoppers, crickets, ants, snails, spiders, etc.
Characteristics of Chinese painting
Compared with Western painting, Chinese painting has its own obvious characteristics. Traditional Chinese paintings do not pay attention to focus perspective, do not emphasize the changes in light and color of objects in nature, and do not stick to the similarity of the appearance of objects. Instead, they emphasize expressing the author's subjective taste. Chinese painting emphasizes "writing spirit with form" and pursues a feeling of "the beauty lies between similarity and dissimilarity"; while Western painting? It emphasizes "writing form with form". Of course, in the process of creation, it also pays attention to "spirit". "Performance. But it pays great attention to the overall picture and generalization. Some people say that Western painting is an art of "reproduction" and Chinese painting is an art of "expression". This is not unreasonable.
Compared with Western painting, Chinese painting has its own unique characteristics, which are also reflected in its artistic techniques, artistic disciplines, composition, use of brushes, use of ink, and color application. According to the artistic techniques, Chinese painting can be divided into three forms: meticulous brushwork, freehand brushwork and part-time calligraphy.
Gongbi is to use brushes neatly and meticulously, apply colors layer by layer, make details clear and subtle, and use extremely delicate brush strokes to depict objects, so it is called "Gongbi". What about freehand brushwork? Compared with "meticulous brushwork", bold and concise brushwork is used to describe the form and spirit of objects and express the author's emotions. It must have a high degree of generalization ability and an implicit artistic conception of winning more with less. It must be accurate in writing and skillful in handling, and it must be able to be used handily and accurately. The form of part-time writing is a comprehensive application of the two methods of gongbi and freehand brushwork.
From the perspective of art disciplines, Chinese painting can be divided into three major painting disciplines: figures, landscapes, and flowers and birds. It is mainly divided based on the different objects depicted. The paintings of animals, pommel horses, insects, fruits and vegetables in Chinese paintings can be classified into these three categories respectively.
Chinese painting also has its own characteristics in terms of composition, use of brushes, use of ink, and application of colors. The composition of Chinese paintings generally does not follow the golden rule of Western paintings. Instead, it is either a long scroll or a vertical scroll, and the length-to-width ratio is "imbalanced." But it can well express the special artistic conception and the subjective taste of the painter. At the same time, Chinese painting and Western painting are also different in terms of perspective methods. Perspective is a term used in painting. It means that when painting, all objects are correctly represented on a flat surface so that they have a sense of space and three-dimensionality. This method is called perspective. Because the phenomenon of perspective is that the near is large and the far is small, it is often called the "far and near method". Western paintings generally use focus perspective, which is like photography. It is fixed at one footing. Due to the limitations of space, what is taken into the lens must be photographed truthfully, otherwise it will not be photographed. Chinese painting is not necessarily fixed on a fixed footing, nor is it limited by a fixed field of view. It can move the footing according to the painter's feelings and needs, and incorporate both visible and invisible scenery into his painting. . This perspective method is called scatter perspective or multi-point perspective. For example, the famous painting of the Northern Song Dynasty, Zhang Zeduan's "Along the River During the Qingming Festival", which we are familiar with, uses scatter perspective. "Along the River During Qingming Festival" reflects the rich, complex and varied scenes inside and outside Bianliang, the capital of the Northern Song Dynasty. It takes the Bianhe River as the center, and draws from the distant countryside to the lively "Hongqiao"; the viewer can see both the city and the countryside; both the pedestrians on the bridge and the boats under the bridge; You can see not only the nearby buildings and trees, but also the deep streets and river ports in the distance. And no matter which section you stand on, the proportions of the scenery are similar. If you paint according to the focus and perspective method of Western paintings, many places cannot be painted at all. This is a unique perspective method created by ancient Chinese painters based on the needs of content and artistic expression.
The use of pens and inks is an important part of the style of Chinese painting. Pay attention to changes in thickness, speed, pauses, turns, squares and circles when using the pen to express the texture of the object. Generally speaking, you need to use force when starting and stopping the pen. The wrist should be straight, the breath should not be broken in the middle, and the pen should not be lifted lightly when holding the pen. When using the pen, light force will make it float, heavy force will make it smooth, fast movement will make it slippery, slow movement will cause sluggishness, partial use will make it thin, and correct use will make it dull. To make it curve like a bow and straight like a ruler, this is the intention of using the pen. The ancients summarized the outline and eighteen strokes, which can be said to be a summary of the experience of using brushes in Chinese painting. As for the use of ink, it emphasizes the interaction of chaffing, rubbing, dotting and dyeing, and the reasonable mixing of dry, wet, thick and light to shape the body and dye the atmosphere. Generally speaking, the beauty of using ink in Chinese painting lies in the interplay of thick and light. All thick and all light are lackluster. There must be thick and light. The thick parts must be brilliant but not stagnant, and the light parts must be elegant but not dull. Using ink is like using color. In ancient times, there was the experience of dividing ink into five colors, and there was also a painting style that cherished ink like gold. When using ink, thick and thick ink should complement each other, so that there is light in the thick, and thick in the light; the thick should be the thickest and the second thick, and the light should be slightly thicker and lighter. These are all the flexible brushstrokes of Chinese painting. Law. Because Chinese painting and calligraphy have many similarities in terms of tools and brushwork, the two have formed an indissoluble bond. The ancients have long said that "calligraphy and painting have the same origin". However, there are also differences between the two. Calligraphy is more varied than calligraphy, especially cursive writing, which is better than painting. Painting, on the other hand, uses more colorful inks than calligraphy. The word "pen and ink" is regarded as the general term for Chinese painting techniques. It is not only a means of shaping images, but also has independent aesthetic value in itself. Chinese painting also has its own particularities in color application. Most of the pigments used are natural minerals or animal shell powders, which are resistant to wind and sun and remain unchanged for a long time. The color application method is mostly flat coating, pursuing the effect of the inherent color of the object, with little change of light and shadow.
The characteristics of Chinese painting discussed above mainly refer to traditional Chinese painting. But these characteristics have evolved with the passage of time. The content and form of art are also updated and constantly changing.
Especially after the May Fourth Movement, Western paintings poured in in large numbers. With its broad mind, Chinese paintings absorbed many Western art techniques and enriched the expressive power of Chinese paintings. However, no matter what the changes are, the basic national characteristics of the Chinese painting tradition cannot be lost. The fine traditions of Chinese painting should be maintained and carried forward, because Chinese painting has its own unique system in the field of world art. It shines uniquely in the flowing art garden. Chinese painting is the crystallization of our nation's high wisdom, outstanding talent and hard work, and is a precious wealth of our nation.
Forms of Chinese Painting
The forms of Chinese calligraphy and painting are colorful, including horizontal, straight, square, round and flat shapes, as well as different sizes and lengths. In addition to murals, the following are some common ones: Types:
1: Middle Hall
Old-style Chinese houses have high ceilings, so it is suitable to hang a huge calligraphy and painting on the wall in the middle of the living room, called "the middle hall".
2: Banner
A long strip of calligraphy and painting becomes a banner, and the couplet is also composed of two banners. Banners can be horizontal or vertical, and the horizontal ones are similar to plaques. Regardless of calligraphy or Chinese painting, it can be designed as one banner or four or even multiple banners. Common ones include spring, summer, autumn and winter banners. Each painting depicts flowers, birds or landscapes of the four seasons, and is a group of four. As for longer poems, if they are not written in the nave, they can also be framed into banners, which is quite beautiful.
3: Sketch
The so-called sketch refers to calligraphy and painting that are relatively small in size. It can be used horizontally or vertically. After being framed, it is suitable for hanging on thin walls or rooms. It is very delicate.
4: Mirror frame
Mount the calligraphy and painting in a wooden frame or metal frame, and press glass or film on it to become a pressed mirror. Modern film has the advantages of being non-reflective and lightweight. As for non-reflective glass, it will not affect people's appreciation of the picture, so it is very popular.
5: Scroll
Scroll is a characteristic of Chinese painting. The calligraphy and painting are framed into a banner, with a log underneath as a shaft, and the calligraphy and painting are rolled outside the shaft for easy collection.
6: Fan
Take the inscriptions and paintings on the folding fan or round fan and frame it to make a pressed mirror. Because the circular or fan-shaped form is beautiful, some people cut the picture into a fan shape before painting, and then framed it in a unique style.
7;Album
Binding calligraphy and painting into a book is called album. In modern times, some stationery stores specially framed album pages for people to write on the fly. The album pages can be folded into squares, which is different from the long scrolls below.
8: Long scroll
The painting is framed into a long scroll to form a long scroll, which is mostly viewed horizontally. The pictures are continuous, which is different from the album pages.
9: Dou Fang
Frame the sketch into a calligraphy and painting of about a square foot to become a Dou Fang. Can be mirrored and mounted flat.
10: Screen
A single screen that can be placed on the table is a mirror screen. It is framed and stands on the Eight Immortals table. It is one of the traditional decorations. As for the screen, there are single or folded screens, which can be equipped with calligraphy and painting, and can be used as a sitting or standing screen. ;