Landscape painting is a type of painting that expresses the beauty of mountains and rivers and can seek some spiritual sustenance for human beings. The origin of landscape painting in China is very early. According to historical records, landscape painting existed in the Qin and Han Dynasties, but the actual objects have not been circulated. The earliest landscape paintings we can see today are the background landscapes in "The Proverbs of a Female History" and "Ode to the Goddess of the Luo River" by Gu Kaizhi, a famous painter in the Eastern Jin Dynasty. As we mentioned earlier in the section on figure painting, these two paintings by Gu Kaizhi express figures as the main body, and the landscape is only the background of the figures.
However, the mountains, beasts, forests, and birds that are part of the background of the characters are perfectly integrated and behave very realistically. Mountains and rocks began to rely on changes in lines to express different surfaces, rely on layers to express different changes in mountains, and use overlooking angles to express vertical and horizontal mountains and rivers. These are the basic expression techniques of later landscape painting. Although this expression is still in a relatively immature stage, it has laid a solid foundation for the future development of Chinese landscape painting. Therefore, Gu Kaizhi's name is not only connected with the historical development of Chinese figure painting, but also contributed to the development of Chinese landscape painting.
During the Southern and Northern Dynasties after Gu Kaizhi, landscape painting flourished. A group of painters who could paint landscape paintings and the first batch of papers dedicated to landscape painting appeared. But so far, we have not found a single landscape painting from that time that has been handed down. We can only understand the development level of Chinese landscape painting in that era based on the literature on landscape painting at that time. However, since then, the art of landscape painting has entered the Chinese painting world with relatively complete expression techniques and systematic theories.
Chinese landscape painting experienced great development during the Sui and Tang Dynasties. The works of painters represented by Zhan Ziqian in the Sui Dynasty provide important materials for us to study the status of landscape painting in this period. Zhan Ziqian was a native of present-day Shandong. He served as an official in the Northern Qi, Northern Zhou, and Sui dynasties. He was a versatile painter and was said to be superb at figures, landscapes, boundary paintings, and chariots and horses. He is known as the "ancestor of Tang painting" by the world. However, his most outstanding contribution lies in landscape painting, and his only work that has been handed down to this day is "Spring Outing" now preserved in the Palace Museum.
"Spring Outing" is a green landscape painting mainly depicting natural scenery, showing the scene of people traveling in spring. On a small silk canvas, the artist used proper management, fine brushwork and brilliant colors to paint a beautiful scene of green mountains, lush flowers and trees, and sparkling spring scenery. In the picture, the mountains are green and the water is beautiful, the water and sky are diffuse, and the waves are shining On the beautiful lake, a gorgeous high-top yacht rippled with the waves. The three women in the boat looked around, intoxicated by the beautiful scenery of the lake and mountains, and never wanted to leave. Several people by the lake were riding horses, strolling along the mountain trails, or standing on the shore with their hands full, full of interest. The painter successfully embodied the theme of "Spring Outing" through vivid depictions of various natural scenery and human activities. Yu Qian's "Spring Outing" paved the way for the formation of the Green Landscape Painting School in the Tang Dynasty.
In Tanghua, Li Sixun and his son Li Daozhao directly inherited the landscape painting style of Zhan Yuqian's line. Li Sixun was a member of the Tang Dynasty clan and served as "General Wuwei". He inherited Jing Jing and developed Zhan Ziqian's painting techniques. His brushwork was precise and precise, his fish painting was strong and steady, and his paintings were grand in layout, magnificent and highly decorative. After his marriage, Li Zhaodao inherited his painting style, which was said at the time to be "the same as his father's, but even more wonderful", and he was the first to create seascapes and landscapes.
In this way, from Zhan Ziqian in the Sui Dynasty to Li Sixun and his son in the Tang Dynasty, the green landscape painting school has formed a unique style in Chinese landscape painting. In the Tang Dynasty, the origin of another school of landscape painting was formed, that is, ink landscape painting.
The founder of ink landscape painting was Wang Wei. It is said that he was good at poetry, calligraphy, painting and music, and he even served as Minister Youcheng. Wang Wei's paintings like to use themes such as snow scenes, sword pavilions, plank roads, dawn walks, fishing, etc. His paintings are famous for their exquisite brushwork and rendering, and are characterized by "heavy" and "deep". Another important feature of Wang Wei's landscape paintings is the organic combination of poetry and painting. As we have mentioned before, the history of painting generally regards him as the founder of the combination of poetry and painting.
This brought green landscape painting into a mature period, and its famous representative painters include Wang Ximeng, Zhao Boju, etc.
Northern peoples invaded, and the Song Dynasty moved southward, which was called the Southern Song Dynasty. The Southern Song Dynasty Painting Academy was established in the new capital Lin'an. Due to political changes and the migration of painters' living areas from north to south, the painting art of the Southern Song Dynasty underwent new changes from content to style. The "Four Masters of the Southern Song Dynasty" emerged, namely Li Tang, Liu Songnian, Ma Yuan and Xia Gui. Representative of Southern Song Dynasty courtyard landscape painting.
There are obvious differences between the courtyard landscape paintings of the Southern Song Dynasty and the courtyard landscape paintings of the Northern Song Dynasty. They abandoned the mountain torrential compositions and detailed and complicated brushwork with the main peak as the center since the Northern Song Dynasty, and innovated into simple and simple brushwork. ized form. The method of contrasting the distance and nearness of two opposite corners is often used to form a diagonal composition, so that the center of gravity of the picture is deviated from the center and located in one of the half corners. It is called the "one corner and half edge" artistic realm.
The Five Dynasties and Two Song Dynasties were an era when numerous painters and painting schools emerged, but we have to talk about another painting style - literati painting. Literati painting emerged in the early Northern Song Dynasty. Su Shi was the first to mention the concept of "literati painting". Literary painting refers to the paintings of literati and scholar-officials that are different from the styles of folk painters and court painters. Its main feature is that it advocates the expression of the author's subjectivity. The purpose is to bring interest; the materials are flowers, birds, bamboos, rocks, water waves, smoke and clouds, borrowing meanings from objects, and avoiding reality; the creative methods are not bound by routines, and the artistic form emphasizes the combination of poetry, calligraphy, painting, and seal printing. The rise of literati painting promoted the development of Chinese landscape painting and flower-and-bird painting. In the field of landscape painting, this style of painting became dominant in the painting world after the Song Dynasty through the artistic pursuit and practice of the "Four Schools of Yuan Dynasty".
The "Four Yuan Masters" refer to the four most famous landscape painters of the Yuan Dynasty: Huang Gongwang, Wang Meng, Ni Zan and Wu Zhen. The four families are all good at poetry and calligraphy, and the combination of poetry, calligraphy, painting and sealing has become their common art form. They all emphasize the expression of individuality, the entertainment of painting, and the interest of pen and ink. However, the four families have different experiences, artistic preferences and aesthetic ideals, and each has its own distinct personality. Huang Gongwang's paintings only use two styles, light crimson and ink. The brushwork is varied and steady, and the brush strokes are light and thick, reducing stimulation and pursuing calmness and harmony.
Wang Meng's paintings are rich in appearance, some are famous for their brushes, some are famous for their ink, and some are famous for their colors. The most obvious difference is that all three schools are simple, while only Wang Meng is complex. Where is Ni Zan? The outstanding characteristics of his landscape paintings are simplicity, dryness, and lightness, that is, simplicity in composition, brushwork, and images, using dry brushes and light words with ink. Then there is Wu Zhen. The most outstanding thing is that the other three painters all emphasize brushwork, but Wu Zhen emphasizes ink and likes to use wet brushes. The picture effect is gloomy and moist, but it retains more of the legacy of the past.
Finally, let’s take a look at the landscape paintings of the Ming and Qing Dynasties.
Except for a few painters in the Ming and Qing dynasties, most of the landscape paintings of the Ming and Qing Dynasties were able to imitate the past and highlight the interest of brushwork and ink. For example, the painting circles in the early Ming Dynasty mainly advocated the style of the Southern Song Dynasty Painting Academy and the Zhejiang School. But there were still breakthroughs in subsequent paintings. They emphasize subjective aesthetic feelings.
Integrating the strengths of each family, the techniques are flexible and changeable. The composition no longer follows the traditional format of submission, but is arranged freely to emphasize the interest in life. The four Wu sects in the mid-Ming Dynasty - Shen Zhou, Wen Zhengming, Tang Yin and Qiu Ying - had higher achievements in landscape painting. Why is it called Wumen? Because the four of them were all from Suzhou Prefecture, Suzhou was also known as "Wumen", hence the name.
Shen Zhou integrated the strengths of previous masters such as Dong Yuan, Ju Ran, Mi Fu, Wuzhen, Wang Meng, etc., and created landscape paintings in various styles, some detailed, some rough, Some are magnificent and some are elegant. There are panoramic views of mountains and rivers, as well as small pastoral scenes. The technique is simple and full of life meaning. His handed down works of landscape painting include "Lushan Gaotu", "Cangzhou Interesting Picture Scroll" and so on. Wen Zhengming was a student of Shen Zhou and of course a fellow countryman. He learned from Shen Zhou and was capable of both poetry, calligraphy and painting. His landscape paintings have two specifications: meticulous brushwork and freehand brushwork. Freehand ink landscape paintings are free and dripping with ink. The gongbi landscape paintings are meticulous but not rigid, and have a typical bookish style and "literati" taste. Tang Yin's paintings were based on the techniques of Li Cheng, Fan Kuan and the other four artists of the Southern Song Dynasty, as well as those of the Yuan Dynasty. The work is grand in scene and rigorous in technique, both melancholy and elegant, steep yet graceful, rich and full of charm.