【文章內(nèi)容簡介】
cials retired from royalty to bee painters, prising a school known as the literati and separate from the patronized and academic tradition. In the Yuan and Ming, bolder dashes of brush strokes were employed and interested in void and space yielded to a dramatic appreciation for form. While the academic art school continued to imitate the work of previous centuries, individual scholars or literati, pensated by contributing to the dynamism and mutability of Chinese painting. The seeds of individuality were planted as painters rejected orthodoxy and imitation, and became freer and less restrained with their art. In the 20th century, with the fall of the Qing Dynasty and the rise of the Republic of China and then the People’s Republic of China, Chinese painting has also undergone the pressure to modernize and adopt Western styles and traditions. Many painters studied in the international world and brought innovative styles, such as the use of bold colors, European brushwork and perspective. Some paintings by Mao Zedong even took on political mentary in subject matter while retaining the old styles. Nevertheless, Chinese painting has never let go of its longstanding and centuriesold tradition. Painting will always contain the Tao, the notion of one power penetrating the whole universe. The Chinese artist still seeks harmony with the universe by munion with all things. If an artist has qi, the spirit of art and of the universal order, everything else follows。 but if he or she misses chi, no amount of likeness, embellishment, skill, or even genius can save the work from lifelessness. The western mind is apt to think of Chinese painting as unemotional, as western content leans so heavily on the portrayal of love, joy, grief, anger and courage. But in Chinese painting, drama is handled differently. Brush and ink are not just tools. They possess the Tao, and reveal the spirit of chi. The chi is in the tip of the brush. The brush is an extension of the hand, which is the servant of the spirit. Use of the brush must be effortless. Yet there must be strength in the brush, which depicts the trees and mountains. Ink is thought to have five colors. It can be used to depict both what is and what is not. There must be unity in position. Yin and yang are opposing forces, which need one another for pleteness. The term for landscape, shan shui or mountainwater, is in itself symbolic of yinyang. Mountains