Flower-and-Bird Painting in Ancient China (Chinese Traditional Paintings Series)(English Edition) by Fengwen Liu

Author:Fengwen Liu [Liu, Fengwen]
Language: zho
Format: azw3
Publisher: China Intercontinental Press
Published: 2007-07-31T16:00:00+00:00

Flower-and-bird Paintings of the Ming Dynasty

The Ming Dynasty (1368-1644) is an important period serving as a link between past and future in the history of China's flower-and-bird painting. Artists of this time championed the doctrine of “back to the ancients,” received their training under different masters, and formed various schools. These included the Wu School (mainly composed of painters living in Suzhou and the nearby area with Shen Zhou as the representative figure), the Four Master Painters (namely Shen Zhou, Wen Zhengming, Tang Yin and Qiu Ying who lived in the middle stage of the Ming Dynasty. In their works they produced a tranquil and peaceful atmosphere, aiming at expressing the cultivated pleasures of a leisurely life), the so-called “Southern Chen and Northern Cui” (namely Chen Hongshou and Cui Zizhong), the Huating School (named after Huating, the hometown of painter Dong Qichang. It's located in today's Songjiang in Shanghai), and the Zhe School (named after Zhejiang Province, home of painter Dai Jin. Artists of this school paid special attention to technique, and pursued varied styles).

An overwhelming majority of the members belonging to the above schools were important flower-and-bird painters, while the genre of landscape painting flourished simultaneously.

In addition, literati painting found its finest expression in the works of Dong Qichang, who was regarded as a paragon by his contemporaries in the late years of the Ming Dynasty.

Technically, the skill of xie-yi (freehand brushwork) in wash painting had attained to perfection. Both Xu Wei and Chen Chun were masters versed in xie-yi flower-and-bird painting. However, in contrast with xie-yi, Chen Hongshou created a new method of his own by using fine, delicate brush strokes and rich colors to vividly and accurately portray objects, so that achieving resemblance both in appearance and in spirit became possible.

Coupled with the development of the traditional landscape, literati and flower-and-bird painting was the renaissance of imperial-court decorative painting. There was a galaxy of artists in the imperial palace in those days, including Wang Fu, Lin Liang, Xu Yang, Guo Chun, Lü Ji, Ding Yunpeng and Bian Wenjin. They created a large number of imperishable works of art, which were handed down from generation to generation.

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