Traditional Chinese Painting

Just as in our country there are many different styles of making art, in China it is the same. However, in addition to artists creating art in their own style, the Chinese have a strong painting tradition that goes back through their 5,000 years of history.  Studying these paintings gives us an important way to understand their culture.

Let's look at some traditional Chinese landscapes.  Information about each painting is given by the artwork.
 


Wang Ximeng (c. 1096 - c. 1120)
"A Thousand Li of Rivers and Mountains"
Ink and heavy color on silk, 1'8" x 36'9"
Song Dynasty


 








Zhao Meng Fu, (1254-1322)
 
 

Look carefully at these paintings.  Are there things on these paintings that you do not usually see on other paintings?  Write down what you see in question #1 on your worksheet.


The three parts of a traditional Chinese painting are:

1.  The calligraphy, or Chinese lettering:

This writing often tells about the artwork in a story or poem.
 

2.  The Seal (or seals) of the artist and possibly all the owners of the painting.
 
 



Seals have Chinese lettering that spell out the artist's name, their family name, or even the name of the studio where they work.


 


3.  The image - or the subject of the painting.
 
 


The subject of this painting is a rooster.
Look at this painting and see if you can find the three parts in it.

Now, mark the three parts (image, seal and calligraphy) on your worksheet.


 


Traditional Chinese artists have to be good at many things - a good artist to create a pleasing image, a good calligrapher and poet to create the words that go with the picture, and they also need to have a good sense of design to be able to place the seals in the most pleasing places on the painting.

All of these parts are of equal importance in a traditional Chinese painting and all need to be done well to have a good work of art.


 


Tools and Media


 


Chinese painters use bamboo brushes to create their paintings.  These special brushes are made with a handle of bamboo, and the brush bristles are made of the hair of a ram, rabbit, wolf or some other animal.    This artist is using a bamboo brush - notice how he is holding it, very loosely.
 
 


 


Instead of paint, he is using ink (in the plate) and water (in the bowl) to create many different shades of grey.  He can change the way the ink looks by changing how hard the brush presses down, or by changing the angle at which the brush is held.  He can use a very wet or almost dry brush and a lot of ink or very little ink.  All of these things make a big difference in the lines and shapes that he creates in his painting.

Here is the finished masterpiece!
Zheng Linsheng shows us his portrait.

Many traditional Chinese paintings have very little color in them.  The landscapes are lightly shaded with some color, but not very much.  Look at the examples below:
 

                           Zhau Boju                                                Wen ZhenMing
                            c. 1150                                                        c. 1500
            A                     B

Which is your favorite?  A or B?  Record your answer on the worksheet and fill in the rest of the questions about your favorite landscape.

When you are finished, click on the painting below to return to Web Quest Home Page.