History of the development of Chinese brush painting

From the archaeological discoveries of rock paintings in Inner Mongolia's Yinshan Mountains and the colored pottery culture unearthed in Xi'an's Half-Po Village in Shaanxi Province, we can clearly see highly generalized abstract figures and the trajectory of the brush, and people have begun to use tools similar to brushes to depict and record life in the distant past. Ancient history has it that paintings were made during the Shun period, about 4,200 years ago. Palm paintings unearthed from tombs in the Warring States period are the earliest figure paintings that can be seen so far. The "Figure with Dragon Painting" (depicting a man with a high crown and long sleeves, wearing a sword, and riding a huge dragon on his side, with the dragon's body in the shape of a boat) and the "Figure with Phoenix Painting" (depicting a thin-waisted woman with a dragon and a phoenix) use ink lines to double-check outlines, and use the lines as a framework for the flat coloring, which is the constituent factor of Chinese painting, which is the first glimpse of a Chinese painting, with rounded and fluent lines, and with a balanced and varied pattern of motifs and patterns, which gives the picture a flat and decorative artistic effect. Chinese painting is rooted in the traditional basic philosophy of the Chinese nation, using the law of "yin and yang" to represent the rhythm of change in the universe with the simplest line structure, laying down the aesthetic concept of modeling with lines.

After Qin unified the world, to the Han Dynasty, China entered a multi-ethnic strong feudal state, at this time, economic prosperity, national strength, especially in the period of Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty, at this time, science, culture and art has been developed very quickly, in today's Changsha, Hunan Province, Mawangdui No. 1 Han Dynasty tombs unearthed in the colorful painting on silk, a thousand and eight hundred years ago, is the covering the main coffin of the tomb of the streamers, also known as the "non-clothing". It is part of the funeral rituals whose consciousness draws the soul to ascend to heaven, and the content is divided into three sections: the upper section, painted with characters from the heavenly realm of myths and legends, the right side of the sun, the Golden Crow, the Fusang, the left side of the moon, the toad, Chang'e, and right above the human head and snake body of Nuwa, and below them are the divine beasts and gods of the heavenly gates. The middle section of the painting tomb master column battle and walking, before and after several men and women accompanied, below a group of figures ready to feast, to the ancient wall cross dragon Huagai jade chime, is a portrait of the tomb master's life before the tomb, in the skills of painting, character carving, coloring, composition are more than the previous generation has a great deal of maturity, is the first complete brushwork heavy-color paintings.

Han portrait stone, portrait bricks in the art skills on the conclusion, has mastered the use of fine lines to depict the character image and color of the basic techniques of law. Although still out of the childish stage, but for Wei, Jin, North and South Dynasties, Sui and Tang and later generations of painting has far-reaching significance. Famous painters at the court of Emperor Yuan of the Western Han Dynasty included Mao Yanshou, Chen Chuang, Liu Bai, etc., who were good at painting figures, birds and animals.

The Eastern Han Dynasty and the Three Kingdoms period, the introduction of Buddhism in Tianzhu has an important impact on the painting of the Central Plains, the Three Kingdoms, Wu painter Cao Buxing began to paint the Buddha, since then, the gradual emergence of religious paintings, followed by the gradual emergence of Buddhist murals, murals can be glimpsed from the Dunhuang, you can see the elegance of its former style.

Wei, Jin, the North and South Dynasties, there are many painters, the Western Jin Dynasty, Wei Xie, a disciple of Cao Buxing, good at painting the figure of the Buddha, the painting of the saint of the name.

Gu Kaizhi was a famous painter during the reign of Emperor Ming of the Eastern Jin Dynasty. Born around 345 A.D., Gu Kaizhi's heirloom copy of the painting "The Lady of the Histories" (now in the British Museum in London) is a narrative scroll with figures as the main subjects, and the format of the painting was designed to make it easier to unfold the picture in segments, with the title of the painting being "The Lady of the Histories", which was written by a female officer of the court during the 4th century A.D. (under the Emperor Hui-Di of the Jin dynasty) in order to admonish the women of the court. It belongs to the category of admonitory paintings favored by early Confucianism. The painting is divided into nine sections,

and it is also the earliest scroll painting of figures that we can see. The work focuses on depicting the characters' demeanor. Legend has it that Gu Kai Zhi painting characters wide or years without eyeballing, people ask the reason, replied: four body Yan Chi, this has nothing to do with the wonderful place, the spirit of the writing, in the A see." His "move to think of wonderful" proposition, for later generations to solve the form, the relationship between God has set a model. Gu Kaizhi used the line to develop the past rough and simple to rounded and beautiful, such as "back clouds floating in the air", "running water on the ground" like stretching and smooth. The ink lines are neat and colorful. Women's history of the Tibetan map", "the female benevolence and wisdom map" with ancient silk depiction, such as "spring silkworms spitting silk", "tightly strong continuous, the cycle of super-restricted, easy to adjust the pattern, the wind tends to electricity"; with color only "contagious character appearance, with thick color slightly added embellishment, do not seek decoration The coloring is only to "infect the appearance of the characters, with thick colors and slight embellishments, without ornamentation".

The colors of the paintings at this time were often rendered flat and even, and the colors never seemed to be used to simulate the form, or the unevenness and spatiality of the light falling on the objects as in Western paintings. And with the introduction of Buddhism and Buddhist statues, the method of concave and convex expression with shaping came into China. It can be said that the development of Chinese art is the result of continuous absorption, and China has never been with an open mind to develop itself. The first painter in Chinese history to use the illusionistic concave-convex method was the painter Zhang Sincere in the early 6th century A.D. His main works were murals of Buddhist temples, and the painting method used was far from the late classical art of the Mediterranean region, which was imported into China from the desert oasis cities of northern India and Central Asia, and the Chinese were originally unfamiliar with it; therefore, Zhang's paintings must have had a startling scene at that time. Zhang's paintings show a more corporeal form, and a ninth-century critic, Zhang Yanyuan, commenting on the characteristics of early figure paintings, said that Gu Kaizhi captured the look of the figure, Lu Tanwei the bone, and Zhang Sincerely the flesh. It is rumored that Zhang Shengxiao made the "True Form of the Five Stars and Twenty-eight Starry Nights," using the concave and convex technique to express the volume of the figures.

The political division between the Wei, Jin, and Northern and Southern Dynasties ended in 589 CE with the unification of China under the Sui dynasty, but by the end of the sixth century war had returned, and the Sui dynasty died in 618 CE. It was replaced by the Tang Dynasty, which lasted for nearly three hundred years. During the early and prosperous period of the Tang Dynasty, which lasted for one hundred and fifty years, China's national power reached its peak, and all aspects of life flourished, with the development of East-West exchanges, the introduction of all kinds of religions, the arrival of ten thousand dynasties, and the development of culture and art. It was the most glorious era in Chinese history, and the Tang Dynasty was the largest country in the world at that time. Painting at this time also prospered because of such an era.

Figure painting in the Tang Dynasty broke through the constraints of the Han, Wei and Six Dynasties period, which depicted sages, ministers, righteous men, martyrs and religious painting subjects, and more attention was devoted to real life.

Figure painting reached its peak in the Tang Dynasty, Yan Liben inherited from Gu Kaizhi, and was good at selecting major historical themes, and paid great attention to the portrayal of the spiritual temperament and psychological characteristics of the characters in the performance of major historical themes. He drew the "emperors and kings through the ages" characters portrayed, lifelike, distinctive image. He established the early Tang style of brushwork figure painting.

Yan Lipen's "step in the emperor's carriage" recorded the Tang Emperor Taizong received Tuban Songtsen Gampo envoy Ludongzan, Yan Lipen is a depiction of the scene and the psychological activities of the characters of a good hand, the picture is equipped with to deliberately express the major scenes such as welcoming the family, banquets and other major scenes, but the use of the focusing method, highlighting the main body, so that the main characters psychological depiction can be enlarged. Tang Taizong's majestic hospitality, solemnity and tranquility, Ludongzan's face full of frost, wisdom and competence and respect for the emperor of the Tang Dynasty overflows on the face. The eyes and expressions of the red-clothed messenger and the white-clothed attendant are also brilliantly portrayed, and the master-servant relationship is clear at a glance, with props and characters interspersed in a very appropriate hierarchical structure. Yan Liben is also a master of color. Picture to black, white, red, green as the base color, fully summarized; the use of color contrast, contrast, so that the harmonious atmosphere of the plot and the combination of the characters of the inner rhythm complement each other, complement each other.

Zhang Xuan pioneered the style of heavy-color painting in which brushstrokes are used to paint the figures in a beautiful and flamboyant manner. The work "Spring Tour of Lady Guo Guo" depicts Yang Guifei's third sister, Lady Guo Guo, and two other sisters on horseback. The women in the painting have a full-bodied, slow and elegant movement, "thick and far-flung and genuine, with delicate texture and even flesh". This is the characterization of the "Cherry Blossom Characters" of the Sheng Tang Dynasty, which also reflects the aesthetic requirements of the time. The horizontal spread of the composition, the ups and downs of the high and low, enhance the sense of movement of the picture. In order to highlight Mrs. Guo Guo as the main object of expression, Zhang Xuan is ingenious, intentionally focusing the eyes of Mrs. Guo Guo, the male supervisor, the elderly woman and the child on one point. The entire work is characterized by slender and elastic tension of the threads, the treatment of the clothes focusing on the texture of the silk fabric, and the bright and brilliant hues of spring.

Wu Daozi, during the reign of Emperor Xuanzong of the Tang Dynasty, was known as the "Wu Family Style" because of his unique aesthetic interest in figure painting and his influence on the painting style of the time. It is not difficult to see from the Sending the Son to the Heavenly Kings that his brush strokes of pause, frustration, turning, folding, strokes of lei, momentum and robustness, "the momentum of the round turn, and the clothes line is flowing and vivid," the world called "Wu Belt Dangfeng". Or as orchid leaves or Brasenia schrebergeri strips, the thickness of the lines change with the undulation of the form and line trend, lively, smooth, vivid, with a strong sense of rhythm. When outlining the lines with burnt ink, "lightly flicked Danqing", slightly light color, coloring in the ink marks, coloring rich and now show light elegant style, "Wu dress" of the beauty of the name. This painting, especially at the end of the picture, the god of heaven sitting in the center, orchid leaf description of the center line, the turn of a slight side of the front to turn around, like the wind. Jinyi Wang Huozi is outlined with iron line drawing, strong and forceful, with clear twists and turns, and the temperament and different psychological changes of the two are vividly and fully manifested. Wu Daozi's painting of the manpower "gnarled beard and cloudy temples, several feet flying. Hair roots out of the flesh, the force is more than healthy", more than a thousand years has been known as the "Saint of Painting" reputation.

Han Yu is famous for his paintings of saddle horse figures. His works include "White Night" and "Horse Ranching". The painting of "Horse Ranching" is simple and concise, the composition is trivial, not depicting the scene and the surrounding environment, and the structure of the picture composed of two horses and one person in the work makes the main body prominent and vivid. However, the details of the depiction can be seen in Han's good intentions. Picture no more colors, the painter concentrated on ink coloring the picture, layer by layer rendering, very careful, Xi official wearing a black hat and the former black horse rendered thick and transparent, not rigid, to iron line drawing performance of the horse's majestic form, with the contrast between the line of the square and the circle to make the character modeling thick, full of fluffy beard and sweaty hair on the arm portrayal. In addition, the character's clothing pattern of sparse and dense reality processing, so that the identity and character of the character jumped to the forefront. As an outstanding saddle horse painter, Han focuses on sketching, and often takes the horse in the stable as his "teacher", with an accurate grasp of the anatomical structure that no one has ever seen before.

Zhou Fang was a great figure painter of the Tang Dynasty, especially famous for his paintings of ladies. The painting of Ladies with Hairpins depicts the leisurely and relaxed spirit of a noblewoman in the palace. Zhou Fang captured the "rich and beautiful, graceful and comfortable" physical characteristics of the ladies of the palace, and grasped the form with God, the subtle changes in the curves of the women's bodies during the walks, and the lethargy and boredom of the mind were revealed in the form, which is typical of the God's representation of the form, and the imaginative modeling techniques. Zhou Fang's brushwork is strong and slender, with an iron outline that is soft and flexible. The colors are clear and bright, and the textures are aptly depicted: the gauze shirts are light and transparent, the skin is rich and fair and radiant, the feathers are light, and the headdresses are glittering. Zhou Fang used a variety of coloring techniques, often combining multiple layers of baking and dyeing, over-dyeing, part-dyeing, and coloring lines, creating a new style of brushstroke figure painting for a new generation.

In terms of the use of color, the technique is very mature. Inheriting his predecessors' practice of using the ink line as the backbone, Zhou not only applied the mixed colors flatly, but also made the necessary shading and rendering, to better express the shape and quality of the objects.