Chinese Painting Color Expression

On the issue of color in Chinese painting, it is mainly for the traditional Chinese ink painting, and to be more specific, it is around the literati painting style that has been formed since the Tang Dynasty and has gradually formed into the mainstream of Chinese painting, that is, the so-called "five colors of ink" color proposition, which, of course, also involves the concept of "inherent color". Of course, it also involves the concept of "inherent color". The reason why the focus on the former, because some of the concepts of traditional Chinese painting, "landscape first", "ink as the top" indicates that the ink as ink painting ink in five colors has developed into a mature color system.

The formation of the color system of Chinese ink painting has a process of historical development and evolution, without understanding this process, it is impossible to correctly understand the characteristics of Chinese painting color, his unique aesthetic pursuit and the law of expression, as some commentators rashly accuse the color of Chinese paintings is not rich enough and the lack of visual impact, they are happy to use the color traditions and achievements of Western paintings, inadvertently They like to use the color tradition and achievements of Western painting, and inadvertently depreciate the value of the color language of traditional Chinese painting. It is not conducive to the innovation and development of Chinese painting.

Of course, without understanding such a historical process, it is impossible for us to calmly and comprehensively understand the true face of the color language of our traditional Chinese paintings, and we will neglect the specific historical content of the color language of traditional paintings, and once we are trapped in the situation of being stuck in our ways. Departing from the gaze of historical scrutiny, we will also lose the sharpness and direction of continuous innovation and progress. Similarly, it will hinder the development and improvement of Chinese painting.

First of all, it should be pointed out that in ancient times, Chinese painting was also called Danqing, which shows that Chinese painting was originally heavy color. As far away as the Neolithic era on the colored pottery has been quite complex colors: the Spring and Autumn and Warring States and Western Han Dynasty colorful mottled silk paintings; Liaoyang rod Taizi Han Wei tomb mural "car riding map", there are Zhu, red. Yellow, green, white, ochre, black, ink and other colors, colorful; Sui Dynasty Zhan Ziqi outlined heavy green landscape "Spring Tour"; Tang Dynasty, the size of General Li's landscapes brilliantly: the fifth generation of Huang Chyuan birds and flowers bright and colorful, etc., to name a few masterpieces of the past is clear evidence of the traditional Chinese painting an extremely important feature is that it is in the continuous practice of the formation of an exceptionally rich color system, the Ming Dynasty, Yang Shen once summed up that Yang Shen of the Ming Dynasty once summarized that "painters have seventy-two colors", and this system was built on the basis of "intrinsic color" before the Song Dynasty. We can't disregard this historical fact and then dismiss the richness and diversity of the color language of traditional Chinese paintings for no reason.

Secondly, in the Song and Yuan dynasties, the rise of ink painting gradually became the mainstream of Chinese painting, but it did not end the pursuit of the color language of painting and updating. Instead of interrupting the tradition of using color in Chinese painting, it boldly innovated the traditional Chinese color language during the formation of new expressive techniques, which led to the formation of the traditional Chinese painting color system, and was enriched and refined into a highly refined and unique color system during the long process of historical development, and this highly refined and unique color system is based on the two most basic and most important colors, namely, ink and white. This highly refined and unique color system is based on the two most basic and important colors, ink and white, as the main carrier, through the fusion of different amounts of water and ink on rice paper to seepage, resulting in black, white, gray rich layers, showing the infinite changes in color, if you use today's color composition in the "Montserrat color three-dimensional" to analyze this variation, it is reflected in the black and white poles between the vertical axis, is the change in color Brightness changes, and the horizontal hue and purity changes are not directly related. But because of this, extracted from natural objects, generalized not to simulate the natural color of the black and white relationship, but seems to be more able to make people produce rich associations, more expressive, so as to achieve the virtual when the real, virtual and real. It is not like the similar artistic effect.

From the formation and change of black and white-based Chinese ink painting color system, this new color system, a new view of color is the origin, it does not interrupt the tradition, do not rebel against the tradition, but obsessed with the pursuit of new, new breakthroughs, the breakthroughs are mainly manifested in the "intrinsic color" of the transcendence.

The use of color in Chinese paintings pays more attention to subjectivity, which has its own historical, cultural and philosophical soil. The Confucianism of the pre-Qin Dynasty used the spirit of rationality to explain the traditional "rituals and music", and drew rationality into the reality of daily life, ethical feelings and political concepts, and in the cognition of color, it manifests itself in the objective existence of the color's subjective character to be affirmed, "the smile of a woman's face". In the perception of color, it is manifested in the subjective character of the objective existence of color to be affirmed, "smiling wryly. What does it mean to have beautiful eyes and to have a beautiful face for favoritism? Zi said: "'Painting after the veil' said: "After the ritual?" Zi day: "up to the business of the person also, the first can be with the words of the poem has been carried on." The image of a beautiful woman painted on thick waterproof silk, the reason why beautiful, because the image of the unity of the plain color, as an analogy for the "rites of passage". The idea that benevolence is the content of rituals and ceremonies, rituals and ceremonies are the external expression of benevolence, that is to say, emphasizing that the external forms of expression must be subordinate to the internal concepts of thought, attaching importance to the combination of normal emotional feelings and ideas, rather than cognitive simulation, leading the treatment of color in Chinese painting to the track of subjective expression, and theoretically evolving into the Xie He's "six methods" in the "Six Methods". In theory, it evolved into Xie He's "Six Methods", the "color with class" theory.

The "follow the class with the color" advocates that painting should express the properties of the object, that is, the intrinsic color of the object, without imitating the phenomenon of the object, that is, the so-called environmental color, this feature requires the painter to deal with the rich objective world of color with a high degree of generalization, and this process in itself gives a greater aesthetic choice to the subjective mental activity. Space. "hot scarlet cold blue, warm sun cool star" and "water color: spring green. Summer blue, autumn green. Winter black". In the view of Chinese painters, if the green expression of winter water (not winter water does not contain green), it is difficult to match the cold, silent winter mood. Here the relationship between cold and warm embodied in the color properties (inherent colors) has been summarized through the filter of telepathy. The blue and green landscapes of Li Si Xun and his son are neat and fine. The meticulous and rich coloring; Zhang Xuan's and Zhou Fang's scrolls of ladies, with their light and simple garments and soft tones: Huang Chyuan's brushstroke paintings of birds, with a few colorful tones that don't see any ink; and Fan Kuan's snowy landscapes of heavy forests. The clouds and smoke is miserable, the wind and the moon in a cloudy state. Before the Song and Yuan, the rich color world of Chinese painting, all through the "inherent color" of the overall feeling of the grasp to express the "heart" of the world.

The breakthrough of the "inherent color" is precisely in the Tang Dynasty, the development of heavy brushwork to the mature stage of ink painting appeared, can be described as the ultimate splendor, return to bland. Landscape. Flower and bird painting in this period of the rise of ink and watercolor. Since then, ink painting has become the mainstream of Chinese painting style. Although the Yuan Dynasty around the emergence of light Jiang form, color and ink and fused together, but this fusion is ink (not ink line) and color, and still ink-based, color as a supplement. "The Right Honorable Minister said: 'Ink and water surround the top', which is true. Manipulating the brush can not make ink and color brush thought, until the bureau ink rhyme is sufficient. Then brush color may not be." The introduction of light red, although the Chinese ink painting is richer, for the ink this pole color added a different kind of brilliance, but still to ink as the main tone. The discovery of ink instead of color and ink in five colors is a seemingly off-topic but also amazing creation of color theory.