How to Appreciate Chinese Paintings and Western Paintings

The history of art has evolved through countless springs and autumns from the ancient times of paintings and sculptures, thus allowing mankind to see paintings as they are now. Through time, social background, and changes in industrial development, the differences between Chinese and Western cultures have naturally given rise to differences in Chinese and Western paintings. The differences can be seen in a few points: Chinese painting is characterized by a predominantly idealistic ideology, whereas Western painting is characterized by materialism. As well as the tools used in painting, the composition of the picture and the style of the painting all illustrate the difference between Chinese and Western culture, and the difference in painting. The following is a brief analysis. The first point mentioned is that Chinese painting is predominantly materialistic, the so-called materialistic, personal interpretation is that it is more random, the painter sees the object that can cause his inspiration, more random to highlight his personal ideas, for example, painting an ancient beauty, not necessarily faithfully reflect the object in the picture. For example, if he paints an ancient beauty, he doesn't necessarily reflect the object faithfully in the picture, but rather, he expresses his own emotions and feelings subjectively to a large extent. He can use lines to outline the beauty, or he can paint it in a more realistic way. But what stands out is his own ideas. Western painting, on the other hand, mainly favors realism. What you see with your eyes has to be drawn. If you draw an apple, he can't draw it as a square. What you draw must look like what you draw. Moreover, there is also a documentary nature, the space and light and darkness formed in the picture at that time are what they are, and it is very difficult for the painter's own subjective consciousness to be reflected in the painting. There is one thing that reflects the difference between materialism and idealism. Teacher once said, the ancient Chinese court painting figures, the emperor's head must be in all the largest, and the smallest is also the lowest official position, almost all the court paintings are like this, a little bit because of social reasons, but basically can also reflect the artist conception is materialistic. When Western painters paint portraits of kings or nobles, they are realistic, tall, short, fat, thin, and the dark side of the face will be drawn out, Chinese painting of the emperor is no dark side. In terms of light, Western paintings give a glimpse of the direction of the light source, while Chinese paintings have no light source. This is also a big difference. In terms of composition, Chinese paintings emphasize white space, and some paintings have more blank space than the main body of the painting. There are even some paintings in which the main body of the painting consists of only a few lines and most of the painting is blank. This is a characteristic of ancient Chinese paintings. In Western paintings, the point is to fill the picture, blue sky, white clouds, trees, figures, all to fill the picture, even if there is a white space, but also to use white paint to color. There is also a difference in the tools used in painting. Western painting can use a lot of props to draw, almost anything. Mainly pencils, charcoal pens, pastels, watercolors, gouache, and oil paints. In China, it's basically just ink and brushes. So the final picture is different. The Chinese ones are more ethereal, while the Western ones are more realistic. Another small difference is that Chinese paintings can tell the mood of the artist at the time. Whether the artist is happy, sad, happy or angry can be reflected in the painting. In contrast, in Western paintings, the artist's mood cannot be seen, and it is difficult to realize the scene at that time. The main reason is that the Western realistic painting has limited the painter. Chinese paintings are usually painted on rice paper, while Western paintings can be painted on paper or cloth. There are also some differences in the selection of materials between China and the West. China focuses on landscapes, figures, flowers and birds. In China, landscapes, figures, birds and flowers are the main subjects, while in the West, religious paintings, portraits, landscapes, scene paintings and still lifes are the main subjects. There is also a difference in terms of terminology. When China paints figures, it is called figure painting. In the West, it is called portrait painting. There is also a big cultural difference between Chinese and Western painting, with China being less influenced by religious ideas and the West being more influenced by religious ideas (before the 17th century). As mentioned above, Chinese paintings are mostly landscapes, birds and flowers, and rarely reflect religious themes, whereas in Western paintings there are always sacred things such as Jesus, the Virgin Mary and so on. And here is where the difference between materialism and idealism comes into play. Even though Jesus is holy and the God of all believers, he is always crucified in all paintings. The scenes depicted in the Bible are faithfully translated. On the other hand, in Chinese paintings, all the gods and Buddhas are represented in a colorful way, with joy, anger, sadness and happiness. Chinese paintings are divided into brushstrokes and brushstrokes in terms of painting style and color. Western painting is distinguished by color and drawing. In terms of perspective. (The most intuitive difference between Chinese and Western paintings/Chinese paintings are in loose perspective, while Western paintings are in two-point perspective, with the horizon line as the basis of perspective. Chinese paintings rarely have perspective, and if they do, it's very simple.) And the farther away something is in Chinese painting, the higher it is out at the top of the painting, and the closer it is, the lower it is at the bottom of the painting. But western painting is composed on the basis of the horizon line, it is only a matter of the size of the objects in the picture. In short, Chinese and Western paintings have their own characteristics, but also have a lot of **** the same, a lot of differences. Cultural differences, social differences, and other reasons lead to differences in painting. In short, Chinese and Western paintings have their own essence, i.e., they have their own similarities and many differences. The differences in culture and society constitute two distinct artistic styles. The development of painting is centered on the spirit of the nation, so Chinese and Western painting have become two rivers of art, in which we can always draw different artistic inspiration and spiritual enlightenment.