The Chinese Literati Painting Tradition :: Art History Papers

The Chinese Literati Painting Tradition ace can not help but marvel at the debaucher of the Chinese landscapes, the vast space, the intricacies, the imaginative structures, the subtle colorations. To a western affection they are beautiful but to the Chinese they are far more. The motion pictures body forth or portray all aspects of Tao. The caligraphy and imagery in each painting take on spiritual significance. The guileist-scholar can spend years probing for understanding in each melt. This understanding he seeks is not ripe of the scene he sees but of universal structure and himself within it. In turn, his discoveries surface in his brushwork, composition, and the spirit of his mountains, trees, water, and sky. It is no wonder, that the cannon for Chinese art remained among the literati painters over so many centuries. done painting, one could reach a further understanding of Tao or rather repossess his ancestors knowledge of Tao.The Tao, with its associated notions of conj unction of spirit and matter, the external flux of all things, the resolution of opposites, and the significance of the nonexhistant, was the root on which Chinese based theirpainting and their theories of paintingIt is the search for understanding that drives the artisan-scholar to paint. Shen Chou, an artist from the Ming Dynasty tells of his new found knowledge and cleansed mind which he has reached done entirely experiencing nature. His words are translated from the calligraphy in Night Vigil (above, center).Through mental abstinence and by sitting alone by the elation of the flickering candle long into the night, I must pursue some(prenominal) the outer principals of things and the wondorous inner workings of the mind. By using this method for self-cultivation and responding to things, I shall posess understanding.The Literati were generaly of the beurocracy. They were substantially mannered in Confucian traditions, well educated, and well off. They were first scholars onwards they were painters. In fact painting was generally concidered an outlet for scholars. Scholar-painters were greatly respected, their work was part of high culture. The great artist-scholars wrote at length, advising techniques for painting and calligraphy. They formed diametrical schools of thinking across China. Their names and spirits were remembered through vast publications and in the paintings themselves. Every succeeding generation of artist scholars rekindled the spirit of their ancsestors through their own works of art and literature. And so it continued until the fall of dynastic China.Unfortunately though, literati remains difficult for Westerners to fully comprehend and appreciate.