The term Chinese painting originated in the Han Dynasty and mainly refers to scroll paintings painted on silk, rice paper, and silk and framed. Traditional Chinese painting is a form of traditional Chinese painting, which is painted on silk or paper with a brush dipped in water, ink and color. Tools and materials include brushes, ink, Chinese painting paints, rice paper, silk, etc., and the subject matter can be divided into figures, landscapes, flowers and birds, etc., and the techniques can be divided into figurative and freehand. In terms of content and artistic creation, Chinese painting embodies the ancients' cognition of nature, society and the related political, philosophical, religious, moral, literary and artistic aspects.
Chinese painting originated in ancient times, pictographs, laying the foundation; At the beginning, there was no difference between text and painting, and it was originally the same meaning. Some people believe that Fuxi painted hexagrams and Cangjie made characters, which was a precedent for calligraphy and painting. There is no difference between words and drawings at the beginning.
Pottery is a product of the Neolithic Age, and pottery is divided into black pottery, white pottery and faience pottery. On the painted pottery unearthed in Banpo Village, Xi'an, an important site in the Neolithic Age, there are fish chasing each other and jumping deer are depicted. A clay pot imitating the shape of a boat unearthed in Yongjing, Gansu Province, makes us feel like we are on the shore, and the scene is vivid; There is also a dance pot found in Sunjiazhai on Datong, Qinghai, painted with three groups of five people walking hand in hand to sing, showing the vitality of youth, which is the root of the study of the history of Chinese painting. In the late Neolithic Age, the earliest bronze ware in China was found in the cultural sites of Xindian and Longshan, which is a utensil and a work of arts and crafts. Common bronze ornaments, such as Yan Tun pattern, cloud and thunder pattern, Kui pattern, dragon pattern, tiger pattern, etc., also have patterns that use the human body as decoration. The double kui synthesis of the valley pattern, the tail is more rolled, which is very beautiful.
The themes of the decorative paintings on the bronze objects can be divided into two categories: one is to depict the ceremonial activities in the life of the nobles, such as feasting, archery, table sacrifices, etc.; For example, Zhao Gu's unearthed "Engraved Bronze Jian" focuses on the ritual activities of aristocratic life; The other type is the image depicting the water and land offensive battles, which is represented by the "Water and Land Offensive Battle Patterns" unearthed in Shanbiao Town. Other Baihuatan copper kettles, the Forbidden City's "Banquet Copper Kettle" have pictures showing war scenes. In these paintings, there are plots such as land and water battles, fortified wall defense, and cloud ladder attack. There are also depictions of water battles and land battles, showing the details of charging and killing. Some of the soldiers held swords and halberds, and some held swords and spears, etc., and the images were vivid. These artistic techniques have given great inspiration and influence to the stone carvings and brick carvings of Han painting.
Chinese painting has a long history, as far back as the Warring States period more than 2,000 years ago, there were paintings painted on silk fabrics - silk paintings, and before that, there were primitive rock paintings and painted pottery paintings. The most famous of the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period is the silk painting of "Imperial Dragon Picture". It is painted on silk fabrics. These early paintings laid the foundation for later Chinese painting to use line as the main means of modeling. During the Han Dynasty and the Wei, Jin, Southern and Northern Dynasties, the collision and integration of foreign culture and local culture led to the formation of a situation in which religious paintings were the mainstay, depicting local historical figures and drawing on literary works also accounted for a certain proportion, and landscape paintings, flower and bird paintings also sprouted at this time.
During the Sui and Tang dynasties, the socio-economic and cultural prosperity was high, and painting also showed a situation of comprehensive prosperity. Landscape painting, flower and bird painting have matured, religious painting has reached its peak, and there is a tendency to secularization; Figure painting mainly depicts the life of the aristocracy, and character modeling with the characteristics of the times has appeared. The Five Dynasties and the Two Song Dynasties further matured and became more prosperous, figure painting has turned to depict secular life, religious painting has gradually declined, and landscape painting and flower and bird painting have leapt into the mainstream of the painting world. The emergence of literati painting and its development in later generations greatly enriched the creative concepts and expression methods of Chinese painting. With the gradual stability of social economy, the unprecedented prosperity of the field of culture and art, many great painters who love life and advocate art have emerged, and the painters of all dynasties have created famous paintings that have been famous for thousands of years.
There were many schools of painting in the Ming Dynasty, each leading the way. At the beginning of the Ming Dynasty, the monarch through a series of political and economic reforms, for the unification of the country, social stability and the recovery and development of the productive forces provided a guarantee, to the Ming Jiajing, Wanli years, the economy and culture tended to be prosperous, the level of productivity has reached the peak of feudal society. The traditional scientific and technological achievements have been gradually summarized, and contain the factors of moving towards modern times; The ideological and cultural fields are splendid and prosperous, and new changes have taken place.
The Ming Dynasty painting scene continued to evolve along the changes that had been presented in the Yuan Dynasty, and literati painting and genre painting became a torrent and formed many genres; The themes of landscapes, flowers and birds are popular, and figure painting is in decline; The continuous innovation of ink painting techniques has further enriched the expressive ability of brush and ink; The purpose of creation is to emphasize the expression of subjective taste, the pursuit of pen and ink rhyme.
In the early stage of Ming Dynasty painting, there were literati paintings that inherited the ink painting method of the Yuan Dynasty; court "courtyard" paintings; The "Zhejiang School" painting founded by Dai Jin and Wu Wei. Representative painters are: Liu Jun, Ni Duan, Shang Xi, Xie Huan, Li Zai, Bian Jingzhao, Lu Ji, Lin Liang, Dai Jin, Wu Wei, Zhang Lu. In the middle of the Ming Dynasty painting, Suzhou rose to the "Wumen Four Schools", Shen Zhou and Wen Zhengming formed the "Wumen School" with great momentum, carried forward the tradition of literati painting, and Tang Yin and Qiu Ying took both the "courtyard style" and the strengths of literati painting, forming a new look. Representative painters are: Zhou Chen, Shen Zhou, Wen Zhengming, Tang Yin, Qiu Ying, Wen Jia. In the later period of Ming Dynasty painting, landscape painting became the mainstream, and literati freehand flower and bird painting also developed rapidly, led by the Wumen painting school. Representative painters include: Zhang Hong, Xu Wei, Chen Chun, Lan Ying, Xiang Shengmo, Wu Bin, Ding Yunpeng, Chen Hongshou, Cui Zizhong, Zeng Jing.
Since the Tang and Song dynasties, painters' innovation in Chinese painting has continued to this day, innovating styles on the basis of inheritance. In the Ming Dynasty, the "Wumen School" not only represented the highest level of Ming Dynasty painting, but also opened up a new river for future generations in the exploration of learning from the ancient and innovating. In the later period of the Wu School, Suzhou painters represented by Zhang Hong blazed a new trail in literati landscape painting and created paintings full of life. On the basis of inheriting the style and characteristics of the Wumen School of painting, they innovated, went to the mountains to sketch, learned from nature, and created paintings full of life, which reflected the otherworldly spiritual realm in the paintings. The picture is fresh and elegant, and the artistic conception is ethereal and clear.