From Art to Cure: The Three Stages of Theoretical Development of Ancient Chinese Painting from Pre-Qin to Qing Dynasty

Na Luo

doi:doi:10.11648/j.ijla.20200802.12

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From Art to Cure: The Three Stages of Theoretical Development of Ancient Chinese Painting from Pre-Qin to Qing Dynasty

Na Luo

Published in International Journal of Literature and Arts (Volume 8, Issue 2)

Received: 27 February 2020 Accepted: 11 March 2020 Published: 23 March 2020

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Abstract

Ancient Chinese paintings, compared with traditional Western oil paintings that featured realistic depiction, seem mysterious enough to go beyond comprehension to Westerners. It could be traced back to one of the fundamental divergences in history when ancient Chinese painters and critics took a path not taken by their Western counterparts at the theoretical development crossroad over a thousand years ago: the former started to strive not for realistic drawing skills improvement but for the spiritual connection between the object and the painting. In the theoretical development of ancient Chinese painting, it marks the critical turning point from the first imitation stage of pursuing xingsi (formal likeness) to the intermediate second stage of seeking shensi (spiritual resemblance); and eventually in its third stage, painting became a constitutional part of Chinese ancients' lifestyle when it switched for a breakthrough from figure painting to landscape painting that laid more emphasis on subjective xieyi (intent-expression) which, by taking on a form of catharsis, played an extremely important role in the life of ancient painters and painting-lovers. That is when painting was endowed with a new function of more realistic importance: it was viewed by ancient Chinese as something more than art but therapeutic as a cure to relieve their miseries and pains by way of self-expression or aesthetic resonances. Imbibing the Taoist philosophy renowned for its profound effect on health preserving, specifically its aesthetic and contemplative attitude towards life advocated by Zhuangzi, these ancient Chinese painters and their audience sought xieyi and all-pervading oneness by blending themselves with the universe to find their own spiritual healing power.

Published in International Journal of Literature and Arts (Volume 8, Issue 2)
This article belongs to the Special Issue Humanity and Science: China’s Intercultural Communication with the Outside World in the New Era

DOI 10.11648/j.ijla.20200802.12

Page(s) 39-45

Creative Commons

This is an Open Access article, distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, provided the original work is properly cited.

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Copyright © The Author(s), 2020. Published by Science Publishing Group

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Keywords

Ancient Chinese Painting, Painting Theory, Intent Expression, Taoist Philosophy

References

[1] Poskaite, Loreta. The Embodiment of Zhuangzi's Ecological Wisdom in Chinese Literati Painting (wenrenhua) and Its Aesthetics. Asian Studies V (XXI), 2017. PP. 221-239.

[2] Gombrich, E. H. The Story of Art. London: Phaidon Press. 1989.

[3] Yang, Shenyuan. On the Two Major Schools of Ancient Chinese Painting Theories. Nanjing Art Institute Journal. 1986. 2: 51-58.

[4] Acker, William Reynolds B., transl. Some T'ang and pre-T'ang texts on Chinese Painting. Leiden: E. J. Brill. 1954.

[5] Gao, Jianping. The Wheel of Fortune vs. the Mustard Seed: A Comparative Study of European and Chinese Painting. Diogenes. 2013. 59 (1-2): 101-117.

[6] The Zhou Book of Change. Translated into English by Fu Huisheng; Library of Chinese Classics, Chinese-English. Changsha: Hunan People's Publishing House. 2008.

[7] Bush, Susan & Shih Hsio-yen, eds. And comps. Early Chinese Texts on Painting. Cambridge, Massachusetts, London: Harvard University Press. 1985.

[8] Yu, Jianhua, ed. Selected Readings on Chinese Painting Theories. Beijing: People’s Fine Art Publishing House. 2010.

[9] Zhuangzi. Zhuangzi. Translated into English by Wang Rongpei; Library of Chinese Classics, Chinese-English. Changsha: Hunan People's Publishing House, Beijing: Foreign Languages Press. 1999.

[10] Zhang Yanyuan (of the Tang Dynasty), ed. A Review of Past Famous Paintings. Beijing: People's Fine Arts Publishing House. 1964.

[11] Zhu, Zhirong. Philosophy of Chinese Art. Shanghai: East China Normal University Press. 2012.

[12] Tang, Yimeng & Daniela Zhang-Czirakova. Theoretical Sources for Abstract Painting in the Ancient Chinese Art Theory Before the Tang Dynasty. Journal of Sino-Western Communication, Volume 7, Issue 1. 2015.

[13] Gao You (of the Han Dynasty), ed. Huai Nan zi (Writings of Prince Huainan) In The Complete Works of Philosophers and Scholars: Volume 16. Beijing: Zhonghua Book Company. 1954.

[14] Sullivan, Michael. The Arts of China. London: University of Califoria Press. 1977.

[15] Liu Xie (of the Liang Dynasty). The Literary Mind and the Carving of Dragons, Annotated by Fan Wenlan. Beijing: People’s Literature Publishing House. 1958.

[16] Hu, Wentao & Luo, Qin, ed. Collected Works by Wang Changling with Annotations. Chengdu: Bashu Press. 2000.

[17] Lin, Yutang, transl. The Chinese Theory of Art. London: Heineman. 1967.

[18] Sze, Mai-mai. The Tao of Painting: A Study of the Ritual Disposition of Chinese Painting. Bollingen Series XLIX, New York: Pantheon Books. 1956.

[19] Shen, Zicheng, ed. On Ancient Paintings In The Collected Past Reviews on Famous Paintings. Shanghai: World Book Company, 1984.

[20] Qi Baishi. "Comments on Painting with Hu Peiheng and Others", In Talks on Painting of Qi Baishi, Zhengzhou: Henan People’s Publishing House. 1984.

[21] Chen, Zhidong. Chinese Literati’s Consciousness in Painting and Calligraphy. Guangxi Normal University Press. 2017.

[22] Li, Zehou. "Zhuangzi and Chan Buddhism." In Contemporary Chinese Aesthetics, edited by Zhu Liyuan & Gene Blocker, 143-178. New York et al.: Peter Lang. 1995.

[23] Moeller, Hans-Georg. Daoism Explained: From the Dream of Butterfly to the Fishnet Allegory. Chicago and La Salle, Illinois: Open Court. 2004.

[24] Bush, Susan. The Chinese Literati on Painting. Su Shih (1037-1101) to Tung Ch'i-Ch'ang (1555-1636). 1971. Cambridge: Harvard University Press.

[25] Gao, Jianping. "The Expressive Act in Chinese Art: From Calligraphy to Painting." Acta Universitatis Upsaliensis 7. Uppsala: Uppsala University. 1996.

[26] Munkata, Kyioshiko. "Concepts of Lei and Kan-lei in Early Chinese Art Theory" In Bush, S. & Murck, C., ed. Theories of Arts in China. Princeton & New York: Princeton University Press. 1983.

[27] Liu Zhou (of the Northern Qi Dynasty). Liuzi, annotated by Yuan Xiaozheng. Beijing: Zhonghua Book Company. 1985.

[28] Strassberg, Richard E. Transl. And comp. Englishtening Remarks on Painting by Shih-T'ao. Pacific Asia Museum Monographs, No. 1 Pacific Asia Musuem. 1989.

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Na Luo. (2020). From Art to Cure: The Three Stages of Theoretical Development of Ancient Chinese Painting from Pre-Qin to Qing Dynasty. International Journal of Literature and Arts, 8(2), 39-45. https://doi.org/10.11648/j.ijla.20200802.12

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Na Luo. From Art to Cure: The Three Stages of Theoretical Development of Ancient Chinese Painting from Pre-Qin to Qing Dynasty. Int. J. Lit. Arts 2020, 8(2), 39-45. doi: 10.11648/j.ijla.20200802.12

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Na Luo. From Art to Cure: The Three Stages of Theoretical Development of Ancient Chinese Painting from Pre-Qin to Qing Dynasty. Int J Lit Arts. 2020;8(2):39-45. doi: 10.11648/j.ijla.20200802.12

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@article{10.11648/j.ijla.20200802.12, author = {Na Luo}, title = {From Art to Cure: The Three Stages of Theoretical Development of Ancient Chinese Painting from Pre-Qin to Qing Dynasty}, journal = {International Journal of Literature and Arts}, volume = {8}, number = {2}, pages = {39-45}, doi = {10.11648/j.ijla.20200802.12}, url = {https://doi.org/10.11648/j.ijla.20200802.12}, eprint = {https://article.sciencepublishinggroup.com/pdf/10.11648.j.ijla.20200802.12}, abstract = {Ancient Chinese paintings, compared with traditional Western oil paintings that featured realistic depiction, seem mysterious enough to go beyond comprehension to Westerners. It could be traced back to one of the fundamental divergences in history when ancient Chinese painters and critics took a path not taken by their Western counterparts at the theoretical development crossroad over a thousand years ago: the former started to strive not for realistic drawing skills improvement but for the spiritual connection between the object and the painting. In the theoretical development of ancient Chinese painting, it marks the critical turning point from the first imitation stage of pursuing xingsi (formal likeness) to the intermediate second stage of seeking shensi (spiritual resemblance); and eventually in its third stage, painting became a constitutional part of Chinese ancients' lifestyle when it switched for a breakthrough from figure painting to landscape painting that laid more emphasis on subjective xieyi (intent-expression) which, by taking on a form of catharsis, played an extremely important role in the life of ancient painters and painting-lovers. That is when painting was endowed with a new function of more realistic importance: it was viewed by ancient Chinese as something more than art but therapeutic as a cure to relieve their miseries and pains by way of self-expression or aesthetic resonances. Imbibing the Taoist philosophy renowned for its profound effect on health preserving, specifically its aesthetic and contemplative attitude towards life advocated by Zhuangzi, these ancient Chinese painters and their audience sought xieyi and all-pervading oneness by blending themselves with the universe to find their own spiritual healing power.}, year = {2020} }

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TY - JOUR T1 - From Art to Cure: The Three Stages of Theoretical Development of Ancient Chinese Painting from Pre-Qin to Qing Dynasty AU - Na Luo Y1 - 2020/03/23 PY - 2020 N1 - https://doi.org/10.11648/j.ijla.20200802.12 DO - 10.11648/j.ijla.20200802.12 T2 - International Journal of Literature and Arts JF - International Journal of Literature and Arts JO - International Journal of Literature and Arts SP - 39 EP - 45 PB - Science Publishing Group SN - 2331-057X UR - https://doi.org/10.11648/j.ijla.20200802.12 AB - Ancient Chinese paintings, compared with traditional Western oil paintings that featured realistic depiction, seem mysterious enough to go beyond comprehension to Westerners. It could be traced back to one of the fundamental divergences in history when ancient Chinese painters and critics took a path not taken by their Western counterparts at the theoretical development crossroad over a thousand years ago: the former started to strive not for realistic drawing skills improvement but for the spiritual connection between the object and the painting. In the theoretical development of ancient Chinese painting, it marks the critical turning point from the first imitation stage of pursuing xingsi (formal likeness) to the intermediate second stage of seeking shensi (spiritual resemblance); and eventually in its third stage, painting became a constitutional part of Chinese ancients' lifestyle when it switched for a breakthrough from figure painting to landscape painting that laid more emphasis on subjective xieyi (intent-expression) which, by taking on a form of catharsis, played an extremely important role in the life of ancient painters and painting-lovers. That is when painting was endowed with a new function of more realistic importance: it was viewed by ancient Chinese as something more than art but therapeutic as a cure to relieve their miseries and pains by way of self-expression or aesthetic resonances. Imbibing the Taoist philosophy renowned for its profound effect on health preserving, specifically its aesthetic and contemplative attitude towards life advocated by Zhuangzi, these ancient Chinese painters and their audience sought xieyi and all-pervading oneness by blending themselves with the universe to find their own spiritual healing power. VL - 8 IS - 2 ER -

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Na Luo

School of English for International Business, Guangdong University of Foreign Studies, Guangzhou, China

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Na Luo. (2020). From Art to Cure: The Three Stages of Theoretical Development of Ancient Chinese Painting from Pre-Qin to Qing Dynasty. International Journal of Literature and Arts, 8(2), 39-45. https://doi.org/10.11648/j.ijla.20200802.12

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Na Luo. From Art to Cure: The Three Stages of Theoretical Development of Ancient Chinese Painting from Pre-Qin to Qing Dynasty. Int. J. Lit. Arts 2020, 8(2), 39-45. doi: 10.11648/j.ijla.20200802.12

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Na Luo. From Art to Cure: The Three Stages of Theoretical Development of Ancient Chinese Painting from Pre-Qin to Qing Dynasty. Int J Lit Arts. 2020;8(2):39-45. doi: 10.11648/j.ijla.20200802.12

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@article{10.11648/j.ijla.20200802.12, author = {Na Luo}, title = {From Art to Cure: The Three Stages of Theoretical Development of Ancient Chinese Painting from Pre-Qin to Qing Dynasty}, journal = {International Journal of Literature and Arts}, volume = {8}, number = {2}, pages = {39-45}, doi = {10.11648/j.ijla.20200802.12}, url = {https://doi.org/10.11648/j.ijla.20200802.12}, eprint = {https://article.sciencepublishinggroup.com/pdf/10.11648.j.ijla.20200802.12}, abstract = {Ancient Chinese paintings, compared with traditional Western oil paintings that featured realistic depiction, seem mysterious enough to go beyond comprehension to Westerners. It could be traced back to one of the fundamental divergences in history when ancient Chinese painters and critics took a path not taken by their Western counterparts at the theoretical development crossroad over a thousand years ago: the former started to strive not for realistic drawing skills improvement but for the spiritual connection between the object and the painting. In the theoretical development of ancient Chinese painting, it marks the critical turning point from the first imitation stage of pursuing xingsi (formal likeness) to the intermediate second stage of seeking shensi (spiritual resemblance); and eventually in its third stage, painting became a constitutional part of Chinese ancients' lifestyle when it switched for a breakthrough from figure painting to landscape painting that laid more emphasis on subjective xieyi (intent-expression) which, by taking on a form of catharsis, played an extremely important role in the life of ancient painters and painting-lovers. That is when painting was endowed with a new function of more realistic importance: it was viewed by ancient Chinese as something more than art but therapeutic as a cure to relieve their miseries and pains by way of self-expression or aesthetic resonances. Imbibing the Taoist philosophy renowned for its profound effect on health preserving, specifically its aesthetic and contemplative attitude towards life advocated by Zhuangzi, these ancient Chinese painters and their audience sought xieyi and all-pervading oneness by blending themselves with the universe to find their own spiritual healing power.}, year = {2020} }

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TY - JOUR T1 - From Art to Cure: The Three Stages of Theoretical Development of Ancient Chinese Painting from Pre-Qin to Qing Dynasty AU - Na Luo Y1 - 2020/03/23 PY - 2020 N1 - https://doi.org/10.11648/j.ijla.20200802.12 DO - 10.11648/j.ijla.20200802.12 T2 - International Journal of Literature and Arts JF - International Journal of Literature and Arts JO - International Journal of Literature and Arts SP - 39 EP - 45 PB - Science Publishing Group SN - 2331-057X UR - https://doi.org/10.11648/j.ijla.20200802.12 AB - Ancient Chinese paintings, compared with traditional Western oil paintings that featured realistic depiction, seem mysterious enough to go beyond comprehension to Westerners. It could be traced back to one of the fundamental divergences in history when ancient Chinese painters and critics took a path not taken by their Western counterparts at the theoretical development crossroad over a thousand years ago: the former started to strive not for realistic drawing skills improvement but for the spiritual connection between the object and the painting. In the theoretical development of ancient Chinese painting, it marks the critical turning point from the first imitation stage of pursuing xingsi (formal likeness) to the intermediate second stage of seeking shensi (spiritual resemblance); and eventually in its third stage, painting became a constitutional part of Chinese ancients' lifestyle when it switched for a breakthrough from figure painting to landscape painting that laid more emphasis on subjective xieyi (intent-expression) which, by taking on a form of catharsis, played an extremely important role in the life of ancient painters and painting-lovers. That is when painting was endowed with a new function of more realistic importance: it was viewed by ancient Chinese as something more than art but therapeutic as a cure to relieve their miseries and pains by way of self-expression or aesthetic resonances. Imbibing the Taoist philosophy renowned for its profound effect on health preserving, specifically its aesthetic and contemplative attitude towards life advocated by Zhuangzi, these ancient Chinese painters and their audience sought xieyi and all-pervading oneness by blending themselves with the universe to find their own spiritual healing power. VL - 8 IS - 2 ER -

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Published in	International Journal of Literature and Arts (Volume 8, Issue 2) This article belongs to the Special Issue Humanity and Science: China’s Intercultural Communication with the Outside World in the New Era
DOI	10.11648/j.ijla.20200802.12
Page(s)	39-45
Creative Commons	This is an Open Access article, distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, provided the original work is properly cited.
Copyright	Copyright © The Author(s), 2020. Published by Science Publishing Group

[1]	Poskaite, Loreta. The Embodiment of Zhuangzi's Ecological Wisdom in Chinese Literati Painting (wenrenhua) and Its Aesthetics. Asian Studies V (XXI), 2017. PP. 221-239.
[2]	Gombrich, E. H. The Story of Art. London: Phaidon Press. 1989.
[3]	Yang, Shenyuan. On the Two Major Schools of Ancient Chinese Painting Theories. Nanjing Art Institute Journal. 1986. 2: 51-58.
[4]	Acker, William Reynolds B., transl. Some T'ang and pre-T'ang texts on Chinese Painting. Leiden: E. J. Brill. 1954.
[5]	Gao, Jianping. The Wheel of Fortune vs. the Mustard Seed: A Comparative Study of European and Chinese Painting. Diogenes. 2013. 59 (1-2): 101-117.
[6]	The Zhou Book of Change. Translated into English by Fu Huisheng; Library of Chinese Classics, Chinese-English. Changsha: Hunan People's Publishing House. 2008.
[7]	Bush, Susan & Shih Hsio-yen, eds. And comps. Early Chinese Texts on Painting. Cambridge, Massachusetts, London: Harvard University Press. 1985.
[8]	Yu, Jianhua, ed. Selected Readings on Chinese Painting Theories. Beijing: People’s Fine Art Publishing House. 2010.
[9]	Zhuangzi. Zhuangzi. Translated into English by Wang Rongpei; Library of Chinese Classics, Chinese-English. Changsha: Hunan People's Publishing House, Beijing: Foreign Languages Press. 1999.
[10]	Zhang Yanyuan (of the Tang Dynasty), ed. A Review of Past Famous Paintings. Beijing: People's Fine Arts Publishing House. 1964.
[11]	Zhu, Zhirong. Philosophy of Chinese Art. Shanghai: East China Normal University Press. 2012.
[12]	Tang, Yimeng & Daniela Zhang-Czirakova. Theoretical Sources for Abstract Painting in the Ancient Chinese Art Theory Before the Tang Dynasty. Journal of Sino-Western Communication, Volume 7, Issue 1. 2015.
[13]	Gao You (of the Han Dynasty), ed. Huai Nan zi (Writings of Prince Huainan) In The Complete Works of Philosophers and Scholars: Volume 16. Beijing: Zhonghua Book Company. 1954.
[14]	Sullivan, Michael. The Arts of China. London: University of Califoria Press. 1977.
[15]	Liu Xie (of the Liang Dynasty). The Literary Mind and the Carving of Dragons, Annotated by Fan Wenlan. Beijing: People’s Literature Publishing House. 1958.
[16]	Hu, Wentao & Luo, Qin, ed. Collected Works by Wang Changling with Annotations. Chengdu: Bashu Press. 2000.
[17]	Lin, Yutang, transl. The Chinese Theory of Art. London: Heineman. 1967.
[18]	Sze, Mai-mai. The Tao of Painting: A Study of the Ritual Disposition of Chinese Painting. Bollingen Series XLIX, New York: Pantheon Books. 1956.
[19]	Shen, Zicheng, ed. On Ancient Paintings In The Collected Past Reviews on Famous Paintings. Shanghai: World Book Company, 1984.
[20]	Qi Baishi. "Comments on Painting with Hu Peiheng and Others", In Talks on Painting of Qi Baishi, Zhengzhou: Henan People’s Publishing House. 1984.
[21]	Chen, Zhidong. Chinese Literati’s Consciousness in Painting and Calligraphy. Guangxi Normal University Press. 2017.
[22]	Li, Zehou. "Zhuangzi and Chan Buddhism." In Contemporary Chinese Aesthetics, edited by Zhu Liyuan & Gene Blocker, 143-178. New York et al.: Peter Lang. 1995.
[23]	Moeller, Hans-Georg. Daoism Explained: From the Dream of Butterfly to the Fishnet Allegory. Chicago and La Salle, Illinois: Open Court. 2004.
[24]	Bush, Susan. The Chinese Literati on Painting. Su Shih (1037-1101) to Tung Ch'i-Ch'ang (1555-1636). 1971. Cambridge: Harvard University Press.
[25]	Gao, Jianping. "The Expressive Act in Chinese Art: From Calligraphy to Painting." Acta Universitatis Upsaliensis 7. Uppsala: Uppsala University. 1996.
[26]	Munkata, Kyioshiko. "Concepts of Lei and Kan-lei in Early Chinese Art Theory" In Bush, S. & Murck, C., ed. Theories of Arts in China. Princeton & New York: Princeton University Press. 1983.
[27]	Liu Zhou (of the Northern Qi Dynasty). Liuzi, annotated by Yuan Xiaozheng. Beijing: Zhonghua Book Company. 1985.
[28]	Strassberg, Richard E. Transl. And comp. Englishtening Remarks on Painting by Shih-T'ao. Pacific Asia Museum Monographs, No. 1 Pacific Asia Musuem. 1989.