Introduction
It is a fact that art existed even before the beginning of civilization. Civilization led to the development of various tools that helped in improving art. Anthropologists use paintings to get insights into the activities of various ancient cultures. Various ancient cultures had different styles of paintings.
Scholars have undertaken extensive studies on ancient Greek and Egyptian art. Most paintings in these cultures depicted different cultural activities. In addition, there were various paintings of the deities of people in these ancient cultures. In Egypt, there were various paintings Isis or other deities of people in the ancient culture. Due to the vicinity of both cultures, the paintings of these ancient cultures influenced each other.
One of the common similarities of the paintings of these ancient cultures was the painting of composite beasts. The composite beasts were part human and part animal or part human and part bird. However, Chinese painting developed with little interference from the ancient Egyptian and Greek paintings.
Therefore, China has a distinct form of ancient painting. One of the most common features of most Chinese paintings is their simplicity, transcendence, and elegance. Most artists were distinguished scholars who had the respect of the society. The input of these scholars helped in the cultural enrichment of the society. There were significant differences in the ancient paintings of various dynasties.
Thesis statement: The study of Chinese paintings would help in providing insights into the social life of people in the different ancient Chinese dynasties.
Agenda
This essay will explore different paintings that existed in the various ancient Chinese dynasties. The essay will show different paintings may help in determining the personal life of the painter. In addition, the essay will also strive to use different paintings to provide insights into the political and cultural environment that existed during the life of the painters.
Courtesy Road Map
This essay will explore the development of various types of ancient Chinese paintings in different dynasties. The development of different types of painting would provide insights into various social developments in the dynasties.
In addition, the essay will look at the different changes that occurred in the different forms of painting. This essay would strive to determine how attention to detail of the paintings developed over time. The essay will also look at the paintings of various scholars. This would help in determining the relationship between painting and society.
Background Information
Chinese paintings are significantly different from other paintings due to their focus on change, motion, and dynamic life. In addition, Chinese paintings give special emphasis on simplicity, transcendence, and elegance. Very few Chinese paintings have a religious orientation.
Most paintings focus on royalty, nature, and various social activities. In ancient Chinese paintings, masters showed their apprentices how to paint. The apprentices had to follow the instructions of their masters to the letter.
This enabled the apprentices to improve their skills until they could draw various shapes that conformed to the shapes of the masters instinctively. This form of teaching limited creativity of artists. However, after painting for many years the apprentices devised their own style of painting. This helps in distinguishing the works of various painters.
The earliest Chinese paintings did not have much social meaning. The paintings were just ornamental. The paintings depicted zigzags, animals, or dots. Amateurs were the main artists during this period. However, artists started using paintings to depict their surroundings during the Warring States Period (475-221BC).
This helped in increasing interest towards painting. Ancient Chinese artists used a brush made from animal hair and black ink made using pine soot and glue. Artists presented their paintings on silk. However, the invention of paper necessitated the artists to discard silk. Paintings from the early artists depicted majestic human figures. In addition, artists used the paintings to illustrate the teachings of Confucius.
Therefore, realism was the dominant form of painting during this period. People started appreciating paintings during the Six Dynasties (220-259). The paintings from this period show the norms of the society according to Confucianism. The paintings showed how the society expected people to relate with each other. The paintings depicted how wives were supposed to act around their husbands (Huang and Zürcher 239). Therefore, the study of these paintings may provide invaluable insights into the social life of people during this period.
Different styles of paintings flourished in various dynasties. During the Sui and Tang dynasties (501-907), various artists used paintings to portray royalty. Painters showed the splendor of court life and imperial horses. In addition, painters used their paintings to portray the beauty of palace women.
During this period, emperors started appreciating paintings. Therefore, they commissioned various paintings in their palaces. During the Song and Yuan dynasties (960-1368), there were further developments in the sophistication of paintings. Landscape painting is one of the paintings that developed greatly during this period.
Artists used blurred lines to convey immeasurable distances. During this period, people valued paintings that depicted nature. During the Northern Song period (960-1127), artists started using paintings to express their political ideals. The paintings in this period portrayed huge landscapes. This conformed to the political ideals of people this period.
The rulers of the Northern Song period strived to ensure order in the world and tackling the larger issues that affected the society. On the other hand, paintings during the Southern Song period (1127-1279) depicted small and closer objects. This conformed to the political ideals of rulers during the period. The rulers strived to reform the society by tackling issues on a smaller scale. Therefore, the Song and Yuan dynasties marked the beginning of the use of painting to portray political ideals (Ebrey 163).
During the early Song period, scholars created most of the paintings. They did not rely on the paintings for their livelihoods. They usually did the paintings during their free time. Scholars used paintings to express their feelings and beliefs. Therefore, these scholars helped in enriching the society.
However, later in the Song period, a new type of artists developed. These artists depended on painting to earn their living. These painters did not have the skills of the common painters. Scholars usually criticized this group of artists and did not consider them as real artists. The scholars considered these painters as other traders who exhibited their wares in the marketplace.
Most scholars were skilled in calligraphy. During the Song Dynasty, artists who had exemplary artistic skills and a good command of history joined the civil service. This formed new kind of elite painters, the scholar-officials. Scholar-officials used their command of history and artistic skills to maintain the moral and aesthetic standards in the society.
The past political and cultural paragons helped in shaping the moral and aesthetic standards of the community. These scholars helped in providing interpretations that that helped in judging various emperors during the dynasty.
During the Yuan dynasty, painters merged painting, calligraphy, and poems to express their feelings. These forms of art helped in expressing the feelings of the artists more clearly than any single artwork. Various popular painters existed during this period. Chien Shuan (1235-1307), Huang Gong-Wang (1269-1354), Ni Zan (1301-1374), and Zhao Meng-Fu (1254-1322) are some of the popular artists that existed during this period.
Various scholars refer to these painters as the ‘Four Great Masters of the Ming.’ They used their paintings to express their feelings. All these artists used painting, calligraphy, and poems to express their feelings more clearly. Therefore, this made the four artists become prominent personalities in the society (Elkins 79).
Artists who existed during the Yuan dynasty started shifting from realism. During this period, artists painted objects that did conform to the traditional principles of realism. However, these paintings maintained the simplicity that was inherent in other paintings.
Simplicity enabled the artists to express their thoughts clearly. A study of the paintings of various artists would help in portraying various phases of their lives. When these artists were sad, they used paintings to express their sorrow. In addition, various artists may portray the happiness in the paintings. Use of poems was in paintings was one of the most important developments during the Yuan Dynasty.
During the later stages of imperial China (1368-1895), artists used paintings that had a wider range of colors. In addition, these paintings were more exquisite than the paintings in previous periods. During this period, emperors used paintings to depict the kind of rule they desired. Emperors used paintings to portray the effectiveness of their rule.
In addition, emperors used paintings to show their support of various activities that helped in social advancement. Learning was one of the major activities that led to the social advancement of the society. In addition, emperors used paintings to show how they subdued their enemies. This was a show of power of the emperors.
Various paintings during this period also depicted various festivals. Spring Festival was one of the major festivals portrayed in various paintings. Therefore, a study of these paintings would help in showing various cultural differences that existed between this period and former dynasties.
Research Methods
This paper uses literature on Chinese painting from various sources. The paper makes a comparison between the various literatures to determine their authenticity. In addition, the paper uses the existing literature of various popular Chinese painters who lived during various ancient dynasties to determine the way of life that existed during the life of the painters.
The paintings provide primary data for analyzing the ancient Chinese cultures. Chinese scholarly painters used their works to express their ideas. Therefore, these literatures would be vital in providing the beliefs of the scholars with regard to various social issues. In addition, the paintings would also provide insights into the political life that existed during the life of various artists. To achieve this, the essay will compare the paintings in during the reign of various dynasties.
Expected Results
Ancient cultures used paintings to portray their culture. Therefore, using the above research methods would help in providing insights into Chinese culture. Literature shows that Chinese scholars used their paintings to portray their feelings. The research methods would help in showing the relationship between various people in ancient Chinese culture. Confucianism is one the major beliefs that affected the relationship between two parties.
Therefore, the research would show various ideals of Confucianism that existed in the ancient society. In addition, emperors used various paintings to show their leadership style. Therefore, analysis of the paintings that different emperors commissioned would help in providing insights into the leadership styles of the emperors.
In addition, it would show differences and similarities in the leadership styles of various ancient Chinese emperors. Scholar-officials used paintings to shape the views of the society. Therefore, paintings would help in showing the views of the scholar-officials. In addition, the paintings would help in showing the beliefs of various painters. It would help in showing the how the painters responded to various factors that affected their lives.
Since scholars were distinguished people in the society, people considered them to have ideal behaviors. Therefore, study of the behaviors of scholars would help in determining the norms of the ancient Chinese society. This paper will also show various changes in Chinese cultures.
Works Cited
Ebrey, Patricia Buckley. The Cambridge Illustrated History of China. Cambridge UP, 2010.
Elkins, James. Chinese Landscape Painting as Western Art History. Hong Kong UP, 2010.
Huang, Junjie and Erik Zürcher. Time and Space in Chinese Culture. BRILL, 1995.