Colour Pottery with pattern of dancing, Neolithic Period

Chinese traditional painting dates back to the Neolithic Period about eight thousand year ago. The coloured pottery with painted animals, fish, deer, and frogs excavated in the l920's indicates that during the Neolithic Period the Chinese had already started to use brushes to paint.

Chinese traditonal painting is highly regarded throughout the world for its theory, expression, and techniques. Different from Western paintings, a Chinese painting is not restricted by the focal point in its perspective. The artist may paint on a long and narrow piece of paper or silk all the scenes along the Yangtze River. The picture Mulen Retures Home provides an example. It is based on an old story in which Mulan, disguised as a boy, joined the any in her father's stead and returned home after the war was won. In the picture one can see what people are doing both outside and inside the courtyard and the house. It can be said that the adoption of shifting perspective is one of the charcteristics of Chinese Painting. Why do the Chinese artists emphasize the shifting perspective? They want to break away from the restriction of time and space and include in their pictures both things which are far and things which are near. Also, the artists find that in life people view their surroundings from a mobile focal point. The shifting perspective enables the artists to express freely what he wants.

Painting of Five Oxes, Hang Huang, Tang Dynasty

According to the means of expression, Chinese paintings can be divided into two categories: the xieyi school and the gongbi school, The xieyi schoo is marked by exaggerated forms and freehand brush work. The gongbi school is charaterized by close attention to detail and fine brush work. Xieyi, however, is the funda mental approah to Chinese Painting. It constitutes an aesthetic theory which, above all, emphasized the sentiments. Even in ancient times, Chinese artists weer unwilling to be restrained by reality. A famou artist Of the Jin Dynasty, Gu Kaizhi was the first to put forward the theory of "making the form bo the spirit." In his opinion, a painting should serve as a means to convey no only the appearane of an obect, but express how the artist looks at it. Gu's views were followed by theories such as "likeness in spirit resides in unlikeness" and "a painting should be something between likeness and unlikeness". Guided by these theories, Chinese artists disregard the limitations of proportion, perspective, and light. Take Qi Baishi, the modern painter, for example.He does not paint shrimps, insects, birds, and flowers as they are in nature; only their essence has been shown as a result of the artist's long-term observation and profound understanding of the subjects.

Admonitions of the Instructress to the Court Ladies, Gu Kaizhi

Dragonflies, Qi Baishi

Chinese calligraphy and Chinese painting are closely reated because lines are used in both. The Chinese people have turned simple lines into a highly-developed form of art. Lines are not only to draw contours but to express the artist's concepts and feelings. For different subjects and different purposes a varitey of lines are used. They may be straight or curved, hard or soft, thick or thin, pale or dark,and the ink may be dry or running. The use of lines and strokes is one of the elements that give Chinese painting its unique qualities.

Traditional Chinese painting is a combination in the same picture of the arts of poetry, calligraphy, painting, and seal engraving. In ancient times most artists were poets and calligraphers. Su Tungpo(l037 - 1101A.D.), Ni Yunlin(l306 - l374A.D.), and Dong Qichang(1555 - l636A.D.) were such artists. To the Chinese,"Painting in poetry and poetry in painting" has been one of the criteria for excellent works of art. Inscriptions and seal impressions help to explain the painter's ideas and sentiments and also add decorative beauty to the painting. Ancient artists liked to paint pines, bamboo, and plum blossoms. When inscriptions like "exemplary conduct and nobility of character" were made, those plants were meant to embody the qualities of people who were upright and ready to help each other under hard conditions. For Chinese graphic art, poetry, calligraphy, painting, and seal engraving are necessary parts, which supplement and enrich one another.

Lotus, silk painting, Song Dynasty

Polo, Tang Dynasty, fresco

Qi Bashi(1863 - l957A.D.)is one of the most celebrated contemporary Chinese artists. He was a versatile artist, and in his own criteria of success he placed poetry first, seal-carving second, calligraphy third, and painting last. Through long year of practice, Qi evolved a distinctive, personal style. He was able to portray the same subject in either the xieyi or the gongbi style. What is fascinating about his work is that in some pictures both metheds are used. For example, insects done in the gongbi style and flowers in the xieyi sytle appear in the same picture, and there is perfect harmony between them.