50 traditional Chinese paintings

Chinese painting is an integral part of theAsian art that we admire around the world. In its oldest form, this painting was made on pottery, as illustrated by certain finds dating from the Neolithic, the last phase of the Stone Age.

Compared to Western art, Chinese painting is more interested in based techniques water, rather than oils or acrylics. In addition, Chinese painting is traditionally more stylized, more abstract and less realistic than Western types. It also underlines the importance of white space, or empty, and it can be said that it favors the representation of landscape Compared to the art of the portrait, or the painting of figures.

If you are passionate about Chinese art just like us, you go through this article to discover the main techniques and illustrations of Chinese painting: representations of landscapes and flowers through animals.

Traditional painting techniques 

Traditional Chinese painting ("Guo Hua") is similar to the calligraphy (which is itself considered as a form of paint) and is executed with a brush, made of animal hair, soaked in black ink made of pine soot and animal glue or colored ink. Unlike Western paint, oils are generally not used. In Chinese painting, the color, if there are, is added to make the effect most faithful to the reality Or to add a decorative accent and rarely as a structural element in design, as in Western art. Of the pigments brilliant and more opaque derived from mineral sources are preferred for painting on silk, while translucent plant pigments predominate in paper paint and produce a lighter and more delicate effect.

The most popular type of support is the paper Or silk, but some paintings are made on walls or lacquers. THE works of art completed can then be stretched on scrolls, which are suspended or rolled up. Traditional painters can also paint directly on paper, walls, lacquer objects China, Paravents and many other supports.

There are two main techniques of Chinese painting:

• Gong (工筆), which means "meticulous", uses very precise brush strokes that delimit the details with great precision. It is often very colorful and generally represents figurative or narrative subjects. It is often practiced by artists working for the royal court or in independent workshops. Bird and flower paintings are often of this style.
• Painting in ink and washing, in Chinese Shui-mo Or 水墨 also called paint with watercolor or brush, or even "literary painting" because it was one of the "four arts" of the official class of Chinese scholars. In theory, it was an art practiced by the nobles, a distinction which begins to be made in the writings on the art of the Song dynasty, although in fact, the career of the main representatives of this art could benefit considerably . This style is also called "XIE YI" or lifting hands style.

Chinese landscape painting

Many criticisms consider the landscape as the highest form of Chinese painting: it is traditionally at the top of the Styles hierarchy Chinese painting. The first landscapes appeared as part of figurative painting, providing the natural setting for the narration of a story. It is very popular and is associated with a refined learned taste. The Chinese term for "landscape" is made up of two characters meaning "mountains and water". It is linked to the philosophy of Taoism, which emphasizes harmony with nature.

Chinese artists generally do not paint real places, but imaginary and idealized landscapes. In China, the mountains are associated with religion because they rise to the sky. The Chinese therefore think that looking at mountain paintings is good for the soul. The period from five dynasties to the northern song period (907-1127) is known as the "high era of the Chinese landscape". In the North, artists such as Jing Hao, Fan Kuan and Guo Xi painted imposing mountain images, using strong black lines, ink wash and sharp and stained brushstrokes to suggest the raw stone. In the south, Dong Yuan, Ju Ran and other artists painted the hills and rivers of their native countryside in peaceful scenes made with softer and rubbed brushes. These two types of scenes and techniques have become the classic styles of Chinese landscape painting.

 Chinese flower paint

Flowers are like emissaries of the beauty, greeting spectators with their myriads of shapes and colors. Indeed, the splendor they bring to nature moves the hearts of people all over the world. This is why artists and writers from around the world have been attracted to flowers to the present day, leaving many equally beautiful masterpieces behind them. In the oldest collection of Chinese poems and songs, the classic of verses 詩經, flowers often serve as metaphors of beauty. For example, "The fishing is young and elegant " use the beautiful imaging of delicate Flower flowers To express the joy of a young girl who has just married. "With a face like the hais flower" Referring to the various colors of a plant known in ancient times under the name of hedge flower (today called hibiscus of gardens, or hibiscus syriacus) to describe the beauty of a young girl. These descriptions reveal the level of observation of the ancients concerning the flowers about three millennia.

During the history of Chinese painting, the three main subjects were landscapes, birds and flowers, and the characters. THE Chinese flowers have become the object of attention and representation of painters through the ages. The artists did not just represent the external beauty of the flowers, they also expressed the spirit and the delicacy of their subject. The painters have gone even further to give flowers a meaning deeper, by transforming them into objects that house feelings.

Chinese animal painting

In Chinese painting, animals have never been a simple decoration, but a way to transmit important lessons on the life and the philosophy, as well as political messages, like fables. Impregnated with certain human characteristics ranging from strength and bravery to purity and fertility, the animals represented in art were carefully chosen by the artist. Although these messages often hidden in art were easily understood in their time, with a little research, modern spectators and collectors can appreciate these works of art at a deeper level than that of the images just as pretty. 

"It is not only the symbolism of the animal, it is the way in which each animal is represented with interpretation, some with a simple homonym, others with an artistic representation"Said Mary Ann Lum, co -owner of Gianguan Auctions in New York with Kwong Lum.

Here are the meanings of a few animals in China:

• Cat : Talk bad spirits
• Rooster : Reliability, the embodiment of fidelity and punctuality, the rooster is also a symbol of advancement.
• Dragon : male vigor, fertility, ultimate abundance, prosperity, good fortune, also symbol of the emperor, divine mystical creature, symbol of the natural world, adaptability and transformation.
• Fish : the surplus, abundance, wealth (fish is one of the "eight Buddhist symbols of good fortune")
• Horse : speed and perseverance
• Birds : attract joy linked to the unity of people, stability, celebrations, happy opportunities, great happiness

 Chinese character painting

There human figure As a subject of Chinese painting appeared long before later popular subjects such as landscape or birds and flowers. In the early days, character painting was mainly intended to serve religious or political objectives. The archaeological discoveries of paints on silk and on the walls of tombs and caves give an overview of the evolution of characters' painting since spring and fall (722-481 BC) until the States at war (403-221 BC), in the Han dynasty (206 BC-220 AD) and in the Wei and Jin era (265- 420).

List of paintings:

For the pleasure of the eyes, we have selected a list of Most beautiful traditional Chinese paintings !