21 May, 2009
Famous china painting artist - song Huizong
Posted by: david In: Art Resource| china artist story
Chinese painting peaked in the Song Dynasty. In the entire art history of ancient Chinese paintings, the paintings of the Song period had the most remarkable features of extensive depiction of the real life. The painters created many artistic techniques that were closely linked with the society in a variety of imposing styles. The painting styles, forms and theories in the later Yuan, Ming and Qing dynasties were all evident in the paintings of the Song Dynasty, a testament to the maturity and full flourish of the China painting in that period. Many important breakthroughs in painting techniques were made in the Song Dynasty. Emphasis was laid on the human figures’ emotions, intriguing plots and the creation of distinctively characterized images. Painters specializing in flowers, birds, mountains and rivers tried to produce a pleasant artistic conception, while stressing ingenious, true-to-life portrayal of the images. Scholar-official painters also played a positive role in boosting the art of painting, with remarkable contributions to subjective expression and the exploration of calligraphic effect. Court paintings enjoyed tremendous development, and enriched the nationwide painting boom, registering accomplishments that are not to be underestimated.
following the achievements in the Sui, Tang and the Five Dynasties, further progress was made in the field of painting during the Song Dynasty. Imperial court painting, scholar-officials’ painting and folk painting, each exhibiting distinct features yet keeping influencing, and infiltrating into others, jointly defined the painting of the Song Dynasty. The Northern Song Dynasty unified the country, ending the turmoil caused by feudal states that tore the nation apart and ushering in a period of social stability. As commerce and the handicraft industry underwent rapid development, urban civilization flourished. Zhao Ji, the eighth emperor of the Northern Song Dynasty otherwise known as Huizong, went down in history for his political incompetence and obsession with art. When the Northern song was overthrown by the Jin Dynasty of the northern nomads in 1127, emperor Huizong and his son Zhao Heng, or emperor Qinzong, were captured and jailed by the invaders and died miserably years later. After the fall of the Northern Song Dynasty, the imperial court retreated to the south where they established the Southern Song Dynasty (1127-1279) with Lin’an as the capital city. Immigrants from the north exploited the resourceful south and together with the locals created a period of sustained economic and cultural developments. Bianliang (Kaifeng, Henan province) and Lin’an (Hangzhou, Zhejiang province), respective capitals of e Northern Song Dynasty and the Southern Song Dynasty, were both prosperous commercial cities. Apart from aristocrats, the cities were home to large numbers of merchants, handicraftsmen and ordinary urban dwellers, boasting an extremely colorful cultural life. Painting was incorporated into commerce and the handicraft industry, with painters selling their works in marketplaces. In the brisk fairs in Bianjing’s Daxiangguo Temple held five times a month, there were stalls offering books and paintings. In the night market of Lin’an, painted fans were sold. Many restaurants in Bianjing, Lin’an and other cities were decorated with paintings to attract customers. When arranging banquets, urban residents could rent screens, hanging scrolls and calligraphy works to decorate. Pictures of Door God and Zhong Kui were tremendous popular at the end of year to cater for the needs of Spring Festival celebrations. As the handicraft industry made strides, block printing developed and became widely adopted, with Bianjing, Lin’ana, Pingyang, Chengdu and Jianyang rising to become centers of the printing industry. Many books and Buddhist scriptures were illustrated. Printings of the Song and Jin period still available today such as Buddha portraits, Mantras of the Dharani Sutra, Pictures and Eulogies of Sudhana’s Journey to the South (Foguo Chanshi Wenzhu Zhinan Tuzan) and Zhaocheng Tripitaka (Zhaocheng Zang) all feature exquisite craftsmanship.
Scholar painting, which first appeared in the Tang Dynasty, evolved to become a major artistic trend in the middle and late Northern Song Dynasty. At the time, there was a widespread interest in collecting and reviewing paintings among the scholar and scholar-officials. Quite a few of them took up painting as well. Like writing poems, they considered painting to be a way of expressing their unique self. Scholar painters had their own thoughts on the choice of subject and form. They trailed a new blazing in painting as they inscribed phrases and poems to decorate their paintings. In the Northern and Southern Song Dynasties, Chinese plum blossoms by Zhongren and Yang Wujiu, bamboos by Wen Tong, bizarre trees and stones by Su Shi, cloudy mountains by Mi Fu and his son Mi Youren and daffodils by Zhao Mengjian were particularly famous. One important contribution made by scholar-officials of the Northern Song Dynasty to scholar painting is their theoretical research. Ouyang Xiu proposed to pursue an aesthetic atmosphere of “desolateness and asceticism.” Su Shi believed that it is childish to judge a painting by its formal resemblance, denying the notion that painting mainly aims at imitating nature. As a Chinese tradition, scholar-officials had long formed a network, through which scholar painting and the ideas of Su Shi and others spread rapidly, even to Liao and Jin territories ruled by ethnic minorities, becoming a precursor of the scholar painting of the Yuan and Ming dynasties.