Main Techniques in Chinese Painting.
“If you aim to dispense with method, learn method. If you aim at facility, work hard. If you aim for simplicity, master complexity.” Chieh Tzu Yuan Hua Chuan in Mustard Seed Garden Manual, 17th century.
Gongbi (simplified Chinese: 工笔; traditional Chinese: 工筆; pinyin: gōng bǐ; Wade–Giles: kung-pi) takes its name from a word meaning “tidy” or meticulous use of the brush. Gongbi originated during the Han era (206 B.C- 220 A.D) which was marked by a time of stability which encouraged the arts to flower, mainly amongst the upper-classes as only the wealthy could afford these artists. Gongbi requires drawing lines with the pen first to show the essential nature of objects; this is followed by ink washes and layers of colour. Exponents of the Gongbi style include the Tang Dynasty’s Yan Liben (c. 600-673 A.D.) and Zhang Xuan (713-755 A.D.).
Ink & Wash Painting, shui-mo (水墨, "water and ink")aka literati painting. Textual evidence suggests that Shan shui style painting (above) existed during China's Liu Song dynasty of the fifth century, but ink wash painting developed further during the Tang dynasty (618–907). The 8th-century poet/painter Wang Wei is generally credited as the painter who applied colour to existing ink wash paintings.[1] The art was further developed into a more polished style during the Song Dynasty (960–1279). It was introduced to Korea shortly after China's discovery of the ink. Ink wash uses tonality and shading which is achieved through changing the density of the ink, both “differential grinding of the ink stick in water and by varying the ink load and pressure within a single brushstroke. The form of Chinese ink is dry sticks, flat cakes and various other shapes. Liquid ink is made by “grinding the inkstick on an inkstone with water. The best ink is made from pine soot and animal glue.”[2]
[1] Yushu Wang, Selected Poems and Pictures of the Tang Dynasty, (2005),
[2] Anne Farrer, “The brush dances & the ink sings.” Chinese Paintings and Calligraphy from the British Museum, Hayward Gallery, 1990, 7.
Comments