The Chinese Literati Painting Tradition

One can not help alone wonder at the beauty of the Chinese landscapes, the vast space, the intricacies, the imaginative body structures, the insidious colorations. To a western eye they are beautiful but to the Chinese they are far more. The paintings embody or present all aspects of Tao. The caligraphy and imagery in each painting exit on invigorateual significance. The artist-scholar can spend years scrutinizing for discretion in each work. This sagaciousness he seeks is not just of the scene he sees but of universal structure and himself within it. In turn, his discoveries surface in his brushwork, composition, and the spirit of his mountains, trees, water, and sky. It is no wonder, that the cannon for Chinese art remained among the literati painters over so umpteen centuries.

Through painting, one could reach a further understanding of Tao or rather repossess his ancestors knowledge of Tao.

The Tao, with its associated notions of oneness of spirit and matter, the external flux of all things, the resolution of opposites, and the significance of the nonexhistant, was the footing on which Chinese based theirpainting and their theories of painting

It is the search for understanding that drives the artist-scholar to paint.



Shen Chou, an artist from the Ming Dynasty tells of his new found knowledge and cleansed mind which he has reached through only experiencing nature. His words are translated from the calligraphy in Night Vigil (above, center).

Through mental abstinence and by sitting alone by the light of the flickering cadmium long into the night, I must pursue both the [outer] principals of things and the wondorous [inner] full treatment of the mind. By using this method for self-cultivation and responding to things, I shall posess understanding.

The Literati were generaly of the beurocracy. They were considerably mannered in Confucian traditions, well educated, and well off. They were rootage scholars before they were painters. In fact painting was generally concidered...If you ask to get a full essay, order it on our website: Ordercustompaper.com



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