Pictured above is Zhao Wangyun’s painting of Deer on Qilian Mountains. At a recent international conference in Xi’an, scholars highlighted the commitment of the Chang’an school of painting to reflecting real life while inheriting traditional painting techniques.

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During a conference held in Xi’an from Sept. 14 to 15, more than 200 experts and scholars from colleges and research institutions at home and abroad discussed the Chang’an school of painting and Silk Road art.

An Xue, a research fellow at the National Art Museum of China, said that Chinese painting established itself as an independent kind of art as early as in the Eastern Jin Dynasty (317-420). By the Southern Dynasties (420-589), aesthetic analysis of paintings had become a school of thought in its own right.

Xie He, a renowned painter of the Southern Dynasties, was the first to propose “six principles of Chinese painting” in his book The Record of Classification of Old Painters. These elements are: spiritual resonance, or vitality of a work of art; the bone method, which refers not only to texture and brush strokes, but to the close link between handwriting and personality; correspondence to the object, whether it corresponds with the object painted; suitability to type, or the application of color, including layers, value and tone; division and planning, corresponding to composition, space and depth; and the copying of models not only from life but also the works of antiquity. The first principle was considered the dominating principle. This standard has always dominated Chinese painting.

Wang Jiachun from the Xi’an Academy of Fine Arts said that Chinese painting presented unique aesthetic values, and contained special social functions that were different from Western oil paintings. It’s necessary, therefore, that we establish our own academic evaluation systems, instead of adopting foreign ones, Wang said.

The Chang’an school of painting represents a group of painters in Xi’an including Zhao Wangyun (1906-77) and Shi Lu (1919-82).  Chen Chao, vice-president of Northwest University, said that their paintings vividly reflected the reality while inheriting and innovating traditional painting techniques. Viewers can appreciate the beauty of ethnic groups, rural scenery, vast grasslands, snow on the Qilian Mountains, the Gobi Desert, and northwest plateau.

“Reflecting the spirit of the time is what art does,” said Zhao Nong, a professor at the Xi’an Academy of Fine Arts. This spirit is the dominant set of ideals and beliefs that indicate social trends and motivate the actions of all members of a society in a particular period in time. It reflects the core connotations of civilization.

Zhao Zhenchuan, president of the Art Institute of the Chang’an Painting School, said that Silk Road art existed for a long time and influenced a massive area. In this world of art, several major civilizations interacted and integrated, showing their common features while maintaining diverse emotions.

Silk Road art has had great influence on Chinese art as a whole, Zhao said. The old generation of the Chang’an school inherited and transplanted the characteristics of Silk Road art to depict real lives and people. Their creations have well expressed the thoughts of the painters while integrating traditional arts with modern arts.

 

 

 

LU HANG is a reporter at the Chinese Social Sciences Today.