History of Chinese Paintings

Chinese painting can be traced back to the painted pottery of the Neolithic Age, some five to six thousand years ago. Typical examples are the pottery bowls painted in a pattern of human faces and fish excavated at Banpo near Xi'an and the pottery basin painted with figures of dancers excavated in Datong County, Qinghai.

The characteristic art form of the first stages of recorded history in China, from the Shang and Zhou dynasties to the Spring and Autumn and the Warring States periods (c. sixteenth century B.C. to 221 B.C.), was bronze ritual vessels and other bronzeware, often richly decorated.

Paintings on silk first appeared during the Warring States Period. Two paintings done in the state of Chu during the Warring States Period (475 - 221 B.C.), the "Dragon and Phoenix" and "Taming a Dragon" unearthed from a tomb near modern-day Changsha are the earliest paintings yet found in China. It measures about 30 cm long by 20 cm wide.

Murals developed in the Qin and Han dynasties (221 B.C. to A.D. 220) Besides those in palaces and temples there were a great many in tombs. Han tomb murals have been found in Henan, Shanxi, Shandong, Hebei, Gansu, Liaoning and Jilin.

Sculpture is represented by the life-size terra-cotta soldiers and horses in the tomb of Qin Shi Huang, the first emperor of the Qin Dynasty, and the stone figures lining the approach to the tomb of General Huo Qubing. Both sets of sculptures are extremely lifelike, and each figure is a distinct creation.

Religious art thrived as never before during the Wei, Jin and Northern and Southern Dynasties, from 220 to 581. The spread of Buddhism in this period led to the practice of filing cliff grottoes with sculptures and murals of Buddhist images. The most famous of these, known the world over, are the Kizil Grottoes in Xinjiang, the Mogao Grottoes at Dunhuang, Gansu, the Yungang Grottoes at Datong, Shanxi, and the Longmen Grottoes at Luoyang, Henan. Construction of the grottoes at Dunhuang began in 366 and continued for more than a thousand years. Today 492 caves are still in a fairly good state of preservation and contain 2,500 painted clay sculptures and 45,000 square metres of murals. The most famous of the many noted painters at that time was Gu Kaizhi (c.345-406).

Chinese art reached a new height during the period covered by the Sui and Tang dynasties, the Five Dynasties and the Song Dynasty (581-1279), when the main schools that still dominate traditional Chinese painting were formed. China's earliest - known landscape scroll, The Spring Outing by Zhan Ziqian, dates from the Sui Dynasty. Many famous painters emerged during the Tang Dynasty, such as Yan Liben, Yuchi Yizeng, Li Sixun, Wu Daozi and Wang Wei.

Landscape painting reached its peak during the Five Dynasties and Northern Song Dynasty. The masterpieces Travellers Along A Mountain Stream and Snowcapped Mountains by Fan Kuan are treasures handed down from ancient times. Gu Hong - zhong in the Five Dynasties is famous for his depiction of figures in the celebrated Han Xizai's Night Revels. The most famous example of genre painting from this period is the Northern Song painter Zhang Zeduan's Riverside Scene at the Qingming Festival. The 24.8 cm wide, 258 cm long silk scroll vividly depicts the bustling everyday life in the Northern Song capital Bianliang (present-day Kaifeng), capital of the Northern Song. The beauty and wealth of information contained in the picture still dazzles the eye today.

Grotto sculpture continued to flourish, developing a distinctively Chinese style as it matured. Important examples of funerary statuary are the stone figures leading up to the Qianling (the tomb of the Tang Emperor Gaozong and Empress Wu in Qianxian, Shaanxi), the six horses in bold relief in the Zhaoling, the tomb of the Tang Emperor Taizong (in Liquan, Shaanxi), and the stone sculptures at the seven imperial tombs of the Northern Song Dynasty at Gongxian County, Henan.

The Yuan Dynasty (1271-1368) is known for its outstanding ink-wash paintings. During the Ming and Qing dynasties (1368-1911) painting developed very fast and many outstanding painters emerged, such as Shen Zhou, Wen Zhengming, Tang Yin (Bohu) and Qiu Ying of the Ming, and Zhu Da (Badashanren), Shi Tao, Zheng Xie (Banqiao) and Li Shan of the Qing. The best-known statuary of this period is the stone figures leading up to the imperial Ming tombs in Nanjing and Beijing.

Woodblock printing, first used for printing Buddhist scriptures in the Sui and Tang dynasties, flourished as an art form in the Ming and Qing dynasties. Illustrations for novels, opera scripts and tales of the marvelous, New Year pictures by folk artists and albums by professional artists were all printed from skillfully carved woodblocks. A further and distinctly Chinese development was ink-wash wood-block printing in several colours. Among the most famous early examples of illustrations made by this method is the Ming Notepaper from the Ten Bamboo Studio and the Qing Mustard Seed Garden Album.

Paintings by dynasties� (collected from other sites)

Five Dynasties (910-980A.D.) :

��� 1) Night Party by Gu HongZhong

Song and South Song Dynasties :

��� 1) Painting of A Scholar

��� 2) by Liang Kai

Yuan Dynasty :

��� 1) Poetry Contest

Ming Dynasty (1368-1644A.D.) :

��� 1) Plants: 1by ChenChun, 2by Wen Zhengming,

��� 2) Landscapes: 1by ChouYing, 2by Tung Chi-Chang, 3by TangYin

��� 3) People: 1by TangYin, 2byWang Cheng-Ming

��� 4)Animals: 1byHanKan

Ching Dynasty :

��� 1) Landscape: 1,

��� 2) Collections by Pa-ta Shan-jen: Scatch from Life, Landscape-Ink, Flower, Rock, and Two Fish.

��� 3) Collections by PuRu

20th Century :

��� 1) Collections by Chang Dai-Chien

��� 2) Collections by Qi BaiShi

��� 3) Collections by Xu Beihong

Pictures Album (collected from other sites)

1) Yellow Mountain

2) Terra Cot

3) Imperial Tombs of China It features 250 magnificent artifacts which
provide a revealing look at the mysterious face of ancient China.
These priceless art objects are considered national treasures, and as
such, many of the objects have never left mainland China.
Representing seven Chinese dynasties - from 475 B.C. to 1911
A.D. - this exhibition is the final stop on an exclusive tour that
includes only five U.S. cities. This is the greatest collection of tomb
artifacts ever to leave the mainland China.

4) The Big Wild Goose Pagoda

5) The Forbidden City

6) Summer Palace

Links to Museums and Galleries