aquamarine中外艺术史英文版名词解释

Vocabulary of Chinese Traditional Art:

Xuan Paper

Name of a kind of rice paper made in China. It was first produced in Xuanzhou (now the Jing

County of East China's, Anhui Province), hence the name of Xuan paper. The bark of Pteroceltis

tatarinowii and straw are the main raw materials for producing Xuan paper. After maceration, the

fibers are treated with lime, exposed to sunlight, bleached, and washed with starch. Prized xuan

papers are cast by hand. They are fine, soft, resistant to insect damage, and their pure white

color lasts long to retard absorption of the ink, they may be treated with alum. Where not

otherwise indicated, the Chinese papers used for prints and paintings in the exhibition are on a

variety of xuan paper.

Bamboo Slip

Tablets or slips

made from bamboo (or wood) for writing in ancient China. It’s called slip if it’s

made from bamboo, and called tablet if it’s made from wood. Slit used to be the general name,

but now it’s often called bamboo slip. The writing tools of bamboo slip were Ch

inese brush and

ink, and only one line of text can be handwritten on each slip. An article often included many slips.

Upon the finish, the slips were bound by strings and rolled up for storage.

These rolls were the

earliest form of Chinese books. Wooden tablet was often used for short essays. Bamboo slip was

invented in Western Zhou, and was widely accepted during Spring and Autumn Period and

Warring Period. Around 4th century, with the popularization of paper, the status of bamboo slips

was eventually replaced.

Du Fu (712~770)

Du Fu was a prominent Chinese poet of the Tang Dynasty. His courtesy name was Zi Mei, and

he called himself “Shao Ling countryside aged”, “Du Shao Ling”, “Du Gong Bu”, etc.

Du Fu’s

own greatest ambition was to help his country by becoming a successful civil servant, but he

proved unable to make the necessary accommodations. He only served in some low-level

position, such as the military adviser in a regional governor's headquarters and concurrently

assistant secretary in the Board of Works (Gong Bu). His life, like the whole country, was

devastated by the An Lushan Rebellion of 755, and the last 15 years of his life were a time of

almost constant unrest. Initially little known, his works came to be hugely influential in both

Chinese and Japanese culture. Of his poetic writing, nearly fifteen hundred poems written by Du

Fu have been handed down over the ages, most of which expressed a sincere and broad

concern for humanity. He also possesses a remarkable power of description, with which he vividly

presents human affairs and natural scenery. Thus the afterworld gave him the name of Poet-

Historian and the Poet- Sage.

Emperor Huizong of Song (1082~1135)

Emperor of Northern Song Dynasty. Painter. Calligrapher. The eleventh son of

the Emperor

Shenzong of Song. The brother of

the Emperor Zhezong of Song. After the death of Zhezong,

Huizong’s mother made him the eighth emperor of Song Dynasty (r. 1100~1125). During his reign,

Huizong devoted himself into art more than into governing the empire. He was an accomplished

painter, calligrapher and art supporter. When Jin Dynasty declared war on Song in 1126, Huizong

lost it and had to escape. In 1127, Huizong, his son Emperor Qinzong, as well as the entire

imperial court and harem were captured by the Jin in the Jingkang Incident. Nine years later he

died in captivity at the age of 54. His tomb is 35 miles away from Shaoxing county in Zhejiang

province.

Cui Bai (11th century c.)

Chinese painter in the Northern Song dynasty. Cui Bai was active during the reign of the Emperor

Shenzong of Song. Appreciated by Shenzong, he became a Yixue (

艺学

, a title in the Imperial Art

Academy, lower than painter-in- attendance) and later panter-in-attendance in the Imperial Art

Academy. Cui Bai was good at flower-and-bird painting, as well as Buddhism mural painting. He

broke the court tradition created by Huang Quan and his son in the early period of Song dynasty,

who had founded the standard to paint flower and bird in a luxuary way, and originated a new

style i

n the Imperial Art Academy. His works include “Shuangxi Tu” (

《双喜图》

, Double

Happiness), “Hanque Tu” (

《寒雀图》

, Sparrow in Cold Days), and “Zhu’ou Tu”(

《竹鸥图》

,

Bamboo and Gull), etc.

Fan Kuan (early 11th century c.)

Fan Kuan is known to be one of the leading figures in the Northern Song Landscape tradition and

one of the most appreciated landscape artists in traditional China. According to Chinese art

history, he was born at the end of Five Dynasties, and still alive during Tianren years of the reign

of Emperor Renzong of Song (1023~1031).

His courtesy name is Zhongli, but because of his

nature of lenience and magnanimous, people of his time called him “Kuan”, which means wide.

Then he named himself “Kuan” too. In the record of

Xuanhe Hua Pu

(

《宣和画谱》

, “Xuanhe

P

ainting List, a catalogue made of Emperor Huizong’s collection, compiled by court connoisseurs

during his reign in Song dynasty), Fan Kuan’s characteristics was also mentioned. The List said

Fan “had a style of ancient times; behaved wild; loved alcohol; a

nd never restrained by

convention or propriety”. Fan Kuan created imaginary landscapes that were different and unique

while preserving the internal order and ideal balance of nature.

Ma Yuan (1140~1225)

One of Four Masters in Southern Song Dynasty, courtesy name Yaofu, and pseudonym Qinshan,

Ma Yuan was born in Hezhong (today’s Yongji county in Shanxi province), and moved to

Qiantang (today’s Hangzhou in Zhejiang province). He represented the fourth generation in a

tradition of painters spanning five generations, beginning with his great-grandfather, Ma Fen, and

ending with his son, Ma Lin, all of whom served the Sung emperors as court painters-in-

attendance. Although the family tradition doubtless had strong influence on Ma Yuan's

development as a painter, he was also indebted to the great northern landscape and figure

master Li Tang. Ma Yuan's art at its best is a masterpiece of understatement and evocative

suggestion. His typical compositions, featuring the extensive use of swirling mist and empty

spaces, with only a few sharply etched forms dramatically silhouetted against the whiteness, lent

him the sobriquet

Li Song (1166~1243)

A native of Qiantang, was a prominent painter of the Southern Song dynasty. Li Song was a

talented carpenter before the court painter Li Xun adopted him. He served as a Painter-in-

Attendance during the reign of

Emperor Gaozong, Ningzong and Lizong of Song. Li was good

at Daoist and Buddhist figure, as his foster father Li Xun, he was especially gifted in architecture

paintings. The Palace Museum in Beijing collected his painting

Puppet Play of a Skeleton

. In this

painting the expression of figures were well presented. He used the outlining method of nail head

and mouse tail to paint the drapes of clothes, and straight lines were often used, which was fine

but powerful.

And his Flower Basket shows different levels of all the flowers, just like real ones.

Zhu Da (1626~1705)

Chinese painter and poet. A descendant of the imperial Zhu family of the Ming dynasty and a

leading artist of the early Qing period, Zhu Da grew up in Nanchang in Jiangxi province. His

connections with the previous dynasty led him to become a monk after the Manchu conquest of

China in 1644. Zhu Da had many pseudonyms, but his favorite should be Bada Shanren, which

means mountain man of eight masters. Zhu Da adopted and developed the technique of Chen

Chun and Xu Wei to paint flowers, birds and landscapes in a style of freehand brushwork, and he

went even further - his paintings were in a distinctive and highly dramatic calligraphic style. In a

way of symbolization and metaphor, he exaggerated flowers and birds, fishes and insects in his

paintings, even gave them a human expression of white eyes

(supercilious look). This showed

the painter’s

own feelings. His bitter experiences of social turmoil and his hatred for the Qing

rulers helped to shape his distinctive style. Zhu Da's style exerted a great influence on later artists,

such as the Eight Eccentrics of Yangzhou.

Shi Tao (1642~1707)

Original name Zhu Ruoji. Chinese painter and theoretician who was, with Zhu Da, one of the

most famous Four Monks in the early Qing dynasty. Shi Tao’s paintings were famous and popular

when he was alive. He traveled a lot and learned from the nature itself. Before he began painting

a sketch of sceneries, he had seen thousands of mountains (this is one of his famous opinions).

His work has a freshness inspired not by masters of the past but by an unfettered imagination,

with brush techniques that were free and unconventional, and with an ingenious composition.

Shitao's independent spirit is also found within his theoretical writings, such as the

Kugua

Heshang

Yulu (

《苦瓜和尚语录》

, “Comments on Painting by Monk of Bitter Melon”).

Gu Hongzhong (910~980, or 937~975)

Gu Hongzhong was a painter during the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms period.

He was from

southern China, and served as painter-in-attendance in southern Tang during the reign of Li Jing

and Li Yu. He excelled at figure painting. “Han Xizai Ye Yan Tu” (

《韩熙载夜宴图》

, Han Xizai

Gives A Night Banquet) was his most famous painting. It’s a wide known work of high classical

Chinese art. And it’s also the only work we can see today by Gu Hongzhong.

Lou Rui (6th century c.)

Lou Rui, a Xianbei native, was a relative of E

mperor Shizu of Northern Qi, whose wife’s brother

Lou Zhuang was Lou Rui’s father. Lou Rui was buried in 570 at Guo village in Taiyuan, Shanxi

province. Since its discovery and excavation from 1980 to 1982, the tomb, with its underground

structure decorated with mural paintings, has constituted a corpus of the most reliable data for an

accurate assessment of the art, music, costume, court life and rites in the Northern Qi dynasty.

Zhao Mengfu (1254~1322)

A native of Huzhou, ZheJiang province. His courtesy name was Zi Ang and his pseudonyms was

Taoist Xuesong (Pine Snow Taoist). Zhao Mengfu was a descendent of Song imperial family, but

he also served the Yuan dynasty as one of the highest Han officials (regular official, not a court

painter). He was a famous calligraphy and adept in many styles of calligraphy, such as seal

character, official script, running script and the cursive hand, and he also created his own style,

Zhaoti. He excelled at painting too, especially in ink bamboo, flowers and birds. His wife, Guan

Daosheng was also talented in painting and calligraphy. The

Xuesong Zhai Ji

(

《松雪斋集》

,

“Collected Essays from Pine Snow Studio”) was written by Zhao.

Pop Art

The term first appeared in Britain during the 1950s and referred to the interest of a number of

artists in the images of mass media, advertising, comics and consumer products. The 1950s were

a period of optimism in Britain following the end of war-time rationing, and a consumer boom took

place. Influenced by the art seen in Eduardo Paolozzi's 1953 exhibition Parallel between Art and

Life at the Institute for Contemporary Arts, and by American artists such as Jasper Johns and

Robert Rauschenberg, British artists such as Richard Hamilton and the Independent Group

aimed at broadening taste into more popular, less academic art. Hamilton helped organize the

“Man, Machine, and Motion” exhibition in 1955, and “This is Tomorrow” with its landmark image

Just What is it that makes today's home so different, so appealing? (1956). Pop Art therefore

coincided with the youth and pop music phenomenon of the 1950s and '60s, and became very

much a part of the image of fashionable, 'swinging' London. Peter Blake, for example, designed

album covers for Elvis Presley and the Beatles and placed film stars such as Brigitte Bardot in his

pictures in the same way that Warhol was immortalizing Marilyn Monroe in the USA. Pop art

came in a number of waves, but all its adherents - Joe Trilson, Richard Smith, Peter Phillips,

David Hockney and R.B. Kitaj - shared some interest in the urban, consumer, modern experience.

Zhang Xuan (8th c.)

A native of Jingzhao (today’s Xi’an in Shanxi province) in Tang dynasty. In 723 AD during the

reign of Emperor Xuanzong, he became a court painter with Yang Sheng and Yang Ning. Zhang

Xuan was famous for his figure paintings, especially his paintings of noble lady, noble child, baby,

and horse.

He and Zhou Fang were the most outstanding figure painters in Tang dynasty.

Xie He (479~502)

Painter, art historian in Southern Qi and Liang of Southern dynasties. He excelled at genre

painting and figure painting. His most famous work was a book, the

Gu Hua Pin Lu

(

《古画品录》

,

Classified Record of Ancient Painters), which is also the oldest painting treatise in Chinese

history. In this book Xie made comments on the important painters during 3rd to 4th century. Xie

He is best known for his Six Cannons of painting which became a central theory in the history of

Chinese painting. In this theory Xie He deals with all the major aspects of the art of painting

according to importance.

Six Cannons

The Six Cannons were introduced by Xie He in his

Gu Hua Pin Lu

(

《古画品录》

, Classified

Record of Ancient Painters). They may be paraphrased as: first vivid spiritual consonance;

second structural use of the brush; third proper representation and fidelity to object; fourth

specific coloring of different objects; fifth proper planning of composition; and sixth transmission

of the past and copying.

Theory of Relativity

The theory of relativity refers specifically to two theories: Albert Einstein's special relativity and

general relativity. Special relativity is a theory of the structure of spacetime. General relativity is a

theory of gravitation. Relativity and quantum physics touch the very basis of physical reality,

altering our commonsense notions of space and time, cause and effect. Classical Physics is

convenient in studying bodies of ordinary dimensions but not in other cases. For bodies of

astronomical dimensions, the use of Relativity is required as well as that of Quantum Mechanics

is required for bodies of atomic dimensions. The theory of relativity changed the “comment sense”

toward space and time by its new contents of “relativity of simultaneity”, “four

-dimensional space-

time”, and “curve space”, etc.

Quantum Theory

The modern world of physics is notably founded on two tested and demonstrably sound theories

of general relativity and quantum mechanics. Quantum mechanics is a fundamental branch of

physics with wide applications in both experimental and theoretical physics. The effects of

quantum mechanics are typically not observable on macroscopic scales, but become evident at

the atomic and subatomic level. Quantum theory generalizes all classical theories, including

mechanics and electromagnetism, and provides accurate descriptions for many previously

unexplained phenomena such as black body radiation and stable electron orbits. It is the

underlying mathematical framework of many fields of physics and chemistry, including condensed

matter physics, solid-state physics, atomic physics, molecular physics, computational chemistry,

quantum chemistry, particle physics, and nuclear physics.

Heisenberg (1901~1976)

Werner Karl Heisenberg was a celebrated German physicist and Nobel laureate, one of the

founders of quantum mechanics, and acknowledged to be one of the most important physicists of

the twentieth century. He was born in Wü

rzburg, Germany and died in Munich. Heisenberg was

the head of German nuclear energy project, though the nature of this project, and his work in this

capacity, has been heavily debated. He is most well-known for discovering one of the central

principles of modern physics, the Heisenberg uncertainty principle.

Ren Bonian (1840~1896)

Ren Bonian (Ren Yi) was an outstanding painting in modern China. Born in Zhejiang and lived in

Shanghai, he was active in the Haishang Painting School (

海上画派

) which fused popular and

traditional styles. He is also sometimes referred to as one of and the best of the

modern painters in Shanghai who shared a same family name Ren).

Wu Changshuo (1844~1927)

Wu Changshuo was born in Anji, Zhejiang Province, and died in Shanghai. He settled in Suzhou

in his twenties, where he founded the Xiling Seal Engravers Society, an artists' association with a

focus on the craft of seal carving. As a leading figure in the Haishang Painting School during the

early 20th century, he was largely responsible for rejuvenating the genre of bird- and-flower

painting by introducing an expressive, individualistic style more generally associated with literati

painting. He began his artistic career with the traditional study of literature and ancient

inscriptions before moving to calligraphy. He wrote

Fou Lu Ji

(

《缶庐集》

, “Works from My

Cottage Fou Lu”) and

Fou Lu Yin Cun

(

《缶庐印存》

, “Seals Colleted in My Cottage Fou Lu”) ,

etc. His famous paintings include “Tianzhu Huahui” (

天竹花卉

, Geranium Flower), “Zi Teng Tu”

(

紫藤图

,

Purple Bine), “Mo He Tu”(

墨荷图

, Water Lily of Ink), and “Xin Hua Tu” (

杏花图

, Apricot

Blossom), etc.

Huang Binhong (1865~1955)

Modern art historian and literati painter. He used to edit literary and art journals and taught at fine

arts colleges in Shanghai for nearly 30 years. Huang experimented with traditional techniques for

the use of ink, including shading and layering.

He ach

ieved an effect of “dark, dense, thick, and

heavy” in his landscapes. Huang was the author of

Huangshan Huajia Yuanliu Kao< /p>

(

《黄山画家源

流考》

< br>, “Research the Headstream of Paintings in Yellow Mountain”),

Hong Lu Hua Tan

(

《虹庐

画谈》

, “Essays of Paintings from My Cottage of Hong”),

Gu Hua Wei

(

《古画微》

, “About

Ancient Paintings”),

Jinshi Shuhua Bian

(

《金石书画编》

, “Knowledge of Painting, Inscription

Painting and Calligraphy”), and

Hua Fa Yao Zhi

(

《画法要旨》

, “Principles and Methods of

Paintings”), etc.

Liu Haisu (1896~1994)

Painter and art educator Li Haisu was born in Wujin, Jiangsu province. He founded Shanghai Art

Academy in 1912, which is the first modern art academy, the first coeducation school and the first

art school allowed nude models in China. He traveled to Japan and Europe many times to study

western art. His works can be found in a number of albums, including

Huangshan

(

《黄山》

,

“Yellow Mountain”),

Haisu Guo Hua

(

《海粟国画》

, “Chinese Paintings by Haisu”),

Haisu Laoren

Shuhua Ji

(

《海粟老人书画集》

, “Old Man Haisu’s Calligraphy and Painting”). His theoretical

writings include

Biography of Millet

, and

The Six Cannons in Chinese Painting

, etc.

Shi Lu (1919~1982)

Originally known as Feng Ya-heng, Shi created his artistic pseudonym by combining those of two

heroes of cultural iconoclasm, the seventeenth century individualist painter Shitao and the

twentieth century writer Lu Xun. For the same reason, he changed his name to Shi Lu

(representing Shi Tao and Lu Xun). Adept in Chinese painting and plate drawing, he was the

representative of the Cha

ng’an School of Painting.

Zhu Qizhan (1892~1996)

Born in Taicang in Jiangsu province, Zhu Qizhan started to copy ancient Chinese painting at the

age of eight. When he at middle age he traveled to Japan twice where he studied Western- style

oil, but after 1950s, he turned his interest to Chinese paintings. He excelled at landscape, flower,

especially orchid, bamboo and stone.

Lin Fengmian (1900~1991)

Lin Fengmian is a famous modern painter and art educator who successfully combined Chinese

and Western painting skills. He was born in Meixian County, Guangdong Province. At the age of

19, he went to France to learn oil painting, doing part-time work to support his study. In 1925 he

came back to China to work as principal of the Beiping State Vocational Art School. In the late

1920s, invited by Cai Yuanpei, he became principal of the Hangzhou Vocational Art School (now

the China Academy of Art). In 1978, he settled in Hong Kong. His solo exhibition was successfully

held in Paris in 1979. Lin was good at the painting of noble ladies, characters of Beijing opera,

scenery of fishing villages, female body, still life and landscapes.

Pan Tianshou (1897~1971)

Chinese painter, fine arts educationist, theorist of fine arts, calligraphist and seal cutting artist.

From 1923, Pan started to teach in Shanghai Art School, New China Art School, Xihu Art School.

The next year he went to Japan with Lin Fengmian to investigate Japanese art education. In 1944

he became the principal of the National Arts Vocational School. After th

e foundation of People’s

Republic of China, Pan took the positions of president of Zhejiang Fine Arts Academy and vice

president of China Federation of Literary and Art Circles, etc. Books written by Pan Tianshou

include

The History of Chinese Painting

,

Tingtiange Huatan Suibi

(

《听天阁画谈随笔》

, “Essays

of Painting from Tingtian Attic, Tingtiange was the name of his studio), etc.

Li Keran (1907~1989)

Li Keran was born in Xuzhou, Jiangsu Province. He was a famous painter and art educator in

modern China. He developed a personal style of landscape painting that was based upon the

western technique of light and shade. His famous paintings include “Apricot Blossom with Spring

Rain in South China” (

杏花春雨江南

), “Morning Fog in Mountain Town” (

山城朝雾

), “Watching

Mountains” (

看山图

), etc.

Fu Baoshi (1904~1964)

Chinese painter. Having studied in Japan, he travelled all over China to paint landscape, forming

his own style based on traditional artistry. He also wrote

Research on the History of Chinese

Ancient Landscape Paintings

,

Techniques of Chinese Landscape Painting and Figure Painting

,

and

Theories of Chinese Painting

, etc.

Li Kuchan (1898~1983)

Li Kuchan’s given name was Ying, and his courtesy name was Kuchan (which means bitter Zen).

He combined western techniques and spirituality in sculpture and painting into his Chinese

painting teaching, and he himself was excelled at great freehand style of flower-and-bird painting.

His representative works include “Orchid and Bamboo” (

兰竹

), “Eagle's Eyes Guarding China” (

群

鹰图

), “Perching”, “Fully Blossoming Water Lily” (

盛荷

), etc.

Huang Zhou (1925~1997)

Artist, collector of traditional Chinese paintings, and a social activist. Entrusted by the Ministry of

Culture, Huang founded the Research Institute of Traditional Chinese Painting and became its

deputy director. He was also successively in the positions of director of Chinese Artists

Association, member of the standing committee of CPPCC, and curator of Yanhuang Art Gallery.

Cheng Shifa (1921~2006)

Born in Songjiang, Shanghai, Cheng was good at comic works, illustration drawing, new-year

picture, landscapes painting, flower-and-bird painting, and figure painting.

Marx (1818~1883)

Karl Marx was the founder of Marxism, the organizer and leader of the First International, and the

Great Teacher of the proletariat and the working people in the world.

Romain Rolland (1866

～

1944)

French writer. Romain Rolland's most famous work is

Jean Christophe

, a partly autobiographical

novel, which also won him the 1915 Nobel Prize.

The Sword of Damocles

In Greek mythology, Damocles was courtier at the court of Dionysius I. He so persistently praised

the power and happiness of Dionysius that the tyrant, in order to show the precariousness of rank

and power, gave a banquet and had a sword suspended above the head of Damocles by a single

hair. Hence the expression “the sword of Damocles” to mean an ever

-present peril.

Zhong Yong (or Doctrine of the Mean)

The essence of Zhong Yong rooted in the Doctrine of the Mean in Confucianism. Doctrine of the

Mean was one of the Four Books, and it also refers to a way of living. Not like most people

understand today, Zhong Yong does not equal to indifference or mediocrity. It’s about cultivation

of human nature, including the way of learning, “To this attainment there ar

e requisite the

extensive study of what is good, accurate inquiry about it, careful reflection on it, the clear

discrimination of it, and the earnest practice of it. Moderation is the process of eliminating or

lessening extremes”; and the duties of universal obligation are five, “the duties are those between

sovereign and minister, between father and son, between husband and wife, between elder

brother and younger, and those belonging to the intercourse of friends”; and the virtues wherewith

they are practi

ced are three, “Knowledge, magnanimity, and energy”(the quotations follow James

Legge’s translation in 1893). The highest goal of cultivation of Zhong Yong is the most entire

sincerity.

Chang'e

Chang'e is the subject of several legends in Chinese mytholo

gy. She was Hou Yi’s wife. Chang’e

stole and ate Hou Yi’s elixir, then flew to moon.

She had to live on Moon forever.

Nv Wa

A goddess in Chinese mythology. In some legends, Nv Wa created human beings from mud. In

some other legends Nv Wa married to Fu Xi, her brother, and gave birth to human beings.

Another legend tells how she patched up the sky. One day, there was a hole in the sky and it

caused a flood. Nv Wa melted together various kinds of colored stones and with the molten

mixture she patched up the sky. Human beings were protected. There are many legends about

Nv Wa, which are well known until today.

Mawangdui

Located in the eastern suburbs of Chansha, Hunan Province, the Mawangdui Han Dynasty

Tombs were uncovered in 1972 and excavated from 1972 to 1974. Mawangdui is the tombs of a

man named Li Cang and his wife and son, who lived in the State of Changsha, Western Han

Dynasty (206BC-8AD). The three tombs contained the remains of the Marquis Dai (tomb no.2),

his wife (tomb no.1) and his son (tomb no.3), and their most prized possessions. The articles

excavated from the tombs have been highly important in researching this very wealthy and

sophisticated Western Han culture.

Gu Kaizhi (346~407)

Gu Kaizhi was a celebrated painter and art theorist in Eastern Jin dynasty. According to historical

records he was born in Wuxi, Jiangsu province and first painted at Nanjing in 364. In 366 he

became an officer (Da Sima Canjun). Later he was promoted to royal officer (Sanji Changshi). He

was also a talented poet and calligrapher. He wrote three books about painting theory:

On

Painting

(

《论画》

),

Introduction of Famous Paintings of Wei and Jin Dynasties

(

《魏晋胜流画

赞》

) and

Painting Yuntai Mountain

(

《画云台山记》

). He wrote:

and the appearances were not very important. The eyes were the spirit and the decisive factor.

Gu's art is known today through copies of three silk handscroll paintings attributed to him: “Nv Shi

Zhen Tu” (

女史箴图

, Admonitions of the Instructress to the Court Ladies), “Luo Shen Fu Tu” (

洛神

赋图

, Nymph of the Luo River) , and “Lienv Renzhi Tu” (

列女仁智图

, Wise and Benevolent

Women).

Zong Bing (375~443)

Zong Bing, painter and art theorist made important contributions to Chinese art theory especially

in developing Gu Kaizhi's theory of spirit and form and clarifying and tackling issues of

perspective and composition. In the field of theory Zong Bing promoted a view that saw

landscape painting as a spiritual domain that enables humans to dwell in. His theory can be found

in his essay

Introduction to Painting Landscapes

. Zong Bing was famous for his landscape

paintings. Xie He, an art theorist in Southern Qi, said Zong’s painting was “not accurate but its

atmosphere worth recommend”. His famous paintings include “Kongzi Dizi Xiang” (

孔子弟子像

,

Portraits of Confucius’ Students), “Yingchuan Xianxian Tu” (

颍川先贤图

, Saints in Ying Chuan),

“Zhou Li Tu” (

周礼图

, Rites of the Zhou), “Qiu Shan Tu” (

秋山图

, Autumn Mountains), and “Lijia

Yiwu Tu” (

礼嘉邑屋图

, Lijia Cottage), etc. He was also a wonderful qin player, finishing the

editing of an ancient music book

Jin Shi Nong

(

《金石弄》

).

Jing Hao (9th century~early 10th century c.)

Jing Hao was an important landscape painter and essayist of the Five Dynasties (907-960) period.

Jing spent much of his life in retirement as a farmer in the Taihang Mountains of Shanxi province.

In his art, Jing followed the court painters of the Tang dynasty in emphasizing the singular

grandeur of the landscape. According to his essay

Bifa Ji

(

《笔法记》

, “On Brushstrokes”),

Taihang Mountain was so beautiful that he brought papers and ink brushes into it and painted day

after day. Not until he painted thousands of landscapes, he could not grasp the mountain’s spirit.

Jing Hao was the first great figure to adequately depict the characteristic landscape of the north,

because he always observed and learnt from the nature.

Mi Fu (1051~1107)

Mi Fu was a Chinese painter, poet, and calligrapher born in Taiyuan, Shanxi during the Song

Dynasty. In painting he gained renown for his style of painting misty landscapes. This style would

be deemed the “Mi Fu Style” and involved the use of large wet dots of ink applied with a flat brush.

He is best known for his calligraphy, and he was regarded as one of the four greatest

calligraphers in Song Dynasty. As a personality Mi Fu was noted as an eccentric. At times they

even deemed him “Madman Mi”. He also was known as a heavy drinker.

Su Shi (1037~1101)

Su Shi was a writer, poet, artist, calligrapher, pharmacologist, and statesman of the Northern

Song Dynasty. His courtesy name was Zizhan and his pseudonym was Dongpo Jushi (Resident

of Dongpo), and he is often referred to as Su Dongpo. Su Shi was born in Meishan, near Mount

Emei in what is now Sichuan province. His brother Su Zhe and his father Su Xun were both

famous literati and they were called The Three Sus. Su was among the earliest to advocate the

scholar painting and later founded Huzhou School. Su's poem was teemed with exaggerated

metaphors. A small group of them represented the sufferings of the people, scolding governors'

dissipation and debauchery. His poems exerted great influence on literature of later generations.

As to ci (lyrics), Su Shi and Xin Qiji were called Su-Xin for their ci were both of powerful and

freestyle. They brought new atmosphere to the circle of ci and broke the monopoly of restrained

style. Another of his contribution to ci was that he liberated ci from music. From then on, ci

became an independent lyric.

Wang Wei (701~761)

Wang Wei sometimes titled the Poet Buddha, was a Tang Dynasty Chinese poet, musician,

painter and statesman. His courtesy name was Mojie, and was from Hedong, the Yellow River

area in southwestern Shanxi. He is best known for his poems, which addressed the illusory

nature of beauty and the physical world. As well as being a poet, Wang Wei was a painter of

some note and the delicate, atmospheric nature of his art is reflected in his poetry. None of his

original paintings survive, but copies of works attributed to him are also landscapes with similar

qualities. He influenced what became known as the Southern school of Chinese landscape art,

which was characterised by strong brushstrokes contrasted with light ink washes. In his later

years, he lived at Wangchuan at Lantian, southeast of Chang'an.

Guo Xi (1020~1109)

Born in Wen county in present day Henan province, Guo Xi is not only one of the greatest

landscape artists, but also one of the most influential art theorists in the Northern Song dynasty.

Although his style can be traced back to Tang dynasty’s famou

s Li Cheng, he experimented with

a variety of different styles. Being a prominent member of the Imperial Academy of Painting

GuoXi’s art ornamented large parts of the imperial palace' especially during the reign of emperor

Shenzong who admired his work.

Lin Quan Gao Zhi

(

《林泉高致》

, Collection of Hermit in

Woods and Spring), written by Guo Xi, is an important work of aesthetic ideology in Chinese

painting. It provides a deep analysis and research on Guo Xi’s key aesthetic ideology “Beyond

Nature”. Guo Xi develo

ped

a strategy of depicting multiple perspectives called

totality.

a more mature stage. His important masterpieces include “Zao Chun” (

早春

, Early Spring),

“Keshi

Pingyuan Tu” (

窠石平远图

, Old Trees, Level Distance), “Guanshan Chunxue Tu” (

关山春雪图

),

Spring Snow in Guan Mountain) and “Yougu” (

幽谷

, Quiet Valley), etc.

Qian Xuan (1235~1301)

Qian Xuan was a Song loyalist painter from Zhejiang and most of his life was lived in early Yuan

Dynasty. He started as an aspiring scholar-official during the Southern Song. When the Mongol

Yuan took over China in 1276 he effectively gave up the idea of officialdom. Like many of his

compatriots, he turned to artistic pursuits to support himself. He was accomplished in painting of

ancient figure, landscape, fur-and-feather, calligraphy, and flower-and-bird. In the field of

landscape painting, his theory and practice of returning the old tradition and innovation in visual

structure inspired many literati painters of the Yuan, Ming and Qing dynasties.

Ni Zan (1301~1374)

Ni Zan is considered to be one of the four

in Wuxi, which could afford him to be educated despite the unavailability of high-paying

governmental jobs that traditionally were the reward for a rigorous Confucian education. So he

can choose not to serve the foreign Mongol dynasty of the Yuan and lived a life of retirement and

scholarship of his whole life. He called him

self “Lazy Zan”, or “Pedantic Ni”. As a sticker of

cleanliness, Ni washed and cleaned his clothes several times a day, and even washed the trees

around his house. He was part of a movement that radically altered the traditional conceptions of

Chinese painting. Their paintings depicted representations of natural settings that were highly

localized, portraying personally valued vistas that reflected their individual feelings. His works

include “Yuhou Konglin” (

雨后空林

, The Empty Woods after Rain), “Wuzhu Xiaoshi” (

梧竹秀石

,

Bamboo and Rocks), etc.

Dong Qichang (1555~1636)

Chinese painter, calligrapher, connoisseur, theoretician, collector and high official in late Ming

Dynasty. Born in Huating (today’s Songjiang in Shanghai), Dong’s courtesy name was Xuanzai or

Yuanzai, and his pseudonym was Si Bai and Xiangguang Jushi. He was the main representative

of Huating School.

Eight Eccentrics of Yangzhou

Eight Eccentrics of Yangzhou is the name for a group of eight Chinese painters in the Qing

dynasty known for rejecting the orthodox ideas about painting in favor of a style deemed

expressive and individualist. They all gathered in Yangzhou, a business center in China at that

time. The term was also used not only for geographic reason, it also because they each had

strong personalities at variance with the conventions of their own time. Most of them were from

impoverished or troubled backgrounds. Still the term is, generally, more a statement about their

style rather than being a judgment of them as personally being among history's noted eccentrics.

The group includes Jin Nong, Huang Shen, Gao Xiang, Li Fangying, Li Shan, Luo Ping, and

Wang Shishen. Other artists, such as Gao Fenghan, Bian Shoumin, Min Zhen, and Hua Yan, are

sometimes included. Their style was influenced by Chen Chun, Xu Wei, Zhu Da, Shi Tao, and

Gao Qipei, etc.

Eight Masters from Nanjing

The Eight Masters of Nanjing (Nanjing’s old name was Jinling) were a group of 17th century

Chinese painters living in Nanjing. The most prominent of them was Gong Xian. The famous

painters in this group included Gong Xian, Fan Qi, Ye Xin, Zou Che, Gao Cen, Hu Cao, Wu Hong,

and Xie Sun. The style of their paintings was different.

Wilhelm Worringer (1881

～

1965)

Wilhelm Worringer was a German art historian. He is known in connection with expressionism.

His best-known works are

Abstraction and Empathy

in 1908, which was his doctoral thesis, and

Form in Gothic

published in 1911. After World War I, Worringer became a professor in Bonn

University, where he wrote

Egyptian Art

and

Greek and Gothic Art

. He moved to Konigsberg in

1928 and to East Germany in 1945. He was a professor in Halle University when this country was

under the control of Soviet Union. In 1950 he settled in Munich and lived there until his death.

Worringer was influential because he saw abstract as being in no way inferior to

worthy of respect in its own right. This was critical justification for the increased use of abstraction

in pre-war European art.

Kang Youwei (1858

～

1927)

Kang Youwei, born in Foshan, Guangdong, was a famous scholar, noted calligrapher and political

reformist in Chinese modern history. Kang came from a wealthy family of scholar-officials. He

was a strong believer in constitutional monarchy and wanted to remodel the country after Meiji

Japan. He was an important leader of a campaign to modernize China now known as the Reform

Movement of 1898 (or Hundred Days' Reform). After the reform failed Kang fled to Japan, where

with his student Liang he organized the Protect the Emperor Society. He returned China in 1914,

after the Qing Dynasty fell and the Republic of China was established.

Gong Xian (1618~1689)

A painter in Qing dynasty. His courtesy names included Bian Qian, Ye Yi, Qi Xian, and his

pseudonyms were Ban Mu (half acre) and Chai Zhangren (old man of firewood). He was born in

Kunshan in Jiangsu province and later moved to Nanjing. One of the Eight Masters from Nanjing.

Chen Duxiu (1879

～

1942)

A founder of the Chinese Communist Party and a major leader in developing the cultural basis of

revolution in China. Chen Duxiu was born in the city of Anqing in Anhui province. He moved to

Shanghai in 1900 and Japan in 1901. It was in Japan where Chen became influenced by western

socialism and the growing Chinese dissident movement. During this time, Chen became an

increasingly influential activist in the revolutionary movement against foreign imperialism, the

Qing government, and Yuan Shikai. In 1915, he chiefly edited the magazine Youth (renamed as

New Youth the next year), which started the prelude of New Culture Campaign. In 1916, he was

employed to take charge of the science of arts in Peking University, where he initiated the

magazine of Weekly Review with Li Dazhao two years later. Since then, he directly devoted

himself into the struggle of patriotic movement. He was one of the prominent leaders of the May

Fourth Movement of 1919. In the summer of 1920, he set up the first communism group in

Shanghai with the help of the Communist International. From the first session to the fifth session

of the national congress of CPC, he was elected the head of communist party.

Lv Zheng (1896~1989)

Lv Zheng went to Japan to study art at 20. Being angry at Japanese invasion in China, he

returned China soon. In 1918, Lv went to Nanjing to assist Ouyang Jingwu to found the Cheen

Institute of Inner Learning (

支那内学院

), an institute of Chinese Buddhism. Lv Zheng was

proficient in languages associated with Buddhism, including Japanese, Sanskrit, Pali and Tibetan,

etc, and was one of the most accomplished Buddhism researchers in China.

Lu Xun (1881

～

1936)

Lu Xun is a famous writer, thinker, and revolutionist of the 20th century in China. Born in

Shaoxing, Zhejiang province, Lu Xun was first named Zhou Zhangshu and later renamed Shuren,

literally, “to nurture a person”. In 1904, he went to Japan to pursue a Western medical degree at

Sendai Medical School, where, however, he found it was more important to cure his compatriots'

spiritual ills rather their physical diseases. He decided to be a wrtier. In 1918, Lu Xun used his

pen name for the first time and published the first major baihua short story, “A Madman's Diary”,

in the magazine New Youth. It immediately established him as one of the most influential leading

writers of his day. Both his first short story collection

Call to Arms

(published in 1923) and the

second collection

Wandering

(published in 1926) won him a reputation of one of the founders of

Chinese Modern Literature. Although highly sympathetic of the Chinese Communist movement,

Lu Xun himself never joined the Chinese Communist Party despite being a staunch socialist as

he professed in his works.

Xu Beihong (1895

～

1953)

Xu Beihong (born in Yixing, Jiangsu) was a modern Chinese painter, art educator

and art

theorist. Considered a modern master in China, he merged Western techniques with classic

Chinese approaches. From the beginning of 1919, Xu studied western art overseas in Paris,

Berlin and Belgium. In 1927 he came back to China and taught art in several academies. After

the foundation of People’s Republic of China, he became president of the Central Academy of

Fine Arts and chairman of the Chinese Artists Association. Xu stuck to a way of realism, and his

famous paintings include “Tianheng Wubaishi” (

田横五百士

, Tianheng and Five Hundred Brave

Men), “Yugong Yishan” (

愚公移山

, Foolish Old Man Removing a Mountain), etc.

“Refugees”

“Refugees”(ink and colour on paper, 200 X 2600 cm) is the representing work painted by Jiang

Zhaohe, who started the creation of “Refugees” at the Japane

se occupied areas in Beiping in

1941. It vividly describes a hundred refugees trying to escape from the bombing in the war.

Qi Baishi (1864

～

1957)

Qi Baishi was a Chinese painter. Born to a peasant from Xiangtan, Hunan, Qi became a

carpenter at 14. He learned to paint by himself firstly, then studied literature, seal carving,

calligraphy and painting from local literati Chen Shaoran and Hu Qinyuan. In the following years

he could make a living by selling paintings and seal carving. After he turned 40, he traveled five

times to visit famous sceneries in China. He is most noted for his whimsical, often playful style of

ink and wash works. All of his works show no western influences, which was unique and different

from most artists at his time. At the age of 90, he was honored as

Ministry of Culture, and was selected chairman of the Chinese Artists' Association. In 1956 he

was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize by the United Nations and later, after his death, was listed

as a world cultural celebrity.

Hui Shouping (1633~1690)

Born in Wujing in Jiangsu province, painter Hui Shouping was one of the Six Masters in Early

Qing dynasty, which included Wu Li and the Four Wangs too. Among the Six, only Hui Shouping

excelled at both landscape and flower-and-bird. His renovation in flower-and-bird painting won

him the reputation of important flower-and-bird painter in early Qing dynasty.

Yi Yuan Lun Hua

(On Paintings by Yi Yuan)

Yi Yuan Lun Hua

(

颐园论画

, On Paintings by Yi Yuan) is an essays collection written by Song

Nian. Song Nian’s courtesy name was Xiao Meng, and his pseudonym was Yi Yuan. He founded

the Painting Association of Zhenliu in Ji’nan during the reign of emperor Guangxu. The lectures

he wrote for the association was collected, named

Yi Yuan Lun Hua

.

Xinhai Revolution

The Xinhai Revolution, named for the Chinese year of Xinhai (1911), was the overthrow of

China's ruling Qing Dynasty and the establishment of the Republic of China. The revolution

began with the armed Wuchang Uprising and the spread of republican insurrection through the

southern provinces, and culminated in the abdication of the Xuantong Emperor after lengthy

negotiations between rival Imperial and Republican regimes based in Beijing and Nanjing

respectively. Led by Sun Zhongshan, the Revolution inaugurated a period of struggle over

China's eventual constitutional form, which saw two brief monarchical restorations and

successive periods of political fragmentation before the Republic's final establishment. Leaving

the brilliant impression on China modern history, the Xinhai Revolution is a great piece of political

affair, which is the first time to flag Democracy republic on China. It overthrew the Qing dynasty

and founded the Republic of China. This emancipated the people from the rule of the feudal

system.

May Fourth Movement

The May Fourth Movement takes its name from the massive popular protest that took place on

May 4th 1919 in Beijing, China. It was an anti-imperialist, cultural, and political movement in early

modern China, and it marked the upsurge of Chinese nationalism, and a re-evaluation of Chinese

culture. Science and democracy became the code words of the movement. The May Fourth

Movement came out from the New Culture Movement.

Taiji

First mentioned in the Book of Change, Taiji (or Taichi) is an important concept in Chinese history

of thought. It was a state primeval chaos before birth of the world and before the world split into

Yin and Yang (Two Aspects). Taiji was said to be the primary of the universe.

The Book of Change

The Book of Change

(

《周易》

) is a Chinese classical book in Zhou dynasty.

Its Chinese name

is

Zhou Yi

(

《周易》

), or

Yi

(

《易》

), or

Yi Jing

(

《易经》

). “Yi” means change. As the result of

ancient Chinese intelligence, the book was about the essence and laws of the universe. Its

influence on Chinese culture lasted for thousands of years.

Heidegger (1889

～

1976)

Martin Heidegger was a German philosopher. His thinking has contributed to such diverse fields

as phenomenology, existentialism, hermeneutics, political theory, psychology, theology, and

postmodernism. His main concern was ontology or the study of being. His best-known work is

Being and Time

.

Chen Shizeng (1876 ~1923)

Courtesy name Chengke. A critic, painter, and educator of early 20th-century China. His brother

is famous Chinese historian Chen Yinke. In 1902 Chen went to Japan to study natural history. In

1913 Chen went to Beijing and became an editor in Ministry of Education the next year. He

published a very inspiring essay called “

The Value of Literati Paintings

” in 1921, pointing out the

relationship between literati paintings and traditional Chinese philosophy. He said that each

scholar painting had a special meaning behind.

Li Bai (701~762)

Li Bai was a Chinese poet. Li Bai is often regarded, along with Du Fu, as one of the two greatest

poets in China's literary history. Approximately 1,100 of his poems remain today. Li Bai is best

known for the extravagant imagination and striking imagery in his poetry, as well as for his great

love for liquor. Li Bai is considered as the foremost romantic poet after Qu Yuan. And he is one of

the most renowned and admired poets in China.

Li Gonglin (1049-1106)

Gonglin, courtesy name Li Boshi, pseudonym Longmian Jushi (Resident of Sleeping Dragon),

was a Chinese painter, civil officer and archaeologist in the Northern Song Dynasty. He became

famous for his paintings of horses, then he turned to Buddhism and Taoism religious painting, as

well as portrait and landscape painting. His painting style was attributed to the style of Gu Kaizhi

and Wu Taozi, developing their technique of line drawing. “Lin Weiyan Mufang Tu” (

临韦偃牧放

图

, Painting after Wei Yan's Pasturing Horses) is his most famous painting.

Liang Kai (early 13th century c.)

Liang Kai was a Chinese artist who studied with, and then excelled, his master, Jia Shigu. In

1210, he was awarded the rank of Painter-in-Attendance at court, but he refused it. Instead,

calling himself

became a Zen monk. Famous for his figure painting, Liang is credited with inventing the Zen

school of Chinese art. He managed to capture figures’ essences by simplicity and

understatement of the work. Simplicity means the fundamental lines of a figure. His style

influenced many painters in Ming and Qing dynasties even modern China. His famous paintings

include “Liuzu Zhuozhu Tu”, (

六祖斫竹图

, The Sixth Patriarch (Hui Neng) Chopping the Bamboo),

“Bagaoseng Gushi Tu” (

八高僧故事图

, Painting of the Eight Monks), a

nd “Pomo Xianren Tu” (

泼

墨仙人图

, Immortal in Splashed Ink).

Mu Xi (13th century c.)

Surname Li, Buddhist name Fachang, and hao, Mu Xi was a native of Sichuan Province. His year

of birth is unknown. He was a monk and a painter from the late-Song to early-Yuan periods. He

was skilled at painting Bodhisattvas, figures, birds and flowers, wild beasts (dragons, tigers,

monkeys and cranes), landscapes and vegetation. His brush stroke was executed freely with both

meticulous brushwork and free sketch painting, which resulted in mixed reviews from his

successors. The aura rendered by his brush invokes the realm of Zen. Most of his works are now

found in Japan and are widely appreciated.

Chen Banding (1877

—

1970)

Real name Chen Nian, courtesy name Banding, Chen was adept in idea-sketch painting of

flowers, landscapes and human figures. His technique was influenced by Wu Changshuo.

Li Yu (1611

～

1679)

Li Yu was born in Lanxi in Jiangsu province. Courtesy names Lihong and Zefan, Pseudonym Li

Wong. Li Yu's plays and drama theory are his biggest accomplishments. Ten of his plays remain,

including

Bi Mu Yu

(

《比目鱼》

, ”Flatfish”) and

Feng Zheng Wu

(

《风筝误》

, “Errors Caused by

the Kite”)

.

In his book

Xian Qing Ou Ji

(

《闲情偶寄》

, “Occasional Notes with Leisure Motions”),

he divulges useful information pertaining to cooking, architecture, collections and planting. He

also wrote a book of short stories called

Shi’er Lou

(

《十二楼》

, “Twelve Towers”).

Li Tang (1050~1130 c.)

Li Tang was born in Henan province in the town of Sancheng. He lived in the latter part of the

eleventh century and into the first half of the twelfth, flourishing as a painter principally between

the years 1100 and 1130. Li T'ang spent most of his life in the capital at Kaifeng, where he was

an important member of the Imperial Painting Academy and a friend of Emperor Huizong. Li Tang

painted traditional Song landscapes, but is best known for his droll, rustic genre scenes, and for

his precise paintings of water buffaloes, executed in fine line and showing both movement and

character. When the Mongols invaded northern China in 1122, and the Emperor was taken

prisoner, Li Tang, then over seventy- five years old, moved south to Hangzhou to teach in the

New Academy there. He brought with him the disciplined Song style of brushwork.

“Ru Niu Tu”

(

乳牛图

, Child on Buffalo), “Cai Wei Tu” (

采薇图

, Pick the Rosebush), “Wanhe Songfeng Tu” (

万

壑松风图

, Whispering Pines in the Mountains) are some of his most famous works.

Jian Jiang (1610-1664)

Jian Jiang was from She county of Anhui province and a member of the Anhui or Xin'an school of

painting in Qing dynasty. His original name was Jiang Tao. He is noted for painting Mount

Huangshan. After the fall of the Ming dynasty he became a monk, Budhhistic monastic name

Hong Ren. This makes him one of the

Four Wangs

The Four Wangs were four Chinese landscape painters in the 17th century, all called Wang. They

were Wang Shimin (1592-1680), Wang Jian (1598-1677), Wang Hui (1632-1717) and Wang

Yuanqi (1642-1715). They were fervent followers of Dong Qichang of the late Ming. The Four

Wangs are grouped together for two main reasons. They were all related by blood or in student-

teacher relations, working in the same period at the end of the Ming and beginning of the Qing.

The second reason is their artistic tendencies and the fact that they belonged to the same