Distinctive Features of the Zhe School Painters - Research Paper Example

 Critical Analysis of Zhe School Painters Introduction Zhe School was a school of painters, which revolutionized the Chinese history of painting. Zhe School of painters came into existence during the ancient Ming dynasty in China in the 15th century. This school of painters was founded by a group of conservative Chinese painters led by Dai Jan and they named this school after home town of Dai Jan, Zhejiang. (Encyclopaedia Britannica, n. d). This school of painting has rewritten many of the existed myths about painting and painting schools during that period political interference of Ming dynasty in artistic freedom forced the creation of Zhe School of painting. (Founding Father of Zhe School: Dai Jin, 2003) Dai was a carpenter by profession and his handicrafts like hairpins, statues, flowers and birds were famous in his neighbourhood. Later on, he began to learn painting and acquired a painting job in the court. Nevertheless, his works were against the likings of the officials and they expelled him from the job, which forced Dai to think in terms of Zhe School. He started to make non-governmental works and started earning his livelihood through selling of his paintings. Dai followed the footsteps of Ma Yuan and Xia Gui of the Southern Song Dynasty (1127-1279), as well as Li Cheng and Fan Kuan of the Northern Song Dynasty (960-1127) in landscape painting. Later on, Dai in company with some others established the Zhe School of painting (Founding Father of Zhe School: Dai Jin, 2003) Apart from Dai Jan, some of the famous Zhe School painters of the mid Ming Dynasty are Fang Yue, Xia Qui, Zhong Ang, Xia Zhi, Wu Wei, Wang Zao, and Zhang Lu (Labedzki, 2010). Ming dynasty forced the artists to make artwork in a particular way. In other words, the artists during the Ming dynasty forced to reject the academic way of portraying things because of the over influential politics. The Zhe School painters brought progression to the conservative 14th century Southern Song style that was limited by the stringent academically inclined court painters. The school prospered, but by the 17th century, the painters at Zhe School became more professional and were involved with mostly ‘Literati Painting.’ (Labedzki, 2010) Zhe School painters and their works are still popular among the artistic world because of the careful blend of colours and the artistic touch of the paintings of these painters. Nothing prevented these painters from contributing outstanding works to the world even though the technology was less developed at that period. They used only their imagination and the available resources to the greatest extent to provide us great contributions in the form of great artistic works. “During the later period of the Ming Dynasty, all kinds of artistic thoughts became active, and various Schools of different styles came into being. Zhe School, Songjiang School, etc. were examples (Paintings of the Ming Dynasty, 2006). This paper is a critical analysis of Zhe School painters and their works. Zhe School Painters and their works Zhe school paintings were of fragmented types. We can enjoy Zhe school paintings when we analyze them as a whole only. For example in the picture given below, we can see so many things like some boats with and without people on a Riverview landscape. This picture tells us the story of a riverbank rather than the story of some boats with and without people. In other words, Zhe school pictures are famous for additive quality. Moreover, the colour palettes used in the above two pictures are also unique. The careful blending of colour gives the picture more realistic look. The subjects of Zhe school painters often revolved around the Chinese mythologies. Chinese people are traditionally and historically famous for their superstitions. Thus, the Chinese mythology is blessed with immense stock of stories and superstitions. It is easy to catch the attention of the public if the artworks have some relationships with the superstitions or the mythology. Zhe School painters succeeded in giving a visual look to the Chinese mythology through their artistic works. Zhe School painters adapted a dynamic, elaborative, and versatile approach in portraying beautiful landscapes and human figures. Their subjects often revolved around mythology (with gods and ghosts) and history. They used rather a bold colour palette with free brush strokes. His elegant creations had a unique narrative quality, which was rare to find (Labedzki, 2010). (Founding Father of Zhe School: Dai Jin, 2003) The themes of Zhe School paintings were mostly ornamental varying from flowers, to plants, to birds and landscapes. Most of the Zhe School painters used bright colours in their works. Although the Zhe School painters were not official court painters, still they did receive some support from the royal administration (Labedzki, 2010). One of the unique features of the Zhe School paintings was the usage of bright colours in it. Bright colours always catch the attention of the art lovers. It represents the brightest sides of life. It gives the viewers a hope for the future. Zhe School painters exploited such human attitudes and drew most of their pictures using bright colours. (HuangHeLou by Zhengwen.jpg, n. d) (Yellow Crane Tower, n. d) Yellow Crane Tower is located on Snake Hill in Wuhan, Hubei Province. Enjoying the fame of 'The First Scenery under Heaven', it is one of the most renowned towers south of the Yangtze River. Its cultural significance led to its being made the symbol of Wuhan City. According to legend, the family of an old pothouse owner living in Wuhan City long ago, named Old Xin, built Yellow Crane Tower. One day, a shabbily dressed Taoist priest came to the pothouse and asked for some wine. Old Xin paid no attention to him, but his son was very kind and gave the Taoist some wine without asking for money. The Taoist priest visited the pothouse regularly for half a year when one day the Taoist said to the son that in order to repay his kindness, he would like to draw a crane on the wall of the pothouse, which would dance at his request. When people in the city heard of this, they flocked to the pothouse to see the dancing crane. The Xin family soon became rich and they built the Yellow Crane Tower as a symbol of gratitude to the Taoist priest (Yellow Crane Tower, n. d). Yellow Crane Tower design was taken from the picture HuangHeLou, drawn by Zhengwen, one of the prominent Zhe school painters of that period. It is evident from the above incident that how influential the Zhe school painters were during that period. There are many other monuments in China, which have taken inspiration from the Zhe School painters. Even the incidents and stories were also influenced by the themes of Zhe school paintings. One such painting is given below. (Kongming Leaving the Mountains, 2010) The above painting is another example of Zhe painting and the name Kongming in the title of this painting refers to one of the greatest military strategists in Chinese history, Zhuge Liang was a well-known statesman, diplomat and a writer. He lived in 3rd century, resided in the mountains, living as a farmer, and practiced the arts of Daoism. One of the warlords of the era, Liu Bei, requested the services of Zhuge Liang thrice. On the third occasion, satisfied by Liu Bei’s urgency, Zhuge Liang agreed to act as his advisor and left the mountains, which are represented, in the above painting. The person riding the horse at the back of the group in the picture believed to be Zhuge Liang (Kongming Leaving the Mountains, 2010). The Zhe style initially shared similarities with the Min or Fujian style of painting, which were produced primarily for exporting to Japan. Moreover, Zhe School paintings were known for their realistic descriptions of objects and the decorative qualities of their paintings (Hegel, 1998 p.276). Even though Zhe School painters earlier on tried to imitate some other streams of paintings, later, they created their own styles of drawing. Zhe painters focused more on portraying the objects or sceneries in a realistic way. They never used any symbolisms in their paintings, unlike the modern painters. Their paintings were easily understandable to even the ordinary people. Most of the paintings were self-explanatory and the viewers were able to understand the themes without many difficulties. Ming dynasty tried to implement commercialization in art. They considered art as just another entity for business purpose rather than the enjoyment purpose. Ming dynasty had fewer beliefs in morals and ethics. Eroticism, vivid colours, individuality and commercialism helped the Ming paintings to gain their diverse characters and wide range of styles. Female characters were drawn vulgarly in Ming paintings (Ming Landscape Painting, 2005). Zhe School painters questioned all such attitudes of Ming painters. They never used their paintings purely for commercial purposes. They were keener in the artistic dimensions of their works rather than the commercial aspects of their paintings. They never tried to exaggerate incidents using their paintings. Moreover, they kept morals and ethics in their profession. They never tried to exploit the feelings of the public for commercial purposes. They never shifted their attention from the Chinese culture. All the paintings created by Zhe School painters were with respect to the Chinese culture. Aspects of brush technique and style Zhe painters used extremely responsive and sensitive brushes, which were made of layers of animal hair shaped to a point and attached to a supporting tube made of bamboo, lacquered wood, ceramic, etc. Different sized brushes were used and instead of moving the brushes, Zhe painters moved their wrist to draw the complicated portions of their art works. Zhe painters used the ink, which was made from pine soot, which was combined with glue, kneaded into a thick paste, pressed into moulds, and dried. The blocks of dried ink that came out of these moulds are called ink sticks. The Zhe school painters followed the old academy style of the Southern Sung Academy and they borrowed diagonal compositions, delicately graded ink washes, twisted pines, distant buildings, and the "ax-cut" brushstroke from Southern Sung Academy. Moreover, they added more anecdotal details, a looser organization and free flow of space, and scattering of elements in contrast to the carefully constructed Southern Sung works (Minneapolis Institute of Arts, 1998). Zhe School painters have given a different dimension to the Southern Sung Academy style, which was prevalent during the Ming dynasty. Dai Jin like Zhe School painters has given a romantic look to the Southern Sung Academy style of paintings. They used precise line, colours and palettes in their works. They used more obvious and clear brush strokes in their paintings (Cooke, 2009, p.128). “Zhe School, revived and transformed the styles of the Song court. During the early Qing Dynasty (1644-1911), painters known as Individualists rebelled against many of the traditional rules of painting and found ways to express themselves more directly through free brushwork” (Chinese Paintings, n. d). Place of Zhe school paintings in Chinese art history Zhe paintings are considered as the base of many of the modern art streams not only in China but also across the world. Zhe paintings (also known as Ming academic style) not only influenced the Chinese people, it influenced other parts of the world as well. Korean culture has strong relationships with the Chinese culture and any developments happening in China may influence the Koreans also because of the cultural uniqueness. Thus, the Zhe School painters influenced the Korean painters also. Artists of the so called Zhe school (named after Zhejiang, a Chinese coastal province from which many of these artists came) also had a deep effect on Korean painting so much so that one observer of Korean art has coined the term “Korean Zhe School” to designate Korean artists of this movement. An example of this style is the Korean artist Yi Kyong-yun (KOREAN PAINTING – Prehistory to the late 19th century, 2007) Koreans often came to China for buying paintings. China on the other hand was blessed with a treasure of painters who contributed different streams of paintings to the external world. Zhe school painters influenced the visitors very much and they also started to develop art streams similar to that of the Zhe School painters. The Taoist ink painters, Songjiang School were the archrivals of Zhe school painters during the Ming dynasty. Chen Zihe was one of the prominent members of the Taoist style. His paintings often focused on Taoist figures, but also from the rich and skilful rendering of ink washes that made his painting "replete with the spirit of Immortals." Moreover, his painting style revealed a quality that may serve as the fundamental character for defining "Taoist ink painting" as a genre that could rival the famed "Zen painting." Art lovers or scholars misinterpreted the works of Chen Zihe as the work of Zhe school of painting because of the loose and rough style presented in his works. Nevertheless, later on, people realized that Chen has nothing to do with the Zhe style and he belongs to the Taoist style. At the same time it is an accepted fact that both Taoist style and the Zhe styles had certain relationships, which were evident in the excessive use of ink washes in both the painting streams (Shou-chien, n. d). Zhe School Paintings and Confucianism Confucius was a great thinker, educator and political leader as well as one of the most learnt people of China who lived between 551 and 479 BC during the late years in the spring and autumn of China. He was the founder of Confucianism (Cultural China, 2010). Confucianism was a Chinese philosophy developed from the teachings of the Chinese philosopher, Confucius who lived around 551–478 BC. It deals with the system of moral, social, political, philosophical, and cultural thoughts, which influenced the culture and history of East Asia tremendously. Confucianism has influenced people of many other countries like Korea, Japan, and Thailand etc. Filial piety” was a Confucius stream of thought, which prevailed in China during the Ming dynasty. It has defined five bonds among the people; Ruler to Ruled, Father to Son, Husband to Wife, Elder Brother to Younger Brother and Friend to Friend (Ellis-Christensen, 2010). Zhe School paintings had taken lot of inspirations from Confucianism. Some of the Zhe School paintings themes were meant to protect the dead or help their souls get to paradise. Many other Zhe paintings illustrated the rituals, morals and the Filial piety. Conclusion Zhe School paintings were a new stream of paintings derived from Southern Sung Academic style during the Ming Dynasty in China in the 15th century. Led by Dai Jan, Zhe School painters revolutionized the traditional concepts about paintings in China. Dai Jan, Fang Yue, Xia Qui, Zhong Ang, Xia Zhi, Wu Wei, Wang Zao, and Zhang Lu were some of the prominent contributors for the Zhe School paintings. Zhe painters had different opinions about the academic freedom and the over interference of the Ming dynasty in artistic freedom. They argued that the artists should have 100% freedom in their works and there is no point in portraying things as per the imagination of somebody else. Ming dynasty tried to limit the freedom of the painters, which provoked some of the free-minded artists and resulted in the formation of Zhe School paintings. Zhe School painting style was to create theme with the help of fragmented objects. Individual objects in their paintings did not have many meanings whereas the collection of those individual objects as a whole conveyed many messages to the art lovers. They used natural and bright colours in their paintings, which represented the brightest side of life. Chinese mythology, traditions, rituals, superstitions, etc. were the major topics of Zhe school paintings. Confucianism also inspired the Zhe School painters very much. Because of the cultural uniqueness, Zhe School paintings influenced other countries like, Korea, Japan, etc also. In fact, most of the Zhe school paintings were exported to Japan. Moreover, the Koreans often visited China during the Ming dynasty and took lot of lessons from the Zhe School painters. Taoist ink painters, Songjiang School, etc. were some of the major rivals of Zhe School of Paintings during the Ming dynasty. Zhe School painters, also known as Ming academic style, succeeded in giving a different dimension to the Southern Sung Academy style of paintings. Clear brush strokes, more anecdotal details, a loose organization, free flow of space and scattering of elements were the major features of the Zhe School Paintings when compared to the Southern Song Academy style of paintings. Zhe School paintings still have relevance in the modern art forms. The current artists are taking lot of lessons from the Zhe painting artists’ colour blending, colour usages, brush usages etc. In short, Zhe painters succeeded in opening a new stream of painting, which still inspires many artists all over the world. 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