2/20/2018 Chinese painting | Britannica.

com

   

Chinese painting
WRITTEN BY: Jerome Silbergeld, Liu Qiyi, Michael Sullivan

Chinese painting, one of the major art forms produced in China over the centuries.

The other arts of China are treated in separate articles. These include Chinese calligraphy, which in China is closely associated
with painting; interior design; tapestry; oral decoration; Chinese pottery; metalwork; enamelwork; and lacquerwork; as well as
Chinese jade; silk; and Chinese architecture.

The present political boundaries of China, which include Tibet, Inner Mongolia, Xinjiang, and the northeastern provinces
formerly called Manchuria, embrace a far larger area of East Asia than will be discussed here. “China proper,” as it has been
called, consists of 18 historical provinces bounded by the Plateau of Tibet on the west, the Gobi to the north, and Myanmar
(Burma), Laos, and Vietnam to the southwest, and it is primarily painting as it developed in China proper that will be treated
here. (See also Central Asian arts; and Southeast Asian arts.)

The rst communities that can be identi ed culturally as Chinese were settled chie y in the basin of the Huang He (Yellow
River). Gradually they spread out, in uencing other tribal cultures, until, by the Han dynasty (206 BCE–220 CE), most of China
proper was dominated by the culture that had been formed in the cradle of northern Chinese civilization. Over this area there
slowly spread a common written language, a common belief in the power of heaven and the ancestral spirits to in uence the
living, and a common emphasis on the importance of ceremony and sacri ce to achieve harmony among heaven, nature, and
humankind. These beliefs were to have a great in uence on the character of Chinese painting, and indeed all the arts of China.

Chinese civilization is by no means the oldest in the world: those of Mesopotamia and Egypt are far older. But, while the early
Western cultures died, became stagnant, or were transformed to the point of breaking all continuity, that of China has grown
continuously from prehistoric settlements into the great civilization of today.

The Chinese themselves were among the most historically conscious of all the major civilizations and were intensely aware of
the strength and continuity of their cultural tradition. They viewed history as a cycle of decline and renewal associated with the
succession of ruling dynasties. Both the political fragmentation and social and economic chaos of decline and the vigour of
dynastic rejuvenation could stimulate and colour important artistic developments. Thus, it is quite legitimate to think of the
history of Chinese painting primarily in terms of the styles of successive dynasties, as the Chinese themselves do.

General Characteristics
Aesthetic characteristics and artistic traditions
Art as a re ection of Chinese class structure
One of the outstanding characteristics of Chinese art is the extent to which it re ects the class structure that has existed at
different times in Chinese history. Up to the Warring States period (475–221 BCE), the arts were produced by anonymous
craftsmen for the royal and feudal courts. During the Warring States period and the Han dynasty (206 BCE–220 CE), the growth
of a landowning and merchant class brought new patrons. After the Han there began to emerge the concept of “ ne art” as
the product of the leisure of the educated gentry, many of whom were amateur practitioners of the arts of poetry, music,
calligraphy, and, eventually, painting. At this time a distinction began to arise between the lower-class professional and the
elite amateur artist; this distinction would have a great in uence on the character of Chinese art in later times. Gradually one
tradition became identi ed with the artists and craftsmen who worked for the court or sold their work for pro t. The scholarly
amateurs looked upon such people with some contempt, and the art of the literati became a separate tradition that was
×
increasingly re ned and rare ed to the point that, from the Song dynasty (960–1279) onward, an assumed awkwardness in
technique was admired as a mark of the amateur and gentleman. One effect of the revolutions of the 20th century was the
breaking down of the class barriers between amateur and professional and even, during the Cultural Revolution of 1966–76, an
emphasis on anonymous, proletarian-made art like that of the Tang dynasty (618–907) and earlier.

Page 1 of 10 NEXT PAGE

LEARN MORE 
https://www.britannica.com/art/Chinese­painting 1/4
2/20/2018 Chinese painting | Britannica.com


LEARN MORE in these related articles:   

China: Visual arts

Painting and calligraphy, like poetry, were the domain of the elite, and most educated Chinese traditionally
boasted of some competence in them. There are early anonymous and folk-oriented paintings on tomb and
cave walls, and many works are known from the Han dynasty (206 bce–220…

READ MORE

painting: Ink

…the traditional painting medium of China and Japan, where it has been used with long-haired brushes of
wolf, goat, or badger on silk or absorbent paper. Asian black ink is a gum-bound carbon stick that is ground
on rough stone and mixed with varying amounts of water to create a…

READ MORE

painting: Symbolism

…the subject matter of Buddhist Chinese and Japanese painting have a religious or metaphysical
signi cance: the artist’s intuitive, calligraphic brush movements symbolizing his mystical empathy with
nature and his cyclic landscape and ower subjects expressing his belief in the spiritual harmony of natural
forms and forces. Much of Indian symbolism…

READ MORE

Chinese art: Art as a re ection of Chinese class structure

music, calligraphy, and, eventually, painting. At this time a distinction began to arise between the lower-class professional and the elite
amateur artist; this distinction would have a great in uence on the character of Chinese art in later times. Gradually one tradition
became identi ed with the artists and craftsmen who…
READ MORE

Ma Yuan

…Hangzhou], Zhejiang province—died 1225), in uential Chinese landscape painter whose work, together with
that of Xia Gui, formed the basis of the Ma-Xia school of painting. Ma occasionally painted owers, but his
genius lay in landscape painting, his lyrical and romantic interpretation becoming the model for later
painters. He was a…

READ MORE

MORE ABOUT Chinese painting

5 REFERENCES FOUND IN BRITANNICA ARTICLES

Assorted References

China
(In China: Visual arts)

Chinese art
(In Chinese art: Art as a re ection of Chinese class structure)

Ma Yuan’s landscapes
(In Ma Yuan)

painting
×
(In painting: Ink)

(In painting: Symbolism)

ADDITIONAL READING 
LEARN MORE

EXTERNAL WEBSITES
https://www.britannica.com/art/Chinese­painting  2/4
2/20/2018 Chinese painting | Britannica.com
EXTERNAL WEBSITES
    
ARTICLE HISTORY 
ARTICLE CONTRIBUTORS

Corrections? Updates? Help us improve this article! Contact our editors with your feedback.
 FEEDBACK

LEARN MORE

https://www.britannica.com/art/Chinese­painting 3/4
2/20/2018 Chinese painting | Britannica.com

   

KEEP EXPLORING BRITANNICA

Architecture
Architecture, the art and
Graphic design
technique of designing and
Film noir
Graphic design, the art and building, as distinguished from
Film noir, (French: “dark lm”) profession of selecting and the skills associated...
style of lmmaking arranging visual elements—
characterized by such such as typography,...


READ THIS ARTICLE
elements as cynical heroes,...


READ THIS ARTICLE



READ THIS ARTICLE

VIEW MORE

     
About Us
About Our Ads
Partner Program
Contact Us
Privacy Policy
Terms of Use

©2018 Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc.

LEARN MORE

https://www.britannica.com/art/Chinese­painting 4/4