Chinese Painting

From enigmatic images on rocks to ornamentation and murals on pottery, architecture, and buildings, how did the two-dimensional plane of painting originate? From depictions of storks, fish, and stone axes on pottery jars to spatial depictions of figures intertwined with time and space on painted lacquer boxes, how did realistic painting on the surface of objects give rise to the independent development of portraiture? How did the first peak of painting in Chu and Han tomb ritual art connect to the subsequent flourishing of Buddhist murals and scrolls? How did the competition between renowned court art and the peak of public religious art, both within the court and the public, shape the vibrant and innovative atmosphere of the heyday of the Tang Dynasty?
In the long history of Chinese painting of 3,000 years, early painting with the end of the Tang Dynasty as the node shoulders the grand historical responsibility of developing painting media. The collective creation of unknown painters plays an important role in daily life and religious ritual environments. Unlike later paintings dominated by scroll paintings, the style changes in different periods, regions and painters reflected in archaeological materials give this period of painting history a unique character in research methods.
This book, the latest work by renowned art historian Wu Hung, is derived from the chapter "From the Paleolithic Period to the Tang Dynasty" in his book Three Thousand Years of Chinese Painting. Restructuring the structure and supplementing it with the latest research, it comprehensively describes the development of early Chinese painting from ancient times to the end of the Tang Dynasty, and the styles and characteristics of painting from different eras. In this book, the author consciously moves beyond the scope of scroll painting, broadening the concept of "Chinese painting" to include painted pottery, murals, screens, plaques, and other types of paintings. With his keen analytical skills, he comprehensively comprehends the archaeological findings of China over the past century, transforming the existing narrative model of painting history and presenting the inherent connections between different images from different eras and on different surfaces.

2022-03-01

上海人民出版社

Century Wenjing

224

9787208174528