Conserving The Form, Conveying The Spirit, Reverencing For The Meaning

The study of the modeling law in the traditional Chinese figure painting is one of the main topics in the study of figure painting. There have already been a certain number of publications on this topic by the predecessors. My thesis is firstly going to make a review on the development of traditional figure painting, by mainly focusing on the appreciation and judgment of beauty. It then covers the modeling characteristics of figure painting in different periods. The transformation in the modeling issue can be roughly divided into three parts:" conserving the form " in the early period, "conveying the spirit" in the high period, and "reverencing for the meaning" in the declining period. Through interpreting and analyzing the classical master pieces, this thesis, at the same time, discusses the requirement and means of modeling in figure painting in different periods.In the period of "conserving the form", the subject matter is body language. It emphasizes vitality, vigor, strength, momentum, form and so on. Especially, using different figure combinations to render the atmosphere, so as to highlight the narrative characteristic. In the period of "conveying the spirit", the subject mater is the figure form. It emphasizes the vitality and rhythm, the spirit and form, particularly focuses very much on expressing the figures'internal spirit characters and individual characteristics. The modeling technique includes the composition, the line, the realistic sketch and the detail depiction. All of these enrich the painting expressing technique.In the period of "reverencing for the meaning", the figure painting not only bases on the literati painting to carry out its poetic and calligraphic expression, but also emphasizes its expressive characteristic. Here, I point out both the positive and negative effects literati painting causes to figure painting. This should help us succeed and spread the quintessence of tradition much better.