Jin And Romantic - Wei Portraits Aesthetic Research

In Wei-Jin Period and Northern and Southern Dynasties, Chinese figure painting had attained its maturity, which was represented by three remarkable features: the consciousness of aesthetic creation, the birth of individual artistic style, and the establishment of aesthetics of painting and critical theory.The literati and artists of this period, under the influence of Wei- Jin metaphysics, distinguished themselves by liberal thoughts, unrestrained personality and behavior. Their admiration of nature and extolment of fine arts prepared cultural conditions for the development of figure painting into full bloom.There emerged an outstanding group of figure-painting artists during Wei-Jin period and Northern and Southern Dynasties. The most prominent among them were Gu Kaizhi, Lu Tanwei, Zhang Sengyou, Yang Zihua. Their works not only possessed conspicuous styles, but also reflected from different aspects the aesthetic characters of Chinese painting.A number of factors contributed to the formation of leading characters of Chinese painting. The major one came under the influence of Lao-Zhuang school of philosophy and Wei-Jin metaphysics. On one hand, this resulted in the display of blankness and transcendence in both the rendering of picturesque scenery and the tool of plastic treatment. On the other hand, it led to the expression through the use of line in Chinese painting. Chinese painting, with its focus on the internal structure and vitality of the object represented through lines, sought to match the underlying free-flowing and musical rhythm, where embedded typical consciousness of time in universe. It was through the organic lines that apparently lumpy images could reassume their life and the charm of vacancy was brought to light .Furthermore, the aesthetic style of figure painting saw its own formation, to a greater extent, in the use of line. Besides, the comparative study and analysis of Chinese and Western paintings finds its viewpoint in none other than the use of line and its plastic model.It can be said that aesthetics of painting and critical theory during Wei-Jin period and Northern and Southern Dynasties constituted the part and parcel of the aesthetic analysis of the art form of figure painting .Accomplishments of the art of figure painting can be realized in one's perception of individual works ,and in addition ,they can be located in the form of theoretical generalization. Chuanshen Shuo and Qiyun Shuo, as two leading theories in aesthetics during Wei-Jin period Northern and Southern Dynasties, best illustrated the aesthetic character of Chinese painting and brought an incentive to the development of figure painting.