Mounting Study Of Chinese Painting And Calligraphy

Mounting reveals the aesthetic notions of an era. It is an indispensable ring in the long chain of the art history. And it is only through mounting that a sheet of painting and calligraphy can be stored, appreciated and traded. In the past, however, people stubbornly treated mounting as a kind of appendants that just attached to the main part of the paining and calligraphy. Such an idea is out-dated nowadays and it is quite necessarily for us to treat it as an indispensable part of the whole process in art creativity, storage and appreciation, which cannot be omitted, just as the background cannot be omitted from a photo.Mounting lies in the interface between crafts and pure arts. At present, the study of it is rare and it is worthwhile to make a deeper exploration. This thesis just tries best to make a partial contribution to it, because there are many difficulties that cannot be removed at present, like judging the mounting styles representing different ages, which needs the evidence from archaeological findings. The viewpoints of each chapter in this thesis are listed below:In Chapter One, the author shows the sameness and the divergence of the materials used for mounting, as well as painting and calligraphy. The high quality of the material is the base for the development of mounting. The finalization of the mounting forms that are relevant to people's living styles, the height of the buildings and the art itself, is a gradual process. It is restricted by many factors, such as techniques, cultures, politics, economics, ideologies, etc. Painting and calligraphy is not just a thing of abstract characters and pictures, but a concrete one that consists of reels, folding screens and even walls (fresco). It manifests kinds of relationship among people, buildings and itself.In Chapter Two, the author discusses the notions and ideals of the ancient people. The mounting styles were influenced by their living styles, ways of furniture disposition, building structures, and their aesthetic notions from different layers of the society.In Chapter Three, the author manifests the local characteristics of mounting. It is the result of the popularization of mounting techniques, and the great increase of the products of painting and calligraphy. Any style of craft's formation may established by internal factors and external factors. As for mounting in the old age, the materials should be easily obtained because of traffic inconvenience, together with the climate and geographical factors, which mainly consist of the external ones. And the internal factors lie in the amount of the products themselves, their exchanging and the communicating groups.In Chapter Four, the author explores the breadth and other specifications of mounting, because it decides people's reading manner. The pattern may have some influence in perspectives, orders, distances and intensities when people appreciating and acquiring the information. The mounting pattern may correspond to shape of the picture. However, once the pattern is established, it may restrict the picture shape. People's reading manner is usually based on the mounting style and then develops into a habit.In Chapter Five, the author studies the veins of mounting materials. They form an important factor that is necessary for local characteristics to develop and formation at a certain age. They may be successive ones, but may also be innovative ones as a result of new materials and new techniques coming into being. At the same time, the veins of mounting materials may be similar to other daily utensils, although they are sometimes so special to be used in mounting. The designs and veins of fabrics used for mounting may be worthy of being appreciated, in which process, people's feelings and emotions may reside.In Chapter Six, the author proposes that the interaction between mounters and painters is the main impetus for the development of mounting skills. The ancient mounters were more passive. In order for survival, they mounted paintings as ordered by their employers, usually the painters, who were more dominant in their interactions. Mounters, then, would repeatedly modify the designs according to their employers' ideas in order to meet their requirements.In Chapter Seven, the author indicates that in the whole process of art creation, from creation to mounting, trading, storage and appreciation, mounting is an indispensable section. It combines designing and artifice, based on which painting and calligraphy can be traded, stored and appreciated. Therefore, it is not right to regard it just an appendant, and as for the whole process of art creation, it is an integral part.In Chapter Eight, the author emphasizes that the prospects of mounting, whether the ancient or the modem one, are very extensive in architectural and environmental designs and advocates that, nowadays more attention need to be paid to the harmony between mounting factors for the painting and calligraphy, and factors for the architectural styles. Only so, the life of the art can last forever and the art market can be shifted into a healthy orbit.In Chapter Nine, the author considers that mounting styles will have some influence on the exhibition modes of the present age, and if not treated properly, they may hinder the establishment of the new aesthetic notions. At present, many exhibitions are in pursuit of material gains, ignoring and despising mounting technics, and thus decreasing the aesthetic quality of them.In the last chapter, the author suggests that since modern mounting has developed to be much diversified and individualized, a new trend can be expected for the combination of modern mounting and creation. That is, on the one hand, the picture part may expand to the mounting edge and mounting part will accept such invasion supportively. On the other hand, mounting, as the most important formal "component", will be brought into the whole creation process and incorporated with painting and calligraphy itself, and further with the surroundings.