Research On The Style Conception Of Chinese Painting Aesthetics

In modern times, the study of Western painting style theory is introduced into the Chinese painting research, especially from the 1980’s, along with the introducing of a large number of overseas Sinology on Chinese painting research, the study of style has become an important approach of Chinese painting research, and with its fruitful research results, it effectively promotes the modern transformation of Chinese painting research.At the same time, due to the stylistic and cultural differences between Chinese and Western painting, the study of Chinese painting employing Western theory also has problems of acclimatizing. This theoretical unacclimatization is mainly manifested in two aspects:Firstly, the Western understanding of "style" is focused on form, style analysis is mainly the analysis of form; yet Chinese painting is vitalized with life instead of form. The form analysis of Chinese painting often falls short due to its difficulty to reach the essence of Chinese painting; secondly, the Western understanding of people puts them in the Western cultural context, involving their psychology, personality, class, power and so on, which is significantly different from Chinese painting that stresses qualities such as disposition, liberality, nature, spirituality, etc., thus, applying Western theories to Chinese painting is taking the risks of adopting an "one-size-fits-all" approach and even misinterpreting.Although theoretical unfitness exists, the style has become an important starting point for the study of Chinese painting. We can not fall into the "Orientalism" in the study of painting by blindly following the western style theory; nor fall into the "nationalism" by excluding the style research approach. This paper is to explore the aesthetics of Chinese painting style by referring to Western style approach. Although Chinese painting aesthetics has no "style approach", it includes a wide range of insights on painting style. These insights constitute the aesthetic outlook of Chinese painting style. There are many reflections on painting style in Chinese painting aesthetics, such as personal style, genre style, regional style, time style, etc. This paper conducts the research from the problem-based perspective, selecting five important and much discussed issues in Chinese painting aesthetics. These five issues constitute the five chapters of the book.Firstly, what is style? That is, the concept of style. Chinese painting aesthetics is influenced by character criticism; thus, it tends to regard the painting as the human body with an organic life that has its own form quality, romantic charm, and character. The stability represented by life is its style. Therefore, the style we understand also includes form quality, romantic charm, and characteristics, among which, "form" is undervalued and "essence" is emphasized. Moreover, it includes the evaluation of personality. The concept of style in Chinese painting aesthetics basically comes from the character criticism. "Ti" is the earliest concept of style. Other important concepts includes character, trend, spirit, disposition, design, etc.. Different concept groups of style are developed in specific applications and these concepts are combined to produce a new concept, making it very flexible and complex. This is decided by the dynamic sense of life in Chinese painting. The form, development and combination of different concept groups are to specifically refer to the form quality, romantic charm, and character. "Ti" and "style" have become the most appropriate and the most widely used concept of style in Chinese painting aesthetics because they can integrate the three levels.Secondly, where does style come from? That’s the question about the origin of the style. There is a tradition in Chinese painting aesthetics that one judges the painting by the painter’s characteristics. That is, style is usually seen as the manifestation of the painter’s characteristics. However, in different periods of the painting history, characteristics are revealed and presented differently due to the difference of painting forms. During the Six Dynasties, Tang Dynasty and Song Dynasty, paintings manly depicts and imitates objects. The painting style is influenced by objects, themes etc.. Objective factors are presented more in the painting than the subjective factors and the characteristics of the painter are not evident. The spirit-giving theory gives the painter certain dynamic space which is embodied in design, connotation and other aspects and is closely connected with the imaginative power of the painter. Here the painter’s characteristics are mainly embodied as imaginative power. After Yuan Dynasty, in the view of spiritual expression, paintings mainly focus on expressing emotions. The integration of the painter and his paintings is supported by the painting practice, the subjective factors are presented more, and the style originates from the disposition of the painter. Assigning style to the imaginative power and disposition of the painter and emphasizing the integration of the painter and his paintings and that style differs from character to character are not a passive theory interpretation of the painting history but an active value appeal, thus, they shape the cultural characters of Chinese painting.Thirdly, how is style? That is the question of style constitution and style patterns. In Chinese painting, factors that affect the painting the most are objects, brushwork using and the art of arrangement. Various presentations of these elements possess different aesthetic inclinations and play a guiding role in the construction of painting style. When the aesthetic inclinations of these elements become consistent, distinctive style appears. Therefore, style formation emphasizes on "domestic discipline should not be in disorder" and "style should be clear". As to different styles, the Chinese painting aesthetics, which is greatly influenced by the appraisement of people, advocates to use simplicity to rein complexity, that is, to use concise words to refer to the characteristics such as form quality, romantic charm, character and so on. In order to endow the sense of life to the whole style, metaphor and analogy are frequently used. Moreover, style patterns are divided in accordance with the integral aesthetic purport, and connotation instead of style is valued. In the view of "interacting the painter and his paintings", the Chinese painting aesthetics stresses that the sense of life should be absorbed in the formation elements of the style, making it the representation of the rhythm of life. Such formation of the style pattern, which is in accordance with the condition of life and realm of life, represents features of life.Next question is the change of style. Chinese painting aesthetics mainly discusses the change of personal style and time style. The agents of the former one mainly arise from "a thorough understanding of natural rules and an escape from the former habit", changing by learning from the ancient, growing with experience and so on. As for the change of time style, the main idea of Chinese painting aesthetics is "painting and developing according to different times". Regarding the change of style in painting history as the declining of painting, advocating ancient style and belittling current trend, are all manifestations of cherishing the ancient style and despising the current painting style. Chinese painting aesthetics also links the change of time style with personality and world trends. It explains the agent as "the result of destiny", "the twist of ethos", and identifies with as well as differs from western time spirit and cultural situational theory. The root of the declining of Chinese painting style can be concluded as a matter of "bad habits". It may sever the concentration of painters’ sense of life on paintings, resulting in the loss of the origin of style and life and developing into conceptualization and formulation. On the other hand, bad habits also endangers the essence and authenticity of painters’mind, leading to the liberation and indulgence of temperament and the externalization of style. However, the correction of bad habits can start from restoring the authenticity of painters’mind and reendow the style with vivid source of life. On the other hand, it can proceed from the opposite of the recessing style to make up the gaps and establish a new balance. All of those actions can promote the change of style and improve the vitality of painting history.The last problem is the evaluation of style, which mainly includes noble or humble style, elegant or vulgar style, unusual or usual style, pretty or ugly style and the like. The core of the evaluation is the judgement of noble or humble painting style in which all the others are included. At the early stage of painting history, painting techniques and aesthetic quality are mainly evaluated in painting aesthetics, whereas being noble or not is barely mentioned. After the rising of the painting of man-of-letters, the literati class prefers aesthetic taste and rejects different painting style. Therefore, the argument of being noble or humble springs up. Generally speaking, the concept of equal style can be concluded as "valuing painting intention, rather than painting style", "that painting cultivates taste cannot be confined within one example", "in view of mutual basement of Yinyang, neither can be neglected" and other similar topics. However, the concept of noble or humble style is relatively complex, in spite of following the principle of "valuing meaning instead of style", there are arguments in the specific evaluation of style, Chinese painting aesthetics centers on precision and briefness, magnificence and wilderness, peculiarity and plain, complexity and simplicity. What lies behind the argument is the opposition of two great style systems, namely the system of representing objects and that of conveying connotations. They differ in the understanding of the essence of painting as well as the evaluation standard. The former one pays great emphasis on portraying objects and person, whereas the latter focuses on nature and disposition. The competition of styles in Chinese painting history is mainly the competition of these two standards. What’s special is the competition between orthodox school and heretical school inside the system of conveying connotations, where the former one values "orthodoxy" and the latter one advocates "authenticity". It is actually a different understanding of disposition.In short, the style outlook of Chinese painting aesthetics is determined by Chinese paintings’ special pattern and Chinese culture’s unique characteristics. Chinese painting aesthetics’ understanding of style centers on life. The concept, origin, constitution as well as pattern, change and evaluation of style develop round the center. As the representation of stability of life, style is closely related to the painter in multiple ways including form quality, romantic charm, and character; it is integrally displayed in the painter’s life feature. The life feature includes not only the condition of life, but also the realm of life and personality, whose fundamental aim is lively and healthy life force. This kind of unique style concept not only explains but also shapes the inner spirit and cultural quality of Chinese painting.