Cave In Ancient Chinese Painting

Cave is a very special motif in Chinese painting history.It is closely related to china's early seclusion culture and the Taoists' pursuit of immortality.This motif has appeared in Chinese paintings since Wei and Jin dynasties and gradually presented in two relevant painting systems.One is Arhat painting and the other is landscape painting.The latter can be classified into three relevant categories.The first one is modeled on Tao Yuan-ming's The Peach Colony.These paintings use the cave referred in The Peach Colony as metaphor to represent the landscape where a recluse lived in.The second one is based on Lu Hong's Caotang painting and Wang Wei's Wangchuan painting.As an important motif representing the recluse,it is established by Lu Hong and Wang Wei and then developed by Li Gonglin and Wang Meng.The third one is based on the travelling painting which is established by Shen Zhou.It uses travelling as premise and connects painting,travel note,poern,with annotations to present the feelings during travelling.As to represent the motif,this type is different from the connotation of caves in traditional paintings.The two systems are independent but associated with each other.The three categories are coordinated with each other.These painting's style vary according to different painters,periods and the situation.This change produces the diversity of cave motif and becomes the component of the painting history in which concept and motif interact with each other.