A Study On The Paintings Of The Han Dynasty

Han Dynasty is the heyday of Chinese feudal society after Qin Dynasty, but also a brilliant time of Chinese art history and painting history. Inherited the legacy of art of the Xia, Shang and Zhou and being the enlightenment of Dynasties of Wei, Jin, Sui and Tang, the drawings of Han Dynasty, a representative form of the art of Han Dynasty, laid the cornerstones of the subsequent development of Chinese art, especially painting, for thousands of years. The drawings of Han Dynasty, including silk drawings, tomb murals, decorative arts paintings, and Han bas-reliefs and murals, which had the characteristics of both sculpture and painting, were of broad subject matters, rich images, deep meanings, plump composition, and smooth lines, emitting a distinct flavor of the times—a close combination of Romanticism and Realism. They were the wonderful works in the history of Chinese painting.The drawings of Han Dynasty paintings were of extensive subject matters and large quantity. These colorful paintings showed distinct characteristics of the times in shape, color, composition and functions. Han paintings, in the aspect of the shape and composition, attached great importance to express the object as a whole and the primary relations of the structure. They used concise lines and exaggerated deformed shapes to show the outline, movements and postures of the figures, trying to express the development of the story and the climax of dramatic conflict through dynamic behavior. The figurations of people were childish and clumsy, but very lively and vivid. As for colors, red and black were mainly used, with other colors in between. At functions, they were focused on trying to achieve its education, evading evil spirits and praying for blessing functions.The artistic features of Han drawings were derived from the rich cultures of long history. They contained distinct Confucian political thoughts, but also embodied the ethical concepts of Filial Piety passed down by later generations for about a thousand years. In additions, by the impact of folk Chu, they brought a strong character of folk culture. In Han Dynasty, Taoism held great influences at both the civil society and the court, thereby the so-called concept of yin and yang harmony were also quite prevalent and obvious in the paintings of Han Dynasty, some elements of their contents directly closely linked with religious concepts.As a link between past and future in Chinese art history and painting history, Han drawings naturally had far-reaching effects of traditional Chinese paintings. Their style of picture composition and characteristics of decorative arts especially had a deep influence on Chinese paintings after the Wei and Jin. Originated from the paintings of Han Dynasty, the traditional Chinese paintings, following the persistent composition mode of Han drawings, finally developed a unique painting language and aesthetic notion, and thus established the basic composition models of traditional Chinese drawings.This thesis would explore the artistic characteristics of the paintings of Han Dynasty based on Archaeological information, then study the cultural connotations behind the magnificent vision, at last analyze their unique status and values for Chinese painting. To do this, we can understand the paintings of Han Dynasty better and more comprehensively, and explore this artistic carrier of unique Chinese native culture to make it shine more brilliantly in the new times.