A Study Of Gu Kai - Zhi 's "Theory

Vivid theory was born and developed in Wei Dynasty, Jin Dynasty, and the Southern & Northern Dynasties in China due to the strong fashion of discussing metaphysics and studying ideology, and Buddhism and Buddhism painting were established at the same time due to the import of Buddhism. It is because of the impacts caused by the charactors that vivid theory became the dominant concept of Wei Dynasty, Jin Dynasty, and the Southern & Northern Dynasties as the result of the collision between Buddhism painting and metaphysics. Vivid theory was put forward by Gu Kaizhi, a famous artist in the Eastern Jin Dynasty, who drew the conclusion based on predecessors’ thoughts as well as his summary in painting practice.Afterwards, the theory directly or indirectly influenced painting creation and painting theory, and the influence was unprecedented. With the emergence of the theory in the Eastern Jin Dynasty, the expression of the theory also emerged endlessly in China.Historically, there were many theories affected by Gu’s vivid theory: They are Zongbing’s painting theory on landscape Wang Wei’s on God, Xie He’s on six method, and Yao Zui’s thought on heart in Wei Dynasty, Jin Dynasty and the Southern& Northern Dynasties; Zhang Zao’s on outside nature, Zhongde Xinyuan’s on art from heart and Zhang Yanyuan’s on artistic conception in Tang Dynasty; Jing Hao’s on true figure in the Five Dynasties; Guo Ruoxu’s on artistic conception, Guo Xi’s art thought on nature, Wen Tong’s on well-thought-out plan, Su Shi’s aesthetic thoughts on the unity of body and bamboo in Song Dynasty; Ni Zan’s artistic thought in Yuan Dynasty; Wang Fu’s aesthetic thought of worshiping nature in Ming Dynasty; Shi Tao’s painting theory on simplification in Qing Dynasty, etc.The paper will explore the cause of formation of vivid theory from philosophical and aesthetical perspectives by analyzing the data collected, establish the framework of aesthetic thought on the theory afterwards, then discuss the aesthetic connotation of the theory, and compare the theory with Western aesthetics. The paper will alsoanalyze the expression of the theory on figure painting, landscape painting,flower-and-bird painting and other painting arts from aesthetic perspective. Finally,the paper will discuss the influences of vivid theory on painting theory and painting creation in China.