Theory Of Tang And Five Dynasties Figure Painting In The Dorsal Dynamic Aesthetic Value

Few figure paintings of Tang and the Five Dynasties have remained nowadays.However, via studying these paintings, their copies, contemporary murals and stoneline-engraved portraits, we can still appreciate the techniques ancient artists applied inthese paintings and then understand the signification they intended to convey. Besides,if we watch them with an open mind and focus on interesting details, we can evendraw our own inspirations.There were some particular artistic expressing skills in narrative paintings of thatperiod. For example, some paintings include a figure looking or moving outward,which means that such figure has made little, if any, contact with others or that he/shehas a tendency to move away from the group. Such arrangement can break the orderof narration. But we may regard it as a kind of technique that creates special moodsby employing isolating figures. Considering the history of ancient figure painting, wecan also define such technique as an untypical method that offers a special visualeffect.This technique is not unfamiliar nowadays. It appears frequently in modernpaintings, photographs, movies, and some other artistic forms. But living in an agewhere information overflows, we may not realize the originality and subtlety ofancient paintings because of influence brought by preoccupied experiences andopinions. Therefore, in this dissertation, I will try to rebuild the context of thesepaintings and set them in the background of Tang and the Five Dynasties, and thusexplore the fresh imagery and its aesthetic value.The way Daniel Arasse watched paintings, concentrating on paradoxical details,can be used to prove the unique charm of isolating figures. Even though suchtechnique may weaken the cohesion of the group or break the order of narration, it canalso be used, if in the right way, to strengthen the consciousness of the characters inthe painting, to establish a connection between them and the outside world, to conveycuriosity, hope, fantasy, loneliness or other feelings, and to indicate the connotation ofthe painting, eventually providing unlimited inspiration for viewers.