On The Impact Of Gu-Lu Painting Style On The Early Dunhuang Frescoes

Gu Kaizhi and Lu Tanwei were influential particularly significantly in Chinese early painting history. But few of their paintings have been handed down, and there are only facsimiles for reference. This paper draws an analogy between the related literatures and the archaeologically discovered works, to restore the artistic characteristics of the typical "Gu-Lu" painting style in the Southern Dynasties. "Gu-Lu" painting style arose in the south, but it influenced the whole northern region. Especially after the Northern Wei Dynasty, the style characterized by loose garment with wide belt and elegant skeleton covered with delicate features produced impacts on all the Buddhist statues in the whole northern region. In particular, after Emperor Wen of Northern Wei designed a policy to Chinesize and accept the culture of the Southern Dynasties, there appeared the statues dressed in the clothes and hats peculiar to the Southern Dynasties in Yungang and Longmen Grottoes, etc. From the Southern Dynasties to the Northern Dynasties, the westward and northward movements took place simultaneously. Soon afterwards, the style spread to Maiji Mountain, Bingling Temple and Dunhuang.This paper aims to compare the evolution of the figure looks of elegant skeleton covered with delicate features and the clothing patterns of loose garment with wide belt and that first appeared in Dunhuang frescoes by researching the painting style developed by Gu Kaizhi and Lu Tanwei, to identify the artistic expression of the early Dunhuang frescoes under the influence of "Gu-Lu" painting style, for an in-depth analysis on the way and reason for the emergence of this style in the early Dunhuang frescoes.This paper first analyzes the painting characteristics of Gu Kaizhi and Gu Tanwei, conducts a study based on their extant works and facsimiles, and combines the textual researches on the tile painting Seven Sages of the Bamboo Grove and Rong Qiqi discovered in the Southern Dynasties’ tomb and the screen lacquer painting unearthed from Sima Jinlong’s tomb, to strive to restore the real "Gu-Lu" painting style. Secondly, it discusses such issues as the beginning, early development, prosperity and decline of "Gu-Lu" painting style in Dunhuang frescoes, by a detailed discussion on different grottoes in different periods. By discussing the grottos in which "Gu-Lu" painting style first appeared based on the historical data, it aims to prove that there had been the romantic charm of "Gu-Lu" painting style and the drawing technique of "quaint gossamer" in the early Dunhuang frescoes as long ago as the early and middle Northern Wei Dynasty. Finally, it analyzes the temporal and geographical way and reason for the introduction of "Gu-Lu" painting style into Dunhuang.