On Li Gonglin In The Song Dynasty Painting Style

Li Gonglin has made profound contributions to the line drawing techniquesin Chinese art history. But in "the famous paintings through the ages"，writtenby Zhang Yanyuan of Tang Dynasty, records that Wu Daozi would like to usethis method as drafting "powder", which is only used for backing. In the eye ofalmost all artists，color is necessary elements of painting. Its expression ismore intuitive and its emotion is richer, and the colorful world can only becomprehensively shown by colors. But Li Gonglin was "draw further apart". Hepreferred to lines, and studied it in all his life. By virtue of his superb artgenerality and painting expression to brushwork, his work achieved unity ofform and spirit. Finally he created an independent art form of painting, andmade it become a situation of tripartite confrontation situation together with finebrushwork and freehand brushwork. Li Gonglin was a scholar-bureaucratpainter whose literary accomplishment and artistic level was outstanding, andhe was a bureaucrat, a literati and an artist all rolled into one. He lived in a timeof many famous person, such as Wang Anshi, Su Dongpo, Huang Tingjian, MiFei and so on. In their leisure time, the famous often made friends by theirliterature, read poems, painting and understood zen. Li Gonglin, was widelyadopted all the advantages in such exchanges, and based on the ancient lawin the techniques, in order to make for its own. Then, through exploration andinnovation, he gave the line drawing a new realm and the significance, andmade it become a new painting style--line drawing, whose characteristic isclear, elegant, light, plain and simple. His painting style produced a profoundimpact with the aesthetic sentiment changed, and set an example for futuregenerations. Li Gonglin’s line drawing was unique in style, which absorbs anything and continuous innovation, established a painting art new realmwhich was “sweeping whitewash, lofty elegance, no color and true moving”.