A Probe Into The Artistic Features Of Facial Makeup In Qinqiang Costume Drama

Qinqiang Opera is the most ancient art form.Originated in Qin Dynasty and popular in Northwest China,it plays an extremely important guiding role in the development of Chinese art.Qinqiang Opera has various forms and has remained in the long history as a complex combination of literature,music and acrobatics,with rich information of customs,ethics and education.It reflects folk customs as well as social changes in different periods.The main forms of Qinqiang Opera are singing,reading,sitting and fighting.They are rich and diversified in the performing process,among which the most important one is the art of facial makeup which highlights the personality of the dramatic characters.As the traditional Chinese saying goes,"As his face is,so is his mind".Facial makeup shows the inner activities of the characters and is the concentrated embodiment of a person’s spiritual life.Such form applied in theatrical performance is obviously concentrated and exaggerated.The art of facial makeup in Qinqiang Opera has a long history,just like that in dance music of Warrior Lanling.The use of facial makeup is closely related to the plot,character personality and story background,and its artistic style is obvious and exaggerated.It is recorded in the Memoir of Qi Rushan that there are twenty kinds of facial makeup in Shaanxi Bangzi(Qinqiang Opera)and twenty kinds in Qinqiang Opera of Gansu Province,among which there are a lot of different decorations.With the development of history it has inevitably contacted with the art of facial makeup of other types of operas.There are different types of facial makeup in Qinqiang costume opera,which is unique in color and conformation.In addition to a certain cultural connotation,each facial makeup also embodies aesthetic characteristics such as filial piety and etiquette,happiness and sorrow,as well as loyalty and treachery.This paper mainly studies the artistic characteristics of facial makeup in Qinqiang costume opera.Its significance lies in:First,to explore the traditional techniques of expression in the art of Qinqiang Opera.It contributes to the promotion and development,as well as the revitalization and inheritance of the art of Qinqiang Opera.Second,to analyze the development and evolution,and the essence of traditional culture by studying the features of facial makeup in Qinqiang costume opera.Third,to explore the role,significance,artistic function and social value of facial makeup in costume operas by studying the artistic characteristics and development of facial makeup in Qinqiang opera.This paper focuses on the analysis of the types and artistic features of facial makeup in Qinqiang Opera,and the analysis of the relationship with culture,inheritance and protection.