The Artistic Expression Of "autumn Meaning" In The Flower-and-bird Painting Environment Of The Ming Dynasty

It is the course of nature that flowers bloom and fall,and the seasons succeed one another.That is what is meant by "the plants have no intention of their own,following the nature they grow or wither".Bird-and-flower paintings depict features of the four seasons.For example,a painting which depicts the flower may show the charm of spring flowers,the gorgeous colors of summer flowers,the cold beauty of autumn flowers,or the pride of winter flowers.The painters of bird-and-flower paintings are not content with capturing the natural characters of their objects,but often express their own thoughts and emotions through their paintings.This is the so-called "the spirits of the four seasons are the same with people’s taste".Paintings demonstrate the painters’feelings,"when people are sad,they feel that flower will burst into tears;in the moment of departure,even the tweet of birds break the heart".The expression of"feelings of autumn" as shown in bird-and-flower paintings are infused by the painters,which is people’s feeling towards autumn,showing different painters’different life experience and aesthetic taste.The mood of the paintings could also vary.People even show different feelings towards the same object.Joy,cheerfulness,melancholy and desolation are all possible responses.Bird-and_flower paintings in the Ming dynasty that depict autumn are mostly about wild ducks in the reeds,withered lotus and a lonely gull,cicada singing in the autumn wind,birds among flowers,fragrant lotus flowers and so on.The moods of the paintings are either about the taste of the wild,or the beauty of plants and the pride in the cold weather.The uses of ink and paintbrush also have different styles,showing different advantages.The court style painters advocated expressing the spirit through the features,thus their paintings shows the flowers and leaves with different features,and demonstrate the meticulous objects,such as feathers,grasses or insects in great detail.Therefore the poetic feelings of the court style paintings are produced by the images.The pursuit of"portraying real scenes clearly and implying unreal scenes",and the idea that "through real environment,the spirit could be presented" in the Ming dynasty are ways to express moods and feelings through life-like representation of modeling.The literati painters,on the other hand,advocated showing spirit through outside objects,forming poems through languages,drawing a picture because of poems,and singing and chanting to benefit the soul.They preferred to paint about poetic scenes,so that the poetic mood and the scene in the painting could integrate together.Therefore the literati paintings are mostly about pomes."Paint the scenes which are difficult to put to the pictures,and complement them with poems.Chant the verses which are difficult to chant,and complement them with paintings".In addition,there were also folk artists,who have absorbed the strong points of court style paintings and literati paintings.They painted on silk and paper,or made their paintings on the surfaces of apparatus.Their pictures are often about stories and fairytales,expressing moral lessons.They also painted flowers and birds with great aesthetic meanings,which are widely used in practical objects and arts and crafts.The "feelings of autumn" often have more positive meanings.For example,lotus flowers expresses prosperity,the pomegranate means many children and so on,which expressed people’s wishes for a better life.Because the temperaments of the images are often deeply rooted in people’s minds through the course of history,they often express certain fixed cultural meanings.As expressed in Painting Collection in the Year Xuanhe,"peony among flowers,phoenix and peacock among birds should express prosperity,whereas pine,bamboo,plum and chrysanthemum,the gull and the wild goose should express the leisure of nature and wildness..." Knowing something about the established concepts of aesthetic opinions will help us understand the characteristics of "feelings of autumn" as expressed in the Ming dynasty bird-and-flower paintings.