A Study On The Color Style Of Lan Ying’s “Boneless Landscapes” ——Centered On White Clouds And Red Trees

In the late Ming Dynasty,many outstanding and distinguished literati and professional painters emerged in the world of Chinese painting,who did not seek to follow the styles of their predecessors,but borrowed from the past to open up the present,forming their own unique artistic outlook.In the field of landscape painting,Lan Ying’s "boneless landscapes" were particularly acclaimed in the late Ming painting world,and the most significant feature of them was his color style.Lan Ying’s color style broke away from the constraints of his predecessors and incorporated his own color preferences into his paintings,reshaping and recreating the ancient method of coloring in his use of artistic language,forming a different kind of "boneless landscapes" from that of Dong Qichang.At the same time,the "Wulin School",led by Lan Ying,also emerged in the painting world during the Ming and Qing dynasties,adding luster to traditional Chinese color landscape painting with its dense,transparent,innovative and peculiar use of colors.This paper,titled "A Study of the Color Style of Lan Ying’s ’Boneless Landscapes’ ",focuses on the painting White Clouds and Red Trees and attempts to review and sort out the history of the development of "boneless landscape" and analyze the color style in Lan Ying’s paintings.Here,we attempt to explore three aspects: "boneless landscapes" and Lan Ying’s color preference;Lan Ying’s new conception of colors judging from White Clouds and Red Trees;and a peek at the causes of Lan Ying’s style.Through these discussions,we try to answer the question: What is the relationship between Lan Ying and "boneless landscape" ?What are the differences between his conception of colors and that of Dong Qichang? What are the differences in the colors used in his landscapes from different periods? What was his preference for traditional pigments and colors? How to define the specific color style shown in White Clouds and Red Trees? What are the breakthroughs in terms of the structures of brushwork,coloring techniques,and the color layout of Lan Ying’s "boneless landscapes" ?What factors contributed to the formation of Lan Ying’s style? What impact did this style have on later generations of painters? How did the reception of the Lan Ying style change later through the history of painting? How did the Lan Ying’s style as we know it today come to be? How to objectively view the aesthetic value and cultural significance of Lan Ying’s color style?These questions above are intended to be answered in this research to contribute to the better understanding of the legitimate place of traditional color in ancient painting.