Research On The Lady Painting In Song And Yuan Dynasties

The genre of figure painting known as " Lady Painting" is a subset of traditional Chinese painting,and became an independent branch of art during the Song Dynasty.This paper provides a comprehensive review of the portraits of women during the Song and Yuan dynasties.The study examines the fundamental characteristics of these portraits,including their changing functions,evolving themes,shifting styles,and underlying meanings.In Part One,this paper discusses the basic overview of Song and Yuan Dynasty’s lady painting works,the artists,and their painting theories by analyzing the background of the era’s changes and the development of literati painting.In Part Two,the paper categorizes the themes of Song and Yuan dynasty paintings of ladies.The genre of ladies painting during this period inherits and develops,with the flourishing secular culture of the two Song dynasties,presenting secular artistic features in its themes.During the Yuan dynasty,literati pursued a life of seclusion,resulting in court ladies’ paintings mainly depicting religious legends and female characters from literature.By analyzing the themes depicted in the portrait paintings of ladies during the Song and Yuan dynasties,insights can be gained into the social and cultural changes that occurred during these periods.The third part in this paper mainly examines the evolution of the style of Song-Yuan ladies’ paintings.During the Song and Yuan dynasties,the development of paintings depicting ladies was influenced by both the aesthetic tastes of the imperial court and literati circles.As a result,“gongbi”(traditional Chinese realistic painting)and "baimiao"(traditional Chinese realistic painting)paintings of ladies developed concurrently.Furthermore,the emphasis on the aesthetic enjoyment of brushwork and literary themes is also reflected in the artistic language of paintings depicting ladies.This paper summarizes and analyzes the characteristics of female images in images,and interprets the difference in female aesthetic preferences between the Song-Yuan society under the influence of traditional morality and the previous period.In Part Four,compared to previous dynasties,the Song and Yuan Dynasty’s paintings of ladies depict female spaces with greater detail and precision,constructing an intricate and intimate space for women’s activities.The seclusion of women’s space implies the restriction of female etiquette.The emergence of specific objects,such as folding screens,copper mirrors,writing materials,not only serves as crucial elements in constructing female spaces,but also conveys male expectations towards women.In the court ladies paintings,women are portrayed as the object of observation,continuously measuring themselves to conform to the ideal standards of femininity in the minds of men.The cultural implications behind Chinese paintings of women can be further understood through an analysis of the female space and the women within them depicted in Song and Yuan dynasty paintings,given that most of the artists of such paintings were male.The spaces and ideal women portrayed by men in their art are infused with their consciousness and emotions.Through court ladies’ painting,male literati express their melancholic sentiments and their lofty,refined literary aspirations.Part Five primarily analyzes the changes in Ming-Qing dynasty ladies’ painting under the influence of Song-Yuan dynasty ladies’ painting.The appreciation for ladies’ painting became more profound,and its subject matter became more secular and rooted in everyday life.The "baimiao" lady painting,because of its manifestation of literati interests,was inherited and further developed during the Ming-Qing period.