Which of the five major schools of Chinese painting is your favorite?

The 20th century witnessed the emergence of numerous artistic schools in the Chinese painting scene, each of which made indelible contributions to the development of Chinese painting.

Among these genres, the Mariner School, Beijing-Tianjin School, Lingnan School, Jinling School, and Chang’an School have had the greatest influence. Among them, the Mariner School is the most powerful and influential, while the Lingnan School is the most systematic.

In these genres, the Mariner School, Beijing-Tianjin School, Lingnan School, Jinling School, and Chang’an School have had the greatest impact. Among them, the Mariner School is the strongest and most influential, while the Lingnan School is the most systematic.

1

“Hai Shang Hua Pai, Ge Ling Feng Sao” can be translated into English as “The Maritime School of Painting, Each Leading in Their Own Style.”

Works by Wu Hufan

The art movement was born in the late 19th century and flourished in the 20th century. In late 19th century Shanghai, it served as both a stronghold for Western colonizers penetrating China and a point of integration between Chinese and Western civilizations. As a result, artists from all over the country flocked to Shanghai, creating conditions for the formation of the Shanghai School of Painting.

At the end of the 19th century, the most prestigious names included Zhao Zhiqian, Zhang Zixiang, Ren Xiong, Ren Xun, Ren Bonian, and Hu Gongshou. In the 20th century, Shanghai School painters passed on the baton like relay runners, leading to the emergence of a large number of artists.

One Hundred Thousand Atlas by Ren Xiong

Renowned artists in the Republic of China were Wu Changshuo, Qian Hui ‘an, Huang Shanshou, Huang Binhong, Wu Hufan, Zhang Daqian, Lin Fengmian, Liu Haisu, Feng Zikai, Lu Yanshao, Zhao Ziyun, Zhu Qizhan, Xie Zhiliu, etc. After the founding of New China, there emerged a group of Shanghai painters, such as Cheng Shifa, Liu Danzhai, Chen Peiqiu, Lin Ximing, Yu Zicai, Han Tianheng and so on.

The Sea painting school built a bridge between the traditional painting of ancient China and the modern Chinese painting, and at the same time swept away the lifeless imitation of the ancient wind in the painting world at that time, and established the special status of the sea painting in the modern and modern painting world, affecting the whole East. The sea painting school has the following characteristics:

Works by Huang Binhong

First, learning from the folk and learning from the West became the basic pattern of the development of Chinese painting in the 20th century;

Second, Shanghai painters mostly made a living by selling their paintings. Especially before liberation, almost all painters had embellishment, painters not only to cater to buyers, but also to maintain their own personality, in order to make their own art commodities invincible;

Works by Zhang Daqian

Third, there is no fixed style but there are their own personalities. The vast majority of Shanghai school painters are literati painters with both moral and academic accomplishment, and many painters are good at poetry, books, painting and printing. Such as Wu Changshuo, Zhang Daqian, Zhao Shuru, Zhao Ziyun, Qian Gangtie, Wang Ge簃, Lai Chusheng, Han Tianheng, etc.;

Fourth, strong inclusiveness. The Sea painting School does not refer to painters from Shanghai, but refers to painters from all over Shanghai. There are very few painters who were really born in Shanghai.

2

Beijing and Tianjin painting School, a hundred flowers bloom

Jincheng works

The Beijing-Tianjin Painting School mainly refers to the painters in Beijing and Tianjin. Basically followed the orthodox painting thought of the Qing Dynasty, advertised the “four Kings” of the Qing Dynasty, and emphasized the inheritance of the ancient law.

In 1919, led by Jin Cheng and Zhou Zhaoxiang, the famous “Chinese Painting Research Association” was organized to carry out research and training activities for young people with the purpose of “studying ancient methods and acquiring new knowledge”. Later, Jincheng set up the “Lake Society Painting Association”, gathered students to teach, learn a lot, in order to create new Chinese painting talents.

Works by Li Keran

The representative painters of the Republic of China were Jin Cheng, Chen Shizeng, Pu Ru, Qi Baishi, Yu Feiyin, Dong Shouping, Li Kuchan, Zhou Huaimin, Wu Zuoren and so on. After the founding of New China, the representative painters were Li Keran, Tian Shiguang, Bai Xueshi, Qigong, Yang Yanwen and so on.

The characteristics of the Beijing-Tianjin painting School and the sea painting school are roughly the same, there is no unified art mode, creative freedom, its influence is not as good as the sea painting school.

3

Lingnan School of painting, eclectic between Chinese and Western

Gao Jianfu works

The Lingnan School of Painting is different from the above two schools. It is the most systematic and influential painting school after the rise of the sea painting school, and the modern famous artists Xu Beihong, Zhang Daqian, Fu Baoshi, Pan Yuliang, Jiang Zhaohe and so on were influenced by it to varying degrees.

The Lingnan School of painting advocated “drawing from life, reflecting reality, facing the masses, appreciating both elegance and folklore”, and advocated the slogan of “eclectic Chinese and Western, blending ancient and modern” in technique, creating a brand new painting system.

Works by Gao Qifeng

The main characteristics of his works are: bold integration of traditional painting, but also learn from Japanese painting, Western painting, emphasis on perspective and three-dimensional sense, bold color and other expression techniques.

Chinese lines are rarely used in painting, but color and ink rendering are used to express image and texture. The image of the picture is vivid, the characters and animals are realistic, and the colors are bright and natural.

Works by Chen Shuren

The founders of the Lingnan Painting School were Gao Jianfu, Gao Qifeng, and Chen Shuren, referred to as “Two and one Chen”. As the leader of Lingnan Painting School, Gao Jianfu studied in Japan in his early years, and set up the “Spring Sleep Painting Academy” in Guangzhou in the 1930s, which cultivated a large number of art talents. Guan Shanyue and Li Xiongcai, the masters of Lingnan Painting School, all came from this school.

Gao Jianfu is a versatile, meticulous brushwork, freehand brushwork, landscape, characters, feathers, flowers, grasses and insects, animals, calligraphy can do anything. He boldly integrates various techniques of traditional painting, draws lessons from Japanese painting and Western painting, attaches importance to perspective and three-dimensional sense, and uses color and ink rendering to express image and texture in his works, often achieving the effect of standing without bones. It can be seen that Gao Jianfu’s skill is extraordinary.

Works by Gao Qifeng

His younger brother Gao Qifeng achievements are also very outstanding, especially the animal painting is very characteristic, extraordinary momentum, his lion, tiger, pine eagle was Sun Yat-sen considered to be the representative of the revolutionary spirit, his works are very popular in Hong Kong, Taiwan, Macao and Southeast Asia collectors.

At present, the price of Gao Qifeng’s works on the market is very expensive, often hundreds of thousands or millions of yuan, which is beyond the reach of other Lingnan painters.

Works by Chen Shuren

Chen Shuren was also one of the founders of the Lingnan painting School and enjoyed a high reputation during the Republic of China. In the 1930s, his works were collected by museums in France and Germany. Chen is good at flowers and birds, landscape, poetry, calligraphy, his works pay attention to sketching, the pursuit of quiet meaningful taste, especially the painting of wicker, reed and bamboo sticks most of the spirit and style.

In addition to the “sophomore Chen”, there are He Xiangning, Gao Jianzeng, Zhao Shaoang, Huang Dufeng, Huang Fangwu, Huang Junbi, Zhang Shuqi, Li Gemin, Fang Rending, Guan Shanyue, Li Xiongcai, Yang Shanxen, Lin Yong, Yang Zhiguang, Wang Yujue and so on.

4

Jinling painting school, unconventional

Works by Fu Baoshi

The Jinling School of Painting refers to a group of painters who lived in Nanjing after the founding of New China, who got rid of the ancient ink, and had a distinctive personality. At the same time, it has strong national characteristics and a sense of The Times, which opened a new generation of modern landscape painting school.

The character of the first school is Fu Baoshi, and the main painters are Ya Ming, Song Wenzhi, Wei Zixi, Wu Linsheng, Fu Xiaoshi, Lu Xingtang, Song Yulin and so on.

Works of Yamin

These painters had a great influence on the Chinese painting world in the late 20th century, especially Fu Baoshi, who created a new wrinkle method that was both varied and uniform in practice.

Fu Baoshi’s characters are good at combining the artistic conception beauty of classical poetry with the image beauty of painting art, which is chic, elegant and ancient in style.

5

Chang ‘an painting school, simple and thick

Works by Zhao Wangyun

The Chang ‘an School of Painting, a group of painters gathered in Xi ‘an, Shaanxi province, held high the banner of “reaching for tradition with one hand and life with the other”. They extended their painting themes to ethnic minorities, pastoral landscapes, the vast grasslands outside the fortress, the snowy Qilian Mountains, the wind-swept Gobi Desert, and the Great Northwest Plateau.

The works of Chang ‘an School of painting are bold, poetic and touching in form. The figures of the first school were Zhao Wangyun and Shi Lu, and the main painters were He Haixia, Liu Wenxi and Wang Xijing. The most outstanding painters in the Chang ‘an School were Shi Lu and Zhao Wangyun.

Shi Lu’s works

Shi Lu was once known as “China’s Van Gao”, he showed a strong personality with “wild, strange, chaotic and black”. His brushwork has many setbacks, rough and angular. Later works have reached a high degree of unity of artistry and thought, and the works have the charm of attracting, infecting and inspiring people.

However, Zhao Wangyun’s works mostly express real life and reflect people’s spiritual outlook. His paintings often combine landscape and figures, and his painting style is simple and thick. His donkey is very distinctive, the pen is simple and ink is smooth, God shape is both lively and lovely.

Shi Lu’s works

From the trends of the above five schools, most of them are showing a situation of decline from prosperity, with each generation being inferior to the previous one. Some art schools are already in a weak state.

The main reason for this situation is that the knowledge and traditional skills of today’s artists are far inferior to those of previous artists. How to revive the glory of art schools has become an important issue facing today’s artists.