First of all, let’s look at the origin of Chinese painting
“Chinese painting, the origin of ancient, pictographic characters, the foundation; Writing and painting, in the beginning, there is no difference, the same way.” In ancient times, there is a theory that calligraphy and painting have the same origin. Some people think that Fu Xi’s drawing of hexagrams and Cang Jie’s creation of characters are the pioneers of calligraphy and painting, “there is no difference between characters and drawings at the beginning.” That is to say, Chinese calligraphy and painting are derived from characters, Chinese characters are Chinese characters, Chinese characters are pictograms, pictograms are pictures, and each Chinese character is a complete painting. Chinese characters are composed of points and lines, and are arranged according to the principle of the balance between east and west in heaven and earth, and the balance between Yin and Yang. They are the ancestors of mechanics and philosophy, and are the most magical characters in the world. According to the principle of mechanics, only Chinese characters can both lie down and stand up.
Each Chinese character not only has an independent sound, form and meaning, but also the “meaning” behind it, which has an independent life. For example, “Wu” is “stop war”, that is, “stop war”, “life” is “a knock”, that is, lie on the ground and kowtow to everything, and know that reverence is “life”. “Blessing” from the hieroglyphic text that is a person holding the wine altar sacrifice, wine is the essence of food, the most precious thing in ancient times, to be dedicated, so “dedication” is “blessing”. From this point of view, Chinese calligraphy and painting are based on different points and lines to carry out a reasonable layout to describe a certain form and express a certain ideological connotation.

Second, from the basic tools of Chinese painting

The three magic weapons left to us by our ancestors: brush, ink, and rice paper, taken together, the three magic weapons have a common feature that they are all changing, that is, the brush is soft, its state is changing, the five colors of ink are also changing, and the ink on rice paper is also changing. From this point of view, Chinese painting is not an art of engraving and seeking shape, but more of a reasonable grasp of the changes of ink and brush through the shape of painting, and the pursuit of “the unity of nature and man” art. Qi Baishi said that “similarity is common, not similarity is not, the beauty is between similarity and non-similarity”, which is the mystery of Chinese painting pursuit. Such as the medicine of traditional Chinese medicine, according to two, money measurement, according to the condition, with a proper dosage, then the medicine to the disease, good doctors also. Chinese painting is also based on the change of brush and ink, to find a certain moderate form, since the expression of certain feelings and ideas. Therefore, Chinese painting reflects not only the depicted objects, but more is the painter’s idea itself, so there are “all creation, the center of the heart source”, “mind” said, “consciousness” is the main body of Chinese painting.

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Third, from the element composition of Chinese painting, Chinese painting is composed of poetry, books, paintings, printing and other aspects.

“Poetry” does not necessarily have to be inscribed on the picture, and “book” does not necessarily have to write calligraphy on the picture, but means that the picture landscape should be poetic, noble, beautiful and moving. The shape of the object scene requires the brushwork of calligraphy, which requires infinite changes, but it is just right and natural; “Painting” is the body of the picture, which requires between similarity and unsimilarity; “Printing” is not independent of the signature, but in the balance, white, color and use, but also the size, shape, knife style of “printing” with the painter’s temperament, picture style kiss match heaven. These show that Chinese painting requires a high comprehensive ability, and a single painting modeling ability is only the most basic skill, but more than painting modeling things. Since ancient times, there have also been many paintings skilled in modeling, but they are called “craftsmen”, the real Chinese painting must have calligraphy, literature, philosophy, ethics, nature, society and many other comprehensive skills.

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Fourth, from the expression of Chinese painting

That’s the ink. Brush and ink refers to the form and method of the painter’s brush and ink. Painters express their unique feelings and ideas through the form of brush and ink. There is an ancient saying that “painting is like its person”, so the form of brush and ink is the first element of Chinese painting, and the study of brush and ink is the main pursuit of painters. Because the ink itself has an independent life, carrying the national social ideology and aesthetic concepts, such as the “Tibetan feng” in the calligraphy pen, why should “Tibetan” be beautiful? Because we should “converge” and not “show our edge”. “Wealth does not reveal wealth, poverty is not short ambition” is a social cognition. In ancient times, there is a saying of “writing to carry the road, painting to carry the road”, “road” is not only the law of the development of things, but also social cognition and wisdom, the “road” in painting is mostly the “road” of ink, such as a line of Chinese painting, requiring “twists and turns” straight, thick and light, thick and thin, dry, empty and solid, and many other changes, the line should be heavy and slow.

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A straight, unchanging line is called a “dead line.” This special aesthetic is precisely the world view of the Chinese nation, that is, change and development are the true meaning of things. Therefore, there are “born in distress, die in happiness”, “victory is not arrogant, defeat is not discouraged”, “to ship gold into iron, to ship iron into gold”, “prevention gradually”, “Don’t look at the joy of today, until the future pull the list” and so on are relative changes in life.

For example, the two connected lines in Chinese painting, it is best not to directly connect, but to leave a little bit, called “pen break meaning connection”, in fact, in life, such as construction, there is a “seam docking”, otherwise there will be problems; The relationship between people is also “a gentleman’s friendship is light as water”; Husband and wife should also “respect each other as guests”; In the work of people is “talk can not be full, work can not be absolutely”, we must leave room. Master Huang Binhong’s landscape paintings directly “replace lines with points”, which are ethereal, plump, thick and elegant.

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Fifth, from the perspective of the structure of Chinese painting

Chinese painting does not talk about natural perspective, some people say that the three far is the law of perspective, in fact, it is the principle of layout, Chinese painting in the picture image structure only according to the relationship between pen and ink, such as black squeezing white, white squeezing black, with thick light, with light being thick, with virtual reality, with reality being virtual, with long being short, with short being long, etc., through the mutual brush and ink relationship principle to depict the relationship between objects and images. This is also the natural law of coexistence of all things in the world, and the philosophical principle of the unity of opposites. The composition rules of Chinese painting are generally “triangle”, “Z-shape”, “S-shape”.

“Triangle” is based on the scientific principle that “three points determine a plane”, in the Yi study, “three” is the source of all things, “one life two, two produce three, three produce all things”, “three pillars”, there is “three” there is the world. “Three” in Chinese painting is a commonly used cardinal principle, such as point moss in a group of three points, painting leaves bamboo leaves in a group of three, painting stones in three sides, painting flowers and trees, etc., are based on “three”. The ancients said that “three people must have my teacher”, “three stooges are better than one”, “things are but three”, “a good man three help” and so on in life are the same idea. Only a family with “father, mother and son” can be happy, and only a world with at least three forces can be harmonious. This is the world view and aesthetic concept of the Chinese nation.

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“Z shape” and “S shape” spiral upward, in line with the law of development of things, can also be regarded as a plurality of “triangle” composition method, but the two adjacent “triangles” must be the same side, the same side to be connected. This is the great beauty, the Chinese nation has been living for thousands of years, the “blood source” relationship is the foundation of its existence, Chinese society has been a family society, such as hundreds of family names, the practice of heterosexual marriage, not only scientific reproduction, but also to maintain peace. In ancient times, there are many examples of war through “changing marriage and making peace”. Harmony is the highest concept of society.

Chinese paintings talk about “interpenetration”, such as “two adjacent lines must intersect (extension line)”, parallel lines are “failure”, three or more lines can not intersect at one point, otherwise it is “dead knot”, which is a scientific principle of point and line arrangement and combination, while carrying profound social ethics, everything in the world is connected. “Because there is fruit”, “there is a mountain there is water”, “wood fire, fire generates gold, gold generates soil, soil generates wood” society is a net, must be orderly combed, if many things tangled in a place will be a problem, between people to hand in hand, love each other, “and” is the great beauty of society.

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Sixth, from the theme of Chinese painting

Although divided into mountains and rivers, figures, flowers and birds, but follow a “high, big, on” principle, “high” is noble and noble; “Big” is the atmosphere, the right qi; “Up” is supreme and elegant. This is our national spirit, such as the landscape painting “search the peak of the draft”, “strange”, “handsome”, “grand”, “male” and so on for beauty; The “plum, Orchid, bamboo and chrysanthemum four gentlemen” in the flower and bird painting is loved by everyone, because the plum blossom is cold, the chrysanthemum is proud of the frost, the orchid is fragrant, and the bamboo is humble.

Qi Baishi was excluded in the Beijing painting circle at that time, although Xu Beihong elevated, but by many eyes, the reason is not all the stalls, but he broke the taboos of Chinese painting subject matter, such as toilets, feces, mice, insects and so on some of the things are moved to the painting, called him the lower Liba people, do not know elegance, and finally gave him a “big elegant” name.

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Chinese painting gives people the highest realm, the supreme idea, the excellent wisdom, in order to purify the soul. Some people summed up the “Yi” Jing into three words, that is, “up, stop, positive”, “up” must be positive, looking forward, there is a pursuit, “stop” is the bottom limit and criteria, such as “being a king, stop in benevolence; As a minister, stop in respect; For the Son of man, stop in filial piety; For a father, stop at kindness; Relations with Chinese people stop at letters.” “Right” is the way, to stand upright and upright. In fact, Chinese painting is not only the subject matter, ink, structure, artistic conception, all of which are pursued in these three words.

From this point of view, Chinese painting is not a pure painting art, because it does not depict the image itself as the first purpose, more is to describe the image of the brush and ink to express a social idea, the performance of human intelligence, wisdom, morality and ethics, as well as the cognition and grasp of the world. From the perspective of Chinese and Western painting, Western painting is science, while Chinese painting is philosophy. Western painting gives people the image perception, while Chinese painting gives people the inspiration of ideas and the purification of hearts. Western painting is about technique, Chinese painting is about skill; Western painting is called looking, Chinese painting is called quality; Western painting is expression, Chinese painting is preaching; Western painting is exciting, Chinese painting is awakening.