Handscrolls in the Song Dynasty or in Tang dynasty or you can compare - Essay Example

Gu lived during the Jin Dynasty (265-240) and is known as a the founder of the classical Chinese painting. The predominant style of painting during the Jin Dynasty was scroll paintings. Gu was from Wuxi family and worked as a government official when still of a young age. Gu was not only a painter but also wrote several poems and essays. He had a chance to travel to many places and he would document his experiences as poems, essays or paintings. He is a very important figure in studying Chinese art history (McCausland, 43).

This paper looks at Gu kaizshi works of art and analyses the specific characteristics of these paining as a way of getting insight into the style used by Chinese artist during the Jin dynasty. Nushi Zhen “Admonitions of the Instructress of the Ladies in the Palace”) This is one of the most documented paintings by Gu. This painting is adopted from Zhag Hua’s moralizing text that details the right behavior that ladies in the Imperial Harlem should show. This scroll is made of direct quotation from the texts which are followed by illustrations in terms of painting.

The paintings were made with ink drawn on silk materials. The paintings in this hand scroll are very different from those of the Han dynasty. Unlike the previous paintings the figures in this hand scroll have characterized facial expressions showing emotions (McCausland, 560. This shows a development towards the creation of portraits with the figures showing individual characters and is not general like the previous pictures. An example of this portrayal is seen in scene 10 when a lady approaching the emperor was repulsed by a gesture of his raised arm.

Gu uses long even strokes of his brush that show the swirling of the drapery. One can also read the expressions on the two characters involved. An important aspect of Gu painting in this scroll is the strokes. He uses evenly narrow and long strokes without a lot of diversification. This kind of line was named as spring-silkworm-spitting-silk line. It was the earliest line style used by Chinese artist and it was not until Tang dynasty where the artists started using more diversified line strokes.

Gu was also limited in terms of the colors used to paint the apparel worn by his characters. This is because the color used was only ink either ochre or vermilion ((McCausland & Gu, 356). Gold was used in representing ornamentation in women. Gu paid a lot of attention to details as seen in his work of art and this explains why it was possible to characterize his figures. This was borrowed by other artist and it now possible to tell a person’s character from the manner they are displayed in portraits.

Nymph Of Luo River This is another work of art which has contributed to the growth of the modern day Chinese art. This work of art was based on a poem written by Cao Zhi. This art can be seen as a milestone in the transition from figure painting to landscape painting. It is from the Jin dynasty that artists started to recognize the powerful influence of nature as setting was now seen to be an integral part of displaying themes in paintings. The originating is based on the story of the price Cao zhi meeting a nymph by the Luo River.

This story is found in a poem written by Cao zhi himself. The nymph was the daughter of a mythical ruler called Fuxi. This is a doomed romance since the gods and human cannot marry as they live in different worlds. This form of art also shows the