Geography and the Representation of Culture - Report Example

VISUAL ARTS AND FILM STUDIES By + Introduction Culture, also referred to as humanization, is a collection of human values which may include the process of utility value that has been created by people. Different communities have different cultures that they have adopted and live by them. Art is one major way of representing a community’s culture. Art is displayed in many ways including painting, sculpture, language and music among others. The Chinese visual art originates from the Chinese culture and heritage. Dating back to10000BC, the early Stone Age work of art comprises sculptures and simple poetry. The Chinese art relates to the ruling dynasties of emperors in China. The Chinese work of art has the oldest tradition all over the world. The decorative arts have been recognized to be extremely vital since the renaissance period. A lot of fine work has been produced in factories and large workshops by unknown artists in the Chinese porcelain field. Several European companies touring China for modern art couldn’t get a basis to exchange their art work with the Chinese organizations seeking presentation chances for their big organizations in Europe. Europeans faced a great challenge in understanding the changes in the Chinese arts. In Europe, art is quite advanced in terms of management and infrastructure. Obviously, China falls in monolithic cultural block while Europe does not. The Western and Eastern Europe have been connected by associations, cultural networks and federations like EFA, PEARLE and IETM in an attempt to improve their cultures through art. The economic crisis in Europe has negatively impacted on artists since a greater part of the art gets funds from the public unlike in China. Most Chinese artists do not depend solely on the government to fund their projects. This makes Chinese artists far much better than Europe ones. (Silbergeld, 1982) In EU, the making of preparatory oil sketches also referred to as esquisses as research for finished painting came up in Italy in the sixteenth century and it still exists. Peter Paul Rubens and Charles Le Brun were among the people who discovered this style. After his appointment as the head of Painting and Sculpture Academy, Le Brun applied the sketch to French practice in art. The images below are examples of the preparatory oil sketches. This style is essential in a painter’s training whether in private or public sector. The purpose of esquisse work is to establish the basic composition of a picture and coloring. Esquisses guide the EU painters in producing more finished and larger paintings. This style is only common in EU painting but not in the Chinese style of painting. The EU artists experience a lot of mobility compared to the Chinese artists. The European integration has taken the initiative to encourage artist’s mobility. The artists circulate in other countries and continents to learn more and gather information concerning painting and sculpture. This mobility has over the years improved the quality of the art work in EU. The EU painting has some unique combination of colors adopted from other countries. (Fong, 1992) The Chinese painting style is mainly based on brush and ink being applied on paper. This style is the most economical in painting. The aim of Chinese artists in painting is to capture both the outer and inner appearance of a subject, its life force, energy and spirit. The Chinese painters do not prefer the use of color like the EU painters. They prefer to work with black and white because to them colors cause destruction in painting. They also reject the changing qualities of shadow and light as a modeling means together with opaque pigments which conceal mistakes. Instead, they rely on line, the inked brush indelible mark. Below are examples of Chinese paintings. Coloring is distinctive feature which distinguishes the EU painters from Chinese painters. The Chinese painters derive their painting techniques from calligraphy practice. Young artists copy the manuscripts of great calligraphers in making efforts to sharpen their skills of painting. With time, practitioners develop their own personal styles which they apply in both public and private paintings. At one time in China, good painting hands together with knowledge of literary style and history were the criteria for determining those to be recruited into government after doing the civil service examinations. Those who succeeded in these examinations regarded themselves as new elites and scholar officials. They had the responsibility of maintaining good cultural values and they had to ensure that art takes a larger part in maintenance and promotion of the Chinese culture. In China, it is greatly emphasized that art has to go hand-in-hand with history because they are greatly related. It is the artists’ interpretation of the past that will guide them in their work. (Smith, 1999) In Italy, the architects related their practices and theories to the Classical Roman examples. In Classical Rome, the Renaissance revival was vital in architecture just like in literature. It was essential for architect trainees to visit Rome for the purpose of studying the ancient buildings. In EU, the architectural elements like pilasters, columns, pediments, arches, domes and entablatures were common in Renaissance buildings. Renaissance architecture in the classical EU countries is characterized by mathematical proportion, harmonious form and a measurement unit based on human scale. During the Renaissance period, architects underwent training as humanists. This training helped in raising their status to artists from skilled labourers. Their hope was to come up with structures that appeal to both reason and emotion. The key people in the Renaissance architecture were Leon Battista Alberti, Filippo Brunelleschi and Andrea Palladio. Below are examples of the architectural structures in Italy. Filippo Brunelleschi travelled to Rome to carry out a study on the ancient buildings. Among his achievements is the construction of Florence Cathedral dome. He used the classical orders Ionic, Corinthian and Doric in an appropriate and consistent manner. Brunelleschi’s structures are based on the system of proportion even though they appear to be simple. He could begin with a measurement unit whose repetition created an element of harmony throughout the building. This was witnessed in Ospedale degli Innocenti. This structure bases on a cube that determines the distance between and the height of columns and depth of each of the bays. Alberti’s treatises include De Sculptura (sculpture), De re Aedificatoria (architecture) and Della Pittura (painting). Della Pitura was an artists’ fundamental handbook that gave a description on the principles of linear perspective that were first discovered by Brunelleschi. Alberti’s facades of Tempio Malatestiano and the Santa Maria Novella church relate to the Roman temple fronts. The classical architecture principles are also witnessed in the Sant’Andrea Church. The columns are not for decorations but they have been used to bear the load i.e. load-bearing supports. The EU architecture is not merely based on constructing buildings but it is a way of creating meaning to their culture. Palladio’s specialization was in domestic architecture apart from designing two impressive and beautiful churches in Venice. He became the chief architect of Venetian Republic and wrote an influential treatise, I Quattro libri dell’architettura. His villas are centrally planned. He designed the Villa Emo which was a working estate and Villa Rotonda an aristocratic refuge. These plans are based on ideals of axiality, symmetry and clarity. The Palladian designs were simple and could easily be reproduced in rural parts of England and in American colonies. The diagram below shows an image of the Florence Cathedral i.e. Santa Maria del Fiore that was designed by Filippo Brunelleschi. All these styles don’t feature in the Chinese art work. The technique and style of Chinese art more so, painting, have greatly changed over the years from portraits that are detailed to flower paintings executed with brush strokes. Such changes and modifications have led to a broad and rich tradition giving artists a chance for personal development and experimentation. Examples of motifs in Chinese painting include birds, flowers, landscapes and animals. The Chinese painters stress more on the message of their painting. The painting expresses the subject’s inner spirit or the painter’s feelings. Most Chinese paintings are characterized by a calligraphic inscription like a beautiful poem, a saying or a poetic explanation of the subject. It is noted that the EU artists pay little attention to feelings and emotions when painting. Symbolism and philosophy play a major role in Chinese art. Every animal carries a meaning and the artist can use a specific animal to convey a message to the people. Different types of flowers are also used as symbols to pass messages like good luck, summer, wisdom, old age, purity, sweetness and renewal. ( Zhen, 2004) The Chinese painters use rice paper or silk. These materials are delicate and thin for easy absorption of paint. In ancient periods, bones and shells could also be used as canvases. The painters use special Chinese paint or water colors. The mastery of Chinese painting is among the most demanding art works in the world. It requires a long period of dedication, self-discipline and serious study. The brush painting in China is astonishing in that each stroke of a brush makes a defining move which cannot be corrected or improved. There is no sketch prepared in this painting neither a model used; the artist applies instinctual strokes to transport mental images to mulberry paper. Getting it well done in the first trial is the principle applied and the artist must paint correctly from the first stroke to the last. This is different from the West where artists apply painting-over and water color corrections. A Chinese painting is, therefore, a symbolic expression and this gives the reason why the artists never paint a full flower. They only paint few blossoms which represent the subject. There are several differences in application of color between modern western painting and Chinese painting. The aim of Chinese painting is to express the features of different subjects but not to display the different shades of the subject color. For instance, the addition of traces of green or brown to trees, rocks, grass, leaves is applied for purposes of reinforcing a state of weather or particular season’s feeling. The Chinese painters have complete freedom of method of expression, structural composition and artistic conception. Absence of content in Chinese painting can still create variety and rhythm because the shapes and sizes are different. Below are samples of the Chinese images. The Chinese brush is designed to have a finer tip that is suitable to deal with a broad range of subjects and enables artists to produce the variations required by distinct styles. The ancient artists used yu pi yu mo meaning to have brush, to have ink. The brush is also designed to produce the required shade, texture and dotting methods that are used to distinguish plants from trees and for simple embellishment. The strokes of the brush give painting beauty and rhythm and depict the outer and inner qualities of the subject. They also reveal the style and individuality of the artist himself. There are majorly three types of painting brushes: crab claw brush that comes in small and large sizes, flower painting brush and brush for painting bamboo and orchids. The brushes for writing include Hunan sheep’s hair and rabbit’s hair brushes. The Chinese ink is glossy and very deep when applied to silk or paper. Thin ink appears to be lively and translucent. Sometimes artists use ink alone in creating rhythm between darkness and brightness, and lightness and density, and to create the subject’s weight, texture and coloring. The original Chinese paper was made from different materials like pulp, bark and old fishing nets. Modern papers are more advanced because they are made by machines. The paper absorbs ink quickly and its size will determine the quality of ink to be used for strokes. Different paper gives different results; some are rough to quickly absorb ink like a sponge while others are smooth to resist ink. Pictures of the Chinese brush and ink are shown below. Artists in EU applied plein-air approach in capturing modern life scenes in suburban and urban settings. August Renoir and his colleagues eroded the distinctions between finished work and sketch by creating informal compositions which had loose strokes of color that was not modulated. Their series paintings were associated with Post-impressionists. The Post-impressionists explored the art making mechanisms to distinguish the styles used in France. The works of Signac View of Collioure provide landscapes created without lines, but only dots that had contrasting and pure colors created one after another. Neo-impressionists had a belief that colors looked more vibrant if they are mixed by viewer’s eyes than on artist’s palette. It is, therefore, noted that there are distinct differences between the EU artists and Chinese artists, more so in painting. The artists adopt their styles from historic occurrences in attempt to promote their cultures. The painting styles have been evolving from the ancient periods to modern era and more advancements are being made by artists to maintain and promote their cultures. References BRIESSEN, F. V. (1964). The way of the brush; painting techniques of China and Japan. Tokyo, Rutland, Vt, C.E. Tuttle Co. FONG, W. C. (1992). Beyond representation: Chinese painting and calligraphy 8th-14th century. New York, Metropolitan Museum of Art. FONG, W. C. (2001). Between two cultures: late nineteenth and twentieth century Chinese paintings from the Robert H. Ellsworth Collection in the Metropolitan Museum of Art. New Haven [u.a.], Yale Univ. Press. GARDNER, H., TANSEY, R. G., & KLEINER, F. S. (1996). Gardners art through the ages. Fort Worth, Harcourt Brace College Publishers. HEARN, M. K. (2008). How to read Chinese paintings ; [in conjunction with the Exhibition Anatomy of a Masterpiece: How to Read Chinese Paintings organized by the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, and held there from March 1 through August 10, 2008]. New York, NY [u.a.], Metropolitan Museum of Art [u.a.]. SILBERGELD, J. (1982). Chinese painting style: media, methods, and principles of form. Seattle u.a, Univ. of Washington Press. SMITH, J. G. (1999). Issues of authenticity in Chinese painting: [on occasion of the international symposium ... held on December 11, 1999, at The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York]. New York, Dep. of Asian Art, the Metropolitan Museum of Art. TSOUKALIS, L., & EMMANOUILIDIS, J. A. (2011). The Delphic oracle on Europe: is there a future for the European Union? Oxford, Oxford University Press. ZHEN, L. Q. (2004). Chinese painting techniques for exquisite watercolors. Cincinnati, Ohio, North Light Books. Read More