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This week I introduced myself to my fellow classmates and discussed a painting in breakout groups to try and figure out what this painting meant. The painting was later explained to be a scene of a graveyard and filled with the ghosts/ goblins form the realm of the hungry ghosts. We also learned about how certain materials in painting and types of paintings illustrated a persons class and wealth in society. Ex) most paintings are made form paper, but one painting we saw in class was made from gold and was painted over showing the pure wealth of the owner of that painting. Landscape paintings were also considered for more higher/ wealthy classes in the earlier Dynasties.

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Yuan Dynasty
1271-1368
We learned in class about Foreground, Midground, and Background and how Chinese paintings differ from Western paintings. Chinese layout the foreground to background vertically in their painting rather than horizontally like in Western paintings. The use of blank spaces throughout these different layers are very important because they can be used to illustrate many different things such as water, air, and distance. We also discussed the significance of seals on paintings, especially from emperors, hand ow Chinese paintings all have meaning behind them/ a message. A great example of this is the Painting called Feeding Geese by Wang Xizhi (shown above) which uses colors of the former dynasty the Yuan Dynasty that ruled before the Mongols took over. The seals are basically like crests that represent someone.

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MasterWang Meng, (left) & Master Ni Zan (right) 

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Yuan Dynasty
1271-1368
This week we focused on the Four Great Masters. They were 4 famous artist that lived in the UN Dynasty. Each master had his own art style and techniques to their painting. Haung Gongwang was know for his 30ft scroll that took 3 years to complete. He retreated to the Mountains to escape society and to find peace in nature. Another fact about him was he only painted when he was in the right mood/ at peace, and for cropping off the tops of mountains. Master Ni Zan was arrogant, painted usually on hanging scrolls, painted mountains horizontally, and his work showed his emotions which was empty and lonesome. Master Wu Zhen was well educated but never attempted to hold a position of office. He instead escaped the city and the Mongols. He was not famous during the UN dynasty but was recognized later by art critics. He was fond of painting fishermen and painted from multiple perspectives, such as birds-eye view.
Finally Master Wang Meng. He followed in the footsteps of his grandfather, Famous painter Zhao Mengfu by taking a position in public office, but was later imprisoned by the Yuan dynasty while he had taken a position of office there. His art contained lots of texture, densely packed brush strokes, and filled almost all empty space.

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Seven Junipers Wen Zhengming Handscroll Ink on paper

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Ming Dynasty
1368-1644
Two rival schools of painting arose during the Ming dynasty. The first was the Zhe school of Painting founded by Dai Jin. Some key fetures of the school included ax-cut brushstrokes, one corner Composition, and Stark contrast of light and dark. Dong Qichang, considered a watershed figure in the history of Chinese painting, claimed that the school paintings had two flaws, which were the brushwork was overly expressive and lacked subtlety, and the professionals came from humble social backgrounds, in contrast to the cultivated literati." The Wu School of Painting was founded by Shen Zhou and Wen Zhengming. He studied the four great masters. The painting above was created by Wen Zhengming who, like most people of the time, loved and admired the juniper trees. He claimed that the twisting and elegant snarls of the branches seemed like dancing dragons throughout the tree. As in most Chinese art, the use of blank space is heavily used to emphasize the main subject which is the Juniper tree. Basically saying that nothing else around this tree matters compared to it and that the tree itself is captivating enough to stand alone in the painting.

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Ming Dynasty
1368 - 1644
Dang Qichang claimed and encouraged artists to not base their paintings solely on the Four great masters, but to learn from them and also go to experience nature for themselves to paint in their own way and how it is seen through their eyes. He also wanted artists to paint while at peace and not under stress. This makes sense to me because if an artist only paints a copy of a copy of a copy I feel like the meaning and armistices of not only the new painting but the original lose meaning. At that point in time you are basically a copy machine with no original ideas. It also limits you from discovering new things thus inhibiting growth in the study of art.
Another thing we learned in class was that the Forbidden City was based on the Ideal Chinese City. Buildings are measured by bays meaning the space between two pillars is one bay, so one side of the wall would have 8 pillars meaning it is 7 bays long. Bays can be of different sizes. I found this fact interesting because I have never heard of or seen a system based on a nonlinear or numerical system to represent the length of a building before.

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Qing Dynasty
1644-1911
This painting was created by  Badashanren one of the 4 great masters. Out of the Four Great Masters of the Qing Dynasty, Badashanren was arguably labeled as the greatest of them all. This painting above strikes a shocking resemblance to a painting created by another artist named Dong Qichang. In both paintings, you can see many similarities in tree design, mountain shapes, and space use. Some of the tree's foliage located in the foreground and mid-ground of the painting are painted using smudging instead of individual brush strokes. His round mountain formations also seem to mimic Dong Qichang's. Lastly, both artists use the element of blank space to their advantage. By leaving the sides of the mountain blank it gives the background a sense of distance and depth. Whether the blank space represents clouds across the mountain tops blocking the view or if it is so far away it is becoming difficult to see.

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Qing Dynasty
1644-1911
Gao Qipei
1672-1732
The artist who created this painting was Gao Qipei. He held many titles besides a painter, such as general, and vice president. It was said that he painted in very strange ways compared to other artists during the Ming dynasty. Not only did fill his painting with designs and color, excluding much use of blank spaces but did not use a brush after a vision he had in a dream. The dream told him to only use his hands and nails to paint from then on. He followed through with his vision. This is extremely impressive and interesting that he was able to use this method and still become such a famous artist. He basically mastered the art of finger painting. TO the untrained eye one would never be able to tell from the strokes that it was literally made by hand and not with a brush. He even grew out his nails allowing him to make small and fine detailed lines within his paints.

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Heian Period
794-1185
The use of barriers in this time frame and style is very interesting and seems to be very relevant in all of the art we have seen so far. Barriers, such as screens and walls, are used to divide. Not only the space within the paintings but the subjects within them such as men and women. The picture above clearly depicts this by placing walls between each individual which also happens to be of the opposite gender. Not only are these walls used to divide gender and space with in the painting, but to also separate societal status. An interesting characteristic to this painting specifically is how most of the people within the painting seem to be posing the exact same way, as though they were copy-pasted into different areas on the paints then given slight details to differentiate.  These style paintings also seem to lack a flow from foreground to background. Rather it looks almost as though the entire painting is zoomed-in foreground. This is most likely from the style used called Fukinuki yatai, basically meaning bird's eye view.

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12th century CE
The scroll painting Ban Dainagon has a portion illustrating the primary conflict or act that the entire scroll was based off above. It shows the burning of the palace gate that Ban Dainagon set ablaze to frame a rival. His rival was at first framed, but later the truth came out and he was then banished for his crimes, and deceit.
I enjoy the artwork depicting this scene. with all of the hectic movement of the people and flames within this section of the scroll. Conflicting with the Chinese art style by showing the ugly and disarray in the world rather than just the beauty of nature. And all of the movement and color I believe adds to the chaos by making your eyes dart not only form person to person in the foreground but all the way to the background to see what is causing it.

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 Hell Scroll Emakimono Ink and color on paper Kamakura 12th century CE

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This painting illustrates one of the six realms of hell within the Buddhist faith. This particular painting is of the realm that individuals are sent to if they abuse animals.
I like this painting for the colorful artwork and the style that the giant chicken was painted in. Like most of the Hell Scroll, the main subject the chicken in this case is heavily illustrated in the foreground and mid-ground. In a way, they,use a similar art style as Chinese painters who use blank spaces to illustrate water or distance, but this painting uses all black in the background in the same way. Used to show distance and emptiness in this particular painting.

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Landscape Sesshu Hanging scroll Ink and color on paper Muromachi  16th century

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In this painting, you can see many Chinese styles that were adopted by Japanese artists. I spotted one very common Chinese art style right off the bat which was the use of the 10,000 dots located throughout the entire painting representing vegetation growing along the tops and sides of the mountains. Another Chinese style is the use of blank spaces to represent water. This is used in the Midground and also in the background of the painting to represent the sky. The final Chinese art style is the large and grand mountain ranges that are not located in Japan.

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Pine and Crane (Kano Eitoku Fusuma)                                                                      1573 - 1615 CE 

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This painting has predominant traits structured off Chinese painting, incorporating mountains, the use of blank spaces, and conifer trees. The true landscape in Japan does not contain many mountains, but instead rolling hills. The blank area in the mid-ground and the background are used to illustrate depth/ distance. Chinese painters often use this blank space for that exact reason. The Final style adopted from Chinese painters is the use of conifer trees though out Japanese paintings to symbolize nature and beauty. There is one major distinguishing art style used to differentiate between traditional Chinese painting and Japanese painting. Instead of using wash colors to accent his painting (Name) uses gold dust to color his paintings