Chinese landscape painting
Part A
Below are two examples of Chinese landscape painting – one by Li Cheng, who painted during the end of the Five Dynasties Period and beginning of the Northern Song and the other is by Ma Yuan, a painter of the Southern Song Dynasty.
Attributed to Li Cheng, A Solitary Temple Amid Clearing Peaks, Five Dynasties/Northern Song dynasty, c. 960, hanging scroll, ink and color on silk (44 × 22″)
Ma Yuan, Viewing Plum Blossoms by Moonlight, Southern Song dynasty, fan mounted as an album leaf, ink and color on silk (97⁄8 × 101⁄2″)
Part 1:
Compare and Contrast the two works with a focus on how the two different artists have approached the subject of landscape. Do the works reveal different artistic goals? Differences in the ways they were meant to be viewed? Note the scale of the two works! What do the differences in the artists’ approaches reveal about the differences between the eras in which the works were made?
(at least 250 words; 10 points)
Part 2:
Read through your classmates’ responses and engage with at least one of them. Is there anything you feel that they missed? Are there ways you could have improved your own response based on reading others’? (at least 50 words)
(5 points)
Classmate’s post – Daniel
In the li cheng painting we see a palace and a small village in a valley the main difference Is the amount of detail li goes into the piece, the amount of bold dark areas give a higher sense of depth than ma yuan. While ma yuan doesn’t have environmental detail like li, but the human figures are highly detailed it shows the way the fabric lays on the body and the strokesfor their hair. We do see some similarities between the two one would be the trees which are plum blossoms which we can clearly see in li with the trees scattered across the valley inma yuan we see a lonely plum blossom hanging off a cliff. Another similarity would be how the shading and other objects fade into the background, this dark to light gradient as the landscape goes down and when a new landform is made the gradient restarts and fades as it goes down,I feel the differences in the dynasties are shown by li by showing the fertility of the land and the kingdom they had while ma shows a pair of men wandering may be in search for the new capital after the capital in the north was taken by the invaders.
Part B ( a paragraph)
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Zhang Zeduan’s Peace Reigns Along the River (also known as Along the River During the Qingming Festival) is a handscroll that depicts life in a thriving Chinese urban center and its outskirts. The painting is dense with details and gives us a fascinating glimpse at the daily lives of ordinary people (although there are certainly many kinds of people who are excluded from this image – note how few women there are!)
The link below will take you to a high resolution version of the painting. Take some time to explore the scroll and examine the details. Then choose one detail and discuss why you find it interesting and what insights about life during the Northern Song dynasty you have gained from it. Was there anything that surprised you? Take a screenshot of your chosen detail and upload it as part of your post (embed it using the picture icon on the rich text editor; do not include it as an attachment). Peace Reigns Along the River full size image (Links to an external site.) (click on the image to zoom) Zhang Zeduan, Peace Reigns Along the River (detail), Northern Song Dynasty, late 11th to early 12th century, handscroll, ink and colour on silk (entire scroll 97/8 x 2081/4″) |