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| ACM's Scholar's in Chinese culture gallery - courtesy ACM
After months of renovations at Singapore's Asian Civilisations Museum (ACM), two new galleries were unveiled last November- Tang Shipwreck and Scholars in Chinese Culture. Both these galleries contain treasures from China and I was inspired to write about one of the artefacts on display, a painting by Wang Yuanqi (1642-1715) from the early 18th century (figure 1). For this post, I thought of using this masterpiece to give a brief introduction to traditional Chinese landscape painting. I am assuming that you are familiar with the Western classical landscape paintings of this era where art is about realism - a near photographic representation of what you see (think masters like Rembrandt, Vermeer). Landscapes of China are very different from Western both in the medium used and their composition.
But before I discuss the differences, we need to understand who the Chinese painters were. China has been under imperial rule for over 2200 years, roughly from 220 BCE till 1911 CE when the empire fell. During the days of the empire, people were needed to run the administration over a region that was as vast as Europe. For hundreds of years, imperial civil service exams were held in order to pick the best and the brightest men (women has no place in the administration). Young boys studied for years before they could take these demanding exams which tested proficiency in classical Confucius texts, literature, poetry and calligraphy. Men who succeeded in passing these exams held powerful posts and were the admired scholar-officials or the literati.
These bureaucrats also indulged in pursuits that were considered the mark of a cultured man like having the ability to write calligraphy, play music and weiqi (a strategy game similar to chess), and also to paint. Luckily for them, the tools required for their everyday duties could also double up for painting. Writing supplies like the Chinese brush, black ink and paper (figure 3) were readily available in their work space and the lines and strokes they had perfected for years on calligraphy could also be used to compose landscapes. Until recently, most paintings were not made by professional ‘artists’ but by scholars.
Chinese landscape paintings are called ‘Shan Shui’ or mountain-water since these are the two basic natural elements depicted. The scenes shown on paintings were not of a real place, rather an imagined location where the forces of nature were in harmony with each other. This idea of harmony comes from Daoism which is an ancient philosophy/religious belief of China. It’s a complicated concept that is out of the scope of this post but I mention it because one of its ideals was ‘man’s quest to achieve harmony with nature’. Scholars tried to portray this imagery by dreaming up idealized and spiritually tranquil places.
Let’s look at the landscape paintings by a renowned scholar-artist Wang Yuanqi dated early 18th century. Figure 1 is in the ACM’s collection, however I was unable to get a good picture of it so have used 2 other paintings by the artist. Figure 3 and 4 are details of the same painting. All three are titled ‘Landscape after Hwang Gongwang’. I will use these paintings to highlight some aspects of Chinese landscape paintings. Interestingly, they are all painted vertically which is quite different from the horizontal format of Western landscapes.
These paintings show a tranquil landscape of mountains, boulders, trees and a few man-made structures harmoniously balanced. The colors are monochromes or with a very limited palette that are painted on rice paper. Each object is outlined with a sharp brush point and filled in with varying shades of greys. Black ink is the main medium used for paintings and tones of grey are achieved by adding the desired amount of water to the ink. The skill of the artist is really tested in making such compositions since rice paper is highly absorbent and therefore an unforgiving material. The paper demands precision in the pressure applied when making lines and strokes since a single mistake can cause blotting and ruin the paper.
Thin sheets of paper or silk (another material used for paintings) are then mounted onto a hanging scroll to provide a thick backing. Scrolls lend themselves perfectly to appreciating works of art since paintings are generally not meant to be viewed continuously but rather from time to time, and scrolls can be easily be rolled up for storage. Every time the scroll is unfurled, the viewer may discover new details, allowing them to fall in love with the painting all over again.
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| Figure 4: Bottom half of painting by Wang Yuanqi |
What immediately stands out in terms of the composition is the use of blank spaces in this finished work. This is unheard of in Western art where every inch of the canvas is covered with paint. Chinese artist intentionally leave parts of the paper untouched so as to visually balance the painting - the filled in parts are balanced with the blank parts. This also allows the viewer to use their imagination to fill in these space, but of course with a hint of suggestion. Take another look at figure 4, you don’t see water or sky, it is just empty. What do you think the blank space represents? The ‘C’ shaped void starting from the base of the mountain coming towards the viewer is most probably a water body - a lake or a river, which you can infer from the shoreline and the little bridge spanning a narrow stretch of water. What you don’t see are waves or a boat since these images would be too obvious a suggestion. Another element that is missing is the sky or clouds. It is not painted in but the viewer knows of its existence.
Chinese art has a long tradition of copying from the masters as it's a way of paying a compliment and showing respect. Originality was not a virtue that artist strived for, preferring to make imitations, albeit not exact copies, of masterpieces by following the conventions, methods and styles used centuries before. The paintings seen here are made in the style of a master artist named Huang Gongwang (1269-1354) from the thirteenth century who lived about four hundred years before these paintings were made. The artist has choose to use the old master’s style as inspiration for these scenes. We know this from inscriptions by the artist who is praising the skill of the master (figure 3). This is a very common practice for artists to pen down their thoughts oftentimes describing the painting.
In addition to the writings by the artist, Chinese paintings allow admirers and friends to put their thoughts either as poetry or prose alongside works of arts they appreciate or collect. On the scroll in figure 1, there are three additional pieces of paper pasted around the landscape. These colophons have been written by admirers or collectors of this painting and they are showering praises on the skills of the old master Huang Gongwang. Curiously, there is no mention of Wang Yuanqi, the painter of this painting but by associating their words with this painting, they are indirectly praising him as well.
The final act of completing the painting is to ‘put your stamp’ on the piece of art and this is literally what Chinese artists do, they use personally hand-carved seals as their signature. In figure 5, you can see four red seals (the red is from cinnabar paste). Seals don’t necessarily have to contain the name of the artist but some can also be words or quotes that represent the artist’s mindset.
I have introduced basic aspects of traditional Chinese landscapes without going into much detail. I hope you have gained a little insight into how to appreciate these and get lost in their beautiful make-belief world.
