Han Style In Ancient Stones

In feudal Chinese history, the Han dynasty(206B.C-200A.C), with its highly developed political, military, economic and cultural achievements, nurtured a grand and vigorous artistic style typical of its time and represented mainly by the art form of stone relieves, wild in nature and bold in style, and many of which were found in Nanyang, a middle-sized city famous of its rich historical heritage in Henan, a central China province.The author holds that Nanyang Stone Relieves (NSR), created by anonymous artists 2000 years ago, though "naive and primitive" in technique, open to us the door to the secretive Han Art style disappeared a long time ago; and hence has profound significance in the following 3 aspects:1. As a combination of bas-relief, painting, tomb fresco and some other artistic forms, NSR demonstrated the comprehensiveness and pluralism similar to those of the modern art in China; therefore the study of the former may light the way for the further development of the latter.2. The unique features embodied in NSR, including simplicity, exaggeration, deformation, wildness, mystery, and so forth, if digested properly, may be imbued as new "nutrients" into the artistic language of Chinese painting.3. The similarity between NSR and the Calligraphy of the Han Dynasty may further prove the long-existing hypothesis that Chinese painting and calligraphies stemmed from the same origin and shed light on the development of both.This thesis studies:1. Factors for the formation of NSR, including:a. Nanyang was the hometown of emperor Liu Xiu, the first ruler of the East Han Dynasty and his relatives. The luxurious decoration of the tombs was a sign of theirowners' royal identities.b. Nanyang Basin was abundant in stone resource.c. Nanyang, an iron work center in Han Dynasty, provided handy tools for stone carving.Conclusion:1. Features of the artistic language in NSR: a. developing the using of lines, a painting technique inherited from ancient Chu people; b. absorbing the rational factors in the layout of Chu painting, with major characters projected, the supplementary "cloud" patterns also used for decoration; c. the exaggeration and deformation of NSR, containing similar features to those of modern art, serve as "nutrients" for modern artists.2. connections and enlightenments to other artistic forms: a. NSR with calligraphy; b. NSR with the Odes of Han Dynasty; c. NSR with modern paintings.Since Dai Yanzhi, a man in East Jin period, talked about stone relieve in his West March for the first time, people's interests toward it grew stronger and stronger. The realization of its importance, however, started only in the 20-3 Os, with the focus shifting from the historical research of the politics, economy and customs of Han Dynasty to its artistic value. Observing from the perspective of an art researcher, the author tries to analyze, study, understand and illustrate the artistic expression of NSR sculpts, hoping to be helpful for the research in this field.