Painting History Marketplace Theme

Marketplace culture is an important component of traditional Chinese culture,which is fully demonstrated by marketplace art. This specific art reflects people’s lifeat different historical periods, including trade and production. It can be said to beclosely related to every aspect of people’s life. With political stability and economicprosperity, the development of marketplace arrived at peaks for several times in thehistory. Correspondingly, marketplace culture is also enriched in terms of its contents.The thriving of Sui and Tang Dynasties gave rise to a large number of wall paintingswhich depicted the scenes of people’s life. The flourishing of urban business in SongDynasty also generated more art creations which centered on the ordinary masses.Besides some traditional materials, the emergence of civil handicrafts also promotedthe prosperity of printmaking and New Year pictures. By the20th century,marketplace art has become a common artistic form to present people’s living attitudeand psychological changes and arouse the balance and resonance between people’sliving status and their values. It chooses the masses and things in the real life as thesubjects. The description is endowed with distinctive regional colors. Due to thedifferences of the creators’ identities, emotions and perspectives, the diversity ofvarious groups is manifested. Besides, in terms of materials, form, ideas and culture,they all deliver dense modernness.Through studying and comparing the ancient and modern marketplace art andculture, the author states the distinctive historical and artistic values of marketplaceart with specific works. It reflects social, political and economic development in eachdynasty, which is of great significance for our comprehensive interpretation of thehistory. Furthermore, it lays a solid foundation for the development of numerous artforms. Till today, it is still of profound modern significance. The inheritance anddevelopment of marketplace art will bring endless vigor and vitality for nationaltraditional culture and art.