Developmental Summary Of Foreshortening In The Dunhuang Frescoes

On the right side of the north wall of cave 172 in Mogao Grottoes,the mural "observation of infinite life and changes of the period" has a large scene and a real three-dimensional picture.The depth perception created in the painting benefits from the use of the "shortening method".Dunhuang frescoes in the shortening of the "law" is not a home,according to the images can be found from the Kizil Grottoes mural,Milan Buddhist relics summer all the way back to-bactria,used in the painting "bump" "shading" and "shortening method" is one of techniques,Ukraine in the transmission of Xushuguan river played an important role.As early as the Beiliang period,there were traces of the "shortening method" in Dunhuang frescoes,on which painters developed such presentation methods as cross arrangement,lateral occlusion and central radiation.In the process of continuous exploration of the "shortening method",the painter also drew lessons from the method of block block division composition in the central plains,that is,"layout".Shortening and layering represent completely different compositions and patterns in Dunhuang frescoes,and also represent two completely different painting styles and pursuits.Under the constant collision and fusion,the "shortening method" developed to its highest form in the sui and tang dynasties.Cave 172 is a typical example.However,"shortening" was not a mainstream painting technique in Dunhuang murals,and it declined rapidly even after the tang dynasty,but it was closely related to the paintings of central Asia in Xinjiang and existed in Dunhuang for 400 years,which is a marginalized painting tradition.