The Influence Of The Gestalt Analysis Of Guo Xi’s Landscape Painting Style On My Creation

The research topic of this paper is partially derived from my bewilderment about the current development of landscape painting,which is: in the context of infiltration of western rationality and science,does the landscape in our eyes remain the same as that of ancient Chinese landscape painters represented by Guo Xi? Guo Xi,as a master of landscape painting in the Northern Song Dynasty,is highly accomplished in aesthetics,which motivates this study to settle on his landscape painting style.His son compiled Lofty Messages of Forests and Streams,a book about his painting philosophies.Some works of Guo Xi remain till the present,including Early Spring.All these provide abundant research materials for this paper.On the basis of predecessors’ theoretical achievements,this paper firstly verifies the compatibility of Arnheim’s gestalt theory of visual perception with Guo Xi’s aesthetic philosophies in interpreting evaluation criteria,observation methods and expressive forms,and to a certain extent answers the question of whether modern people’s perspective of the landscape remains the same with the ancients.Gestalt visual perception is also applied in interpreting the reason why such schemas as“cyan smoke and white path” and “boundless plain at sunset” become classics.It is hereby concluded that the theoretical analysis of gestalt visual perception,as an approach that can facilitate the understanding of Guo Xi’s landscape paintings,cannot substitute“painting conception”for the fundamental of landscape painting creations.This paper explores the distinctive styles of Guo Xi’s landscape paintings,such as“gigantic barriers and lofty cliff”,“rocks moving like clouds” and “crab claw-shaped trees ”,and analyzes his specific works such as Early Spring and Level-Distance View of Rocks,and clarifies the gestalt organizing principles and tendencies of visual perception behind the perceptual dynamics produced by various schemas.Attempting efforts have also been made to reexamine the creation of traditional Chinese landscape paintings from such a fresh perspective,which is ultimately applied to the graduation creation.The originality of this paper resides in the application of the gestalt visual perception theory,which sheds light on a fresh perspective for learning and understanding the creation of time-honored and profound Chinese landscape paintings.Although this paper revolves around Guo Xi and his landscape paintings,the gestalt visual perception theory involved in this study has a commonality in terms of analyzing visual arts.On that account,I believe the conclusion of this study is applicable in analyzing and studying other landscape painters and even other genres of Chinese paintings.