Linear Spirit

This paper discusses the linear aesthetic meaning of traditional Chinese painting with historical and comparative methods and concludes the linear spirit in traditional Chinese painting. Although using line was common to all the ancient civilizations, and painting and calligraphy had the same origin was not peculiar to Chinese ancient civilization, linear spirit in traditional Chinese painting was presented. Scientific development made Greece painting three-dimensional space, and so became the origin of classical art. On the contrary, owing to the Chinese ultimate proposition "space-time syncretism", which means multiple space and time in one plane. Also because cultural idiosyncrasy is linear, function of line was developed from the primitive application to aesthetic appreciation.The Doctrine of Golden Mean is the ideology base that produced the Line of Beauty. The inter restraint accumulated in the Doctrine of the Golden Mean is just like the natural cycle, according to which the Line of Beauty was sublimated due to analogy ideology and notional behavior of traditional Chinese painting. "Pursuing maximum neutralization" resulted in central brush-point technique of Chinese calligraphy (cycle line), which is the highest unchangeable standard of aesthetic appreciation for Chinese calligraphy and also the reason why lines is regarded as the root of traditional Chinese painting.On one hand, the sketch draft of traditional Chinese painting is the real linear pattern. On the other hand, it became a model as original pattern for traditional Chinese painting like "a rubbing from a stone epigraphy" for Chinese calligraphy. Along with the self evolve of the linear pattern and continuous modification of the model, outline drawing is formed, then developing Chinese line drawing as an independent art. Li Gong-lin's Mianzhou Drawing implicated "truth" in the position design, transferring physics into painting truth and using brush "according to the Creation". The accomplishment of line reached the highest realm of free spirit, urged the principal spirit in a powerful and unconstrained style with the dormant and free ethos of Yuan Dynasty, and experienced with mural painting and print painting.The line of traditional Chinese painting does make public its ultimate meaning anywhere from dull to meticulous, from meticulous to impressionistic, from mural painting to scroll painting and from scroll painting to other art forms. The linear aesthetics in Chinese line drawing flourishes from ancient time to present day. The line spirit decided the image modeling of traditional Chinese painting that created "parallel image" to "parallel expression".