A Research In The Theories And Aesthetics Of Calligraphy And Painting In The Tang Dynasty

Choosing the calligraphy and painting theories of the three schools-Li Sizhen, Zhang Huaiguan and the Dou Brothers from around the high Tang period as its main materials, this dissertation systematizes them and the aesthetics they showed; and putting them in the historical context of the development of the literature and art theories in high Tang, it re-judges their significances and values in the history. This present paper connects the historical documents of calligraphy and painting, and outspreads the two levels of their theories on plastic arts and their aesthetic perspectives, and discloses the close relationship between the development of theory and the ideological trends of aesthetics. By connecting art production and the theory of poetry and literature, and by comparing and contrasting the three schools and their contemporary ones, it explores the formation and development of the related conceptions, categories, and propositions in a specific time and space.Its first chapter shows the ideological backgrounds of the three schools and the theoretical issues they were facing, and argues that the breakthroughs they achieved were mainly attributed to their theoretical conclusions from art practice and to their radically critical attitudes towards the social realities. Systemizing the theories of Ziran Lun, Xingshen Lun, Yixiang Lun, Xingqing Lun, Bifa Lun, the second and third chapters argue that centering on Ziran, the three schools established their theoretical systems about noumenon , production, artists, works, and practice, and further point out that they realized the flexibility of Xing (form) and built up the priority of Shen (spirit), and the illusionism in creating images and their subtle relationship with the objective world, and underlined the spiritual sustenance of artists, and advocated turning touches in using brush, and Biyi Lun, based on which these two chapters systemize the aesthetic perspectives of the three schools that are closely related to these theories, i.e., the aesthetic conceptions, the main contents of which are valuing uniqueness, revering natural elegance, respecting antiqueness and innateness, and the main ideal aesthetics of which is Shen-Shencai. The fourth chapter expounds the changes in their theories and the formation of their aesthetic perspectives, and analyzes the continuity and variation of their theories. The fifth chapter explores the profound impact of these theories on "Li-dai Ming-hua Ji" and other theoretical books on calligraphy and painting from late Tang to early Song, proves that "Li-dai Ming-hua Ji" mainly synthesizes the theories of the three schools, which was the ideological root of the painting theories in late Tang and early Song, and exerted influences on the practice and theory of the mid-Song literati painting. Finally this paper concludes the theoretical achievements and the aesthetic perspectives of the three schools, and re-judges their significance in the calligraphy and painting theory history.