A Study Of Song Nian And His View On Yiyuan's Discussion Of Pictures

Song Nian is a Mongolian national artist and theorist of art in the late Qing Dynasty. He was famous for his theoretical work, Yiyuan' s Discussion of Pictures (《颐园论画》) , as a contribution to national literature history. Yiyuan' s Discussion of Pictures is characterized of poetry theory to paint.The first chapter of this thesis introduces a brief review of Song Nian and the historical background of his professional theoretical work - Yiyuan' s Discussion of Pictures. Song Nian wrote this work on the basis of traditional theoretical opinion "Character and Picture Have Originated from the Same Thing" (书画同源) , which is influential in the history of ancient Chinese national literature theories, In addition, the author gives a further discussion on establishment and development of this theory and its effect on Mongolian theorists.The second chapter is a theoretical summary of the professional work of art theory, Yiyuan' s Discussion of Pictures. This chapter is mainly discussed from three aspects: 'First to respect custom and style , second to skill and technique ' , 'Think about the long future and professionals in research' , 'Look for some methods to test and preserve pictures' and so on. At last, the thesis appraises the status of Song Nian and the importance of his Yiyuan' s Discussion of Pictures in the whole history of art, and also warmly commends his contribution to art history.