A Study Of The Oriental Appeal Of The Line Art In Chinese Traditional Figure Paintings

Chinese art is also the art of lines, because all the Chinese arts have the character of lines. In Chinese sculpting, lines are always the interpretation of traditional aesthetic characteristic and oriental appeal. Everything in the nature and the rhythm, cadence, succession, alternation, germination, thickness, density, change, diversification and unification are all concentrated in the movement of the lines, which makes the lines have abundant meaning and aesthetic temperament. So the lines are not only full of expressive force, but also the focus of Chinese traditional painting language.Art theory and art works are closely linked, they supplement each other. We have to investigate the art works in the art investigation. Just like what Ernst Grosse said: Without theory, the fact is blurry; while without fact, the theory will be inane. In the historical development of the figure painting, the lines' sculpting ability and aesthetic function obtain the balance and unification via continuous collision of contradiction. The first chapter depicts the tremendous spaces contained in the Chinese line language via analyzing the use of lines in Chinese traditional figure paintings, which are the works created by famous artists in history. This lines' oriental appeal is decided by Chinese culture, including psychological structure, philosophical thought, aesthetic interest, etc. The philosophy should be especially mentioned, because it's the self-consciousness of one nation, and it can totally affect the nation's cultural value orientation and aesthetic conception. The basic theory of 'yin-yang synergism' and 'integration of rigidity and elasticity' in Chinese traditional philosophy is always the rule for Chinese people to know things and cope with questions. This theory has already infiltrated in every corner of Chinese culture, and it's the core of Chinese traditional art spirit. Further more, this theory decides the idiosyncrasy of the art spirit, and has good harmony with the art in the highest realm. In the finally analysis, the art of one nation is the presentation of the philosophical idea of this nation, and also the metaphor and explanation of this nation's philosophy. The lines oriental idiosyncrasy is explained in the second chapter via studying the philosophical theory like 'vividness', 'yin-yang', 'simplicity', 'accomplish at one go ', which are contained in the art of lines. In the second section of this chapter, the main perspectives of Confucianism, Taoism, and Buddhism are used to illuminate the philosophical theory basis of the line art. Two important aesthetic characteristics are studied in the third chapter from the perspective of aesthetics, and the national character and oriental sentiment are also described.In this thesis, the oriental characteristic of the Chinese line art is systemically investigated via exerting synthetically the methods of art stylistic, Artistic Semiotics, fine arts archaeology and philology etc. Some relationship between the lines in literatures and art works in typical traditional figure paintings is investigated based on huge literature collection. Some investigation, comparison and analysis are conducted to some literature documents. These documents are classified according to some standards, and then much more objective outcome can be derived.Some cross-discipline knowledge is mentioned in this thesis, such as philosophy, aesthetics, archaeology and etc. It is a big challenge. Besides interdiscipline, there has been very few literature in which the line art has been systemically mentioned, so it is very limited to collect the raw materials for this thesis.In this thesis, the relationship between the line art in traditional figure paintings and the conjunction between philosophy and aesthetics is studied. The cultural meaning is derived via analyzing and summarizing the of line art in Chinese painting. Then the development origin, philosophical meaning and esthetic sentiment of the line art can be easily learned. Very important theoretical basis can be provided for the creation of Chinese painting and the use of line art. The thesis provides very profound spirit connotations, which is beneficial for Chinese culture spreading out sea. There is also very important meaning for propagating the traditional culture and constructing the modern culture.