Image Painting Research

The word"image"originated from"Showing Images for Expounding Meanings", which appeared at the earliest in our traditional culture and art. Liu Xie, an ancient Chinese scholar, elaborated the meaning of"image"and the role it played in creation in his works"On State of Mind: Carving a Dragon at the Core of Literature". Some modern Chinese scholars like He Zhide and Ye Lang explored the meaning of"image"and pointed out that"image"is in nature the recreation of image to achieve the unity between subjective emotion and objective image. In western countries the research into image first started in philosophy. Democritus, an ancient Greek philosopher, believed that sense and thought were brought about by image from outside stamping and that both of them would not exist without image. Kant, a German philosopher, believed that aesthetic image was an appearance of image formed by imagination and that people's awakening of a lot of thought was excited by the appearance of image. Therefore, he thought that aesthetic image and rational idea were balanced. Susanne Langerch, an American aesthetician defined"image"as"codes". Croce believed that image was an intuition and it was transformed by emotion, and that aesthetic image was the relationship between emotion and form.In formative arts,"image"is an aesthetic formative conception between figurative and abstract images. Image painting, which is different from true-life figurative painting and non true-life abstract painting, is a way of painting to express the creator's subjective aesthetics for objective image. Image painting has some following characteristics. First, it focuses on humanity and thought. Second, it is more creative. Third, it is non true-life in form. Last, it is diversified in expression. Moreover, extensive materials are used. Image painting has a long history in China, from Liang Kai's works to Zheng Banqiao's, from Chen Hongshou's to Chang Yu's. It is a mixture of Chinese traditional culture and Western formative arts. Though the practice of and research into image painting started from impressionism in western countries, the different interpretations of painting image by all schools made a great contribution to the expansion of the connotation of image painting. The interpretation of image by expressionism is especially breathtaking. We can strongly sense the influence of eastern image on western painting from some modern western painters such as Morandi and Klimt. However, there are some differences in formative principle, ways of reflection of objects by subjects, expression of painting space and methods of composition of a picture between Chinese and western image painting. As we start a return to easel painting today, image painting shows its great aesthetic value. Its derivation from traditional painting spirit makes the contemporary easel painting more important in both its connotation and denotation. Therefore, the research into image painting language and its development are the focus of exploration and responsibility of contemporary artists. This thesis is an attempt to analyze of traditional painting spirit embodied in modern and contemporary image paintings based on the history of Chinese and western image painting by comparing ancient Chinese theory of image with western theory of image. It explores the role of image painting played in contemporary painting art by revealing its character and spirit.