Sense And Spirituality - The Late Ming Literati Painting "personality, Psychology

In Chinese art ideology, "emotion" and "rationality" are the two essential spiritual factors, whosedialectical interaction propelled the Chinese art history. Since Ou Yangxiu and his colleagues inNorth Song Dynasty advocated "Uniform the differences all over the country" with the purpose ofreaching a consensus on literature and art, Two Chens gave wing to such movement by layingstress on "rationality" in literary and artistic spirit. They pointed out the conflict between"emotion" and "rationality", and the principle to overcome it as well - "emotion" should besubject to "rationality". Though mainly applied in literature and philosophy, this theory exertedsimilar effect on painting.This thesis, through horizontal and vertical analysis of history endeavors to demonstrate thehistorical evolution of the "Literati Painting" in Late Ming Dynasty, which struggled to go beyondthe emotion-rationality conflict and be on the way to spiritual freedom under the influence of "XinXue" (a branch of New Confucian), and to give an in-depth analysis of the personality andpsychology hidden in such evolution. Connecting the development of literature with that ofphilosophy, this author delves into "Literati Painting" from the angle of cultural personality byselecting typical representative figures and works and projecting them into the real historical andcultural background.This thesis has no intention to give a general definition of "personality". Instead, it understands"personality" as man's cultural characteristics, for the need of studying the scholar-painters inLate Ming Dynasty - the specific historical and cultural tribe and its representatives. In a culturaltradition which valued the influence of group and morality, it is obvious that the personalities ofthe literati would be heavily colored by their consciousness of roles and morality. The literati werefalling into the embarrassing situation - the degrading and falling away of their consciousness ofsocial roles and social morality. Such embarrassment is the typical personality of the literati inLate Ming Dynasty And this is also the key point, in which contain an approach to understand theculture personality of literati painting of Late Ming Dynasty.