Thesis Under The Guidance Of The Art Theory Of Meticulous Portraits

This thesis discusses how the meticulous figure paintings of the ancient China, when the country was under civil officials' administration, reached the acme and then branched as a result of the influence of the Literati Artistic Views. The thesis, by studying the styles of three major literati meticulous painters, focuses on the forms and characteristics of the meticulous figure paintings combined with Literati Artistic Views, thus drawing some instructive conclusions on the development of contemporary styles of thick color meticulous paintings and pale color meticulous paintings after the exploration into the rules of literati meticulous paintings, which is of a strong artistic quality.Gu Kaizhi of the Wei and Jin Dynasties put forward the theory of "Conveying the Verve, Xie He summed up the "Six Techniques", both of which acted as the theoretical preconditions for the development of figure paintings. Meticulous figure paintings, guided by these theories and combined with the contemporary vogue, strode towards the summit of imagist realism while consummating its own techniques. The peak which the thick color meticulous paintings of the Tang Dynasty and the Five Dynasties reached set a model for the later development of the thick color meticulous figure paintings. As the saying that the end of prosperity is decline goes, the maturity of an artistic style means often its end. In the beginning of the Song Dynasty, the maturity of landscape paintings and the paintings of flowers and birds, plus the self-consciousness of the theory of the literati paintings, speeded the branching of the thick color meticulous figure paintings. It was Scholar Li Gonglin who took the responsibility endowed by history, creating the style of line drawing, thus initiating the style of pale color meticulous figure paintings. After the Song Dynasty, the literati paintings became the mainstream of the art circles. The appearance of "Tiao Liang Tu" marked the successful combination of literati artistic views with meticulous figure paintings, which should be regarded as a classical work of the literati meticulous figure paintings. At the turn of the Ming and Qing Dynasties, Chen Hongshou, with his style of "grimness and sternness", brought revolutionary change to the "tender and soft" style of figure paintings which had lasted three hundred years. Then, Chen Laolian, with his great accomplishments in literature and philosophy, his independent personality and superb skills, made monumental contributions for meticulous figure paintings as well as literati meticulous figure paintings, whose influence on the art circles lasts even today.