Gu Kaizhi Art Thought

Gu Kaizhi is not only the first artist whose painting handed down to us, but also the first theorist of painting in our country. He puts forward "to obtain the spirit by form", which introduces philosophy into the theory of painting first time. It marks the beginning of a new era in Chinese painting. As a result, the research of Gu Kaizhi plays a significant role for Chinese painting. The dissertation starts with the background of Gu when the Qingtan custom obtains in Eastern Jin Dynasty, looks into the relationship of Gu's theory and his background, in order to grasp at the Chinese painting's essence and serve art of our society today.The main contents of this paper in the following areas:(1) Introduce Gu Kaizhi and his ideological background. The period of Gu lived is Qingtan in the Eastern Jin Dynasty. At that time, the scholar-bureaucrats had merged Daoism, Confucianism and Buddhism into unite philosophy. Qingtan had stimulated scholar-bureaucrats' self-awakening of life and created the condition for art independently.(2) Analyze Taoism, Confucianism and Buddhism philosophy how to influence on the idea of Gu Kaizhi. From the language in Gu's theory, we can analyze the influence of Taoism, Confucianism, and Buddhism.(3)"To obtain the spirit by form" is Gu Kaizhi's art reflection. It's an experience which based on careful consideration of life. It reflected both the relationship of the subjective and the objective, and set a capture essence higher request to the painter. It is under the background of the Eastern Jin Dynasty's Qingtan, the artists observed repeatedly through various objects, to imagine art in order to obtain the spirit by form."(4) Gu Kaizhi's painting theory of the relationship of form and spirit. Qingtan of "the dialectic of word and meaning", trigger on the thinking of "form" and "spirit." People pay attention to the intrinsic relationship between shape and sprit of person. On this basis, Gu Kaizhi focuses on the eyes, the environment and the backbone. His goal was not only to describe exterior character, but also to pursue intrinsic essence.(5) The significance of Gu Kaizhi's painting theory at presentThe artistic theory of Gu has guideline and enlightenment of today. The step of traditional Chinese painting study, must understand Daoism, Confucianism and Buddhism first, and then study the technique, and make the method of "to obtain the spirit by form" into the painting, which is a good way to study Chinese painting..Consequently, Gu Kaizhi occupies a very important position in Chinese art history. But most of papers dissociate his painting theory from his background. In this paper, there are two innovations, the first is standing in the background of the Eastern Jin Dynasty, and the second is giving attention to the influence of Taoism, Confucianism, and Buddhism for Gu Kaizhi...