"no Li On The Concept Of The Scholar Stratum Painter Position

Mi Fu, a great calligrapher in Northern Song Dynasty, proficient at appreciation, wrote The History of Painting characteristic of recording, commenting and appreciating all the painters and their paintings at different stages. Though, in the work, probably he ridiculed and depreciated the predecessors, many of the great artists attached special importance to some of his unique insights, among which the most prominent was Wu Li Lun meaning no authentic works of Li Cheng has been passed down into the later generations which was concluded from investigating the paintings of Li Cheng, a well-known landscape painter of the early Northern Song Dynasty. Li Cheng was an extraordinary figure in art of Northern Song Dynasty and his paintings were very popular in the imperial palaces and among the people at that time, but before the end of Northern Song Dynasty, very few paintings of his got spread, and it was also impossible to confirm the authenticity of most of them. Throughout the painting in Northern Song Dynasty, however, it is clear that many painters and schools of painting have been influenced by Li Cheng's style; therefore, it seems that Wu Li Lun meant to focus not only on the authenticity of paintings, but also on an analysis and evaluation of the overall paintings in Northern Song Dynasty from a perspective of the high class. Imperial painters, professional painters and high class painters all prevailed in the Northern Song Dynasty. However, the high class, as the main member at that time of the society, was dominant in the orientation of politics, literature and art, therefore, since the middle and late of Northern Song Dynasty, high class paintings got even more developed and became the main form of painting in the history of fine arts. The thesis concentrates on clarifying the mutual relationship between the high class and the painters during the heyday of the history of Chinese painting by talking about the historical event, Wu Li Lun.From the records of Li Cheng in Wu Li Lun, it is known that even if in the unprecedented prosperity of the Northern Song painting, the traditional notion of "those with knowledge and morality are noble, and those only excellent at artistic techniques are low" is deep-rooted. The painter's artistic status was not judged by their skills, which became evident after the establishment of Theory of South and North Sects proposed by Dong Qichang in Ming Dynasty. Distinguished by the styles and views, the South Sect is representative of the high class painters while the North Sect is of professional painters. The Southern Sect has been in the mainstream of Chinese painting later in history. In the Northern Song Dynasty when imperial paintings, professional paintings and the high class paintings can go side by side, it is inevitable that they tend to detach from one another, too. For one reason, some folk professional painters, due to the low social status, despite the extraordinary competence in painting, were not praiseworthy and could not lead the mainstream of art world, such as Xu Daoning, Zhai Yuanshen, Li Zongcheng, etc.; for the other, some influential painters, despite their outstanding competence, super parentage, and jobs as official painters, were unwilling to be regarded as painters either by themselves or others, such as Li Cheng, Guo Xi, etc. Under this situation, the high class, typical of Su Shi, Mi Fu, hoped to create a unique painting style different from professional painters during the process of "self-enjoyment and self-appreciation by painting". This accounted for the policy of "respecting literacy and demeaning use of force" at that time. The superior social status enjoyed by the high class entitled them to a strong voice in the field of literature and art. On one hand, they belittled professional painters who made a living by painting; on the other hand, they were keen on the collection and appreciation of calligraphy and paintings. Moreover, they made comments and conclusions on various painters from their own standpoints, which got recorded in history. Though they were not the conclusions we viewed as fair, they were the ones the high class liked to face and accept at that time. It is thus clear that history sometimes does show non objectivity; therefore, even if it is not possible to reveal the true history, it is necessary to look on it with a new eye and attach new meanings to it.