The Development Of Meticulous Chinese Figure Painting

Meticulous Chinese Figure Painting boasts a long history and is one of the most important disciplines in Chinese traditional painting. The painting style was originated in primitive times and initially formed in pre-Qin dynasty. Developed from Han to Tang dynasty, Meticulous Chinese Figure Painting reached its prosperous heyday with mature technique and became a significant means for artists to depict historical events and reality and express religious beliefs and thoughts. During Song and Yuan dynasty, while landscape paintings received pervasive attention, the pursuit of delicate technique of using ink and brush became the new trend of painting and Meticulous Chinese Figure Painting declined gradually. Although lots of outstanding meticulous artists have emerged since Ming dynasty, Meticulous Chinese Figure Painting failed to become the mainstream of Chinese traditional painting until the founding of People’s Republic of China. The introduction of Western painting techniques influenced Chinese painting greatly and Meticulous Chinese Figure Painting enjoyed a prosperous development with contributions from traditional paintings, source materials from reality, and essence from Western paintings. In its long historical development phase, traditional Meticulous Chinese Figure Painting has experienced start-up, development, peak and trough, and renaissance stages and produced countless valuable treasures.In the 1980s, Meticulous Chinese Figure Painting entered its boom period and has been shifted from traditional to modern style with diverse subject matters and patterns. The current trend of contemporary Meticulous Chinese Figure Painting is to examine tradition from modern perspectives and explore new formal languages.The paper is composed of four chapters. The first chapter illustrates the definition of Meticulous Chinese Figure Painting. The second chapter introduces the development of traditional Meticulous Chinese Figure Painting. In the third chapter, the diversification of contemporary Meticulous Chinese Figure Painting is analyzed. The fourth chapter discusses the innovation of Meticulous Chinese Figure Painting.