The Study Of Figure Paintings In Five Dynasties

The figure painting, as the earliest art of painting, is an importantbranch of Chinese paintings. It not only has a wealth of paintingtechniques and aesthetics, but has a wide range of sociality andcollectivity. In some ways, it is a microcosm of social development,which expresses the psychological state of social groups and theperiodical features. Of course, there has been no lack of theresearchers studying the figure paintings, but most of them areconcerned about those in Tang and Song Dynasty. This paper focuseson the paintings in Five Dynasties, the period between Tang and SongDynasty. The author reviews the overall outlook of the paintings anddescribes their development, subject, content and features, at thesame time, the proper comparisons and discussions are conductedfor the purpose of comprehensive deconstruction of the figurepaintings of this period, through which this thesis aims to study thosepaintings and get some inspired instructions.The full text is divided into five parts. The first part points out thepurpose, significance, trend and methods. The second part is an overview the development of the figure paintings in Five Dynasties, inthis section the main artists in this period and their representativeworks are introduced, and with the general and divided method, thesepaintings’development of the entire period as well as those indifferent regions are briefly marrated.Then the third part classifies the subject and content of the figurepaintings in Five Dynasties period and in order to clear grasp of thesubject classifications, this part employs the previous classificationas the reference and then divides the subjects into four groups:religious figure paintings and the palace figure paintings that depictthe real-life, historical stories paintings and social custom paintings.In addition, the next chapter is on the basis of the first two chaptersto process the further discussion on the figure paintings of this periodand summarizes their four unique characteristics: the monk painters’unique artistic achievement, the portraits’"psychological pictorialview”, secularization and commercialization.Finally, chapter five summarizes the former four parts and gets theinspiration to achieve the pandect of the figure paintings in FiveDynasties. Seen from this section, people can acquire thecomprehensive and systematic understanding on the figure paintings’origination, development motives, themes, content and valueorientation. Meanwhile, it also can help people have a clearer jud gment on those paintings’development orientation, inhabitation andinnovation so as to enrich their creative awareness of figure paintings,and ultimately achieve the purpose of guiding their painting practicethrough the theoretical foundation.