The Study Of Paintings For Water-and-Land Service In Hexi Region

"Paintings for Water-and-Land(Shuilu)Service" were a series of images including ghosts and gods,for the purpose of offering sacrifices to the dead,when people held the liberation ceremony of water-and-land service in ancient times.At present,as a kind of religious art forms,paintings for water-and-land service are just restricted to the Northern Shuilu Liberation Ceremony and divided into water-and-land murals and water-and-land scrolls.There are a large number of research results about water-and-land murals in Hebei and Shanxi.However,academia doesn’t pay more attention to the research of water-and-land scrolls in Hexi region.The paper selects paintings for water-and-land service in Hexi region(the Hexi Shuilu Liberation Ceremony Paintings)as the research object,and centers on116paintings for water-and-land service of the Ming and Qing dynasties,which are collected by the Minle Museum.I aim at interpreting these paintings in order to make the close relationship clear between the Hexi Shuilu Liberation Ceremony and the Northern Shuilu Liberation Ceremony.At the same time,I wish to reveal the value of the Hexi Shuilu Liberation Ceremony Paintings in the entire history of religious arts further.The paper is consisted of six chapters.The first chapter is the introduction,mainly expounding the topic research’s origin,significance and methods,and reviewing academic research related to this field.The second chapter gives emphasis on combing the origin and development of the Shuilu Liberation Ceremony,and the formation and evolution of paintings for water-and-land service.Moreover,the chapter also illustrates the basic content and artistic creation of paintings for water-and-land service.The third,forth and fifth chapters are the main parts of the paper.The third chapter comprehensively introduces the basic profile of paintings for water-and-land service in Hexi region.By analyzing the contrast between the Hexi Shuilu Liberation Ceremony Paintings and the Northern Shuilu Liberation Ceremony Paintings,I am able to draw a conclusion that the Hexi Shuilu Liberation Ceremony Paintings belong to the system of the Northern Shuilu Liberation Ceremony Paintings and also follow the TianDi MingYang Shuilu Text.The forth chapter starts from four angles of classification, including Buddhism, Taoism,Confucianism and Coexistence themes.The part detailedly interprets the content of paintings for water-and-land service of the Ming and Qing Dynasties in the Minle Museum,and analyzes these images according to character shape,clothing costume and performance techniques.From the visual angle of "witnesses" and people who deliver soul from hell,the fifth chapter focuses on discussing the correspondence relationship between the Minle Shuilu Liberation Ceremony Paintings and TianDi MingYang Shuilu Text which needs to invite ghosts and gods.Furthermore,I preliminarily draw a conclusion that the Minle Shuilu Liberation Ceremony Paintings’ composition form is an arch style.The sixth chapter broadly introduces a fusion of the thought of three churches incorporated into one and folk beliefs which are reflected through the Hexi Shuilu Liberation Ceremony Paintings,and then makes a conclusion about the function of the Hexi Shuilu Liberation Ceremony Paintings.At last,based on the current situation,I put forward some protective and repairable measures and some problems.