The Development And Changes Of Contemporary Chinese Watercolor Figure Painting Theme

As one kind of independent artistic form, watercolor, which was introduced inChina for centuries (especially after the reform and opening policy), is in constantstate of change with the revolution of political system, the improvement of technology,the transformation of economic operation mode, the enrichment of material andcultural life and the development of people’s aesthetics. Also, watercolor portraitstheme has been affected by these changes. By comparison before and after the reformand opening policy of China, we found that after the reform, watercolor portraitstheme tended to emphasis from merely political figures to diverse subjects such asurban characters, ethnic minority members and laboring people. Therefore, watercolorportraits themes get more attention from watercolor artists and achieve prosperitygradually.Several factors affect the choice of watercolor portraits subjects. The experienceof artists makes the watercolor portraits tend to the real life and the public while theartists’ ideologies enable them to choose their favorable subjects. Also, foreigncultures break the traditional thinking of Chinese watercolor portraits themes. Inaddition, distinctive clothing characteristic of all ethnic groups in China offer morechoices for watercolor portraits subjects. The changing subjects of watercolorportraits, on the contrary, urge the change of watercolor on authoring techniques andconcepts to better serve the community, meet the needs of public aesthetic and get thesocial recognition and support.The introduction part of the article mainly elaborates the background andsignificance of the topic, current literature review and research method. The secondchapter describes the several stages of the development of watercolor portraits themeand gathers statics of the proportion of watercolor paintings in the exhibition. The keychapter of the article is the third part, which analyses the classification of watercolorportraits subjects and the reason why these subjects changed and developed. Moreover,the value of contemporary watercolor portraits themes is also discussed in this chapter.The last part of the article put forwards some problems in the development ofwatercolor portraits themes and prospects for the future of watercolor paintings.