A Comparative Study Of The Northern Song Dynasty Academic Flower And Bird Paintings And Literati Paintings Of Flowers And Birds

The Northern Song Dynasty flower and bird painting is a peak of art history contained two different forms.One of them is meticulous forms which was the style of "Riches and honor",represented by Huang Jia and became the dominant form.The other called Ink Form,a wild and casual painting school was popular among civilians.In this study,comparative analysis was taken to explore the difference between the Meticulous Form and Ink Form.Compared the historical background economic factors,as well as the outstanding paintings,the similarities and differences were concluded as followed.In the common part, both the Meticulous Form and the Ink Form are developed in similar historic period.Both the booming market economics in Northern Song Dynasty and the great importance to the culture which the government and society attached guaranteed the development of art and provided a stress-free environment. Moreover,they share common theories of painting including "shape and spirit" theory and "poetry and painting agreement" proposed by Su Shi.However, the differences between the Meticulous Form and the Ink Form showed in the fields of different painting subject choices,specific performances in different techniques and the painting style,different aesthetic and the drivers of prosperity and development,etc.By analyzing the similarities and differences between the Meticulous Form and the Ink Form, we discussed the influence that the spirit of Meticulous Form took to current Chinese fine brushwork flower and bird painting and that the spirit of Ink Form took to the Yuan Dynasty flower and bird painting.